# From inquiry to quote.

> How an inquiry by email or phone becomes a ready written quote in minutes — the steps, price and stock checks, and the common traps to avoid.

_Quote automation — from an incoming inquiry to a sent proposal, in minutes._

Quote automation is the system that takes an incoming inquiry, checks price and stock, and prepares a written quote — the salesperson reviews and sends it, instead of building everything from scratch.

Definition
## Not a replacement for the salesperson. A replacement for the drafting.

Quote automation is the system that accepts an incoming inquiry — by email, through a website form, or noted down from a phone call — checks the requested items against the current price and stock, and prepares a written quote in the agreed format. The salesperson reviews the finished document, adjusts it if needed, and sends it — instead of building everything from scratch every time.

For many companies in trade and distribution, a quote takes time not because of the writing itself, but because of the checking — what the current price is, whether there is enough stock, whether a special discount applies for this customer. Automation does exactly that check immediately, instead of leaving the salesperson to search through several files while the customer waits.

The final decision — what discount to give, whether to accept special terms — stays with the salesperson. Automation prepares the ground correctly and quickly, so they can decide instead of checking.

The process
## Five steps from inquiry to sent quote.

- 01
### The inquiry arrives
A customer inquiry comes by email, through a website form, or is quickly noted by a salesperson after a phone call.

- 02
### The items are recognised
The requested products or services are checked against your records, even when the customer has described them in general terms rather than an exact code.

- 03
### Price and stock are checked
The current price, any active customer discounts, and available quantity are checked before the quote is prepared.

- 04
### The document is prepared
The quote is assembled in the company's approved format, with every required field filled in, ready for review.

- 05
### Review and send
The salesperson sees the finished quote, makes an adjustment if needed, and sends it — the decision stays theirs at every moment.

What stays with the salesperson
## The checking moves. The judgement does not.

AutomaticItem recognition, price and stock checking, filling in the company's approved quote format.

Stays with a personAn individual discount outside standard rules, special terms for an important customer, the final decision to send.

What both sharePreparation speed grows, but the sales conversation with the customer stays entirely with the salesperson.

The difference from a fully manual process is in the time to the first draft quote — from searching through several files to a document ready for review, instead of hours of waiting on the customer's side.

For the customer, this speed matters beyond convenience. A quote received within minutes of an inquiry is usually seen as more serious attention from the supplier — especially when the customer has sent the same inquiry to a competitor as well. A slow quote costs not only sales hours; sometimes it costs the order itself.

Traps
## Where quote automation usually breaks.

- A vaguely described item — if the customer writes a general name instead of an exact code, recognition should suggest the most likely matches, not quietly guess the wrong item.

- An outdated price list — if prices are not updated in the records in time, the automatic quote inherits the old mistake just as fast as it would the correct price.

- Special terms written down nowhere — if a discount for a specific customer exists only in the salesperson's memory, the system cannot apply it until it is recorded.

- Stock that changes quickly — for fast-moving items, the check needs to be close to real time, otherwise the quote promises a quantity that is no longer available.

These cases show up clearly in the AI audit itself — for example, how many of the customers' special terms are already recorded somewhere and how many exist only verbally.

Example
## What before and after looks like.

Illustrative example40 → 5 min
A company receives inquiries by email and phone throughout the day. Before automation, preparing one quote takes, for example, around 40 minutes — searching for price, stock, formatting the document. After implementation, the basis of the quote is ready for review in, for example, around 5 minutes, and the salesperson adds only their judgement and sends it.

The numbers are illustrative — the actual effect depends on the number of items per quote, the complexity of pricing, and how up to date your records are before the start.

Next step
## Where to start.

Quote automation is usually part of a broader operations system — see Quotes for the full picture. If you are not sure how ready your price list and customer records already are for automatic quoting, the AI audit gives a concrete answer within 7 days.

## Чести въпроси

**В: Does the salesperson lose control of the quote?**

О: No. The system prepares the basis — price, stock, format — while the salesperson reviews, adjusts if needed, and decides whether and when to send it.

**В: Does it work if the customer describes the product in general terms?**

О: Yes, to an extent — recognition suggests the most likely matches from your records. Unclear cases are shown to the salesperson for confirmation, not quietly guessed.

**В: Can it include individual customer discounts?**

О: Yes, if the terms are recorded somewhere in the system. Discounts existing only in a specific salesperson's memory need to be written down first to be applied automatically.


Източник: https://auwo.ai/en/quote-automation · auwo, Бургас · Заявете AI одит — 190 €: https://auwo.ai/odit