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Optional item Selected or Not Selected

I am having a lot of problems with customer visualizing the optional items check box. I just closed a deal where the customer forgot to check the box and was expecting the item to be included in the price that was approved. This is becoming a big problem for me because people are busy and are not reviewing the QuoteValet quote thoroughly and often skip the optional items thinking that they are included. 

I was able to display the message "(Optional Item NOT Selected)" or "(Optional Item Selected)" underneath the extended price field of the PDF document, you cannot miss it. If I could code something similar in QuoteValet, it will serve me two-fold because either the customer will catch it or I will while on the preview. 

I am not an expert on css or html but I know enough to have comfortably done some extensive customization on some of the templates however this coding has proven to be a little bit more challenging than what I expected. I started by trying to add test text to what I assume is the optional line item under the line items section but nothing so far has shown up on the preview. Can somebody be so kind as to offer some sort of tip or trick that can help me jump start the coding or is all this coding internal Java that I will not be able to touch?

 


It's do-able, but needs a bit of JavaScript to refresh the formatting when the customer changes selected options. It can be made to work even with the new AutoUpdate document totals. Contact me for more details!


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Just adding to this with a real world example from yesterday... - four line items on a quote - one line item in the middle was optional and selected - customer deselected that, updates and accepted - they then looked at the HTML quote embedded in the acceptance PDF and saw that the line item extended total (eg $1,000 for qty 10 x $100) was still showing full amount in the extended price column. This then triggered an email to say “I thought I selected that?!”. To which we replied that they had, and the $1,000 wasn’t reflected in the document total. I know previous comments suggest something that we do quite a lot - put option items under their own subheadings with a subtotal that ends up very clearly showing $0.00, and that works well when the quote lends itself to do that. But often it doesn’t. Shouldn’t maybe the line item subtotal return to zero if something is no selected? Like it would be if day the qty was zero?

Yes. Yes. Yes.


Clicking new... "What would you like to do now?"


A bit like Word/Excel, etc. all do, giving you half a dozen things you'd typically like to do.


"New Blank Quote"

"Use Default Template"

etc.etc.


Extends the drop-down next to the new button (which almost no one uses)


Option for "Remember this selection the next 10 times" or something.

What would be nice would be to be able to set a default template, rather than a document when you press new.... there's a new feature request. I'll add it and you can vote for it.

All that places a little reliance on Sales Reps doing what they're asked to do.. and we know what that can sometimes lead to ;)


Your solution is absolutely right.

Templates are woefully underused in my experience of working with long time QW users.


I also find that using the F2 lookup in the description field, to add this sort of 'intruction', can help.

Another solution is much simpler.


If you have all your items in a separate section, use the section header, so the dollar value is zero.


Then put in a comment that says, here are some options you might consider.... tick the check box, and then click the update button below....


You could do lots of fancy formatting, (which I've done with my QuoteValet layouts), but the unsubtle direct approach may be the best.


If you have a sales team, create a template and get them to use it.

By the way, you guys know that you can actually embed HTML code in the item description? It works, you can change the color and size of fonts, create links to sites and more but just make sure you do not include a PDF file in your QuoteValet or that you skip these lines in your QuoteWerks template otherwise the PDF is going to look like an HTML document. 

Ah, right. Yeah, we've had some issues with that in the past. I've gotten in the habit of clearing all lines when duplicating, but it's definitely laden with error possibilities.

Joe, I appreciate your suggestion and I will give it a try, however, what I referring to by color code is within the QuoteWerks application document window where I believe the hidden price is in gray, optional I think is green, I also think purple is group total, etc. of course I am speculating here because I am yet to see the document in the QuoteWerks website that explains it in detail or that explains it at all. 

Easiest way to change colors and other options is <span> tag... I've had some success with it.


https://www.w3schools.com/tags/tag_span.asp

Matt, I liked the chat box too, that's not a bad idea.

Yes, I concur, the most common issue is when the customers fail to view the optional item checkbox, with the recommended section header or heading or without it. The customer approves and later when they receive the invoice, they dispute it because it includes services that they do not want. When that happens it is not a big deal because it can be corrected but when I leave it unchecked by accident or on purpose and the customer approves thinking it is included then that's when it becomes a problem, a big problem. 

I sometimes copy paste items or groups from other quotes and I miss the unchecked optional attribute because I am so focused on the totals and that my design is correct. The color code in the Quotewerks document screen doesn't help much either, it is sketchy, somewhat confusing and I am yet to find a document in help that explains the color code in detail.


I like the Monthly under the total, let me try to see if I can figure that one out, thanks for all the help I do appreciate it. 

Right. It's definitely a concern for us. Especially since the default template doesn't auto-update on selections.


That's probably our ultimate fix, but my javascript-fu is lacking.

I think the problem, Joe, is that Roberto's clients aren't seeing the (unselected?) checkbox as not being included in the total. Or simply not seeing the checkbox.


If this were pre-ticked, it's a little more obvious.





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Yes, I've made a raft of changes and my default QuoteValet template looks very different to the out of the box one provided by QuoteWerks.


Changes such as different formatting for group members/headers/summary/comment, etc. lines are straightforward.

It's the attribute element (is it optional, is it recurring) that's a little more tricky.


I don't believe QW offer any alternatives on QuoteValet templates as they're, relatively, much more complex that QuoteWerks (PDF) templates


An example of one of my quotevalet templates is available as an attachment (I hope!), this includes online chat and various other elements too


(I also overhaul the email/acceptance confirmation pages, etc.)



wmv
(3.86 MB)

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