Sales
Customer revenue operations for clients, customers, estimates, invoices, estimate requests, public request intake, stores, client groups, and sales reports.
Purpose and What Problem This Solves
The Sales module centralizes customer and revenue workflows. It helps teams maintain customer records, send estimates and invoices, process public requests, group clients, manage stores, and review sales performance.
Who normally uses this module
What You Can Do Here
- Create and maintain client/customer records and groups.
- Prepare estimates, convert approved work into invoices, and track billing status.
- Collect estimate requests from a public intake form.
- Maintain store records and sales matrix summaries.
- Coordinate with Finance, Projects, POS, and Procurement workflows.
Core Concepts and Terms
Learn these words first. Most user mistakes happen when a beginner opens a form without knowing what the record represents.
Client or customer
The person or organization buying from the business.
Estimate
A proposed price or scope before billing becomes an invoice.
Invoice
The billing document requesting payment for goods or services.
Estimate request
A customer-submitted inquiry asking for pricing or scope response.
Client group
A segmentation label for reporting, access, pricing, or organization.
Store
A selling or business location used in sales and related operations.
Beginner Quick Start
Use this first-run path in a training database or with a supervised account before handling live records.
- Create client groups and confirm required customer fields.
- Add a client/customer record with accurate billing, contact, and tax details.
- Create an estimate or handle a public estimate request.
- Convert approved work to invoice and confirm payment workflow with Finance.
- Review sales reports for outstanding estimates, invoices, and revenue trends.
Standard Operating Procedures
These SOPs describe the routine operating pattern. Your company policy may add approvals, attachments, or segregation-of-duties controls.
Handle a new estimate request
- Review the request details, customer contact information, and requested service or product.
- Create or match the client record to avoid duplicates.
- Prepare an estimate with scope, price, validity, taxes, and terms.
- Send the estimate and follow up before expiration.
Create an invoice
- Confirm the customer, billable items, quantities, prices, tax, due date, and payment terms.
- Create the invoice from an approved estimate or directly when policy allows.
- Send the invoice and record delivery or customer acknowledgement.
- Track payment status and escalate overdue balances according to policy.
Maintain customer records
- Search before creating new customers to avoid duplicates.
- Keep contact, billing address, tax, group, and assigned owner fields current.
- Record important customer notes in the correct module surface.
- Archive inactive or duplicate records only after checking transaction history.
Industry Notes and Good Practice
- Sales data quality begins with customer records. Duplicate customers split revenue history and confuse support.
- An estimate is not an invoice. Use estimates for proposal and approval; use invoices for billing and receivables.
- Clear terms reduce collection problems. Include due dates, taxes, validity, and accepted payment methods.
- Public estimate request forms should set customer expectations about response time.
Controls, Data Quality, and Review Checklist
Use this checklist during onboarding, monthly review, and process audits.
- No duplicate active customer for the same buyer unless there is a clear business reason.
- Estimates have validity dates, clear scope, pricing, and terms.
- Invoices have due dates, tax treatment, and accurate line items.
- Outstanding estimates and overdue invoices are reviewed regularly.
Related ERPat areas
FAQ and Troubleshooting
Should I create a customer before an estimate?Yes, or match an existing customer, so the sales history remains connected.
Can an invoice be changed after sending?Follow your billing policy. Material changes may require revision, credit note, or a new invoice.
Where do public estimate requests arrive?They appear in the estimate request workflow for review and conversion.
What should beginners learn first?Customer search, estimate creation, invoice creation, payment status, and sales report filters.