What happens after the customer finishes the design?

That question is at the center of what Sensei Digital will be demonstrating at METALCON 2026. Visit Booth 1607 to see how Sensei Office connects the customer’s building design to the steps that follow: pricing, quoting, contracts, e-signatures, payments, rent-to-own (RTO), and order processing.

Sensei Digital is heading to METALCON 2026 in Orlando, where we’ll meet with shed manufacturers, dealers, contractors, and other industry professionals. Join us October 7–9 at the Orange County Convention Center and see how Configurator+ can connect manufacturers, dealer networks, sales teams, and customers through the same selling process.

For many building companies, the design is only the beginning. The customer may configure a building online, but someone still needs to turn that configuration into a quote, get the agreement signed, collect payment or arrange financing or RTO, and ultimately turn the sale into an order. The important question is whether that information stays connected along the way.

A Customer Finishes the Design. Then What?

A 3D configurator can make it easier for a customer to choose dimensions, colors, doors, windows, roof styles, and other options. But a completed design only becomes valuable to the business if it can move into the rest of the sales process.

Consider what can happen after a customer designs a building. Does the salesperson have to recreate the configuration in a separate quoting tool? Does the contract have to be built from scratch? Does someone have to re-enter the same options before taking payment? When the order reaches the manufacturer, does the production team receive the exact configuration the customer approved?

These handoffs can create unnecessary work when each stage operates separately.

Sensei Office is designed around a different flow:

Design → Quote → Contract → Payment → Order

We place multiple features under one roof and transport information from one stage to the next, reducing the need to recreate the customer’s project as it moves toward completion.

From Manufacturer to Dealer to Customer

Building sales often involve more than one business and more than one person. A manufacturer may provide the buildings, pricing rules, products, and available options. A dealer may sell those buildings through its website or sales team. A salesperson may work directly with the customer to answer questions and complete the transaction. The customer ultimately needs a simple way to select, purchase, and manage the building they want.

That creates an important question for sales technology:

Can the same building information move through the manufacturer, dealer, salesperson, and customer relationship without being recreated at every step?

Sensei Office is built to support this type of connected workflow. A manufacturer can establish the products, options, and pricing logic used by its network. Dealers can present those products to customers through their own sales process. Customers can configure a building based on what’s actually available to them. Salespeople can work from the customer’s configuration instead of starting over with a blank quote.

The result is a sales process where each participant can work from the same project information, and trust that the information updates along the way.

Inventory or Custom Design: Let the Customer Choose

Not every customer wants to start with a completely custom building. Some buyers are ready to purchase an available building or existing inventory. Others want to start from scratch and configure a building around their property, budget, and needs.

That makes inventory an important part of the customer experience. A connected sales process should be able to support both paths. A customer looking for an in-stock or available building can begin with inventory instead of going through a full custom configuration. A customer with more specific requirements can use the 3D design experience to create a building from available options.

What Happens After the Design?

This is where the difference between a visual design tool and a connected sales process becomes important.

The Design Becomes the Starting Point for the Quote

When a customer completes a configuration, the salesperson shouldn’t have to rebuild the project to create a quote. The building dimensions, selected options, colors, doors, windows, roof style, and other project information can provide the foundation for the quote. Instead of translating the customer's design into another system, the sales team can continue working from the project that was already created.

The Quote Can Move into the Contract

Once the customer is ready to move forward, the next step should build on the same information. A quote can lead into the contract process without requiring the sales team to manually recreate the building details. E-signatures can then give the customer a straightforward way to review and sign the agreement digitally.

The customer experience stays focused on the purchase rather than on navigating a series of disconnected systems.

Payments and RTO Become Part of the Sale

Getting a customer to approve a quote is not the same as completing a sale. Depending on the business model, the customer may need to make a payment, provide a deposit, or enter a rent-to-own agreement. These steps are part of the same buying journey and should connect to the project rather than exist as isolated transactions.

That means the question is bigger than, “Does the software accept payments?”

The better question is:

After the customer approves the building, can the business move from contract to payment or RTO without losing the project information along the way?

The Sale Becomes an Order

Once the customer has selected the building, approved the quote, signed the contract, and completed the required payment or RTO steps, the project needs to become an order that the business can act on. The order should reflect what the customer actually purchased, and not a new version of the project created by someone farther down the workflow.

That connection can be especially important when a dealer is selling buildings manufactured by another company. The manufacturer needs accurate information about what was sold, while the dealer needs confidence that the order reflects the customer's approved configuration.

Sensei Office Keeps the Sales Process Moving

Sensei Office brings the customer and sales activity around the project into the same connected workflow.

For salespeople, that means having the information surrounding a customer and their building available as the project moves forward. Instead of jumping between disconnected systems to figure out what was designed, quoted, signed, paid, or ordered, the sales process can stay connected to the project itself.

This matters because a building sale rarely happens in one step. A customer may configure a building today, speak with a salesperson tomorrow, request a change, approve a quote, sign electronically, make a payment, and then wait for the order to move through the manufacturer or dealer network. The technology supporting that process needs to account for the entire journey.

Built for How Buildings Are Actually Sold

Metal and shed building sales involve far more variables than a typical product purchase.

A project can change based on:

Building dimensions
Roof style
Colors
Doors and windows
Lean-tos and other additions
Accessories and upgrades
Manufacturer
Available inventory
Delivery or installation requirements
Customer location
Pricing rules
Other product-specific options

Dealers may also work with several manufacturers, each with their own pricing rules, products, and available options.

Make the Customer Experience Easier

The technology behind the sale may be complex, but the customer experience shouldn't have to be. Homeowners should be able to open a building configurator on a phone, understand what they are looking at, make changes, see the result, and understand how those choices affect the price.

A simple, mobile-friendly experience can help customers make decisions before they ever speak with a salesperson, and gives the sales team a better starting point.

Compare two leads. The first customer simply needs a price on a shed. The second has already configured a building, selected the size and colors, added doors and windows, reviewed the available options, and seen the price. Those are very different sales conversations.

The second customer has already moved through much of the early decision-making process. The salesperson can focus on the actual project, answer questions, make adjustments, and help complete the purchase rather than starting with a blank slate.

See Configurator+ in Action at METALCON 2026

At Booth #1607, the Sensei Digital team will demonstrate how Configurator+ connects the customer experience with the sales process that follows.

See how a building can move from:

Customer Design → Pricing → Quote → Contract → E-Signature → Payment/RTO → Order

You can also see how the process supports the relationship between manufacturers, dealers, salespeople, and customers.

Meet the Sensei Digital Team at METALCON 2026

METALCON brings together professionals from across the metal construction industry to explore new technology, meet suppliers, and discuss how building companies are changing the way they sell.

Sensei Digital will be there to demonstrate how Configurator+ can connect the customer’s building design to the rest of the selling journey.

METALCON 2026 Event Details

Dates: October 7–9, 2026
Venue: Orange County Convention Center
Location: Orlando, Florida
Sensei Digital Booth: #1607

See Sensei Live at Booth 1607

If you’re attending METALCON 2026, stop by Booth 1607 and see Sensei Office in action.

Bring your current sales process. Ask what happens after the customer finishes the design. See how the same project information can move from design to quote, contract, payment, and order. Explore how inventory and custom sales can fit into the same customer experience, and see how manufacturers, dealer networks, and sales teams can stay connected throughout the process.

Most building designers stop at design. Sensei takes it to sold.

Want dedicated time with the Sensei team during METALCON? Book a demo with Sensei Digital before the show.

Meet Sensei Digital at METALCON 2026 in Orlando, FL