# Send a proposal

Write a proposal with a fixed price or an hourly rate, send it in three steps, let your client accept or reject it online, and see what happens next (a project, and for a fixed price an invoice), plus the e-signature option, statuses, actions and email limits.

Source: https://vezmo.com/docs/run-your-business/proposals

## Overview

A proposal is your offer to a client: what you'll do, for how much, and when. You write it in the dashboard and we
email it to your client. They open it, read it, and select **Accept Proposal** or **Reject**, without creating an
account.

When your client accepts, Vezmo sets up what comes next: the proposal becomes a project, and a fixed-price proposal
also becomes an invoice, emailed to your client.

## How it works

1. You write the proposal in three steps: the offer and its price, the agreement terms, then the text your client
   reads.
2. You select **Send Proposal**. We email your client a link to it, and the proposal shows as **Sent**.
3. Your client opens the link and accepts or rejects the proposal. We email you either way.
4. If they accept, a project is created for the work. For a fixed price, an invoice is created and emailed to your
   client too.

## Create and send a proposal

Open **Proposals** in the menu and select **Create Proposal** at the top of the page (on a phone, **Add Proposal**
above the list).

1. **The offer and its price**
- **Proposal Title** (required), such as "Website redesign".
- **Search Existing Client** (required): pick who it's for from your **Active** clients, or select **+ Add Client**
  to add someone new.
- **Select Services / Products**: at least one item from your catalog, to show what the work covers. Each shows on
  the proposal with its own price; the proposal's total is the price you set below.
- **Multimedia introduction** (optional): a **YouTube link**, shown on the proposal as **Watch intro video**, and a
  **Profile bio**, a personal message shown above your description.
- **How do you charge?** **Fixed Price** (one payment for the whole job) or **Hourly Rate** (a rate per hour, billed
  later against the hours you work). Then the currency and **Your price**.

(Screenshot: Step 1 of 3 of a new proposal: Proposal Title Album pre-production, client Lucas Weber, the service Mix and master (per song), a profile bio, and on the right How do you charge? with Fixed Price picked, USD 1,500 and an estimated total of $1,500.00, and Continue to Next Step.)

Select **Continue to Next Step**. The proposal is saved as a draft from here on.

2. **Agreement & Payment Terms**
- **Agreement Name** (required).
- **Effective Date** (today, to start with) and **Expiry Date**: both are needed. The proposal shows the expiry date
  as its **Due Date**. If your client accepts, these become the project's start and end dates.
- **Introductory Text for Client** (optional).
- **Redirect URL** (optional): where your client goes after answering, such as a thank-you page on your website.
  Without one, they go to vezmo.com.
- **CC Email(s)** (optional): up to 10 other people to send a copy to, separated by commas. They can read the
  proposal but can't answer it.
- **Expiry Rule** (optional): a note in your own words, such as "Expires after 30 days".

(Screenshot: Step 2 of 3, Agreement and Payment Terms: Agreement details with Agreement Name Holiday jingle agreement, Effective Date and Expiry Date, Introductory Text for Client; Agreement settings with Redirect URL, CC Email(s) and Expiry Rule; and the Save as Draft and Create Proposal Template buttons.)

Select **Create Proposal Template** to go on, or **Save as Draft** to finish later.

3. **Review & Send**
Write the proposal itself under **Proposal description**: headings, bold and italic, lists, alignment and pictures.
The page shows it the way your client will see it, with the agreement name, dates and total under it. The summary on
the right shows the client, the agreement and the total.

Select **Send Proposal**. Your client gets an email with a link to review and accept, and the proposal shows as
**Sent**. Or select **Save as Draft** to keep it for later.

## Ask for an e-signature

On step 3, turn on **Require e-signature** to have your client sign before work starts. Then choose the document to
sign:

- **Auto-generate from proposal**: a PDF made from your proposal.
- **Upload custom PDF**: your own PDF, up to 10 MB.

(Screenshot: Step 3 of 3, Review and Send: the proposal Holiday jingle package on the left with its description editor, and on the right the summary, Require e-signature switched on, the choice Auto-generate from proposal or Upload custom PDF, and Continue to signing setup.)

Select **Continue to signing setup**. On the next page you add the people who sign, place a signature field for each
of them on the document, set when the signing invitation expires (end of day if you set no time), and select **Send
for signature**. From then on it is an agreement, and everything in [Agreements](/docs/run-your-business/agreements)
applies: what the signers see, ID checks, statuses and the signed copy. In **Agreements** it is marked as coming from
a proposal.

With **Require e-signature** on, your client signs instead of selecting Accept or Reject, so no project or invoice is
created for you. The proposal itself stays in your list as a draft.

## What your client sees

The email is titled with your proposal's name and says **Your proposal is ready**, with a short summary and a **View
Proposal** button. The link in it works for **24 hours**. After that, the page says the link can't be opened: send the
proposal again from your list (**Resend**) and your client gets a fresh link.

(Screenshot: The client's proposal page: Audiobook narration edit, book 2 from Northwind Audio to Amara Okafor, Sent, the profile bio, the description, the service Voiceover session, the agreement name, charge type Hourly, issued and due dates, the total, signature lines, and the Reject and Accept Proposal buttons.)

The page shows your business's name, who it's from and who it's to, your message and description, the services, the
agreement name, the charge type, the dates and the total. At the bottom:

- **Accept Proposal**: their answer is recorded with their name and email, and they go to your Redirect URL (or
  vezmo.com).
- **Reject**: the proposal turns **Rejected**, and they go to the same place.

Once they've answered, the buttons are gone. Opening the link again shows the proposal with its status.

People in **CC Email(s)** get their own email with a view-only link. It works for 14 days and has no Accept or Reject
buttons.

## After your client answers

### They accept

- The proposal turns **Accepted**, and we email **Your proposal was approved** to your business's account holder
  (unless they turned it off) and to anyone on your team who turned this email on in
  [Notifications](/docs/get-started/notifications#choose-what-reaches-you).
- A **project** is created for the client, **In Progress**, with the proposal's title, price, currency, charge type and
  dates. The project page links back to the proposal. See [Clients and projects](/docs/run-your-business/clients#projects).
- For a **fixed price**, an **invoice** for the full price is created and emailed to your client, due 10 days after
  the proposal's Effective Date, so if your client accepts later than that, it's already overdue when it's made. It
  works like any other [invoice](/docs/get-paid/invoices).
- For an **hourly rate**, no invoice is created, because the hours aren't known yet. When you have them, open the
  project and select **Create Invoice**: see
  [Invoice a client from a project](/docs/run-your-business/clients#invoice-a-client-from-a-project).

An accepted proposal can't be edited, and its price and currency can't change.

### They reject

The proposal turns **Rejected**, and we email **Your proposal was not approved** the same way. You can edit a rejected
proposal and send it again.

## Statuses

| Status | What it means |
| --- | --- |
| Draft | Not sent yet. You can edit or delete it. |
| Sent | Emailed to your client, waiting for their answer. |
| Accepted | Your client accepted. It can't be edited; you can only archive it. |
| Rejected | Your client said no. You can edit it and send it again. |
| Archive | Put away. Your client can no longer open or answer it, and it can't be taken out of Archive: **Duplicate** it to use it again. |

## Manage your proposals

**Proposals** lists every proposal with its client, email, status and last update. The cards at the top count
**Total Sent**, **Accepted**, **Rejected** and **Draft**. The filters show one status at a time, and **Search** finds a
proposal by its title or the client's name or email.

(Screenshot: The Proposals page: Total Sent, Accepted, Rejected and Draft cards, then All Proposals with the filters All, Accepted, Rejected, Sent, Draft and Archive, and three proposals: Holiday jingle package, Draft; Audiobook narration edit, book 2, Sent, with its menu open showing View, Resend, Duplicate, Download PDF and Archive; Season 3 sound design, Accepted.)

Open the menu (⋮) on a row:

| Action | When | What it does |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **View** | Always | Opens the proposal. |
| **Edit** | Draft or Rejected | Opens the three steps again. |
| **Resend** | Sent | Emails your client a new link. After each send, wait a minute before the next one. |
| **Duplicate** | Always | Makes a copy, named "(Copy)", as a new draft. |
| **Download PDF** | Always | Downloads the proposal as a PDF. |
| **Archive** | Not archived | Moves it to **Archive**. |
| **Delete** | Draft | Deletes the draft. |

## Test mode

Proposals you create in the dashboard are always live. Test proposals are made with a test API key: they carry a
**Test mode** mark, they're emailed only to people on your team, and the invoice made when one is accepted is paid
with test cards. See [Test mode and live mode](/docs/get-started/test-mode).

## Email limits

Each proposal can be emailed once a minute. Your business can also send a set number of invoice and proposal emails
in 24 hours, and every CC address counts as one. If you reach it, the message tells you when you can send more. To
send more each day, [contact support](https://user.vezmo.com/supports).

When you select **Send Proposal** on step 3, the proposal shows **Sent** even if a limit stopped its email that time.
If your client didn't get it, select **Resend** once you can send again.

## Questions

### My client says the link doesn't work

Links in proposal emails expire after 24 hours. Select **Resend** in the proposal's menu to email a fresh link.

### Can I change a proposal after sending it?

Not while it's **Sent**. Wait for your client's answer: a rejected proposal can be edited and sent again. To offer
something different now, **Duplicate** it, change the copy and send that, then **Archive** the first one.

### My client agreed by phone. Can I mark it accepted?

Not in the dashboard. Developers can record an answer given outside Vezmo through the
[API](https://user.vezmo.com/docs/v1/proposals/mark-accepted); it creates the same project and invoice.

### Does a proposal expire?

Only its email link does, after 24 hours, and a new one is a **Resend** away. The Expiry Date shows on the proposal
as its Due Date, but it doesn't stop your client from answering after that day.

## Related

- [Clients and projects](/docs/run-your-business/clients)
- [Agreements](/docs/run-your-business/agreements)
- [Send an invoice](/docs/get-paid/invoices)