How To Use The Fencing Trade Portal
Click HERE to download the instructions below as an illustrated PDF document
INDEX:
1. FIND THE FENCING TRADE PORTAL
2. SIGN UP/REGISTER ON THE SYSTEM
4. ENTER-AMEND YOUR BUSINESS DETAILS
5. ENTER-AMEND YOUR BUSINESS PROFILE
7. ENTER-AMEND YOUR USER DETAILS
8. CHECK YOUR DETAILS (VIEW YOUR PROFILE)
10. CREATE AN EXCLUDED MEMBER LIST
14. CONTRIBUTE TOWARDS THE BLOG
15. FIND CONTRACT OPPORTUNITIES
1. FIND THE FENCING TRADE PORTAL
- Enter www.fencingtradeportal.co.uk in the search bar of your internet browser.
- Alternatively link to the Fencing Trade Portal from the EFIA website www.efia.co.uk
2. SIGN UP/REGISTER ON THE SYSTEM
- On the Home page top menu bar click Sign Up (or click Sign Up from the Add your business box on the Home page).
- Enter your company details in the boxes provided (yellow boxes require an entry whereas white are optional).
- Enter your valid Email address (make a note of this as it will be needed to Log In in future).
- Enter a login Password.
- Repeat the Password.
- Enter your Firstname.
- Enter your Lastname.
- Select Gold in Subscription Type.
- Tick Supply Only if you are interested in selling products, i.e. supply only without installation.
- Tick Supply & Install if you install fences.
- Enter your business Trading Name.
- Enter your registered Company Number if a Limited company (or leave blank if not).
- Enter your company Telephone Number.
- Enter your Fax number (if you have one).
- Enter your Website address (if you have one).
- Enter your Address (up to 3 lines).
- Enter your Postcode.
- Tick the Business Additional Information (as relevant)
- Fill in the Business Optional Information (optional).
- Read the Legal notes, tick the box to indicate that you have read them and click Register Business.
3. LOG IN
- Click in the first box of the green Login section at the top right of the Home page (it contains the prompt “Email” until clicked).
- Enter your log in Email address (the one provided when you registered) in the first box, then click on he next box.
- Enter your log in Password (ditto) in the next Password box, and click Login.
- Once logged in the member-only Contract Opportunities Tab becomes visible on the top Menu Bar.
4. ENTER-AMEND YOUR BUSINESS DETAILS
- Your business details are those that you enetered during registration, i.e. the basic contact and address details to enable you to get logged onto and into the system.
- These can be changed at any time once you have logged in (see above).
- Go to the Your Account section.
- Click the Business Details tab and check and/or amend the details that you entered at registration.
- Click Update Details if anything changed.
5. ENTER-AMEND YOUR BUSINESS PROFILE
- Your Business Profile is what other users of Fencing Trade Portal and external buyers see of yoour company – it is like a mini-advert and an opportunity for you to briefly describe who you are and what you do.
- In the Your Account Click the Business Profile tab.
- Upload your company Logo.
- Enter a description of who you are and what you do.
- Click Update Profile if you have updated anything.
6. ENTER-AMEND “WHAT YOU DO”
- The What You Do section records specifically which fencing products you Supply Only and/or Supply & Install. These are at the heart of the system as they are used to direct the Notices that you send and receive.
- If you tick to say that you Supply Only Palisade Fencing for example, you will receive Buying Notices from companies wanting to buy Palisade.
- If you tick to say you Supply & Install Timber Fencing, you will receive both external enquiries from companies looking for a Timber Fencing installer and internal Selling Notices and Announcements from those supplying Timber Fencing.
- Click to select/deselect the products and services that you Supply Only or Supply and Install.
7. ENTER-AMEND USER DETAILS
- You can change your registered User and/or their log in Email address and Password. These are used during log in (so keep them safe).
- The Trade Portal team cannot see your password (for confidentiality and security), but they can reset it following which you can log back in and change it back to something personal and confidential.
- You can also opt in or out here to receiving Buying and Selling Notices in your external Mail program, e.g. Outlook.
8. VIEW YOUR OWN PROFILE
- You can see your company profile as seen by external customer buyers via the Find a Fencing Company box on the Home page (or from the Find a Member box on the EFIA Website (www.efia.co.uk).
- Using the Job Postcode entered in the search box member companies are listed by proximity to the external customer’s site (nearest listed first).
- From the list of members a customer can click More to view their Profile and see What They Do.
- To view your own profile as it appears to external buyers do a search for your own business using your own postcode and click More on your listing.
9. CREATE A BUDDY LIST
- Like Facebook, you can create a Buddy List of Preferred Members. These are members with whom you can communicate exclusively sending and receiving messages directly between yourselves.
- In the Members section on the Portal page click Search Members.
- Enter the member Name (or part) in the Name box, and click Search.
- Select the member by clicking the right hand Tick box in the search list.
- Next click Prefer Business in the Available Actions box.
- You will see the newly excluded member in the Member Preferences list (in Portal: Members).
- You can now send Messages to All Members or Just your Preferred Members Buddy List.
10. CREATE AN EXCLUDED MEMBER LIST
- Again, like most social networking sites, you can exclude certain companies from viewing your details or receiving your messages and notices by adding them to your Excluded Member list.
- These are done exactly as above by searching for the member using the search box in the Member Preferences (in Portal: Members).
- Then selecting the Tick box in the member list.
- Then clicking Exclude Member in the Available Actions box.
- Excluded members do not receive your Messages or Notices nor can they see your Profile.
11. CREATE A BUYING NOTICE
- If you want prices for a quote or to place an order, create a Buying Notice.
- From the Messages section on the Portal page click Create Message.
- Select Buying Notice as the Type of Message
- Select the Product type which is the Subject of your Notice, e.g. Concrete Fence Posts.
- Write a short Message indicating the specification and number of products required.
- Preview the message to check for any errors/amendments (Edit if needed).
- Then Send choosing to Send To All members, Supply Only members, Supply & Install members, or your Preferred Members.
- The Buying Notice is instantly sent to ALL members that sell the product you have selected, e.g. Concrete Posts - an enquiry taking a moment to compose can reach several hundred buyers.
- Those that don’t sell it don’t get the notice, ensuring that you get quality competitive quotes from bone fide sellers.
- Sellers only get messages for products that they actually sell.
- Excluded members don’t get your messages.
12. CREATE A SELLING NOTICE
- If you have something to sell, e.g. a special offer, seasonal discount or some old surplus stock, create a Selling Notice
- Just as above a Selling Notice is created in the Messages section, this time selecting Selling Notice as the Type of Message.
- Again choose the type of Product that is the Subject of the sale, e.g. Mesh Panel Systems.
- Enter in the Message box the specification and any other details of the sale.
- Preview (and Edit if needed) then Send the message to the selected recipients.
- Everyone who buys the chosen Product gets the message. Those that don’t buy it don’t get it!
- Excluded members do not get your Messages.
13. CREATE AN ANNOUNCEMENT
- If you have something to say, create an Announcement.
- An Announcement is another form of Message, and is used to inform other members of corporate news that may be of interest, e.g. if you have introduced a new product line or manufacturing process.
- Announcements are created from the Messages section exactly as Buying and Selling notices above, selecting Announcement as Type of Message.
- They may also be used to announce a large forthcoming project and asking for Expressions of Interest as in the example.
- As above Announcements are sent to companies whose member Product Preferences (see What You Do) include the chosen product – in this example Palisade Fencing. If they don’t do it, they don’t get it.
14. CONTRIBUTE TOWARDS THE BLOG
- The Blog is a forum for online written discussion between members of any fencing or related issue.
- It is an opportunity to ask a technical question, e.g. what is the best Auger, steel prices?
- Alternatively to express an opinion on some hot current issue, or cheer someone up with a joke.
- Blog entries are searched by Google during its automatic webpage Indexing service, and the web pages of contributing members registered as external Links to your website.
- The more you contribute towards the Blog, the higher your Google ranking.
- To contribute towards the Blog, simply click on the relevant Topic and Add Comment where indicated.
15. FIND CONTRACT OPPORTUNITIES
- The Fencing Trade Portal is updated weekly with details of local authority tenders and main contractor project awards available for your sales team to follow up.
- Once logged in (see 3 above) the Contract Opportunities tab is visible on the Home page top menu bar.
- On the right hand side is a sub-menu splitting the opportunities into Main Contractor Awards, Project leads and Tenders.
- Clicking on any of the contract opportunity titles reveals further details of the forthcoming project including how to get in touch with the client.
16. READ NEWS ARTICLES
- The News section is accessed on the top menu bar on the Home page.
- Like contract opportunities above the News is regularly updated with information relevant to the fencing industry
- It similarly has a right-hand sub-menu splitting the numerous news articles into specific subject areas, e.g. Health & Safety, Training, etc.
- Members can contribute News articles by Emailing them (via the Email address on the About Us page)
Click HERE to download the instructions below as an illustrated PDF document
If you have fogotten your Login details or password, please Email us via. the About Us page