If every quote begins with searching last year's proposal for a price, your price list already exists: it is scattered across documents. Bringing common items together avoids repeated searches and shows the information behind your prices. Start with what you actually use rather than thousands of rows.
Distinguish internal information from client-facing information. Purchase cost, planned time and margin help you set a price; clients need an understandable description, quantity and proposal terms.
Fields to prepare for each item
A stable code identifies a product even if its commercial name changes. The description should explain its characteristics and included work. Units prevent confusion between pieces, packs, metres and hours. Cost and price are different fields: do not call both “amount”.
- An internal or supplier code where useful.
- A description understandable outside the business.
- Sales unit and pack contents.
- Verified cost with date and source in internal records.
- Selling price and calculation method.
- Conditions such as minimum quantity, transport or installation.
Category, supplier and review date help manage records. They are not automatically available fields in every application. Keep them in an internal sheet and enter the information actually supported in your commercial catalogue.
From cost to price: a simple example
Imagine an accessory purchased for €80. A 25% markup produces a €100 price. Before using it, check the €80 includes all costs you intend to cover. A dedicated €15 delivery does not disappear because the product is in the catalogue.
If delivery is a separate service, do not also allocate its full cost to the accessory. For an inclusive price, update description and calculation. These teaching figures use comparable bases before taxes; they do not prescribe a suitable markup for every business.
Write descriptions that survive reuse
“Installation” is too broad when it covers different work. “Install and initially configure one device, with power and network already available” defines a reusable case. Use separate items for creating connections or extra training.
A cleaning business can separate routine cleaning and window cleaning. A consultant can distinguish meetings, analysis and document delivery. A retailer can distinguish products, accessories and commissioning. A price list should not force the same package on every client.
Update without rebuilding everything
Decide which items need frequent checks: unstable product prices, long lead times and work whose actual costs differ from estimates. Record the date and reason for revision. A supplier increase and a description change are different facts.
Prevent obsolete products being selected by mistake. Still check current availability and price before sending an offer: a catalogue is a working base, not a guarantee of supplier terms or stock.
A price list and a quote are different documents
A price list describes a standard offer. A quote applies it to a particular client, quantity and situation. Transport, options, discounts and specific terms belong in the offer. Keep the reference price and check the discount base before promising a personalised total.
Do not add client-specific details to a standard description: they could be reused incorrectly later. Give a different service a different name and decide whether it should become a new item.
PreventivOk's personal catalogue
The personal catalogue contains descriptions, codes, units and prices, plus items derived from quotes. These support reuse but do not constitute purchasing management. They do not imply industrial-cost fields, stock, suppliers or automatic supplier price-list updates.
Start with a reliable group of items and build an offer. If a description needs heavy correction each time, the standard item may be the problem. Improving it once can save explanations across many proposals.
Units that look similar but are different
A product bought in packs of ten may be sold by the piece. Keep the conversion in internal calculations and show the client-facing unit in the quote. Copying the pack cost into a single-piece line creates a wrong price even when multiplication is correct.
For services, a day is not always eight billable hours. State the service and conditions rather than making the client infer content from the unit. A “training session” can mean a defined meeting; “training hours” needs a quantity and method. Before reuse, check the request matches that basis.
PreventivOk's personal catalogue helps reuse descriptions and prices. Keep internal cost analysis separate from an item's commercial data. Create your next quote with PreventivOk.