2014 – That’s when I landed my first ever bulk order. A landmark year for my WooStore 🙂
But, oddly enough, I wasn’t ecstatic. It’s because I learned a strange truth in the process. Imagine negotiating with your client for days only to realize – It was never about the money!
That’s right.
It’s the things we overlook – long term business relationships, trust, quick replies, smooth handling of Inquiries, and maintaining professionalism in generating multiple quotations.
Hence, it’s darn crucial to use a platform that’ll help you nail these boxes bang on. With Inquiry plugins, Quotation plugins, and Forms opening up rooms for negotiations – picking the right platform for your WooStore can be quite confusing.
But, fret not!
Keep reading on to identify the right negotiation platform for you to convert those Bulk Order Leads into Sales.
Ready to get started?
Identify The Better Negotiation Platform!
Let me be honest. All three platforms will do the job for you.
However, it’s the fine and specific functions of each platform that’ll make enabling and closing negotiations smoother and convenient.
And, to give you a better perspective – I’ll quickly lay down major factors that’ll help you understand the difference. Because we both know losing out on bulk orders can be a nightmare :/
So, let’s quickly dive in, shall we?
1. Avoid Clutter and Confusion; Get to Negotiations quickly
Your customers are looking to initiate negotiations.
You don’t want to bombard them with a long process just to get them to that step. If they lose interest, you lose out on a large order, a huge lead, and good money. Your goal should be to get to the negotiation stage as quickly as possible.
Forms & Inquiry Plugins
Both of these options offer basic functionality. Forms and Inquiry plugins will allow your customers to ask questions or doubts regarding colors, size, quantity, etc. However, it’s also possible they could ask pricing-related questions hinting towards negotiations.
All you have to do is customize the form accordingly. But, I have to admit reaching out to them with answers to their ‘uncountable queries’ including negotiating terms will make you look disorganized.
Squeezing in negotiation details will lead to clutter and confusion thereby, killing your impression. I made this mistake when I started out. With that being said, both of these options are better suited to capture leads rather than initiating negotiations.
Quotation Plugins
On the other hand, Quotation plugins are better equipped to fulfill your exact needs.
Having a Quotation plugin on your WooStore will allow your customers to directly Request Quotations. And, just like how you do your own research about a company before buying their products, your customers are most likely to do the same.
So, providing a ‘Request a Quote’ option on your products page is a good idea.
You can get rid of the whole ‘Inquiry-first’ belief. And, let your customers kickstart the negotiations immediately. Whether it’s for a single product or multiple products – your customers can request quotations via a single email.
This will save you loads of time and also reduce your chances of losing out on good leads.
And, honestly, when it comes to Bulk Orders, it’s always best to get to the negotiation stage as soon as possible.
2. Add Personal touch with Customization abilities
Nobody likes to follow a typical template. I didn’t. And, I’m sure you don’t want to either.
You may wish to add your own fields, questions, clause, negotiating points, etc. as per your needs. For that, in most cases, you’d need to have the freedom to customize a Form, Inquiry, or Quotations plugin.
Hence, figuring out which of the three platforms makes it easier to do so is essential.
Forms
Now, I’ve used lots of forms and most of them are relatively easier to customize.
You can build any type of form you want. Add different fields, variety of questions to gather customer details, quote requests, negotiation terms, etc. You can customize your form to match your site’s aesthetics perfectly and initiate negotiations.
And, in most cases, it’s possible to do so without having to code. It’s that simple.
Inquiry & Quotation Plugins
While both of these plugins offer the basic functionalities they’re made for, however, they lag behind when it comes to customization.
Adding your own personal touch while creating quotations or collecting Inquiries is difficult but not impossible. Some Quotation plugins allow you to add your brand logo while generating quotes but adding extra fields or questions may require coding.
But, this might take up time and money. Having said that, there are a few Inquiry & Quotation plugins that offer customizations too.
3. Ensure Smooth Data Management for Inquiries & Quotations
With multiple emails coming in – handling Inquiries and Quotations needs to be made a priority.
You’ve got to be quick at finding inquiries or quotations in your database, generating pdf, editing, modifying, etc. Replying to these Inquiries and Quotations in time is extremely vital to close the negotiations and strike a deal.
Forms
Forms are pretty basic. It’s meant for collecting Inquiries. However, I know a few WooStore owners who use two or three forms for Inquiries & Quotations. Even I did the same in the initial years.
Honestly, it’s too much effort on the customer’s front. Moreover, as an owner, you have to invest loads of time and effort just sorting and compiling data from different forms to get a sense of the exact information that’s needed for negotiations.
You may choose to negotiate back and forth via Forms. But, creating quotations manually every single time can lead to delay in negotiations. You could end up losing clients.
Inquiries Plugins
Similar to Forms, Inquiry plugins are also meant for collecting Inquiries only.
While it may be difficult to customize Inquiry plugins, however, negotiating is relatively easier. There are Inquiry plugins that allow you to easily search and sort the Inquiries. It reduces your effort and saves you a good amount of time.
However, creating and editing quotations will still have to be done manually which can lead to delay in negotiations. Plus, it’s time-consuming.
Quotations Plugins
A Quotations plugin is a savior.
When you receive multiple Inquiries & Quotations, having a quotation plugin will enable you to immediately generate PDFs and send them across.
Also, there are Quotation plugins that enable you to edit, search, and sort Quotations and Inquiries right from your dashboard. This makes it extremely easy to store data and manage client negotiations. Using a quotations plugin was a relief for me as sorting and searching for client Quotations became super convenient.
And, a plugin like the WISDM Product Enquiry Pro even allows you to add multiple email recipients letting you delegate responsibilities to different teams. Doing this will lead to quick replies and quote generation thereby, speeding up the negotiation process.
I believe a combination of the Inquiry & Quotations plugin is a suitable balance for a WooStore. With this balance, you could manage data systematically for negotiation purposes.
4. Control Price Visibility to encourage Negotiations
Consumer Psychology works in mysterious ways. The moment you see a price tag on the product and if it’s out of your budget, the mere thought of even initiating negotiations vanishes.
However, as a business owner, your objective is to sell more. And, to do that, you’ve got to push your customer to first start negotiations. Conversion will ultimately depend on your negotiation skills.
Forms
Here’s the thing with Forms – it may not allow you to Hide Prices for products on your website.
And, if you’re unable to do that then the price visibility could demotivate and stop your customers from sending Inquiries let alone initiate negotiations.
You stand to lose out on Bulk Order Leads. But, having said that, there are Forms out there that might allow you to hide prices to gather data and Inquiries.
Inquiries & Quotations Plugins
Most of the Inquiries and Quotation plugins let you Hide Pricing options on your products page.
And, In doing so, you’ll open up the scope for negotiations. Your visitors will not hesitate to send in Inquiries and Quote Requests for the products they wish to buy. Especially the Bulk buyers, they’re always looking to negotiate.
Inquiries & Quotation plugins give the push that’s required for Bulk buyers to start the negotiation process. Perhaps, that’s where the key lies. When I hid the prices for products on my WooStore, it worked for me. The number of Inquiries & Quotations almost doubled thereafter.
5. Invest wisely; Consider the Nature of your business & Budgets
It’s no secret. Business decisions are often driven by Prices. And, just like customers, you too will have budgets to abide by.
While using the right negotiation platform is crucial, however, nature and scale of your WooStore also add to the selection process. Especially on the pricing front.
Forms
The best part about using Forms is – there are Free Forms available to get started.
If you’re new, selling a single product, and are looking to test the waters then using Forms initially to collect Inquiries and Negotiate is not a bad idea.
Inquiries & Quotations Plugins
On the other hand, most of the Inquiries & Quotation plugins will require you to pay.
But, if you’re selling multiple products on your WooStore, you’ll have a good amount of Inquiries and Quote requests coming in on a daily basis. You’d need proper management and prompt addressing of those Quotations.
Investing in an Inquiry & Quotations plugin is definitely worth it especially when you’re offering multiple products.
A Difficult choice?
Now that you’ve gone through the points of distinction, I’m sure you have a better understanding of all three platforms?
While all of them are great in their own capacity – the platform that makes it easy, convenient, and quick for your customers to negotiate is something that you must focus on and prioritize.
And, if I had to recommend – I suggest you choose a plugin that gives you the best of both worlds – Inquiry & Quotations.
From a business perspective, it’s a wise decision to have both of these functions in your WooStore.
Having said that, there are lots of plugins out there that’ll help you achieve this feat. But, I’d like to give a special mention to the WISDM Product Enquiry Pro plugin
- The plugin has some great reviews and history.
- Allows you to add Inquiry forms and Request a Quote option to quickly capture pre-sale Inquiries and Big-ticket customers.
- Makes the negotiation process smooth and short.
And, what’s delightful – You have a chance to use the plugin before actually buying it. You can even opt to take a 15-Day Free Trial, and, I suggest you try it out because you’ll get to experience the plugin first-hand and explore all its features in-depth.
Make the right decision!
Negotiations are never about the money! I learned it the hard way. But, you don’t have to.
Go on and pick a platform that allows you to foster and nurture long-term business relationships, Trust, and Professionalism in handling Inquiries and Quotations.
And, make the entire Negotiation process easier for Big-ticket customers thereby, converting them quickly to boost sales and profits.
In the end, go ahead and pick a negotiation platform that suits your requirements the best.
In case you have any doubts, feel free to reach out in the comments section. I’ll be happy to help 🙂
