CRM · Daily operations · 9 min read

Record products, competitors and buying roles, and raise a quotation

List the products of interest, see value and margin work out, and create a draft Sales quotation from the opportunity.

Before you begin

• The deal must be an open opportunity with an active customer. A lead cannot be quoted.
• The Sales module must be installed and its price list must contain the products.

Add products of interest

1. Open the opportunity and go to Products.
2. Add a line. Choose a Product, or describe what the customer wants in Description (up to 300 characters).
3. Enter Quantity (above zero), Indicative price and Unit cost.
4. Save the line.

Worked example

You add 4 of Product A at an indicative AED 1,250 with a unit cost of AED 800, and 2 of Product B at AED 3,000 with a cost of AED 2,000.

The expected value becomes AED 11,000.00, replacing any value you typed. Margin is 3,800.00, which is 34.55%. Removing line B leaves 5,000.00, cost 3,200.00 and margin 1,800.00 (36%).

Competitors and buying roles

1. Open Competitors.
2. Add a competitor from the master. For each, record Their price (Unknown, Cheaper, Similar, Dearer), strengths, weaknesses and the Outcome (Still competing, We won, We lost to them).
3. Under Buying roles, add the people involved: name, role (decision maker, economic buyer, technical buyer, influencer, champion, user, blocker), influence and attitude.

A competitor can be added once per deal: 'This competitor is already on the deal.'

Create a quotation

1. On the opportunity, press Create quotation (header action or the Quotations tab). This button is available to administrators.
2. Enter the Quotation date (today by default, the company's Dubai day) and, if wanted, Valid until.
3. Press Save.

To quote the product lines, press Create quotation from products on the Products tab.

What happens next

• A draft quotation is created in Sales for the customer, with the note CRM CRM-000012: <subject>. It appears on the Quotations tab with number, state, date, total and versions.
• A quotation made from products carries product and quantity only. Prices come from the Sales price list, not from your indicative price. If Product A is AED 1,100 in the price list, the quotation shows 1,100 even though you wrote 1,250.
• When Sales confirms the quotation, the tab shows Sales order with the delivery and billing state. CRM never creates the order itself.
• Sending the same request twice does not create a second quotation. Sending it again with different details is refused: 'This quotation request key was already used with different details.'

Good to know

• 'Create quotations from an open opportunity linked to an active customer.' means the deal is a lead, closed, or has no customer.
• 'Add a product of interest with a product before quoting from them.' means no line has a product.
• 'Choose a product or describe what they want.' and 'Enter a quantity above zero.' are line rules.
• Changing products on a closed deal is refused: 'Reopen and unarchive the record before changing it.'
• Winning the deal does not post revenue. Invoice the Sales order.