Zircon CRM / Sales & CRM
Runs in the browser · HU / EN / DEQuoting software that keeps working after the yes
In Zircon CRM, an estimate is a numbered, itemised document that your customer opens on its own link and accepts or declines there, with a signature if you want one. You see when they looked at it, and the system reminds them before it expires. An accepted estimate becomes an invoice or a project without retyping.
Online acceptance with signatureScheduled sending and expiryInvoice or project in one step
In short
What are estimates in Zircon CRM?
Quoting software sends priced offers that customers can accept. In Zircon CRM, an estimate is an itemised offer to an existing customer: you start it from the customer profile, a project or the list, and the address and currency fill in. The customer accepts or declines online, and the accepted estimate becomes an invoice or a project. Built for sales, project managers and finance.
Sound familiar?
The estimate went out. Then silence.
If two of these ring true, your estimates still depend on manual follow-up.
- 01
You don't know if they opened it
You call on Monday about the estimate you sent on Friday. It turns out the client has not even opened the attachment.
- 02
A yes to an estimate that expired months ago
The customer accepts an offer three months later, long after its validity ran out. Your rates have changed since, and backing out is awkward.
- 03
After the yes, everything again
You retype the lines of the accepted estimate into the invoice, one by one. Then you create the project tasks somewhere else, from the same lines.
- 04
Nobody knows what is waiting for a decision
Management asks how much is out there in open estimates. The answer has to be pieced together from three sales inboxes.
What it does
Quoting software that follows the estimate after you send it.
You manage estimates as a list or on a Kanban board, each person within their own permissions.
Lines from the catalogue
Pick lines from the item catalogue or type them in, with quantity, unit, rate and one or more taxes. Add a discount before or after tax, as a percentage or a fixed amount.
Scheduled sending
After saving, choose when the e-mail with the PDF goes out, by default at 08:00 the next day. Once it is sent, the estimate moves to Sent and the recipients are recorded in the activity log.
Online acceptance and signature
The customer sees the estimate on its own branded page and accepts or declines it there. If you switch it on, accepting asks for their name and e-mail address and a signature drawn on screen; the estimate then shows who accepted it, when and from which IP address. A declined estimate can still be accepted until it expires.
View and e-mail tracking
You see when and from which IP address the customer opened the estimate, and whether they opened the e-mail it came with. The sales agent and the creator are notified when the customer views, accepts or declines it.
Expiry and reminders
The expiry date is worked out from your default validity period. Before it, the system sends the customer's contacts one reminder with the PDF attached, and an SMS too if you have an SMS gateway; an expired estimate moves to Expired.
Pipeline and financial stats
The Kanban view shows estimates by status, and you drag them from column to column. The financial stats show the total value of estimates per status, filtered by year and currency.
Activity log
Every change to lines, rates and quantities, every status change, every send and every customer action is written to the estimate's activity log. Administrators can delete individual entries.
How it works
From the first line to a running project.
- 01
An estimate from the customer profile
On the customer profile you start a new estimate: billing address, currency and number fill in. You add the lines and enter the customer's purchase order number as the reference.
- 02
Send now or later
You send it straight away, or schedule it for the next morning. The activity log records who received it.
- 03
The customer decides
The customer opens the link, accepts and signs. The sales agent is notified, and the customer's contacts get a thank-you e-mail.
- 04
Invoice and project
You convert the estimate into an invoice in one step, or let Zircon CRM create the invoice on acceptance and e-mail it to the customer. When converting to a project, you tick which lines become tasks and who owns each one.
Control
Who sees an estimate, and who can change it.
Own or all estimates
Without global view permission, staff see the estimates they created, and with one setting also those where they are the sales agent. Converting to an invoice needs permission to create invoices; converting to a project needs permission to create projects.
Locked once invoiced
An invoiced estimate cannot be deleted or dragged to another status on the board. Only an administrator can clear the customer's acceptance details.
Opening only after sign-in
You can require that only signed-in contacts of the customer can open an estimate, and hide drafts from the customer portal.
Works with
Where an estimate comes from, and where it goes next.
- Quote requestsan incoming quote request becomes an estimate, and the request is marked as completed.
- Proposalsa longer, content-rich proposal can be converted into an estimate.
- Customer managementthe customer profile lists all estimates on its own tab, and each contact's e-mail setting decides who receives them.
- Invoicingan accepted estimate becomes an invoice, by hand or automatically on acceptance, with the customer, addresses and taxes carried over.
- Project managementconverting to a project turns the lines you choose into billable tasks with owners.
- Items, taxes and currenciescatalogue items, tax rates and per-currency prices fill in the lines.
Honestly
Good to know before you start.
Estimates go to existing customers. A lead who is not a customer yet gets a proposal instead.
For Hungarian companies, the invoice created on acceptance is a Zircon CRM invoice, not one reported to the Hungarian tax authority (NAV). The official invoice is issued through the Számlázz.hu integration, which does not issue automatically created invoices on its own: issue it by hand or tick the upload box. The customer's e-mail carries the Zircon CRM PDF with the internal number.
If an estimate contains a discount or an adjustment, the Számlázz.hu integration will not issue the invoice made from it. Add the discount as a separate line instead.
Scheduled sending, expiry reminders and automatic expiry need the scheduled job (cron) running on the server; SMS needs a Twilio or Clickatell account.
The signature records the typed name, the e-mail address, the drawn signature, the time and the IP address. Zircon CRM does not provide a qualified electronic signature.
Before you write
Fair questions. Straight answers.
- 01
When should I send an estimate and when a proposal?
An estimate is an itemised, priced document for an existing customer, for everyday quoting. A proposal is a longer, freely written sales document that can also go to a lead. In Zircon CRM, a proposal can later be converted into an estimate.
- 02
Can an accepted estimate turn into an invoice automatically?
Yes, if you switch it on: when the customer accepts, Zircon CRM creates the invoice, e-mails it and takes the customer to the invoice page, where they can pay online if a payment gateway is set up. For Hungarian companies this is a Zircon CRM invoice; you issue the official one separately through the Számlázz.hu integration.
- 03
How do I turn an estimate into a project in Zircon CRM?
Convert to Project opens a new project for the customer. You choose which lines become tasks and assign an owner to each; on hourly projects, the line rate becomes the task's hourly rate. The owners are added as project members.
- 04
Does Zircon CRM remind customers before an estimate expires?
Yes. The scheduled job (cron) on the server sends the contacts one reminder with the PDF, a set number of days before expiry, and an SMS too if an SMS gateway is configured. You can also send a reminder by hand at any time.
- 05
Can I see whether the customer opened the estimate?
Yes. Zircon CRM records every view with date and IP address, and notifies the sales agent; repeated views within an hour count once. It also shows whether the e-mail that delivered the estimate was opened.
Let's talk.
The first call costs nothing
A human replies — not a bot
Bring an estimate you sent recently, a PDF is fine. In the demo we rebuild it in Zircon CRM, show you what the customer sees, and what happens after they accept.
- hello@zircon.hu
- Phone
- +36 30 487 7979
- Hours
- Weekdays 9–17
- Support
- support@zircon.hu (existing clients)