Introduction
As a seller, it is your responsibility to manage your organization's discounts and follow up on buyers' (customers') requests to redeem them. Whether you're new to our platform or a longtime seller, this guide will help you become a Builtfirst pro.
To get started, head to the Listings page:
If you also have a marketplace admin account, you can switch to the seller side by following these steps.
Creating a Product / Service (Listings)
Getting Started
Adding a product or service is the minimum requirement for all sellers. This is where you'll describe what your company offers generally - this is not a specific discount. Some example products/services may look like:
Example Consulting Services
Sample Cohort for Startups
Reference Compliance
💡If your company wants to promote unique, non-bundled offers, you should create multiple products/services.
Click "Actions", then "Add Listing" in the top right of the Listings page to create new listings.
We'll walk you through each step of the process, collecting pertinent details along the way.
After you create your product/service, it will display on the Listing page. Your listing can be managed at any time using the action menu.
The Basics: Title, Description, Category
The Title of your listing is publicly visible, so make sure it reflects what you're offering.
The Description is a general description of the product/service you're adding. Note that there is a 1000 character limit in this section.
Type and categories refers to the type of listing (product or service) and how you'd categorize your business' offerings.
Choose who to share with: Select Your Target Audience
This section controls which marketplace owners can see your product. Here, you can select who should be included or, if it's easier, who should be excluded.
This is an extremely important field with some details to keep in mind:
You can only select marketplaces that have issued you a seller invitation via automated email.
If you've received invitations from multiple marketplaces, you can select them all here.
Make sure to use general language in your product/service that can apply to multiple audiences.
After you create a product/service, you have the option of adding a specific deal (example: 6 Month Free Trial) to it.
You must select a marketplace for the listing and any associated deals in order for everything to be visible to your intended audience.
Want to offer your company's products/services to all marketplaces across Builtfirst without needing an invitation? Find out if you're eligible to be a Preferred Seller.
Select the Seller
By default, we'll assume that your organization is selling the listing that you're creating. We understand that this won't apply to everyone, however. If you're listing a product on behalf of a seller/vendor, this is where you'll tell us.
If you opt to sell a listing on behalf of another seller, we'll collect that seller's company details. You'll find that this mimics the same information that we collect about your own organization: the name, description, website, logo, and social media handles.
When you create a listing "Sold As" another seller, that seller's name and logo will appear in the marketplace.
However, when marketplace admins are searching for that listing, they should search for your company name.
Confirm and Complete or Add More Details
Review your entries and selection for the listing. Then, you can elect to add even more detail (recommended) or save your listing as-is.
Clicking Confirm will save your listing and return you to the Listing landing page.
Clicking Save and add optional details will take you to another page to input more information. Below you'll find a deep-dove into each optional field that you can add to boost interest in your listing.
How It Works
How It Works is a short description of the specific product/service you're offering. This optional field has a 1000 character limit and typically has more detail than the Product Description section.
Features
Use this section to show off features of your product/service that you want buyers to know about. You can add descriptions for up to 6 features per offer.
Gallery
Showcase your product/service with screenshots or even videos! There's no limit to how many gallery items you can add.
Videos must be added using a link to a hosting website (like youtube or vimeo). Remember to make sure the video is publicly visible!
Screenshots can be uploaded directly from your device. These files must be one of the following and under 2MB each: png, jpeg, jpg, webpg.
PDF and slideshows are not supported at this time. Sorry!
Customers
Display the logos of your existing customers alongside your product/service to boost interest. You can find any marketplace owner here as long as they're on the Builtfirst platform.
Languages
Let buyers know how many languages you support here.
Support Contact
Who should Builtfirst or potential buyers contact if there are questions or issues with redeeming your product/service? Provide an email address (only one, please!), phone number, and/or support page url.
Quotes
If your company prefers to discuss your product/service and provide individual quotes for buyers, this optional section is a great way to kick off that process.
Let buyers know what to expect and enter a recipient for quote requests. We'll send you an automated notification when someone is looking for a quote.
Note: We can only send quote request notifications to one email address. The recipient is responsible for following up with the requester outside of Builtfirst. Consider having quotes sent to an inbox accessible by your team to avoid bottleneck issues.
Integrations
Share documentation about any integrations you have with prospective customers here.
Other Resources
Do you have any helpful links like an FAQ or terms & conditions? This is the perfect place to display them so customers can answer any common questions or concerns that you've already addressed. There's no limit on the number of links you can add.
I've created my listing. Now what?
From this point, you can either stop where you are or create a deal (i.e. a specific discount, like 10% Off!) If a marketplace owner invited you onto the platform, be sure to let them know when you've finished adding all relevant details. After that, it's up to the marketplace owner to add your listing and any deals to their marketplace for buyers to redeem.
Creating a Deal
Getting Started
If you have specific (like 10% Off!) or company-exclusive (like 10% Off for Builtfirst VC Companies) discounts to offer, you can create them as deals within a listing. There's no limit to how many deals you can add within a product/service.
Although you can add multiple deals to a product/service, only one deal per listing will be visible in a single marketplace. Even if a marketplace owner selects more than one of your deals, the system will automatically hide the one of lesser value (based on the average total savings you input) from buyers.
To get begin, go to the the Listings page and click "Actions", then "Add Deal".
Alternatively...
If you're currently editing a listing, you can click "Actions" > "Add Deal" OR "Deals" > "Add Deal".
Just like with listings, we'll ask you to add more details step-by-step.
After you finish creating a deal, you can manage it by clicking the action menu in the Deals section of the Listings page.
The Basics: Deal Title & Description
The Title is the name of your discount and is publicly visible once added to a marketplace.
The Description is where you'll provide more details about the discount you're offering.
Total Savings
This field shows potential buyers how much they can save using your discount or how much your team may receive in commission for earning buyers' business.
How Can Buyers Redeem Your Discount?: Landing Page or Email
Choose Email if someone on your team will reach out to buyers manually. If you select this option, we'll send an email to whoever you enter here to notify them about a discount request. That person must then follow up with that buyer to help them get their discount applied.
Choose Landing Page if there's a specific url you want buyers to go to (like www.security123.com/uniqueutm).
Special Instructions
Regardless of the method, buyers want to know what to expect during the discount redemption process. This field is optional, but we strongly encourage all sellers complete this section. We've noticed a significant dropoff of interest in discounts that don't have clear instructions and timelines.
Builtfirst doesn't have access to your company's internal processes, so we won't be able to answer buyers' questions about them!
Restricting Access
Remember that you've already told us who should see offers when you created your listing. If you have multiple, unique deals under the same listing, however, you may want to segment your deals even further. In this section, you can restrict access to a specific company or marketplace.
If additional segmentation isn't needed, you can skip this section without making selections.
Confirm and Complete or Add More Details
Review your entries and selections for your deal. Then, you can elect to add even more detail (recommended) or save your discount as-is.
Clicking Confirm will save your deal and return you to the Listing landing page.
Clicking Save and add optional details will take you to another page to input more information. Below you'll find a deep-dove into each optional field that you can add to boost interest in your deal.
New Customer Restriction
Are your existing customers eligible for this deal? This is a common question that Builtfirst can't answer for you. Use this section to let everyone know!
Other Restrictions
The Other Restrictions section will allow you to hide your deal based on additional factors, such as buyers' country of incorporation or operation.
In most cases, we do not recommend utilizing this section. Many buyers sign up without adding these details, so even if your deal is in a marketplace it will be hidden from any buyer that does not meet the requirements selected here. Instead, they'll only be able to view the information tied to your listing.
I've created my deal. Now what?
You'll find your newest creation in the Deals section on the Listing page. When you're ready for marketplace owners to see it, Activate your deal.
After that: you're done! Marketplace owners have the final say on whether your discount will be added. Be sure to follow up with your contacts at each marketplace to confirm everything is good to go.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: How do I edit an existing listing/product/service?
A: Go to the Listings section. Click into the action menu (3 dots next to the product/service) and select "Edit" from the dropdown.
Q: How do I edit an existing deal?
A: Go to the Deals section. Click into the action menu (3 dots next to the deal) and select "Edit" from the dropdown.
Q: What does my offer look like to buyers?
A: Use our preview to get a general idea of how your products/services and deal(s) look to buyers. Keep in mind that marketplaces are highly customizable, so we can't show you how offers look in a specific marketplace.
Q: I created a listing/deal - why don't I see it in marketplaces?
A: The marketplace owner must elect to add your discount to their marketplace. They decide on what will be displayed to their buyers.
Q: What's the difference between a product/service (listing) and a deal?
A: Check out Products & Services vs Deals!
Q: Who can see my offers?
A: You'll set visibility while creating/editing your listing and deal(s).
Q: What's the maximum number of products or services I can make?
A: There's no cap on how many listings you can create.
Q: How many deals can I place in a product/service?
A: This is unlimited. However, if you create 2 deals in a listing for the same target audience, buyers will see the deal of greater value based on the priority assigned.
Q: When should I create a new product/service?
A: Only when you have a unique, non-bundled product or service with a separate discount. This is less common. An example use case: "Google Ads", "Google Cloud" & "Google Workspace" are all individual listings with their own deals.
Q: I already have a product/service/deal on the platform, but a new marketplace has invited me to create an offer. What should I do?
A: This is ultimately up to you. If you intend to make your existing offer(s) available to a new marketplace, you can simply update the audience for listings/deals you've already created. Otherwise, you should consider creating a new offer for that marketplace.
Q: Can Builtfirst manage my offers after I've set them up?
A: Due to the volume of offers on our platform, this is not possible.
Q: Which marketplaces have added my offers?
A: This information is not available. Reach out to your marketplace owner contacts to confirm if they've added your listings or deals.
Q: Why can't marketplace owners see the offers I've created for them?
A: There can be a few different reasons for this:
The marketplace wasn't selected for your listing's target audience
The marketplace was selected for the listing, but you added a segmentation on the deal that excludes them.
Your listing/deal is in "unpublished" status.
Q: How do I move my offers to "active" status?
A: Click into the action menu next to your offer and select "Activate. Note that if your listing is "inactive", all deals beneath it will move to "inactive" as well.
Q: I deleted my offer, but changed my mind. Can you restore it?
A: Unfortunately, offers can't be recovered once deleted.