Preparing quotes with AI

Where the time in a quote actually goes

Preparing a quote sounds like writing, but most of the time goes before that. Reading the request, checking the catalog, finding last time's price, writing the quote, sending it, following up. Each step is small; together they add up to one person's working day.

The worst part is that none of this effort accumulates. When the same customer comes back six months later with the same question, the work starts from scratch. If the person who remembers last time's price and discount is on leave that day, the quote waits.

When quoting software is enough

Off-the-shelf quoting software and spreadsheet templates solve the format of a quote: your logo, product lines, totals, a PDF. If your product list is short and stable, your quotes look alike and you send only a few a month, a template is often enough.

The limit is that the software waits for you to fill in the template. Reading the request, working out which product is wanted, looking up past prices and entering the lines are still your job. If your time goes on those steps rather than on the layout, the software doesn't solve the problem; it only makes the result look good.

The risk of letting a general AI write your quotes

A general AI doesn't know your documents. And when it doesn't know, it doesn't stay quiet; it produces an answer that looks plausible. In a quote, that means a wrong dimension, a model that doesn't exist or a guessed price. The better the wording, the harder the mistake is to spot. A wrong quote either loses you the job or wins it at a loss.

The real question: are the numbers right

In a quote, good sentences come second; the product, the dimensions and the price have to be right first. The system we build drafts only from your product and price data. If it isn't sure about a line in an incoming document, it doesn't write it; it flags it and asks you. Stopping is cheaper than quietly saving wrong data.

We run this approach every day in two places. In our own product, İlan Stüdyosu, listing copy, photos and tour videos are produced the same way: the system prepares, the user approves, then it goes live. On the legal side, Geolex answers real-estate law questions from 7,500+ legal records, 46 statutes and 172 court rulings, citing the relevant article. Sources instead of guesses: that is the engine that would work on your quotes.

What the system does

• Turns an incoming request into a draft quote. A request arriving by email or form is read, matched against your product and price data, and a draft quote lands in front of you. You check it, correct it and send it.
• Brings the history up next to you. When a similar request comes in, last time's quote, the price given, the discount and the correspondence open alongside it. A new team member starts work with the company's commercial memory.
• Reads incoming documents. Order forms, data sheets, invoices, delivery notes, scanned contracts. It extracts the fields and writes them into your software.
• Connects to the software you already use. Your accounting software, ERP, e-invoicing system, shared drive. Your working setup stays in place; we build the bridge between them.

If you build it with us

We run the build. What we need from you is your product and price data, a few past quotes, and someone who can show us how the work is done today. Throughout, you can count on the following:

1. It starts with one job. We pick the job that repeats most and annoys most. Taking on everything at once is the most common way to finish nothing.
2. Today's version is measured first. How many minutes a quote takes now, how many people it passes through, where mistakes creep in. The only way to say it got better later is to know what it was before.
3. For the first two weeks, the system and your team work side by side. Both prepare the same quotes; differences surface in that round and get fixed.
4. If the number didn't drop, it comes out. We go back to the first measurement. If the time dropped, we move on to the second job; if it didn't, the system is removed. Keeping an automation that doesn't work helps no one.
5. Nothing goes out without approval. Every quote and every message to a customer passes a person's approval first. We won't build it any other way, even if you ask.
6. Your data stays yours. Your documents stay on your own server and are never sent to train an outside model. We decide together, during setup, who gets access to what.
7. We tell you up front what we can't connect. If one of your systems can't be bridged, you learn that before the work starts.

What determines the price

What quote automation costs depends less on how many products you have than on how the work runs today. The main things that shape our quote:

• How many quotes you send a month. For a job done five times a month, the setup cost never pays back. If that's your case, we'll show you the numbers and tell you not to do it.
• The state of your product and price data. One tidy price list and prices scattered across spreadsheets, old quotes and emails are not the same job.
• How many systems to connect. Accounting, ERP, e-invoicing: each is a separate bridge.
• Where requests come from. Email only, a form, or both.
• Team training. A written workflow and team training are part of the setup; how many people will use it affects the scope.

That's why, instead of a fixed price list, we work out the scope with you by looking at how you quote today.

What the system does not do

• It doesn't make the decisions. Your pricing policy, your discount limits and what each customer gets are your call. The system applies them.
• It doesn't send without approval. No quote or message leaves without approval.
• It isn't worth it for every job. We won't recommend automating a job that won't pay back its setup cost.