Quotes & contracts
A large share of B2B revenue never goes straight through a checkout. The basket is too heavy for a parcel, an article has no list price, the quantity is past what the catalogue covers, or a customer phones instead of visiting the shop. In each case somebody has to put a price on it, and the buyer has to say yes before an order exists.
That is what the quotes app does. A buyer sends a basket in from the shop, or your sales team opens a quote for a customer who called. You price it, with freight and a validity date. The buyer takes it whole or line by line, and the order receives the negotiated prices. You find the quotes under Order Management › Quotes and their number ranges under Configuration › Quote number ranges.
A quote covers one deal. A price that should hold for a customer over months is a contract price on a price list. Quotes and contract prices explains where one stops and the other starts.
If you are building this out from nothing, Automate quote-to-order walks the same ground as a project plan.
Understand
- The quote lifecycle: requested, in review, quoted, accepted or partially accepted, declined, rejected or expired.
- Quotes and contract prices: one deal against a standing price, and why an accepted quote does not create a price list.
- Request for quote in B2B: why buyers ask, and the two ways a quote starts.
Set up
- Quote settings: validity, grace period, partial acceptance, who may accept, revisions, numbering and permissions.
Work with it
- Handle a quote request: take it on, price it, send it, or refuse it with a reason.
- Negotiate and revise: revisions, internal and customer notes, attachments.
- From an accepted quote to an order: what acceptance hands over, and how the order is linked back.
Keep it healthy
- Reading your quotes: what the quote list tells you, filtered by status, origin and date.
- Common quote problems: expired quotes, refused acceptances, freight charged twice or not at all.