With the quoting feature, you can build a quote from scratch to offer customer-specific discounts or negotiate offer details with the buyers. You can also manage a quote request submitted from a company's storefront account. There are three ways to create quotes inside B2B Edition. This document discusses how a sales staff member can create a quote inside the B2B Edition application.
The other options for quote creation are:
A Super Admin can create a quote for a company on the front-end of the website by masquerading.
A store admin or senior buyer on the buyer side can self-service company quote creation on the website.
Creating a Quote
1. To create a quote as in the B2B Edition application, navigate to the "Quotes" tab of the B2B Edition dashboard and click "Create a Quote"
2. Select the desired Company from the drop-down menu, fill in the reference number, quote title, description, and expiration date details, then click Continue
You are able to set a default expiration date that will auto-populate each time if there is a commonly used validity period.
3. Under Address, select existing shipping and billing addresses or enter new ones in the fields below. When done, click Continue again
4. Locate products by name or SKU to include them in your quote. You can also create a product specific to the quote under the Custom Product Tab.
Once added you can change the quantity, and apply discounts in the Discount Type field. You can discount by line item, total percent, or a set amount off the entire quote.
**A note about the inventory indicator: It provides valuable information for quote issuers, displaying the stock levels of each item. It is located under the quantity bar and provides an update on the available stock. If an item is not tracked in BigCommerce, "Untracked Inventory" will be displayed. It is important to note that the quote's recipient will not be able to purchase any items if the quoted quantity exceeds the stock level.
**A note about custom products: when created these products are created inside your BigCommerce catalog. They are not visible on the website and the only people who can view them are the customers checking out with the quote. If A PIM or ERP is your source of truth for your products, this can cause downstream issues when pushing or pulling product data. This can usually be worked around. Please contact support if you need guidance.
5. Add shipping and tax if you want this displayed for the customer
Shipping and tax information is pulled directly from your BigCommerce store settings. However, if you have multiple rates, the customer is not forced to select the one shown on the quote. They will have all shipping options configured available to them when they check out inside the BigCommerce cart.
6. Add any additional information like notes to the customer, terms and conditions, messages, or attachments
You can set default terms and conditions if you want these to pre-populate each time.
Messages let the sales rep and the customer communicate back and forth with each other. These messages will show up directly in the quote within a chatbox view. There is no notification system for messages, and they will have to be accessed in the quote itself.
7. Once the quote is to your liking, let's go ahead and send it!
First, click "Preview" and verify the quote details
*** Note: The quote will not save unless you either submit or save it as a draft.
Then click "Submit"
Congrats you just created your first quote! We still have to email it so read on!
10. You can email a copy of a quote to the Company user by clicking "Send" in the confirmation popup.
It will not notify the customer that there is a new quote unless it is sent. It will however populate inside their account regardless.
Now you can edit the quote email!
You can:
Select the template you want to use. These are not customizable.
Add CCs
Add a Subject
Attach a pdf copy
Press "Send" to complete the quote creation process!
What's Next?