Blog · Forecast and pipeline · Industrial manufacturers
The complete quote-to-order conversion calculation on ten quotes from three customers and two estimators, small enough to check by hand: the quote log's requested and issued dates and value, the order book's quote references, conversion by count and by value per customer, per product family, per estimator and per turnaround band, the price-check customer, the family losing on value, the slow quotes that lose, the order that references no quote, and the identity that converted quote value equals booked orders from quotes, so a reader can reproduce every figure and then run it on their own quote log.
Quote conversion is a join on the quote reference and a ratio by several cuts, and on ten quotes it can be done by hand. This page works the join, both ratios, the four cuts, the unreferenced order and the identity.
| Quote | Customer | Family | Estimator | Requested | Issued | Turnaround | Value | Order? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A | F1 | E-1 | 1 Aug | 2 Aug | 1 day | $12,000 | Yes: O-1 |
| 2 | A | F2 | E-1 | 3 Aug | 12 Aug | 9 days | $80,000 | No |
| 3 | A | F1 | E-2 | 5 Aug | 7 Aug | 2 days | $9,000 | No |
| 4 | A | F2 | E-1 | 8 Aug | 18 Aug | 10 days | $60,000 | No |
| 5 | A | F1 | E-2 | 10 Aug | 13 Aug | 3 days | $15,000 | No |
| 6 | B | F1 | E-2 | 12 Aug | 13 Aug | 1 day | $30,000 | Yes: O-2 |
| 7 | B | F2 | E-1 | 14 Aug | 22 Aug | 8 days | $45,000 | No |
| 8 | B | F1 | E-2 | 16 Aug | 18 Aug | 2 days | $22,000 | Yes: O-3 |
| 9 | C | F2 | E-2 | 18 Aug | 21 Aug | 3 days | $70,000 | Yes: O-4 |
| 10 | C | F1 | E-1 | 20 Aug | 24 Aug | 4 days | $18,000 | No |
| Total | $361,000 |
Order book: O-1 $12,000 (quote 1); O-2 $30,000 (quote 6); O-3 $22,000 (quote 8); O-4 $70,000 (quote 9); O-5 $25,000 (no quote reference).
Σ converted quote value = booked orders referencing a quote = 12,000 + 30,000 + 22,000 + 70,000 = $134,000
O-5 at $25,000 is unreferenced: listed, excluded.
By count = 4 ÷ 10 = 40% By value = 134,000 ÷ 361,000 = 37%
The gap between count and value is small on this page because quote 9, the largest converted, is large; on a real log the largest quotes are usually the lost ones, and value falls well below count. The cuts below show where the value goes.
| Customer | Quotes | Orders | By count | By value | Reading |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | 5 | 1 | 20% | 12,000 ÷ 176,000 = 7% | Price-check pattern: five quotes, one small order |
| B | 3 | 2 | 67% | 52,000 ÷ 97,000 = 54% | |
| C | 2 | 1 | 50% | 70,000 ÷ 88,000 = 80% |
| Family | Quotes | By count | By value |
|---|---|---|---|
| F1 | 6 | 3 of 6: 50% | 64,000 ÷ 106,000 = 60% |
| F2 | 4 | 1 of 4: 25% | 70,000 ÷ 255,000 = 27% |
Family F2 is losing three quarters of what it quotes by value.
| Band | Quotes | Converted | By count |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 3 days | 4 (1, 3, 6, 8) | 3 | 75% |
| 3 to 7 days | 3 (5, 9, 10) | 1 | 33% |
| Over 7 days | 3 (2, 4, 7) | 0 | 0% |
| Estimator | Quotes | Median turnaround | By value |
|---|---|---|---|
| E-1 | 5 | 8 days | 12,000 ÷ 215,000 = 6% |
| E-2 | 5 | 2 days | 122,000 ÷ 146,000 = 84% |
Same customers, same families. E-1's queue is the finding.
Orders without references. O-5 unmatched; if all orders lacked references there would be no measure at all.
Count only. Forty percent; F2's value loss invisible.
Turnaround unread. The cheapest lever, unmeasured.
A quoted at full effort. Five quotes for one $12,000 order.
The same join and cuts per quote, per quarter. Covirage runs it on the quote log and the order book every month. The quote conversion guide covers the measure, and the win rate guide covers the same cuts on a CRM pipeline.
Because the small quotes converted and the large ones did not, and by count the estimating team looks fine. By value it is losing three quarters of what it quotes. The value figure is the one that matters and the count figure explains it.
Issued date less requested date, banded: under three days, three to seven, over seven. Conversion by band is the cheapest lever in most estimating teams, because the queue is the estimating manager's to change.
It is booked revenue and it is not a converted quote. Either the quote was never logged or the order was placed without one. It is listed as unreferenced, excluded from conversion, and the process gap is the first finding.