Quotes and invoices

Bill from the request, in the order you work

Most service teams keep the work in one tool and the money in another, so every invoice starts with copying the scope out of an email thread. In Zendo the quote or invoice comes out of the request the client already opened, and the client approves and pays in the same portal, in whatever order you work: quote first, invoice at the end, or a deposit now and the rest later.

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From the request

Put the price where the work was asked for

A client writes "could you also prepare the quarterly review?" halfway through a request, and the usual next step is a detour: an invoicing app, a PDF, an email that ends up three replies away from the conversation. In Zendo, + Quote and + Invoice sit on the request itself. The document you send shows up in the thread, in the request's Invoicing tab and on the client's profile, so nobody retypes the scope and nobody wonders which version the client saw.

Send the quote from the conversation that asked for it

When the client asks for something extra in the middle of a thread, whoever handles billing clicks + Quote or + Invoice on that same request. The document lands in the conversation as a card with its status, so the client sees it where they asked, and your team sees whether it was approved or paid without opening another tool. Every invoice card in the feed also offers Create similar invoice, so next month's starts from this one instead of a blank page.

Build the services you quote from

Let the client say yes to the price in one click

The client opens the quote in your portal and sees the scope, the dates you expect to start and finish, how long the price stands and how they'll pay. They approve it or decline it right there, and the decision is recorded on the quote and in the order's history. Quote approval is the one sign-off Zendo asks of a client; progress on the work itself is followed through the request.

Build the quote from items you already priced

Import the line items of one of your services and adjust them, or start from blank lines. Each quote carries its own issue date, valid-until date, expected start and completion, currency, tax, a note and the one payment method this document accepts. Leave Link to existing Order blank and the quote starts a new order; pick an order and it joins the engagement that's already running.

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Payment terms

Bill up front, at the end, or a slice at a time

A $400 one-off job gets paid before anyone starts on it. A $24,000 engagement doesn't, and the monthly retainer only gets invoiced once the monthly report is out. Zendo doesn't pick one of these for you. What a client's yes sets off is decided per quote, and a big job can be billed in as many invoices as it has stages, all on the same order.

Paid before work starts

Set the quote to collect payment with the approval, and the client pays by card in the same step as saying yes; the paid invoice follows on its own. Or skip the quote and send an invoice they can pay right away. Either way the work begins with the money already in, which suits fixed-price jobs and clients you haven't worked with before.

A deposit, then milestones

Once the $24,000 quote is approved, send an invoice for the 40% deposit, then another when the first stage is delivered and the last one at handover. Each invoice is linked to the same order with Link to existing Order, so the client pays in stages they can live with, and the order lists which parts are paid and which are still to come.

Invoiced when you say so

Let the client approve now and bill later, after delivery or at the end of the month, whenever your contract says. With no automatic action after approval nothing goes out on its own, and the approved quote stays in the request's Invoicing tab until you add the invoice from the same request.

Orders

One order, however many invoices it takes

A bigger engagement rarely bills once. There's the deposit before work starts, then the client asks for something extra halfway through and approves a change-request quote for it, then the final invoice at handover. In Zendo all of that sits on one order: what was sold, every quote and invoice, every payment and when it came in, with the request where the actual work happens linked from both sides. Orders that start from a Front Desk purchase land in the same list, marked with where they came from.

The request keeps the work, the order keeps the money

Statuses, messages, files and checklists stay on the request, where your team spends the day. The request keeps its quotes and invoices in the Invoicing tab, and the order lists its requests with a way back to each, so whoever handles billing and the people doing the work look at the same job, each from their own side.

How requests work

The client sees the same documents you do

On the client's side, the quotes waiting for approval, the invoices to pay and the orders sit as cards on their portal dashboard, and inside each request under Invoicing. Someone on Northwind's finance team can check what was bought and what's still open without emailing your project manager for a copy.

Payments

Take card or wire, with no cut for Zendo

Lumen Bakery pays in ten seconds from a phone. Halden & Co pays every invoice by bank transfer, because their finance team won't type a card number into anything. Zendo handles both: card payments run through your own Stripe account, and manual methods put your bank or PayPal details right on the invoice. Zendo takes no percentage of either, so the only fee on a card payment is Stripe's own.

Mark it paid when the money lands

When the transfer from Halden & Co reaches your bank, open the invoice and click Record payment in the bar at the top. The invoice and its order switch to paid, the payment goes into the order's history, and the client sees the invoice as paid in their portal. Until then the invoice stays awaiting payment, so a wire that hasn't arrived is never mistaken for one that has.

Connect your Stripe account

And the paperwork around it:

Your numbering, your letterhead

Set your numbering format with a prefix and suffix, give documents their own logo or none at all, and put your seller details and a footer note on every document, with the option to change the seller details on a single one. Your accountant gets numbers that follow your system, not Zendo's.

Tax and currency that fit the client

Currency and tax are chosen on each quote and invoice, so a client in another country gets a document in their own currency with the right tax, while everyone else's stay as they were.

A nudge, when you decide to send one

Unpaid invoices and unanswered quotes wait on your Dashboard under Waiting for client. Open one and Remind client, in the bar at the top of the document, drafts a message you finish in your own words and send yourself, so a polite nudge never goes out at the wrong moment or in the wrong tone.

Your Questions Answered

Quotes and invoices questions

Does Zendo take a fee on payments?

No. Zendo charges no transaction fees on any plan. Card payments go through your own Stripe account and carry Stripe's standard processing fee, which goes to Stripe. Manual payments such as bank transfers carry no fee from Zendo at all.

Can clients approve a quote in the portal?

Yes. The client opens the quote in your portal, sees the line items, total, expected dates and payment method, and approves or declines it. Quote approval is the only approval step in Zendo; progress on the work itself is followed through the request's status and conversation.

Does an approved quote become an invoice automatically?

Only if you want it to. Each quote has an "After quote acceptance" setting with three options: create an invoice to collect payment, collect payment with the quote and then create a paid invoice, or take no automatic action and invoice later yourself.

Can I take a deposit and bill the rest in milestones?

Yes. After the client approves the quote, send an invoice for the deposit and then one invoice for each milestone as the work reaches it. Every invoice can be linked to the same order, so the order shows each part, what has been paid and what is still to bill.

Can clients pay by bank transfer or PayPal?

Yes. Add manual payment methods with your own instructions, such as bank details or a PayPal address. The client sees them on the quote or invoice, and you mark the payment as received in Zendo when the money arrives.

What is an order in Zendo?

An order is the commercial record of a piece of work: what the client bought, every quote and invoice, each payment and the history of changes. One order can hold many quotes and invoices, and it is linked both ways with the requests where the work is done.

Do I need Front Desk to send quotes and invoices?

No. Most teams send quotes and invoices from a request or from the client's profile. When a client does buy a service on Front Desk or through the service's own order link, Zendo creates the order at checkout with Front Desk as its source, and issues an invoice after payment if the service is set to. The After purchase timeline in the service editor shows that sequence before you publish the service.

Send the bill in the order you already work

Open a request, send a quote or an invoice from it, and let the client approve and pay in your own portal.

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