Being a business owner in a fast-paced industry like event rentals can mean that a minor delay in communication with a potential customer looking to rent from your business can result in missed revenue. Often times, rental companies are too slow to respond to quote inquiries which forces the customer to reach out to competing event rental companies. Typically, you spend some time with your clients adding their desired inventory items, event logistics information, and more event details to their quote. Traditionally, you would email them a PDF of the quote and wait for their approval before getting back to them with the contract, then either asking for the deposit amount or full order balance. This back and forth process may take weeks, if not months. In the meantime, you may still be going back and forth with your client to make changes to the final guest count, event date details, and more. With constant communication, it may be hard to keep track of the changes and stages of the quote. Unfortunately, something may slip through the cracks and result in a less-than-stellar experience for your client.
With Rentopian’s Quote Wizard, your clients will receive just ONE email where they can confirm the quote, e-sign the contract, and submit an online payment. On the other hand, if they make changes to anything on the quote, they can simply request adjustments and add a note of what they need to change, which will then come back into your Rentopian account in real-time. This process creates a user-friendly experience for your clients which will result in them confirming the quote in a matter of minutes.
To enable this option, head to the Settings section from your main menu. Click on the ‘Orders’ cell, and enable the Quote Wizard. Be sure to configure the rest of the Wizard settings accordingly. You also have the option of inputting a confirmation or rejection message depending on how the client chooses to proceed.
There are a few settings that are tied to the Quote Wizard. Be sure to configure these to make the process fit your workflow.
- Automatic Emails
In the Settings above, you have the option of selecting whether you want the email sent to your client if you create the quote, update the quote, or both. Or, you may disable the automatic email completely and manually send it from each quote/order page. To send it manually, open the quote or order to view it, and click on the “Request Review” option from the left side panel.
The second part of the email configuration is to edit the email template, titled “Transaction Workflow” in your Email Templates Settings. Feel free to edit the text to your liking. This will be the email that your client will receive. It includes a link that will open up a separate page and will walk the client through the quote confirmation or rejection, as shown below:
- Contract Settings
Be sure to create your contract document via the Contract Templates section in your Settings. Next, select which Signature Service Provider you’ll be utilizing for this process. If you have a DocuSign or DigiSigner account, be sure to enter the API keys or connect your account. If you choose to use Rentopian’s in-house signature service, select it accordingly and determine whether you want the client to type their name, draw their signature, or both.. Alternatively, if you don’t want clients to e-sign the contract, select ‘None’. The signed contract can be found under the “Documents” tab of each quote or order, along with the signatory and a date stamp of when they signed it.
- Payment Settings
Determine which payment gateway you’ll implement in order to collect payments online and enter the credentials in your Payment Gateway Settings. Rentopian has 4 gateway integrations which include Stripe, Square, Authorize.net, and PayJunction, giving you the flexibility to sign up with a payment processor that fits your business needs. During the workflow process, the client will be able to enter their information on the following screen. If you have the ‘Enable Payment Skip’ setting turned on in your Rentopian account settings, the client will be able to move forward with booking the order without making a payment. In most cases, you’ll want to collect a payment- whether that’s the deposit amount or percentage, full order balance, or giving the client the option to choose an amount between the deposit total and full balance. From your ‘Orders’ settings, select the payment amount you wish to collect from clients, as seen below.
Once the client proceeds to the payment page, they’ll enter their credit card information and depending on the payment settings you have, the client will be able to pay the designated amount.
- Notifications
If you have the Wizard enabled on your account, you’ll notice a new column on your Quotes and Orders listing pages, titled “Workflow Status”. When you first send the workflow email to your client and are waiting on them to confirm or request changes, the status is ‘Pending’. If the client goes through the steps and confirms their order, the status will change to ‘Processed’.
If the client reviews the quote or order and requests changes, the status will change to ‘Rejected’. Any notes that the client submits when the request adjustments can be seen under the ‘Activity Log’ section of that specific quote or order. You can then edit the quote or order accordingly and resend the email to them to review and sign off on.
To make sure you’re staying on top of any advancements of quotes or orders, you will receive in-system notifications if the client confirms or requests adjustments.
Additionally, you have the option of turning on email notifications if you choose to get notified by email. Head over to the Emails and Templates cell from your settings, click on the Automated Emails tab and toggle the “Transaction Workflow Adjustment Request” and “Transaction Workflow Completion” to turn the automatic notifications on or off. This helps you get notified right away if a client is requesting changes or if the order is booked.
Clients need a clear and user-friendly method of reviewing, signing, and paying online– and you need a seamless workflow that incorporates all of your quote and order booking requirements into one email. Enable your Quote Wizard and watch your quote to order conversions increase, save time by avoiding too much back-and-forth, and create an effortless experience for your clients. If you have any questions regarding the workflow or your account settings, please be sure to reach out to [email protected] or call us at 1-855-933-3355.