How to offer discounts to your clients

In this article, you'll learn how to give a client a discount on a job or an estimate, and how that discount ends up on the invoice. It's useful when you're matching a competitor's quote, thanking a repeat customer or making up for a rough day on the job.

Every discount can be a dollar amount or a percentage. A percentage stays a percentage, so if you add or remove items later, the dollars off update on their own. A dollar amount stays exactly what you typed.

Note: This article covers discounts you add by hand to a single job or estimate.

Adding a discount to a job

You set a job's discount from the Finance tab on a phone. That works in the phone app and in the CRM on your phone's browser. On a computer, the Discount box in the job's Items tab shows the discount, but you can't change it there.

To add a discount to a job:

  1. Open the job.
  2. Tap the Finance tab.
  3. Tap Items to open it.
  4. In the totals under your items, tap Discount.
  5. In the Set discount sheet, tap % for a percentage or $ for a dollar amount.
  6. Type the number in the Discount box.
  7. Check the button underneath. It shows what the discount comes to both ways, for example Apply $25.00 (10.00%).
  8. Tap the button to apply it.

The Discount line in the totals now shows the amount and the percentage, and the Total and Due update to match.

Tip: To take a discount off, open Set discount again, clear the box (or type 0) and apply it.
Note: In the phone app, you only see the Finance tab if your role can see financial data. If it's missing, ask an admin on your account.

Adding a discount to an estimate

Estimates have the same choice of dollars or a percentage, right in the totals. This works on a computer and in the phone app.

To add a discount to an estimate:

  1. Open the estimate.
  2. Scroll down to the totals under the items.
  3. Next to Discount, choose $ or %.
  4. Type the number in the box.
  5. Click or tap anywhere outside the box. The discount saves on its own and the total updates.

When you use a percentage and the dollars come to something, you'll see a small "$x off" line under the discount so you know what it works out to.

Adding a discount to an estimate

A few things to know:

  • Optional items don't count toward the discount, because they aren't in the total until the client takes them.
  • You can't change the discount once the estimate has been turned into a job. The same goes for an approved estimate if your account locks approved estimates.
  • When you create a job from an estimate, the discount comes across with it. A percentage stays a percentage on the job.

How discounts show up on invoices

When you create an invoice from a job, it takes the job's discount along with its items, tax and total. You don't add a discount to the invoice separately.

While that invoice is still open (not paid in full or voided), it keeps up with the job. If you change the discount on the job, the open invoice changes with it. That way the client never pays a number you've already changed. Once the invoice is paid, it stays as it was.

Tip: If a client asks for a discount after you've sent the invoice, change it on the job. The open invoice picks up the new total.

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