Anonymous
shared this idea
11 years ago
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I think it would be possibly the most revolutionary feature you have
added yet, for web designers in quote tools, if you created an Instant
Quote Generator...
User clicks get started
User selects the type of product/service they want a quote for (like web design)
User selects addons and upgrades (like event calendar, blog section, slideshow, number of pages, theme, etc.)
User see ajax instant updates to Pricing/cart, including itemized list,
full price, and payment schedule (example Initial deposit 50%, Final
payment 50%, total price)
User then continues to Checkout to pay initial deposit (like 50%).
User then has a balance pending due of remaining 50% that has no due
date that can be converted by an admin to an active invoice for the
balance once the project is completed.
This would possibly be done with standard ordering, but needs a few
additional features in whmcs. The forum is littered with people asking
for partial payment on orders and I think this would satisfy several
requests. Products would need an added setting called payment schedule
that allows 2+ payments, so you could pick how many payments, set a
title for each payment (ie deposit, 2nd phase, final payment), and set a
percentage or set fee for each. On the payment schedule, if each are
set as percentage, it would have to add up to 100%, or at least a popup
warning when saving would warn it does not equal 100% for the math
challenged, unless one of the payments is a set deposit and then it asks
for remaining balance on the last payment.
This payment schedule would be applied to the total of all addons and such purchased with the root product.
Maybe at checkout the itemized list could be created as a quote (User
clicks "Let Me Think It Over" button) or could choose to do the initial
deposit (User clicks "Alright! Let's Do It!")
added yet, for web designers in quote tools, if you created an Instant
Quote Generator...
User clicks get started
User selects the type of product/service they want a quote for (like web design)
User selects addons and upgrades (like event calendar, blog section, slideshow, number of pages, theme, etc.)
User see ajax instant updates to Pricing/cart, including itemized list,
full price, and payment schedule (example Initial deposit 50%, Final
payment 50%, total price)
User then continues to Checkout to pay initial deposit (like 50%).
User then has a balance pending due of remaining 50% that has no due
date that can be converted by an admin to an active invoice for the
balance once the project is completed.
This would possibly be done with standard ordering, but needs a few
additional features in whmcs. The forum is littered with people asking
for partial payment on orders and I think this would satisfy several
requests. Products would need an added setting called payment schedule
that allows 2+ payments, so you could pick how many payments, set a
title for each payment (ie deposit, 2nd phase, final payment), and set a
percentage or set fee for each. On the payment schedule, if each are
set as percentage, it would have to add up to 100%, or at least a popup
warning when saving would warn it does not equal 100% for the math
challenged, unless one of the payments is a set deposit and then it asks
for remaining balance on the last payment.
This payment schedule would be applied to the total of all addons and such purchased with the root product.
Maybe at checkout the itemized list could be created as a quote (User
clicks "Let Me Think It Over" button) or could choose to do the initial
deposit (User clicks "Alright! Let's Do It!")
186 Comments
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"The point of the quotes system is to be able to provide bespoke one-time items to clients that you don't usually sell en-mass via the order form.As example of something the quote system is particularly adept is website design or coding development - that's what it was designed for"
I agree,
So when you want to sell a bespoke one-time items (lets say a VPS with special features or price or even a website design project),
you send the client a quote, and then what?
The customer should be able to pay for the quote after he accepted it - right? how can he do it?
as far as i know the only way for the customer to pay the quote is if you send him an Invoice - so if we want the customer to pay for his quote, we have to manually convert the quote to an Invoice.
The question is why this is a manual process?
If we offered the customer a bespoke one-time item and the customer agree to the terms and so on - why do we have to manually continue the process by manually converting the quote to an invoice?
The invoice should be sent to the customer automatically after he accepted the quote.
I cannot find any reason that the conversion from accepted quote to an invoice (so the customer can pay for the quote) will be a manually process, if there is such a relevant reason please explain.
So no matter if it's a website design or coding development project or special offer of onetime VPS - we can send the customer a quote he can accept it and hopefully get an invoice and pay automatically.
What now?
Now there should be an order opened with the relevant information from the accepted quote.
It can be an order for one time product or sale (lets say a coding development project or domain name registration or even adding RAM to an existing VPS) without any recurring payment or service, or it can be an order for a recurring product or service (VPS, shared hosting, monthly coding maintenance fee or any other recurring product or service whether if its sold in the regular shopping cart system or not).
Again, the question is why this is a manual process?
If we offered the customer a bespoke one-time item and the customer agree to the terms and so on, hopefully get an invoice and pay automatically - why do we need to open an order manually?
what does it matter if the order originated from the shopping cart system or from the quoting system?
I cannot find any reason that the conversion from accepted quote to an invoice (so the customer can pay for the quote) and then to be converted to an order will be a manually process, if there is such a relevant reason please explain.
So no matter if the order originated from the shopping cart system or from the quoting system an order should be opened.
What now?
Now if it's a automatically provisioned product - it should be provisioned, if not the order should wait for an admin to manually provision the product or service and conclude the process.
To sum it all up,
The quoting system is used for bespoke one-time items to clients that you don't usually sell en-mass via the order form. it could be an website design project or special one time offer for VPS for one customer only, it can be for one time payment or a product or for a recurring product or service.
The process should be fully automatically no matter if the order originated from the shopping cart system or from the quoting system.
The quotes are meant for bespoke invoicing where it is impossible to give a price for the services you are offering probably because of hourly billing or some other variable costs that you cannot factor into the normal ordering process. In that case it is not something that should be done client side at all. Clients dont set the pricing, you do.
Arnulfo Roiz
www.digitalserver.la