01
Review brief
The process is suitable for a controlled test, but the rate card and service documents need clear owners first.
- Business
- Fictional UK commercial maintenance company
- Process
- Enquiry to quotation
- Review question
- Can the first draft be prepared faster without handing over price or scope decisions?
- Outside scope
- Automatic sending, CRM replacement and free-form pricing
02
The current process
Time is lost finding source material and rebuilding familiar drafts.
- 01
An enquiry reaches the shared inbox.
- 02
An administrator checks the job, site and timing.
- 03
Rates, terms and earlier quotations are found in separate files.
- 04
A commercial lead resolves gaps and exceptions.
- 05
The quotation and reply are drafted, checked and sent.
03
What is getting in the way
The source material is scattered.
Staff know which rate card is current from habit. The files themselves do not make that clear.
Missing details surface late.
Site access, timing and service information are often discovered after someone has started the draft.
Routine drafting delays decisions.
Experienced staff assemble standard wording before reaching the questions that need their judgement.
Recommended first move
Fix the sources, then automate the draft.
Once the rate card, terms and service descriptions are reliable, test an assistant that flags missing information and prepares quotation drafts.Before a pilot
- 01Name an owner for each source.
- 02Mark current versions clearly.
- 03Agree which exceptions always need commercial review.
05
Access and responsibility
It may read
The shared inbox, approved rate card, current terms and agreed service descriptions.
It may prepare
An enquiry summary, questions for missing information, a quotation draft and a proposed reply.
A person decides
Whether to quote, the final scope and price, any exception, and what is sent to the customer.
06
A narrow pilot
Test the source material and exception rules against real enquiries. Keep the pilot draft-only.
Included
- One shared inbox
- One service line
- Approved source documents
- Representative historical tests
Not included
- Automatic sending
- Uncontrolled pricing decisions
- CRM replacement
- Access outside the defined process
07
How we would measure success
Record the current performance first, then compare the pilot on the same work.
Review decision
Proceed after the source documents have owners.
The job repeats and the output can be checked. Proceed when these conditions are met:- 01Owners and current versions are recorded.
- 02The commercial lead approves the test cases.
- 03The pilot remains draft-only.