When is it worth improving quotation preparation?
The problem often starts before the calculation itself. The data is available, but gathering it takes work from several people. It is worth looking at quotation preparation when:
- Enquiries wait for one person. Only an experienced salesperson or production specialist knows the rules and where to find the necessary information.
- Your team looks for the same data for every quotation. Prices, stock levels, standard quantities and times, and previous calculations are scattered across ERP, spreadsheets and email.
- Similar jobs are calculated from scratch. It is difficult to reuse a previous calculation and check what has changed since.
- Finished quotations need corrections. Someone used an old price list, missed a cost or entered the wrong quantity.
We start with recurring enquiries that have known pricing rules. In manufacturing, we organise product cost calculations; in trade, we connect the catalogue, prices and customer terms. Unusual cases still need a specialist’s assessment.
What does quotation preparation look like after implementation?
The scope can cover the entire workflow below or just the stage that currently takes the most time:
- Reading the enquiry. Messages and attachments become a list of products or job parameters. Missing and ambiguous information is flagged.
- Gathering pricing data. The solution retrieves agreed prices, stock levels, standard quantities and times, or previous calculations from ERP and other sources.
- Calculating the price. The system applies your business rules. The person checking the result can see the assumptions and cost components.
- Preparing a draft quotation. A document is created using your usual template, or a draft is prepared in your current system.
- Checking and approval. A sales representative or production specialist corrects the result, adds terms and decides whether to send it.
Manufacturing cost calculation: where does the price come from?
In made-to-order manufacturing, a quotation must reflect the cost of making a particular product. We organise your existing rules and connect them to the data needed for the calculation.
| Cost component | Example data source |
|---|---|
| Materials and consumption | Purchase prices, price lists and standard material quantities |
| Labour and machine time | Rates, manufacturing processes and standard times |
| Subcontracted services | Price lists or confirmed quotations |
| Mark-up and margin | Agreed rules for products and customers |
| Completion date | Material availability and production workload data, where available |
A production specialist checks the material selection, manufacturing process and pricing assumptions, and confirms the proposed completion date. The first implementation covers one product family with established standards or a proven calculation spreadsheet.
Sales quotations: prices, discounts and stock from ERP
In B2B trade, matching a customer’s list to the company catalogue can take the most work. The solution helps identify products, retrieve prices and discounts, and check availability.
A salesperson receives a draft with gaps and items needing clarification flagged. Any proposed alternatives need checking, particularly where technical specifications matter. The salesperson can also add delivery terms and the quotation’s validity period.
An accepted quotation can then be used in order processing, if the system’s capabilities and agreed integration scope allow it.
What role do AI and AI agents play in quotation preparation?
AI helps work with the enquiry’s content: reading a description, finding the necessary information and preparing a response. Where a task needs several steps and a choice of the next action, we can use an AI agent with access to agreed tools.
The system calculates prices using your business’s price lists, rates and rules. When data is missing, a product is new or terms are unusual, it refers the enquiry to a designated person. If the next steps are always the same, automation without an AI agent is enough.
A quotation program or an extension to your current system?
We first check what the tools you already use can do. Your current ERP or CRM may have quotation templates, price lists and discount rules. Configuring them or improving how data reaches them may be enough.
An existing quotation program is a good choice if it supports your business rules and the connections you need. We consider a custom solution when pricing requires data from several sources, your own rules or tasks that the available features do not cover.
The options for connecting to ERP depend on the product, version and licence. We check them before quoting for implementation.
How we start and what implementation costs
The first conversation is free. We ask about enquiry volumes, pricing methods and common difficulties. Sample enquiries and completed calculations, including those needing corrections, help with the next assessment.
If the scope and rules are clear, we prepare an implementation proposal. When pricing rules need to be reconstructed or the causes of delays investigated, we propose process analysis with a separate price.
Indicative implementation costs are £2,320–£3,480 excluding VAT without ERP integration, or £4,360–£7,260 excluding VAT with integration. We agree the price, scope and schedule before work starts. We show licence, AI model and optional support costs separately. Read more about how we work.
How do we assess the effect of quotation automation?
We compare the time spent preparing and checking quotations, the number of corrections and how long customers wait. We also check how many enquiries still need full pricing by a specialist.
Example scenario: time spent preparing quotations
A business receives 40 enquiries a month, and each calculation takes 3 hours. If half the enquiries are suitable for draft preparation and checking a draft takes one hour, monthly quotation work falls from 120 to 80 hours.
The 40 hours regained can help handle more enquiries or allow a production specialist to work on other tasks. We compare the value of this time with implementation and running costs. We calculate time saved and reductions in business spending separately.