Sales Agent Ordering

please note sales agent ordering is available on the sparklayer growth, pro, and enterprise plan or as an addon for $39 per agent (per month) on any plan you can change your plan here or learn more about our how pricing works introduction sales agent ordering is a powerful feature of sparklayer that lets certain users ( sales agents ) place orders and manage accounts on behalf of your b2b customers watch our video below to see how it works! sometimes referred to as order masquerading, it's a great way to integrate your sales team and centralise your b2b orders once enabled, sales agents are able to perform any of the following actions against an existing b2b customer account action notes view products the sales agent can view products on the website at the b2b prices assigned to the selected customer add products the sales agent can add products to an order edit prices the sales agent can edit product prices (if they have "administrator" priveleges) edit shipping costs the sales agent can set a custom shipping price (if they have "administrator" priveleges) place an order the sales agent can place an order using their available payment methods and request payment from the customer shopping lists the sales agent can save and edit shopping lists address book the sales agent add/edit addresses (if enabled for the customer) re order re order from an existing order by viewing the order details within the account persistent cart products that are added to an order will remain in the customers my order until they checkout or make edits the order will also be saved for the sales agent if they come back later in addition to performing actions against an existing b2b customer account, sales agents can also action notes add new customers the sales agent can add new customers directly from the frontend, allowing them to then place an order on their behalf right away note this requires assigning the sales agent a special "sales administrator" role, learn more want to test out sales agents? head over to our b2b demo store and give it a go! getting set up the process of enabling sales agents works as follows first, you need to activate specific accounts with the special sales agent privileges once activated, the chosen account can then log into your website once logged in, they'll be presented with the sales agent interface where they can then search for and then select a customer, and place orders or manage the account on their behalf configuring sales agents to activate an account as a sales agent, you'll need to make sure the account is already set up within shopify with an active account using their unique customer id , you can then assign this in sparklayer to be a sales agent you can find the unique customer id in the url when navigating a customer within the shopify admin for example, the url in your browser may look something like this https //your shopify store url com/admin/customers/5917633347819 in this example, the external customer id would be 5917633347819 within the sparklayer dashboard, go to sales agent tab or the customer sync section of the data sync area and paste this customer id into the customer data lookup box at the bottom of the search results, y ou'll then be given the following options to select from option details customer this is the default role for a customer, allowing them to login and place b2b orders this option means the customer is not a sales agent this option means the customer is not a sales agent sales agent this enables sales agent access with the ability to action the following on behalf of a customer place orders, manage addresses, manage shopping lists, and manage company user access this option means the customer is a sales agent sales administrator this enables additional sales agent controls the ability to update b2b prices on an order for a customer, the ability to add new customer records to subsequently place orders for this option means the customer is a sales agent once you've made your selection, click the save button to activate the sales agent editing sales agents if you're looking to edit which of your customer accounts has sales agent access, you can manage this directly in sparklayer by following the below steps first, find the sales agent customer record in your shopify customers admin within the url, make a note of the id at the end, e g if the url is https //your shopify store url com/admin/customers/5917633347819 the id would be 5917633347819 go to the sales agent area or the customer data lookup tool in sparklayer and paste in the id at the bottom, click 'turn off sales agent' to re assign sales agent access, simply follow the steps above no configurations applicable the ordering experience the key difference in the ordering experience for a sales agent versus a standard b2b customer is simply this the sales agent isn't placing an order against their own personal account but instead against their selected b2b customer once they login, they'll be prompted by a special sales agent ordering search box within the my account interface docid\ lqxani7ivdqna09d9soap that lets them easily search and select a customer at this point, the sales agent will be able to search for any b2b customer within your store and place orders on their behalf you can also see how the order experience works in our video below please note only customers that have been tagged as b2b customers will show within the search results within shopify, simply add a tag of b2b against any customer record customers must also always have an email assigned to their account in shopify if you don't have an email address, you could always use a test email such as salesagent123\@yourstore com the sales agent can search customers by company name first and last name of the customer postcode of their default address accounting id (if available) once they've selected a customer, the sales agent is then in 'sales agent mode' with a notification that will follow them around the ordering experience, notifying who they are logged in as placing an order once logged in as a customer, the sales agent can then browse the website and begin adding items to an order all prices shown will be the prices you've set up for the specific customer using the price lists docid\ s8xcbzgxqpgdeigwtxset functionality of sparklayer once they've added products to an order, they can access the my cart interface docid\ efevur a3ycjxuhvrr7t at any point and begin the checkout process just as with the standard customer experience, they can select an address, shipping method, and see all available payment methods to understand the payment flow, the payment methods work as follows payment method flow status pay by invoice the order is submitted as a draft order within shopify and then has to be manually acted upon order is left in draft status until the payment is successfully made pay on account the order is submitted as a draft order within shopify and then has to be manually acted upon order is left in draft status until the payment is successfully made pay online by card the order is submitted as a draft order within shopify and the customer will receive a notification to make payment (see below) order is left in draft status until the payment is successfully made request for quote the order is submitted as a draft order within shopify and then has to be manually acted upon order is left in draft status until the payment is successfully made creating draft orders as noted above, the payment flow works slightly differently to the standard customer experience when placing an order when a sales agent is logged in and places an order, the order will by default enter shopify in the draft order status with the customer's details pre selected just as with any order in shopify, you'll see the customer's details on the top right making a payment against an order depending on the payment method used by the sales agent, if the customer is required to make payment, they'll receive an automatic email notification detailing their order and a button to checkout this uses the 'send invoice' feature of shopify draft orders and you can learn more about how this works here once the customer completes their purchase by making payment, the order is then marked as paid and will then display within your shopify orders area you can edit this email template by going to settings > notifications within shopify and search for the draft order invoice template if the customer hasn't made payment for any reason or you are processing it manually, within shopify you can open the order and easily resend or manually mark as paid please note, the order will stay as a draft order until action has been taken please refer to the sparklayer technical docs creating new customers sales agents are also able to add new customers directly from the sparklayer interface, making it easy for them to quickly place an order (versus having to manually set up a customer record within your website's admin area) to get started, for your selected sales agent, you'll need to sales agent ordering docid\ uw8mdbmefwwkqzrvb5cqx when selecting customer role , choose sales administrator from the list this will activate additional privileges for the sales agent, allowing them to create customers on the fly the next time they sign into your website from the main sales agent overview page, they'll see the option to add a new customer as shown below when add a new customer is clicked, the sales agent will then need to complete the basic information for the customer including their first and last name, their email, and their company when the "add new customer" button is clicked, this will then trigger the following actions account status actions if the invitee does not already have an account on the website this will send the invitee an email asking them to create a password to activate their account and join the company if the invitee already has an account on the website the customer will be able to login with their existing login details to join the company preventing notifications being triggered if you'd prefer for notifications to not be sent when a new customer is created, you can manage this within the sparklayer dashboard under integrations simply tick the "disable new customer invite email" to prevent notifications being sent for new customers that do not already have an account, they'll receive an email that looks similar to the below this is an email that is generated via shopify and can be easily modified within shopify, this uses the "activate account" email notification and can be modified within the settings > notifications area of your shopify admin please note the following as part of introducing new customers to your b2b customer base, we recommend informing them of the process detailed above to ensure they are familiar with the steps involved please note the following when a new customer is added this way by a sales agent, the customer will automatically be assigned the same rules assigned to the sales agent this includes the following price lists discount percentage customer group sales agent groups (if applicable) for example, if the sales agent has been set up to use price list abc , the new customer will automatically be assigned this same price list this can be modified by subsequently going into the new customer's record and updating as required (e g by assigning them an updated customer group tag) no configurations applicable editing prices on the fly sales agents have the ability to edit prices "inline" for customers; it's a great way to make ad hoc price changes or apply discounts without requiring adjustments to price lists to get started, for your selected sales agent, you'll need to sales agent ordering docid\ uw8mdbmefwwkqzrvb5cqx when selecting customer role , choose sales administrator from the list this will activate additional privileges for the sales agent, allowing them to edit prices on the fly the next time they sign into your website when they add items to a customer's order, they'll see an edit button next to the unit price to then make changes please note it is only possible to lower the unit price when editing prices adding custom items our new "add custom item" feature lets your sales admins add additional items to a customer's order that sit outside of your general product catalogue use cases could include adding custom instructions or details specific to an order, additional products (that don't have a specific sku), or any custom item that needs to be associated with an order items can be added at a specific cost or at a zero cost value to get started, for your selected sales agent, you'll need to sales agent ordering docid\ uw8mdbmefwwkqzrvb5cqx when selecting customer role , choose sales administrator from the list this will activate additional privileges for the sales admin, allowing them to add custom items the next time they sign into your website to add a custom item to an order, from the my cart interface docid\ efevur a3ycjxuhvrr7t , go to " actions " and select " add custom item " this will then allow the sales agent to enter the following details item details name the name of the custom item cost the per unit cost of the custom item quantity the number of units when a custom item is added to the order, it is then possible to edit the unit cost, quantity, and fully remove the item if required setting custom shipping costs sales agents have the ability to set a custom shipping cost for customers; it's a great way to create a specific shipping costs without needing to edit shipping rules or costs behind the scenes to get started, for your selected sales agent, you'll need to sales agent ordering docid\ uw8mdbmefwwkqzrvb5cqx when selecting customer role , choose sales administrator from the list this will activate additional privileges for the sales agent, allowing them to create a custom shipping cost on the fly the next time they sign into your website when they add items to a customer's order and go through the checkout, they'll see an edit button next to the shipping methods to then make changes it's also possible to set a custom message that shows when setting a custom shipping cost if you'd like to make edits, please refer to the instructions below updating language and text you can update the default text by adding code to your frontend integration guide docid\ qwxsym9x5 pviogutekcp languages & international docid\ klrs7wtxn3wncdy8z5zvu about how to update text on sparklayer / add the below code into the sparklayer core script / translations { en { "cart checkout shipping method custom method message" "set a custom shipping rate for this order to replace default shipping methods ", } }, / end of code please note when setting up a custom shipping price, it will be labeled as "custom shipping" in your store's admin (e g shopify) if you have backend integrations in place, this label might impact how order data is processed to ensure smooth operation, we recommend testing this feature beforehand to identify and address any potential issues overwriting product settings for sales agents with the "sales administrator" customer role (see above), it's possible to edit the product settings of items within an order for any products that have pack size or min/max product rules, the sales agent can enter "freeform" quantities and increment/decrement the line item quantities as required if changes are made to the default settings, the sales agent will be prompted to confirm their changes before proceeding to complete the order placing "personal" orders as a sales agent please note to use this feature, your store must be using version 1 4 0 or above in the frontend integration guide docid\ qwxsym9x5 pviogutekcp sales agents can access their own personal account by clicking the my account icon within the my cart interface docid\ efevur a3ycjxuhvrr7t alongside placing orders on behalf of customers, sales agents can also add products to their personal orders and complete the checkout process independently whether it's for buying a product for an upcoming customer demonstration or making a personal purchase at a preferential rate when a sales agent places a personal order, pricing will be applied based on the price list assigned to their customer groups docid 5 lwmnohhjbjjppg9e6vh within the sparklayer dashboard shopping lists one great use for the the sales agent "personal" account is the my cart interface docid\ efevur a3ycjxuhvrr7t sales agents can create their own shopping lists to save in their account once they log in as a customer, they can then access the shopping lists to populate an order it's a great way to quickly start an order for a b2b customer! using sales agents across multiple devices an additional feature of sales agents is the ability to access customer accounts across multiple devices using the same sales agent login this means that you can pick up orders from where you left off manage the same order in parallel across different devices log in as a different customer on a different device whilst using your sales agent account restricting sales agent access if you're wanting to restrict which customers (or groups of customers) a sales agent can see, it's possible to configure this via a special settings named sales agent groups, this powerful feature gives you full control over how you manage your sales agent access setting up metafields on shopify 🤖 automatically add this to your shopify store by going to configure metafields 📖 learn more about how metafields work in shopify metafields & data mapping docid\ bxwngb6b1n7qffhtnu7pk item details custom data type customers metafield type this must be set as single line text and set to list of values namespace this must be set as sparklayer key this must be set as sales agent groups validation tick limit to preset choices and then enter your values the values you enter represent how you want to categorise your sales agents common use cases may include example use case example values limiting by a territory (e g germany, france, uk) germany, france, uk limiting by a geographical region north east, south west limiting by a customer type vip, new customer important when entering values, make sure to not include spaces instead, you can separate using dashes (e g south east ) assigning sales agent groups to a customer once you've created your sales agent groups, you can then easily assign these to a customer within shopify, search for a customer and then scroll down to the metafields section from the sales agent groups option, select the appropriate values and then click save note, it's possible to assign more than one value to a customer configuring rules for the sales agent the final step is to then assign the sales agent group rules to a specific sales agent this is done through the sparklayer dashboard simply head to "customer sync", find your sales agent, and scroll down to "restrict sales agent access" then, just enter the groups you would like the sales agent to be able to access as with customers in shopify, a sales agent can have access to multiple groups please note if you leave the field as blank, the sales agent will have access to all customers any modifications to sales agents/admins must be done through the dashboard you cannot change the metafields for a sales agent/admin on shopify this includes changing their role or sales agent groups they are assigned to when the sales agent next signs into your shopify store, they'll then be able to search for customers that match the sales agent group rules you've set up please refer to the sparklayer technical docs notifying sales agents of new orders when a b2b customer places an order, it's possible to also notify the sales agent of any order activity using automations within your ecommerce platform using shopify flow , you can set up specific triggers to send emails to specific sales agents when an order is placed the flow works by detecting an order (or draft order) being placed, checking which sales agent has been assigned to the customer (see "restricting sales agent access" above), and then sending an internal email to get started, you can download a sample shopify flow template here no configurations applicable managing quotes do you have sales agents who manage quotes on behalf of your b2b customers? the sparklayer quoting engine docid 8a4opninduyfs3pup tuo introduces a unified solution that streamlines the entire "quote to order" process directly from your existing online store it allows you to handle quotes more effectively, converting them into completed orders faster than ever! the sparklayer quoting engine works by allowing your b2b customers to easily submit quotes for review, and for your sales team to then communicate with the customer until they're ready to complete their order learn more about how it works in quoting engine docid 8a4opninduyfs3pup tuo tracking activity looking to power up your reporting? sparklayer analytics is our advanced analytics platform that has built in reporting for your sales agent activity learn more when sales agents place orders through your store, a range of additional data is tracked against the order, from specific tags through to additional notes this is useful if you want to be able to filter or analyse sales agent activity or integrate this into your backend systems to view the available data, you can click into an open draft order and you'll see the following information this information will also display on any completed orders once payment has been taken data field details shopify tags the following tags will be added against the order agent (denoting an agent order) agent \[start of email] (denoting the agent's email) agent \[email domain] (denoting the agent's email) b2b (denoting a b2b order) b2b sales agent account id if the sales agent has an accounting id assigned, this will display within the order b2b sales agent email the email address of the sales agent sparkpaymenttype this is captured against all b2b orders, and will also include the payment type the sales agent has selected no configurations applicable