Quoter’s Partner Success Specialist Shares Her Tips For Fast & Easy Onboarding
One of the biggest misconceptions holding technology service providers back from improving their quote-to-cash process is that switching quoting software takes too much time.
Jennie Snowden, a Partner Success Specialist who recently celebrated four years at Quoter, hears it often.
“Many partners worry about time,” she says from her home in England, where she works remotely with her eight-month-old kitten Bula in the background.
Time spent learning a new system, training staff, integrating services, and setting up templates, can seem daunting. Jennie is on a mission to show new partners how easy and efficient quoting with Quoter can be.
Quoter Onboarding: What’s Included
Jennie and her fellow Partner Success Specialists onboard new partners remotely and provide additional support through email, telephone, and chat messaging.
Most new partners engage in two one-hour calls: the first to populate settings and integrations and review the system, and the second as a follow-up for tweaks to the workflow. Throughout onboarding, Jennie focuses on empowering the partner to use the system quickly and confidently. Onboarding often includes staff training.
“The last company-wide training I conducted had twenty-two people attending,” Jennie says. With its unlimited user pricing model, Quoter empowers entire teams to get involved in quoting. It’s an advantage Jennie sees allowing techs to quote for customers while in the field, reducing friction by eliminating back-and-forth with a sales rep or manager back at the office.
“We’re all about trying to get more people quoting,” says Jennie. “And there are these common bottlenecks we want to help our partners overcome.”
Features like manager approvals were created with multi-tasking managers in mind, who hold all the keys and are trapped by the responsibility of being “the one employee who does all the quoting.” With manager approvals, quotes can be sent for review by email to the governing employee before submission to the client. This allows for peace of mind in sharing the task while ensuring quote quality and accuracy.
Before the first onboarding call, Jennie requests a sample of a quote to set up as a template in the new partner’s account. This gives the partner a starting point to work immediately and makes it possible to begin quoting as soon as the onboarding call is over.
Jennie will walk through the integration configurations during the initial onboarding call, such as accounting software, PSA, CRM and/or payment gateway. It’s all about providing thorough support to help Quoter partners hit the ground running.
“Some partners are nervous that it’s going to be this massive thing that will take months because many tools (not necessarily quoting tools but tools MSPs use in general) are lots of work to get set up and have a team moved over to,” she says.
But as new partners discover, onboarding takes a matter of hours with Quoter.
Even migrating quote templates from one software to another is a breeze. “If the partner’s previous quoting tool was integrated with their PSA, then we’ve got everything we need to start fresh in Quoter,” Jennie says.
Let’s look at more tips from Jennie for a fast & easy switch to Quoter.
Jennie’s Top 5 Tips For Fast & Easy Onboarding
- Assign a Quoter Champion
“I always recommend new partners, especially those with bigger teams, designate someone to be the Quoter Champion,” Jennie says.
The Quoter Champion takes ownership of setting up and integrating Quoter into the company’s operations. These tasks can include:
- Attending onboarding calls
- Overseeing email record white labeling
- Confirming correct access to service integrations (ex: accounting software, PSA, CRM, IT distributors)
- Coordinating staff training call with their Partner Success Specialist
- Book Your Onboarding Call Right Away
Jennie notices some partners hold off on that first call, saying they’re too busy to schedule it promptly. This, from Jennie’s perspective, is unnecessary avoidance.
“I recommend partners book in for that onboarding call right away because we can cover a lot in that first call,” she says. “We can help them build their templates, set up the integrations, and take care of so much of that initial setup that partners often dread.”
Onboarding with Quoter is designed to make the transition easier.
“It’s an hour of your time, and we can have you quoting by the end,” Jennie says.
- Prep Your Integration Logins
Quoter integrates with a range of popular cloud-based tools, including IT hardware distributor pricing, PSAs, CRMs, accounting, marketing, and more.
Onboarding involves integrating your tools into the Quoter platform so your data flows seamlessly from program to program. Jennie and her team can advise on how the tools work together and develop workflows within Quoter.
To expedite this process, delegate your Quoter Champion to provide account access for relevant integrations with your Partner Success Specialist before the first onboarding call. This will allow your Partner Success Specialist the time to set up those integrations ahead of time and make that first call even more focused on getting you quoting faster.
- Test & Tweak The Workflow
The onboarding follow-up meeting is typically scheduled for a week after the initial call. This allows the partner time to try out the workflow with real or test quotes and then report any changes they’d like.
Take advantage of the opportunity to work with a Partner Success Specialist to perfect your quoting workflow. Having your templates and integrations set up in a way that supports your operational needs will make all the difference in how fast and how frequently you quote.
- Lean On Your Quoter Team
Support from Quoter doesn’t end after that second onboarding call. Whether it’s to review a new feature or refamiliarize staff with building a template, Jennie and her team are available to all Quoter partners to ensure continual quoting success.
“Quite often, partners are surprised that with onboarding, it’s about more than just those initial calls,” Jennie says.
“I’ll get the question of, Are we allowed another call?, and I’ll say, of course, you can have as many calls as you want! We’re here to help.”
Curious about switching quoting software?
Request a demo and see how over 1400 technology service providers quote better and faster with Quoter.
More about Jennie, Partner Success Specialist at Quoter
Currently watching: Succession
“It’s so good. I hate everyone in it, they’re all terrible people, but I love it.”
Editor’s note: We, like Jennie, hope that “that wet blanket Tom Wambsgans doesn’t end up with everything.”
Currently dreaming about: travel
“I’m getting married in Croatia next year, so in October, we’re going there to do the food tasting and makeup trial and check things out for the wedding. It’s a good excuse for a holiday!”
Editor’s note: Jennie operates on a mix of US and UK hours, so she’s available to Quoter partners during working hours from coast to coast.
Currently making time for: family & friends
“We’ve got really good friends and family in England. They’re one of the main reasons we decided not to stay in Canada. It’s so nice to be back close to them.”
Editor’s note: Jennie and her partner previously lived in New Zealand and Vancouver before returning to the UK in 2021.
Read more from this series
- How Quoter’s Senior Product Manager Decides What Features To Build Next
- Advice for MSPs From Quoter’s Sales Manager Jan Karlo Manuel
- How To Bring Humanness Back Into Your Quote-To-Cash Cycle, With Tips From Quoter Account Executive Foster Fong
- The Secret Sauce to Quoter’s Co-Founders 16 Year Long Working Relationship (And Why It Still Works)
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