Beyond Accounting: How QuoteWerks Optimizes Your QuickBooks Workflow

In today's competitive business landscape, efficiency isn't just a buzzword; it's a necessity. For many businesses, particularly in dynamic industries like Managed Services (MSPs) and Audio/Visual (AV), the gap between sales and accounting can create significant friction. Manually transferring data between your quoting software and your accounting software is not only time-consuming but also ripe for costly errors.

This is where a powerful CPQ (Configure, Price, Quote) solution like QuoteWerks, integrated with Intuit QuickBooks, comes in.

This post will show you how QuoteWerks integrates with both QuickBooks Desktop and QuickBooks Online. We will take a deep dive into how QuoteWerks Web specifically streamlines and enhances your entire sales and procurement process when connected with QuickBooks Online, transforming it from a simple data transfer into a strategic advantage.

Bridging the Gap Between Sales and Accounting

QuoteWerks seamlessly connects with the accounting software you already use, whether it's QuickBooks Desktop or the cloud-based QuickBooks Online. The core benefit is simple but profound: eliminate double entry and automate your workflow.

When a quote becomes an order in QuoteWerks, you can instantly export it to QuickBooks as an invoice, sales order, or estimate. This single action saves countless hours and prevents the typos and mistakes that inevitably occur when re-keying information. But the real power lies in how QuoteWerks complements and extends the functionality of QuickBooks.

Why Your Sales Team Shouldn't Quote in QuickBooks

While QuickBooks is a fantastic accounting package (we use it ourselves!), it's not designed to be robust quoting software. Relying on it for quoting can lead to several challenges. QuoteWerks is designed to fill these gaps, providing a specialized, feature-rich platform for your sales team.

Here’s why using QuoteWerks for your quoting needs is a game-changer:

1. Keep Your Accounting Data Clean and Relevant

• Don't Clutter QuickBooks with Prospects: In QuickBooks, you must create a "customer" before you can create a quote for them. With QuoteWerks, you can quote prospects without adding them to your official customer list. Once they place an order, QuoteWerks automatically creates the customer record in QuickBooks, keeping your customer list clean and accurate.
• Avoid a Bloated Item List: Similarly, you can quote any item in QuoteWerks without first creating it in QuickBooks. This prevents your item list from being flooded with products and services that you may never actually sell. QuoteWerks will create the items in QuickBooks for you only when the order is placed.

2. Empower Your Sales Team with Advanced Quoting Features

• Flexible Pricing & Profitability: Go far beyond basic pricing. QuoteWerks supports 9 different pricing methods, including markup, gross margin, volume-based, and customer-specific price levels. You can easily see your profit margin on every quote, order, and line item without running a separate report.
• Complex Configurations Made Easy: Use the visual Configurator to systematically build product and service bundles. Specify required items (e.g., a mandatory support contract with a server), as well as optional and substitute items, ensuring every quote is accurate and complete.
• Real-Time Vendor Integration: Get real-time pricing and availability from leading distributors like D&H, Ingram Micro, and TD SYNNEX directly within your quote. Compare prices across vendors to ensure you're always getting the best deal.
• Professional Document Automation: Easily combine cover pages, spec sheets, and other literature to create a professional, comprehensive proposal package that can be delivered instantly by email.

3. Enhance Security and Control

• Keep Sales Reps Out of Accounting: For your sales team to create quotes in QuickBooks, they need access to your sensitive financial data. QuoteWerks provides a secure, dedicated environment for sales activities, with robust security features that let you control who can see and modify what, right down to the menu level.

A Seamless Workflow: QuoteWerks Web & QuickBooks Online

The integration between QuoteWerks Web and QuickBooks Online offers the ultimate in flexibility and power, creating a seamless flow from initial quote to final payment.

Here’s how it works:

1. Pull Contact & Item Data: Start your quote by pulling customer information directly from QuickBooks Online or your connected CRM/PSA. You can also search your live QuickBooks Online item list to add products and services.
2. Create Quotes & Proposals: Leverage all the advanced CPQ features of QuoteWerks—bundling, pricing rules, vendor integrations—to build the perfect quote.
3. Export to QuickBooks: Once the client accepts the quote (perhaps via an electronic signature through the QuoteValet module), export the document to QuickBooks Online as an estimate, sales receipt, or invoice. You can do this one at a time or in batches.
4. Automate Data Creation:
   • New Customers & Items: If the customer or any items on the quote are new, QuoteWerks prompts you to create them instantly in QuickBooks, allowing you to select the correct item type (Inventory, Non-inventory, Service) and associated income/expense accounts.
   • Terms, Shipping & More: Other details like payment terms and shipping methods are also created automatically if they don't already exist in QuickBooks.
5. Streamline Procurement: You can see all unordered items from your sales orders and easily create QuickBooks Online Purchase Orders that can contain items from one or multiple orders. The PO number is then written back into QuoteWerks for complete visibility.

Get Started Today!

Stop wasting time with manual data entry and empower your sales team with the tools they need to win. The integration between your quoting software and QuickBooks is more than just a connection; it's a strategic enhancement to your entire business process.

The QuickBooks Online integration is a per-site subscription and requires the Professional or Corporate Edition of QuoteWerks Desktop or QuoteWerks Web.

Ready to see it in action?

• Request a Demo to see a live walkthrough of the integration.
• Contact QuoteWerks sales at sales@quotewerks.com or 407-248-1481 to request a free trial of the QuickBooks Online Integration subscription.

Related:

• Request a QuoteWerks Demo
• Read more QuoteWerks Reviews
• Read more about the QuoteWerks integration with QuickBooks Desktop
• Read more about the QuoteWerks integration with QuickBooks Online

About the Author:
Brian Laufer
Vice President
QuoteWerks