Jobs AI can do / Sales and customers
Following up on every quote, without more typing.
AI can track every open quote, draft follow-ups for your reps to send under their own name, and keep your CRM's stage and next step current. The value is in jobs won, not time saved. If better follow-up wins 1 more quote in 100, a company sending 60 quotes a month worth $10,000 each keeps about $18,000 a year in gross profit at a 25% margin. That is borderline. It pays most clearly above about 80 quotes a month, and below about 42 the follow-up features in your CRM are usually enough.
Why it's hard
What's actually in the way.
Most companies think the problem is that reps don't follow up, or that they need a better CRM.
The real problem is usually that nobody can see which quotes are open. Quote threads live in reps' inboxes, the CRM is out of date, and quote numbers don't carry through to the sales order, so wins and losses are guesses.
So we check first whether your quotes can be matched to the orders they became. That tells you your real win rate and how many quotes never got a second touch.
Today
How it's done by hand.
Reps create quotes in the ERP, a quoting tool or a spreadsheet. Follow-up depends on each rep's memory and inbox. CRM stages and next steps get typed in by hand, when they get typed in at all.
With AI
What the workflow does, and where a person decides.
- Tracks open quotesLists every open quote and closes the ones that already turned into orders.
- Drafts follow-upsDrafts each follow-up on a schedule you set, such as day 2, 7 and 14, in the rep's own tone. It flags cold and high-value quotes to the sales manager.
- Keeps the CRM currentProposes the stage, next step and objection from replies and call notes. A rep approves each update with one click.
- The rep sendsReps approve and send every follow-up under their own name. Sending automatically is never the default.
The math
What it's worth, at the low end.
| Input | Value | Where the number comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Quotes you send each monthExample company | 60 | Example company |
| What a typical quote is worthOur assumption; there is no published average for small manufacturers | $10,000 | Our assumption; there is no published average for small manufacturers |
| Gross margin on a typical jobFMA survey: fabricators average about 26% | 25% | FMA survey: fabricators average about 26% |
| Extra quotes won with better follow-upLow end. Our assumption; no study has measured this, so the Scan does | 1 in 100 | Low end. Our assumption; no study has measured this, so the Scan does |
| Worth each yearPays for itself in about 16.5 months | $18,000 a year in gross profit | Pays for itself in about 16.5 months |
Payback counts the full cost of the build. It counts profit, not revenue, and leaves out rep time saved. Extra wins only pay if you have the capacity to build them. Your own numbers will differ. Move the sliders for this job to see yours.
When it doesn't pay
When we'd tell you not to build it.
The Scan
What we'd need from you.
The Rapid Scan tests this job on exports from your systems. We never connect to them. You get a verdict and a payback number within 10 business days of getting your data. It costs $5,000, credited toward the build.
- 12 months of quotes
- Sales orders for the same period plus 3 months
- CRM deals and activity log
- 20 to 30 quote email threads from at least 3 reps, mixed won, lost and open
- 10 open quotes with their threads
Questions
What people ask us.
Will it email our customers on its own?
No. Reps approve and send every follow-up under their own name.
Will reps feel watched?
It is built to save them typing, not to monitor them. Results are shown by team, not ranked by rep.
We don't have a CRM. Does this still work?
Setting up a CRM is separate work. Often the right first step is setting one up and turning on its built-in follow-up.
How do you know follow-up affects win rate?
We don't assume it. No published study links the two, so the Scan measures your own follow-up gap on your own quotes.
See your own number. A 30-minute call goes through your volume and how your team does this today. If it doesn't fit, we say so.
Sources
- FMA (Fabricators & Manufacturers Association) Financial Ratios & Operational Benchmarking survey