Proposals
You can create proposals for leads or for existing customers. When you are ready, you can convert the proposal to a service order, install order, or invoice.
Creating Proposals
Before you create a proposal, you have to either create a lead or a customer.
1. Go to the Sales module > Proposals
2. Click New and select either From Customer or From Sales
3. The Search window will open. Select the customer or the sales lead you want to create the proposal for. Once the customer or lead is selected, the proposal is created as shown below.
4. Click the Services Proposed tab. On the left side under Service Requested, type a description of your proposal. This text will show on the Standard Order Item Proposal as shown in the image below. You can always create Common Services if you type the same text frequently on the Services Requested tab.
5. Click the Order Items tab. This is where you will add material and service items to the proposal. The items will be listed on the proposal as shown in the image below.
Adding Services to Proposal
1. On the Order Items tab, click Add Service.
2. In the search window, double click the service item you want to add to the proposal.
3. The Service Name, Invoice Description, Quantity, and Price fields will show on the Standard Order Item Proposal report as shown below.
4. Click OK to add the service item to the proposal.
Adding Material to Proposal
1. On the Order ITems tab, click Add Material.
2. In the search window, double click on the material you want to add to the proposal.
3. The Item Name, Description, Quantity, and Price fields will show on the Standard Order Item Proposal repor as shown below.
4. Click OK to add the material to the proposal.
Ordering Items on the Order Items Tab
You can rearrange the order of the items on the Order Items tab. The image below shows the service items at the top and then the second image shows the material at the top of the list.
If you are using SME 7.1, to rearrange the order of the items, click on the item you want to move and drop in the location you want the item in.
If you are using SME 7.2, to rearrange the order of the items, click on the item and drag your cursor to the position you want. Release your click and the item will drop in place under the item highlighted. It will be indented under the highlight item. To remove the indent, click on the indented item and drag your cursor to the left of the item above it. The indention will be removed.
Group Items on the Order Items tab
If you want to tag your items on an order by group, such as where on the job site the item is being installed or serviced, then you can use the group field on the Order Items tab.
1. Click your cursor into the Group column on the Order Items tab.
2. Type a group name and hit Tab on your keyboard to move to another field.
3. Click into the next item and either choose the same name you previously entered in the drop down or type a new one.
Totals Tab to View Profit
Click the Totals tab to view your profit on the proposal. It shows the amount quoted, your cost which comes from the cost field on the items, and the profit.
Fixed Rate Proposal
You can change your proposal to a Fixed Rate Proposal by selecting Fixed - Fixed Total in the Convert Type field on the Details and Settings tab.
If you enter a fixed amount for material, labor, or services on the order, then that is the amount that will show on the proposal. It won't matter how many items to add to the proposal or the price on all of the items, SME will use the fixed rate amounts on the proposal. When you convert the proposal to an invoice, it will use the fixed rates on the invoice and not all the prices on the items.
The image below shows the tab filled out. The first image shows when you enter a Markup %, the Fixed Amount is calculated. The second image shows that you don't have to enter a markup %, but you can also enter an amount directly into the Fixed Amount column.
When you view the Standard Order Item Proposal, you will see the totals section pulls the price from the Fixed Rates tab, not from the items on the order as shown on the image below. You may want to remove the total column from the line item section which was done in the image below.
Commission on Proposal
SME has a couple ways to calculate commission. One way is a straight commission based on the proposal total or the proposal profit. Another way SME can calculate commission is by using Price Books which allows you to assign a different commission percentage for every item in inventory and every item in services.
Setting up Straight Percent Commission
1. Go to Setup module > Users.
2. Search for salesperson in Users.
3. Make sure Is Salesperson is checked on the Details and Settings tab.
4. Enter the commission percentage in the Commission Rate field.
5. Click Save.
6. You can choose if you want the commission to be calculated based on the proposal total or the proposal profit. To set SME to calculate commission based on the proposal profit, go to Setup > Company > System and check Calculate Commission Based on Profit.
View Commission on Proposal
Create a proposal and add items to the proposal. SME will calculate the commission and you can view it on the Details and Settings tab. You will also see the commission on the Totals tab in the Sales % Commission field.
Commissions based on Price Books
If the commission rate depends on what your sales team is selling, then you may want to use commission based on Price Books. With this method you can create a Price Book you will assign to the proposal. The price book defines the commission rates which can vary depending on what is on the proposal. Material may receive 10% commission, some service items may receive 8% commission, etc. Click Commissions by Items to read more.
Approving Proposals
If you want to require proposals to be approved before it can be closed or converted to an order, do the following:
1. Go to Setup module > Company > System.
2. Check Require Proposal Approval to Close or Convert to Order.
3. Save.
Then you will need to make sure the SME user that will be approving proposals has the permission to approve proposals.
1. In the Setup module, go to the User Group section.
2. Search for the user group the SME user that will be approving is in.
3. Click the Administrative Clearances tab.
4. Check Proposal Administrator in the Financial Data Access section.
5. Save.
To approve a proposal, click Actions > Approve Proposal.
Searching Proposals
Use the Search button to search open, approved, or al proposals.
In the search window you can choose the columns you are viewing, rearrange the order of the columns, sort the columns, and filter by typing in the filter box under the column header. For more information on the search window, click Search Window.
Exporting Proposal List to Excel
You can export your proposal search window to Excel. Use the Excel tools to sort, filter, and graph your proposals. In the search window click Export > Export to Excel.
