Configure Request for Quote
The Request for Quote (RFQ) feature lets a website visitor request pricing for a product or group of products from a sales representative, giving the sales representative an opportunity to offer special pricing. For more information on RFQ, see Get started with Request for Quote.
The following list outlines the required steps to configure RFQ. Some of these steps may already be complete as a part of the configuration for other features:
Note
If a sales representative provides a price quote on a product, any available promotions are disallowed. Additionally, any promotions applied to an order prior to submitting a quote request will be removed.
Enable RFQ
The following settings both enable RFQ as well as control various behaviors.
- Go to Admin Console > Administration > System > Settings.
- Type the Setting Name into the Search box, then select and update the following settings:
- Request for Quote – If ON, the RFQ feature is enabled and buyers can submit quotes.
- Display Customer Price – If YES, sales representatives are able to see the product customer price within the quote calculator.
- Display List Price – If YES, sales representatives are able to see the product list price within the quote calculator.
- Display Unit Cost – If YES, unit cost and margin display for sales representatives and the above margin calculation can be applied using the quote calculator.
- Days to Quote Expiration – The number of days that a buyer has to accept a quote proposal before it expires.
Create a sales representative manually
In addition to enabling the website to use RFQ, you must create a sales representative. You can do this manually, as shown below, or by importing a sales representative list from an Excel file.
The instructions below are for creating a sales representative manually:
- Go to Admin Console > Sales > Sales Representatives.
- Click Add Sales Rep.
- Enter the Sales Rep Number and Name.
- As a best practice, complete the following fields as well:
- Email – The sales representative's email address.
- User Profile – If the sales representative is not attached to a user profile, they will not have access to quotes.
- Min Margin Allowed – This is the minimum amount the sales representative must make on the sale of a product based on the product cost.
- Max Discount Percent – This is the maximum amount a product can be discounted by a sales representative.
- Click Save.
Note
If a user is associated directly to a sales representative, they will see the list of customers who are assigned to that sales representative, rather than seeing the list of customers that are assigned to that user.
(Optional) Set the minimum margin allowed and maximum discount percent
When configuring RFQ, there is an option to set the maximum discount percentage and the minimum margin for the sales representative.
The maximum discount percentage is a numeric value that identifies the discount percentage off of the amount listed in the Basic List Price field, which is not displayed by default. This is managed by entering the appropriate value in the Maximum Discount Percentage field on the Sales Rep page.
The minimum margin allowed is the minimum margin the sales representative must make on an order, which you can set in the Minimum Margin Allowed field.
The minimum margin is based on the Unit Cost field in the product warehouse:
- Go to Admin Console > Catalog > Products.
- Edit the product and select the Warehouses tab.
- Edit the desired warehouse and populate the Unit Cost field.
- Click Save.
Note
If the basic list price and unit cost are not used on the website, then the Maximum Discount and Minimum Margin settings will not work.
Assign a user to sales representative
The next step in configuring RFQ is to assign a user profile to a sales representative's user ID. You can do this by importing a user list from an Excel file or by manually entering the user ID records.
The instructions below are for assigning a user profile to a sales representative manually, with the assumption that a sales representative account already exists:
- Go to Admin Console > Sales > Sales Reps.
- Edit the desired sales representative.
- From the User Profile drop-down list, select the desired user.
- Click Save.
Identify the default sales representative
When setting up RFQ, the Sales Rep setting must have a value. The default sales representative receives any RFQs submitted by customers who do not have a uniquely defined sales representative assigned to them.
- Go to Admin Console > Administration > System > Settings.
- Search for Sales Rep.
- Select the desired value from the menu.
Note
The sales representative that is being used as the default needs to have a valid user profile assigned. To validate this, go to Sales > Sales Reps > [Sales Rep Profile] > User Profile.
Assign a sales representative to a customer
After you have a sales representative created, assign that sales representative to a customer:
- Go to Admin Console > Customers.
- Click Edit for the desired customer.
- Go to Details > Other Information.
- In the Primary Sales Rep field, select the sales representative from the drop-down list.
- Click Save.
Assign a sales manager
It is best practice to assign a sales manager. Sales managers are simply sales representatives who are assigned as the sales manager for other sales representatives. Sales managers typically have elevated discount capabilities over sales representatives (controlled by role assignments). They can also serve as an intermediary between the sales representatives and customers, as they can see all the quotes and information for each sales representative to whom they are assigned.
- Go to Admin Console > Sales > Sales Reps.
- Click Edit for the sales representative that you want to set as a sales manager.
- In the Sales Manager field, select the number of the desired sales manager.
- Complete other data on the sales representative.
- Click Save.
View sales representative quotes as a sales manager
Sales managers can view, update, and propose quotes for RFQs submitted by customers to their assigned sales representatives.
- Log into your website and go to My Account > My Quotes.
- Click Search Quotes.
- Select a sales representative from the Sales Rep drop-down list.
- Click Search to view that sales representative's quotes.