Preparing Quotations with MindManager

I use MindManager to write my quotations for Cabre's customer's because its easy to assemble new quotes from old ones and a template.

I took one of my quotations as the basis for a new map. To this I added other useful clauses I had in previous quotes and saved it as a template. Each of the topics has a note. This note contains the paragraphs for the clause. For instance the clause Application Workshop contains:

"Duration 3 hours

This session is driven by the participant's requests. It is a master class with some time for participants to explore what they have seen. The intent is to raise awareness of the opportunities MindManager gives its users to allow the participants to make an informed choice of where MindManager can be applied to the greatest affect on their business.

It can cover but is not limited to:"

The topics following this clause are then filtered (hidden) to make them relevant to the client.

To save it as a template in MindManager 7 Pro -
Tools > Map Templates > Select the folder > Add New Map Template > Rename (If necessary) > Close.

Here is my template:



The price for the session is arbitrary not actual!

To use it to create a quote. Open a New Map using this template. Delete the clauses that are not needed for the quote and edit those that remain. Save as new quotation.

I use a MindManager spreadsheet topic to do the adding up and to show the VAT. For more elaborate quotations you can link to an Excel spreadsheet range and include parts of it where required in the quotation.

My original map was already associated with a Word template which adds branding to the header and has a footer with dates, copyright etc. For all quotations, I include the map in the Word export (close it down to a suitable level first) and it becomes the cover sheet. I often have other maps included in the notes. For larger quotations you can also enable the table of contents. The Word template will determine fonts, margins etc.

Check the document in Word, paginate where necessary and then print to PDF prior to emailing to the client. Office 2007 has a free PDF printer but I have used pdfFactory Pro for many years. In pdfFactory Pro you can secure the document against editing.

Of course this process will also work for any documents you have to produce that repeatedly use the same information.