The Quote Clock: 12 numbers to pull from last month’s RFQs
Nobody scorecards you on quote turnaround, so nobody measures it. Pull these twelve out of the RFQ inbox and your ERP — one morning’s work.
- 1. RFQs received last month. Every one, including the ones you never quoted.
- 2. Quotes sent last month, from the ERP.
- 3. Line 1 minus line 2 — RFQs that never got a quote. Write the customer names down.
- 4. Median sit time, arrival to send, in calendar days. Not the average.
- 5. 90th percentile sit time — what a buyer gets when the shop is busy.
- 6. Longest sit time, and the customer it belonged to.
- 7. Median sit time on repeat parts only. Over a day is queue time, not estimating time.
- 8. Share of quotes written by your busiest estimator.
- 9. How many people could quote your work if he were out three weeks.
- 10. Extended value of everything above your 75th percentile sit time.
- 11. Extended value of the line-3 RFQs you would have wanted to win.
- 12. Where the arrival timestamp lives: a shared mailbox, or one man’s inbox.
Manual quoting for a single part can take up to two hours (Modern Machine Shop, November 1, 2021). There is no independently audited industry average for RFQ volume, win rate, or the cost of slow quoting — we looked, it does not exist. Compare yourself to yourself.
The line, fixed first
If you automate off this sheet, the line is fixed first: the agent does not price the job, commit a lead time, accept a change order, or touch the shop floor or any quality disposition. Your estimator signs.
Download the one-page PDF
No form. Print it, mark it up, hand it round.