Who on your team knows how a quote gets built?
By Chris McCarthy, Founder & Chief AI Officer, OB.1
Every quote your company sends sets a price and a margin before any work starts. My advice to leaders is plain: write down how a quote gets built today before you pick any tool.
If you still review quotes yourself, you know how much of your week they take. If one or two people build most of them, you know who to ask first.
The quoting process manufacturing companies run, step by step
A quote moves across most of your company. Here is a common path, in plain terms.
- A request comes in from a customer, by email, portal or phone.
- Someone reads the drawing and specs and decides what the job needs.
- Purchasing checks material and outside services.
- Scheduling checks whether you have the capacity and when.
- Someone sets the price and the margin.
- Someone approves it, and it goes out.
- Someone follows up and records the result.
Each step has an owner, and each owner follows rules, some written and many not. Your version will look different, so the map has to be yours.
Draw your quoting process as a flow chart
You don't need software for this. A whiteboard or one sheet of paper works. Put one box on the page for each step.
Do it with the people who build your quotes. Ask them to walk you through a recent one, start to finish. They know the work better than anyone, so let them lead.
Name the owner of each step
Write a name or a role on every box. If two people share a step, write both. If nobody owns it, write that down too. That gap is useful to see.
Write the rule they use to decide
Next to each box, write how the call gets made. Which customers get which terms? Which jobs get a second look? When does a quote need your approval? Keep each rule to one line.
Mark where each number comes from
Rates, material costs and lead times come from somewhere. Some sit in the ERP. Others sit in spreadsheets, email threads or one person's notes. Mark the source on the chart.
When you're done, you'll have one page that shows how a quote gets built in your company. If you'd like help drawing it, a Blueprint Session is a good place to start. For more on mapping other work the same way, read how to map how work moves through your company.
Before you buy AI, write down how your company runs.
AI quoting tools work from the rates, rules and approvals you give them. A tool can't guess how your team prices a rush job or a repeat customer. Someone has to tell it.
That knowledge already exists. Your estimators carry it, and they built it over years of good calls. They are the best source you have.
Your best estimator shouldn't be the only map. Writing the rules down with them lets the whole team use what they know. It also gives any tool you add something steady to work from.
Decide how AI will be used before anyone picks a tool. For more on that step, read how to decide how AI will be used.
Questions to ask before you look at AI quoting software
If your team is weighing AI quoting software, take these questions into the first demo. They work for any vendor.
- Who owns our pricing rules today, and are they written down?
- Who approves exceptions, and how do they decide?
- Where do our rates and costs live, and how current are they?
- Which jobs get a second look, and why?
- What happens after a quote goes out?
If your team can answer these from your flow chart, you're ready for a useful demo. If not, the chart is the better first step.
What RFQ automation needs first
RFQ automation can help a request move faster once the steps and approvals are clear. It works best on a process your team already agrees on.
Look at your flow chart and rank what slows quotes down. Look for steps that wait on one person, rules nobody wrote down and numbers your team enters twice.
Some of those fixes need a clear owner or a written rule. Some need a better report from the ERP. A few will be good work for AI or automation. We'll tell you when AI is the wrong fix.
Start at the top of the list. Each fix you finish makes the next one easier to pick.
What you'll know when you're done
You'll know how work moves through your company and what to fix first.
Quoting is a strong first process to map, because it touches so much of the business. I wrote more on that in where a manufacturing company should start with AI.
How OB.1 helps
We start by looking at how your company runs today.
The first step is an Operational Blueprint. It gives you a diagnosis of your platforms, process, and people, and a plan your team can act on.
We map how work moves through your company and who owns each rule, then rank what to fix first.
Before you automate, ask the person who knows. We start with the people who build your quotes, because they know how it works.
No rush on any of this. Whenever you're ready, let's talk.
Questions manufacturing leaders ask
What does the quoting process look like in a manufacturing company?
A request comes in, someone reads the specs, and purchasing and scheduling weigh in. Then someone sets the price, approves it and sends it. Each step has an owner and a rule.
How do I make a flow chart of our quoting process?
Sit with the people who build your quotes and walk through a recent one. Draw one box per step. Write the owner, the rule and the data source on each box.
Should we buy AI quoting software?
Maybe, once your rules are written down. A tool works from the rates, rules and approvals you give it. Map the process first, then you'll know what to ask any vendor.
What does RFQ automation need before it works?
It needs clear steps, named owners and written approval rules. With those in place, automation has something steady to follow.