How we define our space

Quote-to-Order Management Cycle Defined:

“There’s a lead, there’s an order… then there’s the squishy part in between.”
A. Einstein 1

To manage leads we have CRM (Customer Relationship Management) systems, to manage orders we have Order Entry systems, to manage that critical “from here, to there” stage we present WrightToolsTM our Quote-to-Order management system. It manages the squishy part in between, which neither CRM nor Order Entry systems do a good job of managing. Why don't they? Because CRM systems can’t handle Quotes to customers. They simply aren’t equipped to handle the Quote “transaction”. They don’t contain a catalog of products, they certainly can’t generate estimates or pricing or generate a bill of material. Order Entry systems TRY to handle Quotes by, at best, letting you create a “not quite ready yet” order. You end up having to enter your prospect information into your Order Entry system as if they were a customer. If the quote turns into an order, great! If not, you’ve got information in your Order Entry system that you’ll never use. Also, an Order Entry system is generally inflexible. You can only quote things or configurations that already exist. No ability to create estimates or play “what if” scenarios at the order or detail level. Outside of these systems you’ve got manual Quote-to-Order management systems, i.e. spreadsheets, word and email documents, and their brethren Post-its, napkins, coasters, matchbook covers, voicemail, people’s brains… you get the idea.

WrightTools is the middleware between CRM and Order Entry. It manages your sales pipeline. It holds your prospect information from your CRM and doesn’t introduce it to your Order Entry System until a finished customer order can be generated. It also holds your product and part information and doesn’t introduce it to your Order Entry system until the information is perfect. Our rules based product configurator guarantees that. See the components of the WrightTools suite at http://www.wrighttools.com/systemoverview.asp or visit our website at http://www.wrighttools.com. See our derivative products at http://www.configuratorplus.com/, http://www.repquotes.com/ and www.HostedSQ.com.

1 Al Einstein, grizzled sales professional.