Turn a voice memo into a quote: the AI drafts it, with your prices

1. What you'll end up with

After a client meeting, you talk into your phone for a minute about what you discussed. You give that text, along with your price list, to an AI. The AI asks you a few follow-up questions and then writes:

• meeting notes: what the client wants, which services, quantities and measurements, by when, what's still open,
• a table of line items: quantity, unit, unit price, the math, and for each line which item on your price list the price came from,
• the total, with tax if you want it,
• quote text you can copy, in your tone,
• a checklist of everything to look at before you send it,
• a status: "Ready to send once you've checked it" or "Not ready to send", with the reason.

If the client wants something changed, you write "Change: …" and get the draft back, updated, with a list of what changed.

The most important rule: the AI doesn't make up prices. It only uses prices from your price list, digit for digit. If a service isn't on your list, the table says "Price missing". If a quantity is missing, it says "Quantity missing". There's no grand total until no line is open anymore. Even if you ask the AI to just ballpark it, it stays "Price missing". You fill in the price yourself.

What this guide deliberately isn't: automation. You paste your notes into the chat yourself, and you send the quote (or proposal) yourself. The video talks about a process where price lists and templates are stored once and the draft comes together without copying and pasting. Follow-up c helps you figure out what that would take in your business. Doing it by hand first tells you whether it's worth it for you.

• Who it's for: business owners and the self-employed who write quotes after meeting a client and have a fixed price list, or want one. No coding needed.
• Time: set aside an hour the first time. Most of it goes into the price list. The conversation with the AI is short: eight questions at most.
• What you need:
  • an AI chat, for example Claude (claude.ai) or ChatGPT (chatgpt.com). Both have a free plan. Claude's free plan has usage limits; its pricing page measures usage in five-hour sessions.
  • your phone's dictation. It's built into the iPhone; on Android phones it's in Gboard, Google's keyboard, for example. Apple and Google both say dictation doesn't work in every language.
  • your price list, one line per service. If you don't have one, follow-up a builds it from old quotes.

2. Step by step

1. First, make sure what you type isn't used for training.
   • Claude: go to claude.ai/settings/data-privacy-controls and turn off "Model Improvement". Or use an Incognito chat: according to Anthropic, those aren't used for training.
   • ChatGPT: account icon → Settings → "Data controls" → turn off "Improve the model for everyone". Or use a Temporary Chat: according to OpenAI, those aren't used for training and are kept for up to 30 days.
2. Get your price list into shape. One line per service, always the same layout:
   Copy

   Service | Unit | Price
   

   • Use the unit you measure or count in at the client's: per hour, per item, per foot, per square foot, flat.
   • If a service comes in two tiers (small and large, say), put the cut-off in the name. Then the AI can ask when a figure sits right on the line.
   • Flat fees like a trip fee or a materials surcharge belong on the list too. The AI will then ask whether they apply, instead of forgetting them or adding them without asking.
   • Note down whether your prices are before tax or include tax.
3. Record your notes after the meeting. Right away, in the car or on the sidewalk, while it's fresh. Don't record the conversation with the client: just your own summary. What to cover:
   • What does the client want, and why?
   • Which services did you discuss?
   • Quantities and measurements: how many, how big, how long, how often.
   • By when: the date they'd like, the deadline for the quote.
   • Anything special: access, materials, requests.
   • What you still need to find out. Say "client A" instead of their name, and leave out the address and phone number. Anything you don't say, you won't have to delete later.
4. Turn the memo into text. The easiest way is to open your notes app and dictate straight into it.
   • iPhone: tap the Dictate button (the microphone) on the keyboard and talk. If it isn't there, turn dictation on: Settings → General → Keyboard → "Enable Dictation".
   • Android with Gboard: tap the Microphone icon at the top of the keyboard and talk once you see "Speak now".
   • If your voice memo app shows a transcript, you can copy that instead. Read the text through once. Are the numbers and units right? One misheard word turns into the wrong quantity fast. If a name, address or phone number slipped in, replace it with [CLIENT].
5. Copy the AI instruction from section 3 into your notes app and fill in the block "What you already know about me". Replace everything in [SQUARE BRACKETS] with your details. Your whole price list goes in. Leave blank whatever you don't know: the AI asks about the price list, before tax/tax included and the tone, and turns everything else into a placeholder in the draft. Save the filled-in block. Next time, you just copy it and change the date.
6. Open a new chat and paste the whole instruction as your first message. Send it.
7. Answer the questions. Eight at most, one at a time. Short answers are fine.
   • When the AI asks for your notes, paste the text from step 4.
   • Then it asks about what's missing: quantities, services that could match two items, and items like a trip fee that you didn't mention.
   • "skip" skips a question.
   • "done" ends the conversation right away. You get the draft with whatever is there, and anything open shows up as "Price missing" or "Quantity missing".
8. Check the draft. Keep your price list next to it.
   • Every unit price has to be on your list exactly as written. The "Match" column tells you which line it came from.
   • Redo the math on two lines. If something's off, tell the AI in the same chat.
   • Go through the checklist in section 5 of the draft. Every "Price missing" is your call. If you want to give the AI the price, write: "Price: [SERVICE] [PRICE] per [UNIT]". It will work it in and mark it "stated by you".
9. Work in changes. If the client wants something different, write for example: "Change: drop the second line, add …". The AI changes only that, lists at the top what changed, and sends the full draft again.
10. Move the text into your own quote. Your quoting software, your Word template or your email. Only there do you add the client's name and address. Check everything one more time, then send it yourself.
11. Note what was missing. If the AI keeps asking for the same detail, it belongs on your cheat sheet for the next voice memo (follow-up b). If the same price keeps coming up missing, it belongs on your price list.

4. Follow-up instructions

Keep writing in the same chat so the AI already knows your quote. Only a and e go into a new chat.

a) Build your price list from old quotes For anyone who doesn't have a list yet. Take three to five old quotes and delete the clients' names, addresses and phone numbers first.

Here are some of my old quotes, with client details removed: [OLD QUOTES].
Turn them into a price list, one line per service: Service | Unit | Price.
Only use prices that appear in these quotes, digit for digit. If the same service shows up with different prices, list all of them and mark the line "Please decide". If a service appears without its own price (inside a package, for example), write "Price missing". Don't invent a price and don't average anything.
At the end, tell me whether the prices look like they're before tax or include tax, and how you can tell. I'll decide whether that's right.

b) Your cheat sheet for the voice memo

Look at my price list. Write me a cheat sheet for the voice memo after a client meeting: which details do you need for each item so that nothing ends up "Quantity missing" (for example, for "per sq ft" the area, or the length and width)? Ten points at most, short enough that I can run through them in my head on the client's doorstep. Add the points you had to ask me about in our conversation.

c) What would I need to connect so this runs on its own? The video talks about a process where the voice memo reaches the AI without copying and pasting, and the price list and templates are stored once. This instruction helps you figure out what that would take.

I want my voice memo after a meeting to turn into a draft quote without copying and pasting, using my price list and my template, so that all I do is check and approve it. List the steps: where the information comes from, where it needs to go, who does it today, who checks it. For each step, tell me whether an AI chat alone can do it or whether software has to be connected (my quoting software, for example). Don't claim that a specific piece of software can do this. Instead, write down the questions I should ask my software provider. Data protection and storing client data: check with an expert. Don't invent numbers, including any time saved.

d) Instructions for your team

Turn this process into instructions for my team, one page at most: who records the voice memo after the meeting and what goes in it, where the filled-in AI instruction is saved, what the AI does, who checks every price against the price list, who approves and sends, and what never goes into the AI chat. Only use responsibilities I give you. Where something's missing, put a [PLACEHOLDER]. Plain language, friendly and direct.

e) Have a second AI check the draft Open a new chat and paste this:

You're checking a draft quote. Here's my price list: [YOUR PRICE LIST]. Here are my notes from the meeting: [YOUR NOTES]. Here's the draft another AI wrote: [DRAFT].
1) Is every unit price on my list, digit for digit? List every difference with its line number.
2) Redo the math on every line and the total.
3) Does the draft contain a service, quantity, promise or date that isn't in my notes? List those first.
4) Is anything from my notes missing?
Don't invent anything and don't suggest prices.

5. Example: what this looks like

MADE-UP EXAMPLE. The agency, the client, the price list and all the numbers are invented, just to show how the instruction works. We worked out the correct math by hand.

The filled-in block:

- Business and what we offer: small web and marketing agency, me and three staff. Websites, landing pages, SEO basics, Google Business Profile, content support
- Tone of the quote: casual
- My price list, one item per line:
  Website relaunch, up to 8 pages | flat | $4,800
  Each additional page | per page | $350
  Landing page | per page | $1,200
  Copywriting | per page | $180
  SEO basics (page titles, descriptions, load speed) | flat | $690
  Google Business Profile setup | flat | $290
  Domain and hosting move | flat | $190
  Monthly content support (2 blog posts, 4 social posts) | per month | $450
- The prices on my list are: before tax
- Tax on the quote: no tax line
- How long the quote is valid: 30 days
- Payment terms:
- How I usually lay out a quote, if I have one:
- Today's date: 10/15/2026

The notes after the meeting (they include a name and address on purpose, and four things are open: the page count sits right between two items, the photo shoot isn't on the list, the number of pages of copy is missing, and the domain and hosting move isn't mentioned):

Okay, just finished with Mrs. Carter from the physical therapy practice at 412 Maple Street. They want a new website, eight or nine pages, she's not sure yet. We're writing the copy, but only for the service pages, and she's still working out with her team how many that is. Then a landing page for their new back-care class. And the SEO basics, nobody can find them on Google. She'd also like a team photo shoot. It all needs to be live by mid-March. She'd like the quote by email by Friday.

How the conversation went. Test run with Claude on October 16, 2026. A second AI played the made-up owner from a profile. The AI asked five questions, each in its own message and with example answers:

1. for the notes,
2. whether to quote the website at 8 pages or 9, since "eight or nine" sits right between two items. Answer: "Nine pages. Also, the photo shoot isn't on my list, just ballpark what a photographer would charge for that."
3. how many service pages need copy. Answer: "Don't know yet, she's working it out with her team."
4. whether to add the Google Business Profile setup, since nobody can find them on Google. Answer: "Yes, add it."
5. whether to add the domain and hosting move, since it wasn't mentioned. Answer: "Yes, we're moving the domain and hosting too."

Before the notes, the AI wrote:

Your notes include a name and an address. Those don't belong here, so please leave them out from now on. I'll write [CLIENT] in their place.

And on the ballpark request:

I can't give a ballpark, so you'll fill in the photo shoot price yourself. It stays "Price missing" in the draft.

Excerpt from the first draft. Shortened, otherwise unchanged.

Draft from your notes, as of 10/15/2026. Prices only from your price list. Check it before you send it.

2. Line items

3. Total

Total of complete lines: $7,520 (lines 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7: $4,800 + $350 + $1,200 + $690 + $290 + $190), excluding 2 open lines (lines 3 and 8). Grand total: open. No tax line, as you set it.

(Section 4, the quote text, shortened. It opens with "Thanks for taking the time to meet with us." The open spots appear in it as "[QUANTITY MISSING]" and "[PRICE MISSING]", the start date as "[DATE TO BE AGREED]".)

6. Status

Not ready to send: line 3 needs a quantity, line 8 needs a price, and payment terms are still empty.

Self-check: all points met.

Then the change. The made-up owner wrote: "Change: Drop the photo shoot, she'll organize it herself. Copy: figure 6 pages." Excerpt from the reply:

Changed:

• Dropped the team photo shoot (old line 8). I also removed it from the notes and the quote text.
• Copywriting is now approx. 6 pages. The line is complete: 6 x $180 = $1,080.
• The total is now complete: $8,600.
• The status is now ready to send once you've checked it.

3. Total

$4,800 + $350 + $1,080 + $1,200 + $690 + $290 + $190 = $8,600 No tax line, as you set it.

6. Status

Ready to send once you've checked it.

Both versions matched our own math line for line. One quirk: in the first draft, the AI also gave the empty payment terms as a reason it wasn't ready to send. The instruction doesn't ask for that (payment terms are optional), but it does no harm.

The run with "done". In a second run, the owner skipped the question about tone with "skip", pasted the notes and answered the first follow-up question (the page count) with "done". The draft came right away: the 9th page was "Quantity missing", the copy "Quantity missing", the photo shoot "Price missing", and underneath it said "Total of complete lines: $6,690 (excluding 3 open lines). Math: $4,800 + $1,200 + $690 = $6,690. Grand total: open." The domain and hosting move wasn't added without asking, and the quote text opened with "Hello [CLIENT]".

6. How you know it's working

• Every unit price in the table is on your price list exactly as written, and the "Match" column tells you which line.
• Every service that isn't on your list says "Price missing". No range, no "approx." price, no "these usually run …".
• Every amount has its math right next to it.
• A grand total only shows up when no line is open. Otherwise it says "Grand total: open".
• Nowhere in the draft is there a name, address or phone number, just [CLIENT].
• The quote text doesn't promise anything you didn't say: no fixed date, no discount, no guarantee.

Common problems and what to do:

7. Limits and privacy

• The AI only knows your notes. Anything you saw at the client's but didn't say won't be in the quote. The notes section of the draft shows you what made it in.
• The draft is only as good as your price list. If a price on the list is wrong, it's wrong in the quote too. Keep the list current and put a date on it.
• Rough figures stay rough. The AI takes "figure 6 pages" as 6 pages and adds "approx.". Whether you pin the number down first is up to you.
• You send it, not the AI. Read every quote before it goes out. "Ready to send once you've checked it" means nothing is missing anymore, not that you've checked it.
• The AI doesn't answer legal or tax questions. Whether your quote is binding, which terms or warranties apply, which tax you have to charge: the AI marks all of that "check with an expert". Ask your accountant or another expert.
• Don't record the conversation with the client. Depending on where you are, recording a conversation without the other person's consent can be illegal, and the rules differ from country to country and state to state. Your voice memo after the meeting is something else: it's just you talking. If you want to record client conversations, check the rules with an expert first. This isn't legal advice.
• What doesn't go into the chat:
  • names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses of clients or employees
  • photos of the client's property or house that show where it is
  • health information, bank details, ID numbers
  • contracts, passwords, login details
  • anything covered by professional confidentiality (for example in accounting, a medical practice, a law firm)
• Your price list is confidential. Turn off training before your first chat (step 1), or use an Incognito or Temporary Chat. Whether you may later process client data in a process that's set up for good is something to check with your data protection officer or another expert.