Turn a customer email into a quote with AI: a working example

Does a fast reply really matter?

Many people ask 3 to 5 companies for a quote. Often the fastest answer wins.

I did the same. In May 2022, I asked several companies for a quote for new windows and doors. One replied within an hour, with an estimated price, answers to my questions and a date to come and measure. The others took days. The prices were similar, so I picked the fastest. Their speed and effort in answering all my questions made me trust them from the start.

For a small business, replying within an hour is hard. Often one person answers all the emails, in the evening after work.

This is where the example below helps. As soon as a quote request comes in, it prepares a reply like the fast company sent me, with an estimated price and a question for anything that is missing. You check it and press send. The customer gets an answer within hours, not days, and nobody has to sit at the laptop late at night.

How can AI make a quote from an email?

AI reads the customer’s email. The price comes from your price list and your rules, and a quote is prepared for your approval.

This demo uses Jev by TypeSafe to read and sort each email. Claude Sonnet by Anthropic writes the replies. The names, emails and prices are made up.

What happens when a detail is missing?

Daan asks for a heat pump for his terraced house but does not say how big it is. AI marks the size as “not mentioned” instead of guessing. A terraced house is usually 80 to 150 m², so the quote gives a first estimate and the email asks for the exact size. The final price follows after a visit. Daan gets a price right away.

What if the customer asks something unusual?

Requests like “We want to make our house more sustainable, what does that cost?” or a maintenance contract for 14 apartments are not on a price list. For those, AI does not make up a quote. It prepares a reply that asks what you need to know, offers a visit and mentions starting prices from your list. It follows your rules and writes in your tone, based on a few example emails you choose.

A prepared reply for a maintenance contract, with what the customer wants, a starting price from the list and the questions to ask

Can AI get the price wrong?

AI only reads the email, and the price is prepared from your price list. When an email is unclear, like “we want new heating”, it drafts a reply with the right questions, based on your rules. You still check every quote before it goes out.

What does it cost?

Running it costs around €25 a month, including the AI. All you need is your price list, even in Excel. Setting it up takes 1 to 2 weeks, mostly testing it on sample emails, then on a few of your own.

If a quote takes 15 minutes by hand and 2 minutes to check, 5 quotes a week save you about an hour. At €35 an hour that is about €1,800 a year. With 5 quotes a day, it is about €9,000 a year.

Does it work with Gmail or Outlook?

Yes. Most other mailboxes work too. The drafts land in the mailbox you already use. With a shared inbox like info@, each request can go straight to the person in charge, for example heat pumps to one colleague and maintenance to another.

Can I try it for free?

Yes. Paste this into ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini, with your price list and one customer email.

I run a small business and want a draft quote for a customer request.

My price list:
[paste your price list]

The customer's email:
[paste the email, without names, addresses or phone numbers]

Rules:
- Use only prices from my price list. Never make up a price.
- Show every line of the quote with the calculation, so I can check it.
- If a detail is missing, write "not mentioned" instead of guessing.
- If the request does not fit my price list, say so and do not make a quote.
- Then write a short reply to the customer in their language, with the total
  and one question for each missing detail.

It works for a few quotes a week. It stops being enough when you copy and paste every day, when a total comes out wrong or when follow-ups get forgotten.

Common questions

Can a ready-made quote tool do this already?

Often, yes. You should try one first. If it does not fit your work, a custom one could.

Will my customers notice it is AI?

The email comes from you. AI prepares the draft in your tone, and you check it and send it yourself.

Our prices depend on the job. Does it still work?

Yes. Tell me how you price, like "add €300 for an old system", and that becomes a rule. Jobs that always need a visit get a reply with questions instead.

Where do my customers' emails go?

The email text goes to an AI service with a business account, like the Claude API. Under those terms it is not used to train AI. Your quotes and price list stay in your own accounts, and you get a data processing agreement before we start.