Creating quotes faster: where automation helps in sales
5 min read
Short answer
Quotes are created much faster when enquiry data is taken over automatically, prices and line items come from maintained master data, and standard texts are inserted as templates. AI helps read unstructured enquiries from emails or PDFs and draft the wording. Pricing special cases, negotiation and approval stay with sales.
What does this mean for your company? Book an intro call
Whoever sends a good quote first often holds the better cards. In many companies, the issue is not the skill of the sales team but the time between enquiry and quote. A large part of it goes into routine work that can be automated.
Where is time lost in the quoting process?
- Reading and retyping the enquiry: it arrives by email, as a PDF or as a bill of quantities and is entered by hand.
- Gathering information: customer data, previous quotes, current prices and delivery times sit in different systems.
- Copying texts together: descriptions and terms are taken from old quotes and adapted.
- Approval by email: above a certain amount someone has to approve, and the email sits in an inbox.
- Forgetting to follow up: after sending, a reliable reminder is missing.
What can be automated?
- Reading enquiries: AI recognises customer, requested services, quantities and dates from emails and documents. More in Extracting documents with AI.
- Pre-filling data: customer data, terms and contacts come directly from customer management.
- Line items and prices: standard items are filled in from master data or by fixed pricing rules.
- Text templates: descriptions and terms are inserted as appropriate, and AI can draft the cover letter.
- Approval: quotes above a value threshold go automatically to the responsible person, approved with one click.
- Follow-up: after a set time, the system reminds you to follow up.
What should stay with people?
Pricing special cases, judging what really matters to the customer, negotiating and the personal relationship. Automation frees up time for exactly that.
What does it bring?
An example: 60 quotes a month, 90 minutes each so far. After automation, 40 minutes. That saves 600 hours a year. At least as important: quotes go out the same or next day instead of after a week.
How do you start?
Analyse twenty real quotes: where does the time go? Then standardise line items and text templates, which helps even without technology. Check whether your existing software has a quoting module. If the data sits in several programs, Typing data in twice? will help. Whether quoting is your best first candidate is covered in Which process should you automate first?
Julius Launhardt automates sales processes in small and mid-sized companies so quotes reach customers faster. More on the process automation page.
Frequently asked questions
Does automation replace sales?
No. It takes retyping, searching and copying off the sales team. Advice, pricing special cases and the customer relationship stay with people, and that is exactly what they gain time for.
Do I need a new CRM for this?
Not necessarily. Many customer management and ERP systems have a quoting module that is often not fully used. Check what you already have before buying or building something new.
What about complex, individual quotes?
Automation pays off there too for the recurring parts: customer data, standard items, text templates, follow-up reminders. The actual design work stays manual.
How is it best to start?
Take twenty real quotes from recent months and write down where the time goes. Usually two or three steps account for most of the effort.