You’ll find answers to common questions on this page. Click a question to read its answer.
What supplier data do you have available?
Once works directly with many suppliers in the window covering industry. Whether you buy blinds from a trade supplier or fabrics and components from a manufacturer to construct your own blinds, we can help. Just get in touch and let us know who you buy from. We have many product catalogues available in Once format.
Do you have a free trial?
Yes, we now offer an unlimited free trial. That means you don’t pay a penny until you are using Once for real orders.
How is Once going to save my business money?
Once can save your business far more money than you pay in subscription costs. In addition to the huge saving in time and improvement in efficiency there are many direct cost savings:
- – Eliminate numerous incorrect orders that can be very costly both financially and to your reputation.
- – No more handwriting transcription errors.
- – No calculation errors for prices or fabric lengths
- – Once warns you when width or drops are outside of maximum limits.
- – Once warns you when a fabric must be turned and also if it can be turned.
- – Warnings for missing information such as the child safety fixing height.
- – Appointment confirmation email or SMS messages so fewer wasted journeys
- – Distance between appointments and map view of appointments to minimise travelling times and fuel costs.
The cost reduction in buying carbon paper pads can be similar to the subscription cost!
How much does it cost?
£60 +VAT per month for the basic Once system package. This includes 1 licence for the Once Track order management app, and 1 licence for the Once Mobile device to use when out visiting customers. There is an unlimited free trial period after you first sign up – you won’t be charged until you are up and running and using Once for real customer orders.
Once Mobile licences are £30 + VAT per user, per month after the unlimited free trial. You can pay by debit/credit card or direct debit.
Contact us to discuss volume discounts or your specific usage requirements.
What equipment do I need?
For Once Track and Once Mobile, you’ll need a single desktop or laptop computer (Windows or Apple) to manage your product and price catalogue and to run the Once Track order management app. Each salesperson or surveyor will need a tablet (eg, iPad, iPad mini or Android) to run Once Mobile. You can also run Once Mobile on a PC (Apple Mac or Windows). Read more about How Once works and Compatible Devices.
For a low cost Android device we currently recommend a Galaxy Tab A.
For the calendar-only, Once Time app, you can use a Windows PC, Apple Mac, iPad, iPhone or Android tablet or phone.
See Compatible Devices for details.
Do I enter an annual contract?
No, you pay per month and you can cancel at any time.
Do you offer training?
Yes – for Once Mobile and Once Track we offer free one-to-one online training and getting started assistance for new subscribers. During the session you can choose to share your desktop so we can work with you on getting your actual system up and running. We also offer additional free training and setup sessions as you get more familiar with the apps to answer any questions and help you get the most out of your Once system.
Details are supplied in the Welcome to Once email sent to new customers.
Does it have a calendar for appointments?
Yes, the Once Track app contains a calendar allowing you to keep track of multiple staff diaries. Staff are able to view their own calendars using the free Once Time app that can be downloaded onto their phones, tablets, or computers.
Appointments created in Once Track can be sent to the Once Mobile app to quickly pass all of the customer and appointment details to the Once Mobile user so they can quickly get started with their survey appointment. You can view all of your jobs, sorted by appointment date within the Once Mobile app.
How do I create my product and price catalogue?
The Once Setup tool is designed to make it very quick and easy to put your products and prices into Once.
The installation contains an example catalogue covering a range of industry products and fabrics. You can use this as a starting point or you can cut-and-paste your existing price and product data into Once Setup. We also have a broad range of supplier catalogues that you can easily import into your system.
You do not need all items you sell in the catalogue as you can manually enter details in the app. For products with price bands you can select a band so prices are automatically calculated or you can simply type in the selling price.
Get in touch with support if you would like any help at all with this, or to discuss what supplier catalogues we have available already.
How do I add or reduce the number of people in my business that can use Once Mobile?
Go to the Sign up to Once page, and enter the total number of users that you want to be able to use Once Mobile or Once Track.
e.g. If you currently have a single user subscription and want to have 4 users you must enter 4 for the number of users.
For full details on adding/reducing the number of Once Mobile users, including the changes you need to make in Once Setup and how it affects your subscription, take a look at the article on our Support Portal.
Can I sell products other than Window Blinds using Once?
Yes, you can sell just about anything!
– Any product that is priced by size or area such as shutters or awnings can easily be built into the catalogue to get automatic pricing.
– The product extras feature can calculate prices from numerous values such as width, drop, perimeter, area, percentage, fixed, pricing tables or a combination.
– You can always enter the product details and prices manually in the app.
For more detailed FAQs or if your question isn’t answered here, please visit our Support Portal