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Quotes & CPQ: Turn a Deal Into a Priced, Approved Document

A "quote" is a document that tells a customer exactly what they'd pay for the products or services they want. "CPQ" stands for Configure, Price, Quote — the process of building that document correctly, every time. How to price out real products, apply your discount rules automatically, and send big discounts to a manager for approval before the quote ever reaches the customer.

4
Tabs
~10 min
Time to Complete
80 pts
Available
1 Badge
Quote-to-Close Specialist

Why quotes need guardrails

MK
Maria Kim · Account Executive

"I want to send a clean, correctly-priced quote today. I don't want to wait for finance to double-check my math, and I don't want to accidentally give away a discount I'm not allowed to approve."

An "Account Executive" is a rep who owns the relationship with a customer and negotiates the deal. A "discount" is money knocked off the normal price to help close a sale.

Hand-built quotes in a spreadsheet are slow, and it's easy to make a mistake. Nothing stops a rep from typing in whatever discount closes the deal fastest — which quietly costs the company money, deal after deal.

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What you'll achieve
Every quote is priced the same consistent way. Discounts above a set amount automatically need a manager's sign-off, and a rep never has to do pricing math by hand.

What's inside a quote

A quote has two parts. First, header details: Name, a linked Opportunity (the deal this quote is for), Expiration Date, an overall Discount %, a Tax Rate, and Notes. Second, a list of Line Items — each one is a single product you're selling, either picked from the Product Catalog or typed in by hand, with a Quantity, Unit Price, its own Discount %, and a Description.

Every quote also has a status that shows where it is in the process:

Quote StatusWhat it means
DraftYou can still edit everything — the header and every line item
Pending ApprovalSubmitted, and locked until a manager approves or rejects it
Approved / RejectedThe manager's decision, with optional notes explaining why
Sent / Accepted / DeclinedTracks what happened after the quote reached the customer
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Discount Rules do the math for you
A "discount rule" is a setting an admin configures in advance — for example, "always apply 5%" or "apply 10% once the quote total crosses $10,000." Click "Apply Discount Rules" and SmartLite checks your org's rules and updates the quote for you. If a rule is flagged as needing sign-off, the quote moves to Pending Approval automatically. It then shows up in Quote Approvals, where a manager can Approve or Reject it.

1 Build and submit a quote

Start a new quoteGo to Quotes → New Quote, give it a name (e.g. "Acme Corp — Q3 Renewal"), and optionally link it to an Opportunity.
Add a line item and price itClick "Add Line Item", pick a product (or type one in), set Quantity and Unit Price, then click "Apply Discount Rules" — any matching discount is applied for you.
Submit it for approvalClick "Submit for Approval". If a discount needs sign-off, the quote now appears in Quote Approvals until a manager clicks Approve or Reject.

Day-to-day: account executives

Build the quote as the deal firms upStart it early in Draft, add line items as pricing gets confirmed.
Always run Apply Discount RulesNever hand-type a discount — let the rule engine apply and flag it for approval if needed.

Day-to-day: sales managers

Review Quote ApprovalsCheck pending quotes regularly so reps aren't stuck waiting to send a proposal.
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What to try next
Once a quote is approved, look at the E-Signature trail to send it straight out for signing.

Test what you learned

1. What happens when a quote's discount is big enough to need sign-off?
It gets emailed to the customer automatically
It moves to Pending Approval and waits in Quote Approvals until a manager decides
2. Can you still edit line items once a quote has left Draft status?
Yes, line items can always be changed no matter the status
No — the header and line items lock once the quote is no longer a Draft