Users, roles and approvals as your team grows

As the team grows, the catalog and the quote become two jobs. A new hire who can both send proposals and invent products will recreate last month's pricing on every deal. Split the work before you invite the second quoter.

The building blocks are:

• Quote editor access for people who assemble and send proposals
• Product editor (and Pricing book editor) for the people who own the catalog
• Approval rules that catch a quote your team sends — quote total, discount, and minimum markup
• Company Quote approval for the customer's own sign-off chain

Custom roles beyond Admin and User need the Permissions feature, which depends on your plan. Without it, every non-admin is a User and already has both Quote editor and Product editor. The split below is what you set up once Permissions is on.

Without Permissions, everyone with the User role can edit products, so the split depends on process. Agree who owns the catalog, use Approval Rules as the safety net (including minimum markup if your account has it), and review new or changed products regularly.

Invite the team only after catalog, pricing, and templates exist — Set up Salesbuildr in this order.

Product editors vs quoters

A quoter creates opportunities, builds quotes from the listed catalog, and sends them. They pick a template, add listed products, set quantities, and send. They should not create a product in the picker or type a one-off sell price. That job is in Quoting best practices for new quoters.

A product editor owns the catalog: create and edit products, import from the Marketplace, set Listed, and keep names and manufacturer part numbers (MPNs) clean.

A product viewer can browse the catalog and the Marketplace but cannot import or edit.

Admin bypasses every permission check. Keep that list short.

Do not assign the built-in User role to a new quoter if you want this split. User already includes Quote editor and Product editor. Create a custom role (for example Quoter) with Quote editor only, and a Catalog role with Product editor.

The quote editor can still offer Create new product on some accounts. Treat that as a catalog job. If product verification is on for your account, a quoter-created product stays unverified until a product editor confirms it.

Limit who can create products and change pricing

Three permissions change what a customer pays:

1. Product editor — can change catalog cost, sell price, and markup on the product. An explicit sell price on the product turns the pricing strategy off for that item until you clear it.
2. Pricing book editor — can create and edit pricing books: named lists of product prices attached to a company or a classification. Use a book for a negotiated SKU rate, not a category-wide percent off (that is a discount group).
3. Products importer — spreadsheet import and some pricing-book imports.

The built-in User role does not include Pricing book editor or Products importer. You must grant those on a custom role. A quoter or viewer can still open a quote that used a pricing book — they see the book name; they cannot open the book to change prices.

Do this:

1. Go to Settings → Users & Access → Permissions.
2. Click New role permissions mapping.
3. Create a Quoter role: check Quote editor. Add Quote template editor only if that person also owns templates. Leave Product editor, Products importer, and Pricing book editor unchecked.
4. Create a Catalog role: check Product editor, plus Pricing book editor and Products importer for the people who should change prices.
5. Open each user at Settings → Users & Access → Users and assign those roles. A user can have more than one role — they get the combination.

If someone already has User, assign the custom role instead. You cannot edit User.

Pricing books live at Products → Pricing book. Only Pricing book editor (or Admin) can manage that page. Detail: Pricing Books.

Approval rules: quote total, discount and minimum markup

Approval Rules are the safety net when a quoter still edits a line on a draft. They run when your team sends a quote. They do not gate a client's own Storefront Place Order.

For Storefront review — company approvers, the Quotes inbox, and why Approval Rules do not catch self-service orders — see Set up a Storefront clients actually use.

Go to Settings → Quotes → Approval Rules.

Simple rules

On accounts without Advanced Approval Workflow:

• Above value — require approval when the quote total exceeds a threshold
• Above discount percentage — require approval when the discount exceeds a percentage
• Includes products from categories — optional category filter
• Who can approve? — people on your company

If you list approvers and leave every threshold empty, every sent quote waits for internal approval.

Advanced rules (minimum markup)

With Advanced Approval Workflow on, each rule can also trigger when markup drops below a percentage — that is the underpricing floor.

On the same Approval Rules page each rule can use:

• Quote total value — above (and optionally below)
• Discount above — line-level discount exceeds this percent
• Markup below — gross margin markup drops below this percent (minimum markup)
• Optional: annual recurring revenue, product categories, quote owner, and Manager (the sender's primary or secondary manager)

Set Primary manager and Secondary manager on each user at Settings → Users & Access → Users → the user detail page. A Manager rule is skipped if the sender has no manager.

Internal approval only runs when the sender is a quote manager on your team. The quote stays in Internal approval until those people Accept. The customer does not see that status and is not emailed until internal approval finishes.

Admins can Accept on behalf of during the internal step. Quote managers can do that on later customer-facing steps, not during internal approval.

Company quote approvers on the customer side

After your team (and any internal rules) finish, the customer still has their own chain:

1. The opportunity contact (recipient approval)
2. Then, if the company has Quote approval set and the quote is above Min value, the contacts on that list

This is the customer's sign-off, not your manager's. The same list applies to every quote sent to that company, and it does apply when a contact clicks Place Order on the Storefront. If the order is above Min value (or no minimum is set), the quote stays Waiting approval until those contacts Accept.

Set it per company:

1. Open the company and click Manage Company.
2. Find Quote approval.
3. Turn on Require quote approval.
4. Set Min value. The field hint is "Orders below this value can be placed without approval."
5. Add Approvers — contacts at that customer.

If the company has a parent company that also lists approvers, those contacts are added to the same step.

Admins and quote managers can Accept on behalf of a company approver.

An empty Approvers list means the quote goes to the recipient only, even when Min value is set. Check Manage Company → Quote approval if a large order skipped the customer's finance contact.

Review access when people join or leave

When someone joins

Invite from Settings → Users & Access → Users → Invite User. Pick a contact on your company, confirm the email, assign the lean role (Quoter or Catalog, not Admin and not the full User bundle unless they need it), and send.

Then:

• Set Primary manager (and Secondary manager if you use manager approval).
• Confirm their company link is verified. Unverified staff cannot send as quote managers. See Access & Permissions if they hit "Your company link has not been verified."
• If they should only see their own pipeline, turn on Restrict opportunity access under opportunity configuration.
• Do not grant Pricing book editor or Product editor "just in case."

A Viewer license seat can browse products (including the Marketplace) without counting against user licenses. It cannot import or edit.

When someone leaves

Deactivate — do not delete. Quotes and opportunities they own stay in the record.

1. Settings → Users & Access → Users → open the user → set status to inactive. They cannot sign in; history stays.
2. Reassign opportunities and open quotes they still own, if someone else must work them.
3. Open Settings → Quotes → Approval Rules and remove them from every approver list. A quote waiting on a deactivated approver stays in Internal approval and the customer never gets the email.
4. Search companies they were listed on as Quote approval approvers and replace them.
5. Move Primary manager / Secondary manager on the people who reported to them. Otherwise a Manager rule is skipped.
6. If they were the only Admin, promote someone else first. Only an Admin can change roles. If no Admin remains, contact support@salesbuildr.com.

Only an Admin can activate, deactivate, or change a role.

See also

• Users & Access — invites, roles, permissions, and managers
• Quotes — Approval Rules, discount groups, and quote configuration
• Access & Permissions — login and permission errors
• Quoting best practices for new quoters — catalog, pricing, and templates
• Set up a Storefront clients actually use — why Approval Rules do not catch Place Order
• Pricing Books — who can edit customer prices
• Set up Salesbuildr in this order — invite users after catalog, pricing, and templates exist