Get started with 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. The user can add a mix of products that do and do not require quotes to their cart. From the cart, the user can check out and purchase products not requiring a quote, as well as submit a quote request for the products that require it to a sales representative.
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 are removed.
When a user requests a quote, the sales representative and the associated sales manager are notified, upon their next login, through a visual note at the top of the website.
If a sales representative places a request for quote in error, they may delete the quote by selecting Delete Sales Quote at the bottom of the Quote Details page (My Account > My Quotes > select a quote). Once you process a sales quote, you cannot delete it.
After reviewing the RFQ, the sales representative or sales manager may enter a unit value or a calculated value based on either discount or margin (maximum discount and minimum margin are configurable settings). Once the sales representative or sales manager has submitted the quote proposal, the requester can review and accept the quote. Once accepted, the order is then added to the cart and the requester can check out.
Note
If you apply quantity break pricing to a quote, but do not click Submit Sales Quote, the quote requestor can see the quoted item but not take action on it.
It is important to remember that the users involved in the RFQ process are not required to have any specific roles assigned to them. The RFQ process is entirely dependent on the construct of the sales representative and its assignments. The following are the descriptions of the users involved in the RFQ process:
- Requester – The user submitting the RFQ.
- Sales Representative – A user who's profile has been assigned to a sales representative.
- Sales Manager – Similar to a sales representative, the sales manager has been assigned to a specific user profile. A sales manager is simply an existing sales representative that has been identified as a sales manager for one or more sales representatives. Sales managers can view, update, and propose quotes for all RFQs for their assigned sales representatives by logging into their site, going to My Account > My Quotes, clicking Search Quotes, and selecting a sales representative from the Sales Rep drop-down list. Click Search to view that sales representative's quotes.
- Default Sales Representative – A sales representative that has been designated, through the Sales Representative setting, as the default sales representative when one has not been directly assigned to a customer. This setting conveniently provides a menu of available sales representatives.
Business process
RFQ follows two distinct processes:
- Customers requesting a quote for a product.
- Sales representatives and sales managers creating quote proposals for customers.
The process flow for a customer requesting a quote is detailed below:
In this process, regular or quote-required products are added to the cart. If the cart does not have any quote-required products, the user can proceed through checkout as normal or request a quote. If the cart contains only quote required products, the user must submit a RFQ to the assigned sales representative and sales manager. The sales representative and sales manager are notified on their next login to the website that a quote requires review. The sales representative or the sales manager then review and price the quoted product and send the proposal to the requester. The requester then receives a notification that they have a quote to review. They can either accept or reject the quote. If the quote is accepted, the item is added to the cart as an order and they can check out. If the requester rejects the quote, the sales representative and sales manager are notified again to start the process over.
The sales representative can also prepare a quote for a customer using the following process flow:
In this business process, the sales representative chooses a Bill To and Ship To address and adds a product to the cart. The sales representative then goes to the cart and selects Creates a Quote before selecting a user to receive the quote. The sales representative then creates the quote proposal (the sales representative is essentially creating the quote proposal for themselves). The customer does not receive notification of the quote until after the sales representative provides the quote pricing and submits the proposal to the customer. At this point, the customer is notified that a quote is available. The customer can then accept or reject the quote. If the customer accepts the quote, the product is added to the cart and the customer follows the standard checkout process. If the customer rejects the quote, the sales representative is notified, starting the process over.