A 40-line quote request, priced in minutes

Expected: quotes go out the same morning instead of the next day, and reps spend their time on the lines that need judgment rather than re-typing the rest.

The business

Designed for distributors and wholesalers whose sales team receives quote requests by email, often as spreadsheets or PDFs with dozens of lines.

The problem

Every request is re-typed line by line. Customers describe the same part five different ways, stock has to be checked in one system and contract prices looked up in another. A large quote takes half a day, and the fastest supplier usually wins the order.

My approach

Matching messy part descriptions to a catalogue is judgment work, so an agent does it and shows how confident it is for every line. Fixed rules handle the rest: stock comes straight from the ERP and prices from the customer’s agreement. Nothing is sent without a person approving it.

How I’d solve it

• Reads quote requests from email, including attached spreadsheets and PDFs.
• Matches each line to the catalogue, suggests alternatives for unclear or out-of-stock items, and flags low-confidence matches.
• Checks live stock and applies the customer’s contract pricing and discount rules.
• Creates a draft quote in the existing system for the rep to review, edit and send.