Product catalogue and line items: deal value from the price list, not from memory

With the product catalogue in Advanzo you create products and services once, with a price. After that you attach them as line items to deals and documents, and the deal value is calculated from the line items. Nobody estimates "roughly CHF 20,000" any more, nobody looks up the hourly rate in an old quote. The pipeline and the forecast show numbers that come from the price list.

This article is for teams of three to thirty people who sell recurring products or services: trading companies, trades, IT service providers, agencies with packages, consultancies with day rates. If every person on your team keeps their own price list in Excel today, the catalogue is the first step towards a sales team in which everyone offers the same thing.

The problem today: the deal value is a guess

In most small sales teams the deal value comes about like this: someone creates the deal, thinks for a moment and types a round number into the field. Later a quote follows that looks quite different. The deal value is rarely updated. At the end of the month the pipeline shows a total nobody can defend.

• Every person has their own price list. In Excel, in old quotes, in their head. Two people quote the same service at two prices.
• A price change has to be carried into every file. Three months later the old hourly rate still sits in one template.
• The forecast is based on estimated values. Management plans with numbers that are 20 to 30 percent off.
• New employees learn the prices by asking. Whoever is out of the office that day cannot be asked.
• Nobody can say whether the quote matches the deal value, because the two are created in different places.

The problem is not a lack of discipline. The problem is that prices and deals live in two different places. The catalogue brings them into one.

What the product catalogue in Advanzo does

The product catalogue is a list of your products and services with prices. In daily work it becomes more than a list:

• Line items on the deal: you add products with a quantity to a deal. The deal value follows from the line items, not from a typed amount.
• Line items in the document: the same line items land as a product table in the quote or the contract, with quantity, unit price and total. How the document then reaches the customer is covered in creating proposals faster with AI.
• Forecast from line items: pipeline totals, forecast cards on the dashboard and deals by stage all use the value from the line items.
• Custom fields on products: article number, supplier, unit, category, internal note. You create the fields your business needs.
• Consistency across the team: everyone picks from the same catalogue. A price change applies to every new line item from that moment on.

The AI assistant also draws on the products on the deal when it writes a document draft from the deal context. The draft picks up the line items you have attached to the deal. You review it and decide whether it is sent.

How it works step by step

Step 1: Create the 30 most important line items

Do not start with the whole range. Take the last 20 quotes and write down which line items appear. Usually it is 20 to 40. Create these in the catalogue with name, price and unit. You add the rest the first time it is needed in a quote.

Step 2: Define custom fields

1. Think about what your team needs to know when quoting: article number, category, lead time, purchase price, a note on invoicing.
2. Create these as custom fields on products.
3. Fill them in for the 30 starting line items. Half-filled fields help nobody.

Step 3: Attach line items to the deal

1. Open a deal and add products from the catalogue with a quantity.
2. The deal value updates from the line items.
3. If the scope changes during the conversation, you adjust the line items, not the amount.

Step 4: Build the quote from the line items

Create a document on the deal and insert a product table. The line items from the deal are the basis. The document inherits your brand, and the customer accepts or signs it online. Deal and quote show the same number because it comes from the same source. If the customer asks for an additional line item, you add it to the deal and to the product table in the document. Both places then show the same total again.

Step 5: Check forecast and dashboard

Build a dashboard with the cards deals by stage, forecast and won versus lost. Because the values come from line items, you can defend the total in the weekly pipeline review. How to turn that into a realistic projection is covered in realistic revenue forecasts from your pipeline.

Step 6: Maintain prices in one place

Price increase in January? You change the price in the catalogue. Every new line item takes the new price from that moment on. Then you go through the open deals with that line item and decide per deal whether the quote stands at the old or the new price. The Excel price list can be archived.

Estimated value and line items compared

The table shows what changes in daily work when the deal value comes from line items.

Checklist: how to build your catalogue

A catalogue is only as good as its upkeep. These points make sure the team actually uses it:

• Clear names the team uses in conversation. "Maintenance Basic" instead of "MNT-B-01".
• Every line item with a unit: hour, day, piece, month, fixed price. Without a unit the quantity is wrong.
• Selling price in CHF, excluding or including VAT, but the same across the whole catalogue.
• One person is responsible for the catalogue. They change prices, everyone else picks.
• Custom fields only if someone reads them when quoting. Every field that stays empty lowers trust in the rest.
• Packages as their own line item if you often sell them the same way. The package "Onboarding, 2 days" is one row, not six.
• Rename discontinued products or mark them with a note in a custom field so they are not picked out of habit.
• Write down discounts as a rule: who may give how much, and from what level approval is needed. More on this in using discounts well.
• Go through the catalogue once a quarter: prices, names, fields. One hour is enough.

Mini scenario: an office furniture supplier with 15 people in St. Gallen

Alpstein Büroeinrichtungen AG in St. Gallen has 15 employees: eight in sales, three in the back office, four in installation and the warehouse. All 15 work in Advanzo, because installation sees the deals and dates too. The catalogue has 240 line items: desks, chairs, partitions, installation per hour, planning at a fixed price. Before, every salesperson had their own Excel price list, and with 35 open deals the pipeline showed a value of CHF 1,050,000, estimated.

After the switch to line items the pipeline shows CHF 861,000. The difference of around CHF 190,000 was never real; it consisted of round guesses. The average deal is CHF 24,600. The forecast card on the dashboard calculates with the quoted line items, and for the first time management plans with a number it can explain down to the line item. The two new salespeople who started in spring have quoted at the same prices as the rest of the team since their first week. The eight Excel price lists are archived.

Typical mistakes when building the catalogue

• The whole range at once: 800 line items on day one, 700 of which are never picked. Start with the 30 most common and grow with demand.
• Typing line items freely anyway: if employees enter products around the catalogue, consistency falls apart. Agree as a team that missing line items go into the catalogue, not into free text.
• Prices without a unit: CHF 180 per hour or per day? The unit belongs to every line item.
• Overwriting the deal value by hand: then the total no longer matches the quote. Adjust the line items, not the number.
• No ownership: if everyone may change prices, nobody changes them deliberately. One person maintains the catalogue.
• Custom fields as a data graveyard: ten fields nobody fills in. Better two fields that are always filled.

Frequently asked questions

Can I still set the deal value by hand?

Yes, the deal still has a value field. As soon as you attach line items, though, the value comes from the line items. We recommend always working through line items on deals with a quote, so that deal, document and forecast show the same number.

What happens to open deals when I change a price in the catalogue?

Every new line item you attach to a deal from then on takes the new price. Go through the open deals with that line item once: if the customer has already seen the quote, the old price usually stands. Create a task for it so the check does not get left behind.

Can I keep services and hourly rates in the catalogue?

Yes. A line item needs a name and a price, not a physical article. Consulting per day, support per month, onboarding at a fixed price: all of these are line items. You record the unit in the name or in a custom field.

Which custom fields make sense on products?

Typical ones are article number, category, unit, supplier and an internal note for sales. Only create fields that are read when quoting. Custom fields in Advanzo also exist on contacts, companies, deals and activities.

Does the AI assistant use the line items on the deal?

Yes. When the AI assistant writes a document draft from the deal context, it takes into account the products on the deal, the contacts and the brand. The draft is a proposal that a person reviews and approves. Alternatively you use the AI assistant with your own Anthropic or OpenAI key.

If you want to try this in Advanzo: advanzo.app.