What Is Quote vs Indication?

The distinction is about commitment. An indication says "a risk like this probably prices around here," based on partial information, and binds nobody. A quote follows a complete submission, loss runs, applications, supplementals, and represents terms the carrier will actually issue.

In practice the gap between them is where commercial sales cycles stretch. A producer can get an indication quickly to test a prospect's seriousness, but converting it to a bindable quote requires the document chase: loss runs from the incumbent, updated payrolls, signed applications. Prospects who hear an indication and expect it to be the final number churn when full underwriting moves the price; producers who set the expectation correctly use the indication as a commitment device to justify the paperwork.

For meeting qualification, this is why a booked first meeting is scoped as a discovery conversation, not a quote presentation: no honest number exists yet at that stage, and pretending otherwise sets the relationship up to break at underwriting.