Automating quotes and proposals: what we build and what stays manual
Most of a quote is assembly, not judgment. What AI and automation take over in quoting, where a person still decides, and how to keep quotes consistent.
The short answer
Quoting feels like skilled work, and part of it is. Most of it is not: reading the request, finding the right sections and prices, assembling a document in the right format, sending it, and following up three days later. That part is assembly, it is the same every time, and it is where quotes get slow and inconsistent. Automation and AI take the assembly. A person keeps the judgment and approves every quote before it goes out.
Take the process apart
| Step | Today | Rule or judgment | Who does it after |
|---|---|---|---|
| Request arrives | Sits in an inbox until someone reads it | Rule | Automation: captured on arrival |
| Understand what is asked | Someone reads and interprets | Judgment | AI: extracts scope, quantities, dates, constraints |
| Decide what to offer | Someone thinks | Judgment | Person, with the extracted request in front of them |
| Assemble the quote | Someone copies from the last one | Rule | Automation: sections and prices from your building blocks |
| Write the personal parts | Someone types | Judgment | AI drafts; person edits |
| Check and send | Someone forgets for two days | Rule | Person approves; automation sends and logs |
| Follow up | Someone remembers, or does not | Rule | Automation reminds; AI drafts; person approves |
What we build
- Capture. Requests from email, forms and notes land in one place, with the original attached.
- Extract. AI reads the request and produces a structured summary: what, how much, when, any constraints or unusual asks. Flags anything unclear for a question back to the customer.
- Assemble. From the summary and your rules, automation selects the sections and fills in the numbers from your price list. Anything outside the rules is flagged, not guessed.
- Draft the personal parts. A short introduction and the specific notes, drafted by AI in your tone from the request and previous quotes.
- Approve. The salesperson reviews the whole quote, adjusts judgment items, and sends with one click. Nothing leaves unseen.
- Follow up. After the agreed interval, a reminder; a drafted follow-up referencing the quote; a person approves. Repeat until answered.
What stays manual
- Pricing decisions outside the price list and rules: discounts, unusual volumes, strategic accounts.
- Scope judgement on anything the building blocks do not cover.
- The relationship: the call, the meeting, the negotiation.
- Genuinely bespoke work, where the system still helps by reading the request and preparing the skeleton.
What this means for you
If quotes take days to go out and each one is written from the last one, the assembly is eating your sales team’s time and making your offers inconsistent. Write the building blocks, automate the capture, extraction, assembly and follow-up, and keep a person on the decisions and the send button. Quotes go out the same day, say the same things, and get followed up every time.
Frequently asked questions
Can the AI set prices?
It can apply your price list and your rules, which is automation. It should not invent prices or discounts, which is judgment. We build systems that fill in the numbers from your rules and flag anything outside them for a person. A model guessing a price is how margin disappears.
Our quotes are all different. Can this still work?
They are more similar than they feel. A quote is the same sections in different combinations with different numbers. The first step is to write those sections once, well. Genuinely bespoke quotes stay manual, and the system still helps by reading the request and preparing the skeleton.
Where does the request come from?
Email, a website form, a phone call written up, a chat. The system reads whatever arrives, extracts what is being asked for, and matches it to your building blocks. A form with structured fields makes this easier; free text still works with an extraction step.