The best software for a window treatment business is the one that prices your manufacturers' products correctly in the customer's home, gets a signature and a deposit before the rep leaves, and keeps every lead, order and service call on one record. No single feature list proves that, so this checklist gives you the questions to ask any vendor, in the order a job moves through your business: price books, measuring, showing the product, the quote and signature, deposits, ordering, follow-up, service, website leads, and what it really costs per person. At the end we say where HeadRail fits and where it doesn't.
Take it into every demo. A vendor that answers with your own products on screen is telling you more than one that answers with slides.
Start with your price books
Everything downstream depends on the price. If the software can't price a 47 1/4" cordless cellular shade with a top-down/bottom-up lift the way your manufacturer would invoice it, the rep goes back to the binder and the office reprices the job at night.
Ask the vendor:
- Which of my manufacturers' price lists do you load, and who loads them?
- How do my cost factor and my markup turn list price into a selling price? Can I change the markup without reloading a book?
- Are upcharges priced (lift, motorization, valances, liners, specialty shapes), and do they follow the option the rep actually picked?
- What happens when a size can't be made? It should be flagged and stopped, never priced at $0.
- Are billing minimums and size limits that change by fabric or lift included?
- When the manufacturer publishes a new price list, who updates it, how fast, and what does it cost?
The last question matters more than it looks. A tool that was right in January and wrong in July is worse than a binder, because people trust the screen.
bring one real job to every demo, with an awkward size, a motorized shade and a valance. Ask the vendor to price it while you watch, then compare it to your last invoice.
Measuring in the home
A whole-house visit can run to 20 or more windows, often in a basement or a rural house with one bar of signal. Ask how sizes are entered (whole inches plus eighths should take one tap), whether a size can be repeated in one tap, and how the job is organized: room by room, with a product picked per room, reads the way homeowners think.
Then ask the offline question directly: if the signal drops mid-measure, does the rep keep working and do prices still show? If the answer is "it needs a connection," picture that basement.
Showing the product on their window
Swatches and brochure photos ask the homeowner to imagine the room. A visualizer shows it. If a vendor offers one, ask what it uses (a stock room or the customer's own photo), how long a preview takes, whether the result is labeled as an illustration, and how many previews your plan includes each month. An honest label matters: a preview that oversells a color creates a remake conversation at install.
We wrote more about this side of the sale in Closing the blinds sale in one visit.
The quote, the proposal and the signature
Ask to see the proposal the customer sees. It should list every room with its product, size, options and price, show your terms, and be signable on the rep's tablet in the home or from a private link sent later.
Also ask:
- Can I cap the discount a rep can give, and record promotions by name?
- Can reps see my cost or margin? (They shouldn't.)
- Can I see whether the customer opened the proposal?
- Does the signed proposal move the deal forward in the CRM by itself, or does someone retype it?
If your state requires a cancellation notice for sales made in the home, ask who provides it. The FTC's Cooling-Off Rule is the federal baseline.
Deposits and accounting
The deposit is what turns a signature into a job. Ask:
- Can the customer pay the deposit right on the signed proposal, by card or bank?
- Whose payment account does the money go to, and does the vendor take a cut on top of the processor's fees?
- Can the rep mark a check or cash deposit as received?
- Does the signed job reach your accounting software as an invoice, and which version? QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Desktop are different integrations integrations; ask which one you'd get.
Ordering from the manufacturer
Ask exactly how a sold job becomes a factory order. Is there a real connection to the manufacturer, or do you retype each line into the manufacturer's portal? If you retype, does the software at least lay out each line in the order the portal asks for it, with the same option names?
Get a straight answer. "We integrate with manufacturers" can mean anything from a live order feed to a PDF.
If you sell Graber, our post on ordering Graber as a dealer walks through how its price books, size limits and order forms work.
CRM and follow-up
Leads go cold on their own schedule, not yours. A study published in Harvard Business Review, The Short Life of Online Sales Leads, found that companies that tried to contact a web lead within an hour were nearly seven times as likely to qualify it as companies that tried even an hour later. Ask how the software makes the first call happen:
- Does a new lead create a task for a person, with a due time?
- After a proposal, are follow-ups scheduled for you, and do they stop when the deal closes?
- What happens to a lost deal marked "decided to wait"? Does it come back in a few months?
- Can you see leads, close rate and revenue by source and by rep?
Also ask about consent. Follow-up marketing should only reach customers who agreed to it, with an unsubscribe on every export.
Service, installs and remakes
Sales software that stops at "won" leaves the installer calendar and the remake list on sticky notes. Ask whether an install can be booked from the won job, whether installers can see their calendar without a paid login, and whether remakes and warranty calls get their own tickets tied to the original order. Remake reports by manufacturer tell you which products and which measurers cost you money.
Website leads
If you want leads from your own site, ask what the vendor puts there and what arrives when a visitor fills it in. A form that collects a name and phone number is a start. A visualizer that lets the visitor see a shade on their own window, then sends you the photo, the product they chose and how to reach them, gives the rep something to call about. Ask which website builders it works on, and what happens when the month's previews run out.
Our guide to putting a blinds visualizer on your dealer website covers this in detail.
What it really costs per person
Ask for every number in writing:
| Ask about | Why |
|---|---|
| Monthly price and what it includes | Plans often differ by logins and features, not just price |
| Logins included, and the price of each extra | Reps, office staff and installers add up |
| Setup or onboarding fee | Often the biggest first-month cost |
| Usage limits (previews, texts, storage) | And what happens when you hit them |
| Contract length and cancellation terms | Month to month, annual, early-termination fee |
| Payment processing fees | Yours, the processor's, and any vendor cut |
| Data export when you leave | Your leads and customers should leave with you |
Then add it up for your real team. Here is an example with HeadRail's published prices for a team of six (owner, office manager, four reps):
| Plan | Logins included | Extra logins at $39 | Monthly total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plus, $249 | 2 | 4 x $39 = $156 | $405 |
| Pro, $349 | 5 | 1 x $39 = $39 | $388 |
In this example the bigger plan costs less, because it includes more logins. Do the same sum with every vendor you're considering, and add any setup fee to the first year.
Where HeadRail fits
HeadRail is built for independent dealers, roughly 1 to 20 people, who sell in the customer's home. It covers the visit (measure room by room, show the product on their window with an AI preview labeled as an illustration, price it from your price books, sign on the tablet, record the deposit), plus the CRM with automatic follow-ups, service tickets, install scheduling and reports. Reps never see your cost. Deposits go through your own Stripe account and signed proposals can go to QuickBooks Online. Every price is on the pricing page: plans from $199 a month, setup $499 ($999 on Commercial), waived when you prepay a year.
Where it may not fit, plainly:
- Graber and Elegant price books are built in today, and Norman is built too (ask us). If most of your sales are another line, ask about setup time before anything else.
- QuickBooks Desktop is not supported; QuickBooks Online is.
- A sold job is recorded on the won lead, and you place the order in the manufacturer's portal.
- Franchise systems with mandated corporate software, and online-only sellers, are not who it's built for.
- There's no standing free trial. The demo uses your own products and prices instead.
The owner setup guide shows what the first day looks like, and the rep guide shows a rep's day in the field.
Frequently asked questions
What software do window treatment dealers use?
Most independent dealers run on a mix: manufacturer price books or portals for pricing and ordering, a general CRM or a spreadsheet for leads, a payment processor, accounting software and a calendar. Industry-specific tools try to put the quote, the CRM and service on one record. Judge any of them on the checklist above with your own products.
Should I use a general CRM or one built for blinds dealers?
A general CRM handles contacts and pipelines well but doesn't know a price book, a size limit or an upcharge, so quoting stays somewhere else. If quoting in the home is where your sales stall, put the most weight on the price book and proposal questions.
How much does window treatment software cost?
It varies by vendor, plan and team size, so ask for the monthly price, logins included, extra-login price, setup fee and usage limits in writing. HeadRail's plans run from $199 to $499 a month with every price on its pricing page.
Do I need a free trial before I buy?
A trial on sample data tells you little about your own price books. A demo where the vendor prices one of your real jobs, with an odd size and a motorized option, tells you more in 20 minutes.