Quote and Invoice Automation

The Challenge

• Every quote and invoice was filled in, formatted and sent by hand, one to two hours each
• Each school had its own fee model and rates, so lessons and amounts due were calculated manually and errors crept in
• Invoice status and records were spread across several spreadsheets, so it was hard to see which invoices had gone out and which were still unpaid

Background: The client is a Hong Kong debate and public speaking company that runs Chinese debate teams, interest classes and competition training for primary and secondary schools across Hong Kong. As partner schools grew, so did the admin. The founder was handling a large volume of repetitive quoting and billing, time that should have gone into curriculum and growing the business.

The Solution

Approach

• The client only fills in Google Sheets. The system creates the PDF and email draft in the background, keeping the steps to a minimum
• Started in draft mode so the client reviews each email before sending, with the option to go fully automatic later, balancing speed and control
• All emails go out from the client's own Gmail account, so they do not land in spam
• Used Make.com with almost no tool costs, compared with about HK$1,560 a month for a comparable option

Core Components

1. Google Sheets invoice dashboard: five tabs (schools, lesson records, invoice dashboard, competitions and extra services, invoice history) bring all quoting and billing data together, calculating lessons and amounts due from each school's fee model and rates
2. One-click invoice PDF: Make.com reads the dashboard, fills a Google Docs invoice template and exports a PDF
3. Automatic Gmail drafts: the system creates an email draft with the invoice PDF attached in the client's own Gmail, ready to review and send
4. Status written back: after each run, the send status and PDF link are written back to the invoice history tab, so every invoice is tracked in one place

The Outcome

• Time saved: each quote or invoice went from one to two hours of manual work to one click after filling in the sheet
• Tool cost comparison: this solution has almost no tool costs; a comparable option was about HK$1,560 a month
• Capacity: Make.com includes 1,000 credits a month and each run uses 3 to 5, so about 200 to 330 free runs a month
• A different way of working: scattered manual admin became one trackable automated system, freeing the founder to focus on teaching and growth
• Working together: the client came away with clearer thinking and more confidence in what automation can do

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