Import Homework for the project
1. Click on Opportunities on the left hand pane
2. Click on the “attachments” link at the bottom of the center pane
a. Click BROWSE… next to “Upload your Floor Plan” to save the floor plan to this Opportunity
b. Click “Drop or click here to upload…” to select other images and files to save to this Opportunity
i. You can also batch upload several items at once by holding Ctrl on your keyboard and selecting all the relevant files in your File Explorer, and dragging them on top of the “Drop or click here to upload…” link, then click UPLOAD
c. Your files will now show in the Attachments page center pane
Pre-Configure the Investment Template
Performing these simple steps before your Investment Meeting will help you and your client work through the Investment Template more efficiently without getting distracted with irrelevant categories and topics. This step is optional, but highly recommended.
1. Click on Opportunities on the left hand pane
2. Click on the relevant Opportunity
a. Create a new Investment {Link to Investment definition} by clicking NEW + (top right pane)
b. Enter the Section Name {Link to Section Name definition}
c. Enter Notes if needed
i. These notes should be relevant to this specific Investment, NOT the Contact
d. Click CREATE
3. You are now on the Investment page
a. You should see the Job Section you created in the middle of the center pane
b. Notes will be displayed toward the bottom
c. You can access any attached documents to this Opportunity at the very bottom center pane through the “attachments” link
4. Click on the name of the Job Section you just created (blue link) to enter into the Investment Analysis page
a. Notice on the top of the main window, you will see a SUMMARY section
i. Job Section displays the name you gave this project
ii. Price displays the running total of total pricing before manual markup/markdown adjustments
iii. % Adjustment displays a running total of the markup/markdown amount
iv. Subtotal displays the running total including markup/markdown amounts
v. Total includes any addition fees and taxes you have calculated into this template
b. Just above the SUMMARY section, you’ll see a slide called Advanced View
i. Sliding this lever to the right will reveal a Use Tax figure, typical wholesale Cost of this project, the approximated Markup (profit) you will make on this project
ii. This is typically not a view you would use during your collaborative investment meeting with your prospective client
c. You can directly access all categories and subcategories on the left hand pane
i. Click on any Category to reveal the hidden subcategories below
d. Inside the main panel, each category will have an ACTIONS… button
i. Use the ACTIONS… button to Delete (hide) a category that is not relevant to this project
ii. Use the ACTIONS… button to Edit the Category
1. Fine tune your markup by percentage independently for each quality level
a. A positive number will mark up the category
b. A negative number will mark down the category
2. Edit the descriptions if necessary
iii. Click SAVE to exit back to the Investment Analysis
e. Repeat these steps all the way through the bottom of the template
i. This template saves in real time. There is no need for a “save” button.
**TIP** It is generally not advised to preload the levels and/or quantities until you are working on this with the prospective client. These collaborative steps are beneficial to the client “owning” the outcome of the Investment Analysis.
5. You’re ready for your Investment Meeting! Go ahead and schedule it with your client.
Investment Meeting
1. Now that you have your prospective client back in front of you, it may be a good idea to review the Homework they have completed and show them the Floor Plans and Elevations you created to confirm their accuracy.
2. Finding the Investment in DesignAlign
a. Click on the Investments tab in the left hand pane
b. Find and click on the appropriate Investment name in the list
i. You can also find the Investment within the relevant Contact’s page or Opportunity page
3. Once you are in the Investment, you can enter back into the Investment Template by clicking on the appropriate Job Section in the middle of the center pane
4. Explain to your prospect the Good/Better/Best options within the template
· The displayed photos are there to give a basic representation of quality and price level differentiation
· These are generic photos, and not designed to represent any specific product or brand
· Each category’s price level should represent the prospect’s priority level of quality for its respective category
· The displayed price levels are industry standard averages for each category
· THIS IS NOT A QUOTE!
· The final displayed total should be within +/- 8-10% of industry standard for this project and created for qualification purposes only
5. As you progress down the template category by category, you will update the quantities and price levels to match the data compiled from the homework along with your prospect’s input
6. If you come across any categories that you and your prospect deems unnecessary, click the ACTIONS… button and delete the category
7. After you’ve updated a few category’s levels and quantities, demonstrate to your client the running total window toward the top right of the pane
a. You may want to revisit this with your prospect periodically to make sure you’re both staying on track to their expectations
Retainer Agreement
This is the end goal of DesignAlign. You should have previously entered your Retainer Fee settings in the beginning of Phase I – Setting up your profile information. {insert link}
1. Explaining the Retainer Agreement to you prospective client
a. The Retainer Agreement you will present to your client is a formal commitment from them to compensate you for your formal design work.
b. Upon receipt of the Retainer Fee, you will:
i. Visit the project site for assessment and precise measurements
ii. Create a graphic rendering of the final project
iii. Develop a formal quote with exact makes and models of products to be used
2. Exporting the Retainer Agreement (to be modified shortly)
a. From the bottom of the Investment Template, you can click the up arrow ↑ at the bottom right of the screen or manually scroll to the top of the Investment Template screen
b. Click the back arrow ← at the top left of the Investment Template screen
c. From the Opportunity page, click on the attachments link at the bottom of the center pane
d. Toward the top right of the center pane, click on the NEW + button to enter the Template Menu
e. Under Type, select Retainer Agreement
f. Under Name, choose whether you’d like to export an form with pricing per category or only a total project price
i. The advantage of choosing itemized pricing is it may be easier for your prospect to evaluate where they may want to increase or decrease their investment to match their desired investment range
ii. The advantage to choosing total pricing only is this tool is designed to give an overall investment range for this project, and not intended to pigeon hole each specific category to a budget. This could avoid future disputes or conflicts with the client
g. The newly generated Retainer Agreement will now be displayed on the Attachments page under CREATED FROM TEMPLATE
h. You may click on the retainer file name to open it in another tab, or click the download link to the right of the name to directly download it to your device
i. From here you can either email this directly to the prospect or print it out for review and hopefully a signature.
3. Now that you’ve exported and delivered your Retainer Agreement to your prospect, you should update the status of this Investment (HOLD OFF ON THIS UNTIL PLATFORM UPDATE)
a. Accurately managing the status of your projects is essential to the functionality of the Dashboard and the only way you will have an accurate overview of the performance of your business within this platform
b. To update the status, find and click on the respective Opportunity through the Opportunities page on the left menu pane or within the relevant contact
i. The default status of a new Opportunity is “Open”
ii. You will see “Open” displayed under the Opportunity name at the top
iii. Click on CHANGE STATUS … and update the status to Qualification
iv. If you’d like this Opportunity to be prioritized and easily be found going forward, you can click the ☆ next to the Opportunity name which favorite this Opportunity and sort it to the top of the Opportunities lists
c. If you go back to your Dashboard, you will now see your stats reflecting this new Opportunity in your pipeline
You have now completed Phase II