The Deal Desk team's mission is to streamline the opportunity management process while acting as a trusted business partner for field sales. We are the first point of contact for sales support.
The Deal Desk team will do their best to respond to each request to '@sales-support' within 6 business hours. Revenue generating or current quarter requests will take priority, especially during Month & Quarter End. If a task is not resolved within 24 hours it will be escalated (if necessary).
| Type of Request | First Response | Resolution |
|---|---|---|
| Basic Quote Assistance | 6 Hours | 8 Hours |
| Ramp Deal | 6 Hours | 24 hours |
| Flat Renewal | 6 Hours | 24 Hours |
| IACV/ARR Review | 6 Hours | 24 Hours |
| Contract Reset / Co-Term | 6 Hours | 24 Hours |
| RFP/Vendor Forms | 6 Hours | Dependent on AM |
The Deal Desk team will respond to E0A Ramp requests as quickly as possible. However, due to the complexity involved in building ramp deals, the SLA for an EoA Ramp Deal Order Form creation is as follows:
| Subscription Term Start Date | First Response | Resolution |
|---|---|---|
| < 30 days in the future | 4 Hours | 1 Business Day |
| > 30 days in the future | 4 Hours | 3 Business Days |
A Deal Desk team member will respond to your chatter request with an estimate on when the Order Form will be complete. Please let us know if your customer requires the quote in advance due to lengthy procurement cycles or budget planning reasons - exceptions will be considered in cases of urgency, or to meet a customer's needs.
The Deal Desk team is located around the world and will be available during standard business hours within most regions - typically 9:00am - 6:00pm for the local time of the team member, as outlined below.
EMEA
AMER
APAC
Deal Desk's primary communication channel is Salesforce Chatter. When you chatter @Sales-Support, it will automatically create a case in the Deal Desk queue. Please do not tag Deal Desk team members directly in chatter or make a request through Slack direct message. Always uses @Sales-Support for SFDC requests or post #sales-support in Slack for general questions. This ensures our team is working as efficiently as possible and that you are covered in case the DD team member who replied first is unavailable. If someone is working on a case, they will continue to support until the case is closed. If an issue has been resolved, please chatter @Sales-Support to reopen a case.
Deal Desk team members monitor the queue throughout the day. For all cases directly related to opportunites, quoting/deal structure or booking a deal, Deal Desk will respond to a case within 6 hours, Monday-Friday, with the exception of National/Regional holidays. Resolution or escalation for these cases will occur within 24 hours.
For cases related to Account Segmentation (ROE, Territory), account data, or account merges, Deal desk will reassign these cases to our Sales Operations team to review and resolve.
To Chatter the DD team, tag @Sales-Supportin Chatter on the related opportunity or account page and a short sentence on your request. If the Deal Desk team needs more information, we will follow up directly via Chatter.
Use our Slack channel in case of general, non-record related requests and/or urgent questions: #sales-support [If the request is related to a quote, opportunity, or account - please chatter on the page in Salesforce instead of the Slack channel.]
Please avoid contacting the DD team members directly via Slack. Utlizing the #sales-support channel is best to ensure timely coverage, helps others who may have similar questions, and aligns with our Transparency value.
In case of a specific opportunity or quote related question please use SF Chatter (see section Salesforce Chatter Communication)
Desk Desk process updates and announcements will be communicated via **#sales** and **#sales-support** Slack channels.
Weekly Deal Desk Office Hours are scheduled each Wednesday at 12 PM EST. During Month End, Office Hours will take place on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, scheduled in both AMER and EMEA time zones. Calendar invites will be sent to Sales-All Distribution group. Priority will be given to opportunities closing within the quarter.
Supported topics include:
Deal Desk AMA's are an opportunity to invite someone from Deal Desk to your local team call. We can help address any questions regarding quote processes, best practices, or unique deal structures. Think of this as an opportunity for your team to learn together on general topics for quoting or opportunity management. For specific questions related to in-flight opportunities, it is best to join Deal Desk Office Hours.
Chatter or Slack #sales-support if you are interested in having Deal Desk join your team call!
In an effort to proactively prevent common order issues (especially those that would require a customer to resign our order form) the Deal Desk team will conduct a manual review of all opps that meet the following criteria:
Team members will review opps in their region each week. We are looking for anything that would prevent the opportunity from booking smoothly, including:
Review Cadence
The team will review opps on a monthly basis, as time allows throughout the work week. During the last month of any quarter, the review will be conducted weekly.
To calculate ARR, please review the ARR in Practice handbook page.
The following is intended as a step by step guide for opportunity owners or ISR's to learn how to create standard quotes for New Subscriptions, Amendments, and Renewal opportunities.
Follow this step by step guide for creating a New Subscription quote. Use a New Subscription quote when the customer is purchasing a brand new subscription OR if the customer is renewing for a term that is different from the original subscription (ex. original term 36 months, renewing for 12 months = new subscription quote).
A. Open the New Business opportunity and click the “New Quote” button.
B. When prompted select “New Subscription” and click “Next.”
C. Provide Quote, Account, and Subscription Term Details and click “Next.”
@Billing-ops on the Partner account and ask for a Billing account to be created.D. Select “Add Base Products” from the drop-down menu on the “Edit Products and Charges” page. Select the correct product and click Next. E. Enter the product quantity, and adjust the discount or effective price as needed. Click Submit. F. Order Form Generation
@Sales-Support in chatter.To supplement these steps, review the THIS TRAINING VIDEO to see each step live for a New Subscription quote.
Note: If you cannot view the video, make sure you are logged in to GitLab Unfiltered. You can learn more about how to log in or request access to GitLab Unfiltered here!
This quote type should be only used when new users are being added to an existing subscription during the current subscription term. This includes both additional licenses to existing products, and true-ups. This also includes any scenario where the products are being changed during the term - i.e., an upgrade from Premium to Ultimate. Amendment quotes cannot extend a subscription term.
A. Add-On Quote Creation
B. Upgrade or Switch Products During the Subscription Term
To supplement these steps, review THIS TRAINING VIDEO to see each step live for an Amendment Quote:
Note: If you cannot view the video, make sure you are logged in to GitLab Unfiltered. You can learn more about how to log in or request access to GitLab Unfiltered here!
This quote type should be used when the customer has reached the end of their subscription term and wishes to renew the subscription for another term.
A. Standard Renewal
B. Renewal Using a New Subscription Quote
Certain renewals require a New Subscription quote. The most common scenario is if you are changing the term as of the renewal date - i.e. changing from an annual plan to a multi-year plan.
To supplement these steps, review THIS TRAINING VIDEO to see each step live for an Renewal Quote:
Note: If you cannot view the video, make sure you are logged in to GitLab Unfiltered. You can learn more about how to log in or request access to GitLab Unfiltered here!
Co-terming is when a customer wants to align two or more separate subscriptions with different end dates. Co-Terming is not the same as an Amendment quote (adding and prorating users for an existing subscription).
Ex). Customer has 2 separate subscriptions for Premium.
The most likely scenario is to co-term into the subscription ending last:
The other scenario is co-terming into the subscription ending first:
This requires two steps: first combining the subscriptions, then cancelling the leftover one.
As of 2021-01-26, the following changes have been made to the quoting process in relation to the end of availability of Starter/Bronze:
Silver/Premium + Gold/Ultimate Legacy SKU Quoting Guide
As of 2021-01-26, the following changes have been made to the quoting process in relation to the renaming of Silver and Gold:
Salesforce Guided Selling filters have been updated. Legacy SKUs have been removed where appropriate, resulting in a shorter, cleaner list of products that can be sold. Legacy SKUs from previous product deprecations have also been removed.
| New Rate Plan Name | Legacy Name |
|---|---|
| SaaS - Premium | Silver |
| Self-Managed - Premium | Premium |
| SaaS - Ultimate | Gold |
| Self Managed - Ultimate | Ultimate |
Quote Discount Approval Module Updates
If you'd like to save time by cloning an existing quote, you can do so by doing the following:
Follow the standard process for quote creation. The Quote Object does not need to be approved before generating a Draft proposal.
Important Notes
Occasionally an opportunity will require a unique structure that is outside of the normal quote format. Examples of these scenarios are listed below. Deal Desk will partner with the Account Owner to structure the opportunity and provide guidance on creating the quote. Please chatter on the opportunity if you need assistance with one of these scenarios!
Contract Resets are used to perform an "Early Renewal" - i.e. start a new 12 month subscription before the renewal date. They can also be used if a customer needs to change a billing date or would like to change the term length, mid term.
@Sales-Support in Chatter on the Renewal Opportunity to create a credit opportunity and quote to cancel the existing subscription, which in this scenario is being replaced with the new subscription. Deal Desk will then manually generate a Contract Reset Opp and Order Form to add the credit line into the order form once the quote has been fully approved.On the main contract reset opportunity, populate the "Opportunity Category" field with "Contract Reset." On the associated credit opportunity, populate the "Opportunity Category" field with "Credit."
All Contract Reset opportunities will be classified as a "Renewal" and will be subect to ARR Basis, which will impact overall Net ARR depending on the scenario.
For more information on ARR calculation for Contract Resets, see ARR in Practice.
In the case of multi-year deals, the Initial Term” should be updated to reflect the number of months in the term - 24, 36, 48, etc. Also, select the correct Product (i.e. for a 2 year SaaS - Premium deal, select “SaaS - Premium - 2 Year”). Multi-year deals that do not utilize the correct SKU will be rejected.
If annual payments are requested for multi-year deals, use the 1 Year product. Note that annual payments must be approved in chatter according to the Deal Approval Matrix.
If annual payments are approved, create a separate opportunity and quote for each year of the subscription. A three-year deal with an annual payment schedule will have 3 separate opportunities and quotes reflecting each year of the subscription. Work with @Sales-Support in Chatter if needed. The "Payment Schedule" field on each opportunity should be populated with the value "Annual Payments."
For more information on ARR calculation for Multi-Year Deals, see ARR in Practice.
A ramp deal is when a contracts a multi-year deal for users that will be fulfilled on a set annual schedule throughout the duration of the multi-year subscription term. In a Ramp, users are prorated from when they will be added. The customer pays upfront, or annually, for all users planned in the ramp schedule. For Amendment quotes, the customer adds users throughout the subscription with no set schedule.
Ramp deals are limited to multi-year deals, with 12 month ramp periods. See ARR in Practice for more information.
A. To create a ramp deal, tag @Sales-Support in chatter on the opportunity. Provide the following information for each ramp period:
B. Request template:
C. Deal Desk will create the quotes and Order Form.
On the opportunity, populate the "Opportunity Category" field with "Ramp."
For more information on ARR calculation for Ramp Deals, see ARR in Practice.
Occasionally, changes will be made to a Custom SOW after an opportunity has been booked. These changes could include delivery (invoice) schedules or types of services delivered. The total value of the opportunity should not change. If the total value of an opportunity changes, this will require an internal refund and rebooking of the order.
Deal Desk will create Decommission (refund) opportunities for all Sales Assisted Orders. The Billing team will create Decommission (refund) opportunities for all Web Portal purchases. The creation process is the same for both Deal Desk and Billing.
To create the decommission opportunity, navigate to the related Closed-Won Opportunity. Click 'Create Refund Opportunity'. Navigate to the opportunities tab under the Account page. Click on the newly created decommission opp, it will have 'REFUND' in the opportuntiy name. On the opportunity level, double check all fields populated as expected. For some multi-year deals, or partial refunds, 'Amount' may need to be updated manually.
Deal Desk - After confirming all fields are correct on a Sales Assisted decommission, submit the opp for approval. Billing - After confirming all the fields are correct on a Web Portal Purchase, manually change the 'Stage' to 'Closed-Won'.
If an opportunity requires multiple invoices due to a specific professional services delivery schedule, a separate opportunity is required for each invoice period. If there is no difference in number of seats or price across the years only one subscription and quote would be required (ie. Invoice Only opps do not require a quote object).
In FY22, multi year deals for recurring subscription products, paid annually, will be captured on one opportunity.
Opportunity Structure
Invoice Amounts
If all payments associated with the opportunity are equal (ex. 3 payments of $10,000) the quote on the original opporunity must reflect the entire opportunity term.
Ex.
3 Year Subscription worth $30,000, broken out into 3 equal annual payments of $10,000.
If the payment amounts or user count per year are not identical, (ex. Year 1 - $15,000 Year 2 - $10,000, Year 3 $5,000)- then the original opporunity quote should only reflect the first year (invoice period) of the subscription.
Ex.
3 Year Subscription worth $30,000, broken out into 3 payments. Year 1 - $10,000, Year 2 - $7,000, Year 3 $13,000
Ex. Professional Services Deal -Opportunity amount $300,000. 4 Deliverables are outlined in the Custom SOW to the customer, each deliverable includes a different date for delivery. This requires 4 opportunities because the customer will be invoiced after completion of each deliverable.
To create opportunities requiring multiple invoices:
Note: The "Payment Schedule" field on each opportunity should be populated with the value "Annual Payments" or "Custom Payment Schedule," whichever applies.
Add-Ons to Opportunities with Multiple Billing Events
A. To add users to an existing license at a different price, please add the users on a new, separate product line.
B. To create a true-up/add-on quote for a multi-year deal, please add both the true-up and increase the license count by the same number of users. Note that the user number cannot decrease during the term of a multi-year deal - i.e. in the case of a three-year deal, if the customer exceeds the 100 license count by 25 users, (1) True-Up SKU with 25 users, and (2) increase the license quantity from 100 to 125.
C. If the customer signs a renewal quote, but a true-up is required before the renewal date, create an add-on opportunity from the closed renewal opportunity, use the same start date as the renewal, and add the necessary true-up.
D. If you have multiple quote objects under one opportunity, the quote you are using must be marked Primary.
The following fields are maintained by Deal Desk to distinguish standard vs. non-standard opportunities:
The Deal Desk team manages updates to all quote templates. Please tag @sales-support if you have questions regarding quote templates.
In order to update quote templates that are used in Salesforce, and pulled in from Zuora, please reference the below resources provided by Zuora.
Note that the GitLab entity information will be populated via the following rules. This table is based on the ISO-2 billing country code of the direct customer or reseller we are delivering invoices to:
| GitLab Entity | Direct Customers and Unofficial Resellers | Authorised Resellers |
|---|---|---|
| BV (NL) | NL | NOTE: Currently the default invoice entity is BV in the quoting tool.
For new resellers: GL entity should be determined based on the signed reseller agreement. For old resellers: check the entity under the account in Zuora |
| GmbH (DE) | DE | |
| Ltd (UK) | UK | |
| Inc. (US) | All customers outside of NL, DE, UK, AU | |
| PTY LTD (AU) | AU |
Note: all initial web direct subscriptions ordered through the portal are placed on the US entity. If the initial order was invoiced by the DE entity -through a sales assisted order- and customer orders an add-on via the portal, the add-on will be invoiced by DE as well. Important: in case of add-ons, the add-on quote/order form must reflect the same invoice entity that was on the initial/base deal.
Zuora Account information is linked to Salesforce Account Information via Account IDs. If this information is not updated, Zuora cannot sync existing billing or subscription information to new quotes.
If Zuora successfully maps to the correct account, a green check box will appear.
