Connect the B2B customer's digital request for quotation to a controlled negotiation, approval, and order conversion process.
In corporate sales, not every transaction directly converts into an order at the standard list price. Due to high volumes, special products, project requirements, customer contracts, delivery schedules, or specific payment terms, a quotation may need to be prepared and negotiations conducted between the parties.
Digital proposal management enables customers to request quotes via their shopping carts or product lists, allows the sales team to evaluate the terms and conditions, create revisions, complete internal approvals, and finally, allows the customer to accept the valid quote and convert it into an order.
Proposal lifecycle
The customer specifies the products, quantities, and requirements.
Creating a request for quotation from the shopping cart or via a standalone form.
The request will be forwarded to the relevant customer manager or sales organization.
Price, discount, cost, margin, inventory, and delivery evaluation.
Technical product configuration or alternative product suggestions if needed.
Completion of authorization and approval processes on the seller's side.
Presenting the offer to the customer digitally.
Customer reviews, counter-offers, and revision processes.
The offer is being placed in an accepted, rejected, canceled, or expired status.
Converting the accepted offer into an order while maintaining its terms and conditions.
Proposal content
Customer, company, branch and related user information
Product, variant, configuration, and customer product codes
Quantity, unit, price, discount, tax, and totals.
Delivery address, method, schedule, and estimated dates.
Payment method, term, advance payment and commercial terms
Offer validity period and price protection conditions.
Minimum order, packaging and shipping requirements.
Explanations, documents, technical specifications, and appendices.
Revision number, status, and comments from the parties.
Make the revision and negotiation process traceable.
Any changes made to the offer regarding product, quantity, price, discount, delivery, or payment should be recorded as a new revision. It should be possible to see who changed which condition and when; previous revisions should be preserved, and it should be clear which version the customer accepted.
Proposal approval rules
Factors such as discount rate, offer amount, minimum margin, special payment terms, below-cost pricing, or long delivery commitments may require the offer to undergo internal approval. The approval process should help the company control its commercial risk before presenting the offer to the client.
Configurable and complex products
If product options are interconnected, the quotation should not consist solely of product codes and quantities. It must be verified that the selected configuration is technically feasible, manufacturable, priceable, and deliverable. If necessary, the product tree, operation, cost, and delivery forecast should be evaluated during the quotation process.
Go from quote to order without data loss.
When an accepted offer is converted into an order, products, prices, discounts, delivery terms, customer testimonials, and confirmation records must be preserved. Manually re-entering information after the offer increases the risk of errors and may lead to changes in the terms and conditions given to the customer.
Manage the offer not as a static document, but as a traceable pre-contractual process spanning customer request, commercial evaluation, negotiation, approval, and order.