Blog · Forecast and pipeline · Industrial manufacturers
How an industrial manufacturer measures the share of quotes that become orders per customer, per product family and per estimator, from the quote log and the order book: conversion by count and by value, the customers who request many quotes and place few orders, the product families where the price is losing, the lead time on quotes that convert against those that do not, and the identity that ties converted quotes to booked orders.
An estimating team quotes everything it is asked for and measures nothing about what comes back. The quote log joined to the order book shows which customers order what they were quoted, which product families are losing on price, and whether the slow quotes are the ones that lose. This guide sets out conversion per customer, family and estimator, the turnaround effect, and the identity.
Per customer, product family, estimator, period:
Conversion by count = quotes with an order ÷ quotes issued Conversion by value = value of quotes with an order ÷ value quoted Turnaround = quote issued date − quote requested date Conversion by turnaround band
Customer and estimator identifiers only.
Σ value of converted quotes = booked order value that references a quote, per period
An order that references a quote not in the log, or a quote marked converted with no order, fails it and is listed.
Team conversion: 31 percent by count, 27 percent by value.
| Customer | Quotes | Orders | By count | By value | Norm for segment | Reading |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2207 | 84 | 9 | 11% | 6% | 30% | Price-check pattern |
| 4471 | 31 | 19 | 61% | 58% | 30% | Strong |
| 9034 | 46 | 12 | 26% | 30% | 30% | On norm |
| Product family | Quoted value | Converted | By value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Family A | $4.1m | $1.9m | 46% |
| Family B | $3.8m | $0.4m | 11% |
| Turnaround | Quotes | By count |
|---|---|---|
| Under 3 days | 210 | 41% |
| 3 to 7 days | 280 | 30% |
| Over 7 days | 160 | 17% |
Customer 2207 asks for a quote a week and orders one in nine. Family B is losing nine quotes in ten by value, which is a price or a specification. Quotes over a week old convert at less than half the rate of quick ones, and the estimator queue is a conversion lever.
| Estimator | Quotes | Median turnaround | By value |
|---|---|---|---|
| E-04 | 310 | 9 days | 19% |
| E-11 | 290 | 2 days | 38% |
Same product families, same customers, twice the conversion at a fifth of the turnaround.
Orders not referencing quotes. No join; no measure. Fix the process first.
Count without value. Many small conversions and the large quotes lost.
Turnaround ignored. The cheapest lever unmeasured.
Price-check customers quoted at full effort. The estimating team's week spent on nine percent.
Mapped once, the quote log, the order book and the customer master produce conversion by customer, family, estimator and turnaround, and the identity every month. Covirage builds this from the exports as they are. The industrial manufacturers page describes the setup, and the catalogue fit guide covers the customers who never ask for a quote on the families they should.
On the quote reference carried on the order, where the ERP does it. Where it does not, on customer, product and a date window, with the match confidence shown. A manufacturer whose orders do not reference quotes has a process gap that this measure exposes first.
One whose quote count is high and whose conversion is far below the norm for customers of its kind, with a pattern of orders elsewhere for the same items. The report flags them, and the estimating team decides whether to keep quoting at full effort.
Because a quote delivered in two days converts at a different rate from one delivered in twelve, at most manufacturers, and the quote log carries both dates. The report shows conversion by turnaround band, and if the difference is large it is the cheapest conversion improvement available.