Opportunity and Quote-to-Contract Management
From lead to signed contract
The quote-to-contract chain converts a sales opportunity into an enforceable engagement. Key concepts: opportunity stages and probability, quote versions and revisions, quote line detail (role, resource category, quantity, rate, chargeability), pricing methods (fixed price, time and materials, retainer, milestone), and the activation that turns a won quote into a project contract and project. Understand that a quote line carries both a sales dimension (what the client buys) and a delivery dimension (which role delivers it), and that the delivery dimension is what later drives resourcing and cost estimates.
Pricing and terms
Know how rate cards, discounts, and effective dating interact. Understand that a contract can carry multiple line types - billed time, billed expenses, fees, and non-chargeable items - and that each line type flows to a different billing behavior. Understand billing schedules (monthly, milestone, on account) and how they are attached to contract lines.
Traps
Common distractors: assuming revising a quote changes an already-activated contract (it does not - you must amend the contract); assuming a lost or abandoned opportunity can still activate; confusing the quote's estimated cost with the actual cost posted from time entries; and treating a discount as a rate change rather than a line-level adjustment. Also watch for questions where the correct answer is that a step is blocked by missing approval or missing price list.
Worked example
A client buys 100 hours of a senior consultant at a list rate of 150 with a 10% line discount: the sell rate is 135. The internal cost rate is 90, so planned margin per hour is 45. If the resource is later booked at a cost of 100, margin falls to 35 - the quote did not change, only the delivery cost did.