The ninety seconds before your quote is read
Your quote does not get read on its own. It gets read next to two or three others, by someone who has a project schedule and a shortlist to cut down. Before anyone compares prices, they form a judgement about whether you are a serious supplier for this particular part.
That judgement takes under two minutes. Here is what it is made of.
1. Did you answer the question that was asked
The most common failure is replying to a specific RFQ with a general capability introduction — company history, a list of industries served, a photograph of the shop floor.
The buyer asked about one part. Answer about that part. Capability material is an attachment, not a substitute.
If you genuinely cannot quote yet because something is missing, that is still an answer: “We can quote this, but the drawing does not state the condition of the 718. Assuming solution treated and aged per AMS 5663, our price is X; if it is solution treated only, it is Y.” You have now quoted, resolved the ambiguity and demonstrated that you read the file.
2. Did you state your assumptions
Every exotic alloy drawing has gaps, and every estimator fills them. The difference between shops is whether they say so.
A quote that reads:
Assumes: Ti-6Al-4V annealed per AMS 4928. General tolerance ISO 2768-m. Ra 3.2 except the two faces marked. Certificate of conformance only, no FAI. EXW.
is comparable against other quotes and tells the buyer you understood the part. A bare number is not comparable, and the buyer has no way to know whether it is cheap because you are efficient or because you assumed something they did not intend.
This single habit changes win rates more than any equipment purchase.
3. Is there a real date
“ASAP”, “as early as possible” and “we will try our best” all read as no information. A date lets the buyer plan, and it lets them tell you if it does not work.
Quote the material lead time separately from the machining lead time. “Ten weeks for material, then two weeks to machine” is a far more credible answer than “twelve weeks”, because it shows you have actually checked availability rather than adding a margin to a guess. On exotic alloys, material is usually the long pole — see the lead time is the metal.
4. Is there one named person
Buyers want to know who they are dealing with. A quote from “Sales Department” with a generic mailbox invites the question of who will answer when something goes wrong at week six.
One name, one email address, and an answer within one business day — even when the answer is “I need two days to check this with our heat treatment supplier”. If English is not your first language, plain and short beats formal and long; the sentence patterns that work are worth stealing.
5. Does anything show you understood this part
The strongest signal costs nothing to send: one sentence about the part that only someone who opened the model could write.
The 2 mm wall on the flange side will need support during finishing; we have allowed for a soft-jaw fixture rather than standard clamping.
The Ra 0.4 callout on face C roughly doubles the finishing time. If Ra 0.8 would work functionally, the price drops about 15 %.
A buyer reading that knows you are not guessing. It also does something more valuable: it starts a technical conversation, and shops that get into technical conversations get the repeat orders.
What this looks like in practice
A quote that clears all five is usually a short email, not a document:
- One paragraph answering the specific question
- A short assumptions block
- Price, material lead time, machining lead time, Incoterm
- One observation about the part
- A name and a direct email address
- Machine list attached, not pasted
Plain, fast, specific. That beats a glossy PDF from a shop with better equipment, consistently, because it is evidence of how you will behave for the next six months rather than a claim about it.
The rest of it
Getting read is necessary and not sufficient. What separates a shop that gets one order from one that gets the programme is usually documentation discipline, and how the machine list is presented — both covered in why good shops lose quotes they should win and your machine list is a sales document.
If you run titanium, nickel superalloys or hardened steel as everyday work, the standard we audit shops against before placing an order is published in full. Read it before registering.