From quotation to money in the bank

This is the whole sales journey, from quoting a price to the money arriving. There is one decision in the middle of it that shapes everything after, so it is worth understanding before your first big order.

The journey

1. Quotation. You offer a price. Nothing is recorded anywhere yet. See Quotations.
2. Sales order. The customer accepts. This records what you have committed to, but still touches neither your accounts nor your stock.
3. The middle. Either you deliver first and bill afterwards, or you bill first and deliver afterwards. This is the decision.
4. Receipt. The money arrives and settles the invoice. See Receipts.

Getting from a quote to an order

1. Raise and confirm the quotation, then send it.
2. Click Mark as Sent once it has gone out.
3. When the customer accepts, mark the quotation as confirmed by the customer.
4. Click Generate Sales Order. The order is created with the lines already on it.

One quotation becomes exactly one order. If the customer wants a different quantity, revise the quotation first rather than editing the order afterwards — that keeps what you offered and what you agreed as two separate records.

The decision: which comes first?

From a confirmed sales order you have two routes, and whichever you use first is the one that order commits to. The buttons for the other route stop being offered.

• Deliver, then bill. Goods go out against the order, and you invoice afterwards — with the option of putting several deliveries onto one invoice. Choose this if you ship in stages and bill monthly. See Deliver first, bill later.
• Bill, then deliver. You invoice against the order, possibly in parts, and the goods follow. Choose this if you invoice on order or take payment before shipping. See Bill first, deliver later.

Getting paid

1. Open the confirmed invoice.
2. Click Create Receipt. The receipt opens with the customer, the currency and the invoice already matched.
3. Set the Date the money arrived and pick the Bank Account it went into.
4. Confirm. The invoice becomes Paid and drops off what the customer owes.

To chase what is still outstanding, use Sales Reports›AR Aging. To send a customer everything they owe in one document, use Sales Reports›Statement of Account.

Keeping the pipeline honest

• Mark quotations rejected when you lose them. Otherwise every old quote counts as live business forever and your pipeline is fiction.
• Close an order you know is finished even if a little was never delivered, with Close. It stops appearing as outstanding. Reopen if you were wrong.
• Use Cancel Order for one that came to nothing, which is only possible while nothing has been generated from it.
• Check the chain on any document with Linked Documents rather than trying to remember it.