The manual quoting process is draining your sales team's energy and your bottom line. Every hour spent on spreadsheets is an hour not spent closing deals. Every pricing error is a potential client lost. Every delayed approval is an opportunity for competitors to swoop in with a faster offer. These problems are entirely solvable. AI-powered quoting software transforms how businesses create, review, and approve quotes.
5 Problems with Manual Quoting and How to Fix It
How AI Software Can Improve User Experience
Other Benefits of Moving Away from Manual Quoting
Potential customers expect quick and accurate responses, and if your team takes days to send out a price estimate, you're giving competitors an opportunity. The inefficiencies of manual quoting affect everything from sales speed to customer satisfaction. Let's go through 5 common quoting problems and how you can fix them.
Creating quotes manually is painfully slow.
Your sales team has to gather details from multiple sources. They crunch numbers on spreadsheets. They check inventory levels. They format proposals. They chase down approvals.
The labour-intensive nature of manual quote creation can lead to significant delays in responding to customers' inquiries, causing frustration for both customers and the business.
AI-powered quoting software eliminates the time-consuming manual work and speeds up the quoting process.
Simply upload a PDF to get an automated quotation in seconds. The Expansive Quote Extractor automatically fills in key details such as cost lines, expiry dates, and contractor information. No more retyping. No more copying data between systems.
AI extracts cost breakdowns and timelines to build complete quotes without manual entry. This drastically reduces onboarding time for new quotes while improving accuracy and consistency.
The time drain doesn't stop at creation either. Sales reps waste hours hunting through old files for pricing templates. They double-check calculations manually. They follow up with different departments for approvals.
All this time could be spent on activities that actually generate revenue.
Slow quoting directly costs you deals.
When customers request quotes from multiple providers, the fastest response has a massive advantage. While you're still calculating figures on spreadsheets, your competitor has already impressed the prospect with a professional, detailed quote.
The delay sends a signal: you're not responsive, you're not modern, you're not the priority.
Manual quoting kills sales by keeping your team buried in admin work. Your team should be building relationships, identifying upsell opportunities, and closing deals. Instead, they're stuck in spreadsheets and email chains.
Automated quoting accelerates your entire sales process.
Sales teams that implement CPQ solutions can increase their quote generation.
AI-powered systems collate all the information quickly, reducing bottlenecks and creating smoother workflows.
When managers can quickly review and approve quotes using AI tools, the entire process speeds up. Approving quotes from a central system created by AI makes approvals faster and easier.
Your team closes deals faster. Your customers get better experiences. Your revenue grows.
“We built something that actually helps, by listening to the people doing the work. Expansive AI is a practical response to real challenges, and we’re developing it with the teams who’ll use it daily.”
Josh Greibach, CEO of Expansive
Human error is inevitable with manual processes.
A mistyped discount, miscalculated price, or overlooked approval step can lead to quotes that undercharge, overpromise, or confuse customers, which costs you revenue or trust in seconds.
The quote process is repetitive, which increases the likelihood of mistakes. Sales reps might forget to update a client's information. They might use outdated pricing. They might miscalculate totals or apply the wrong discount percentage, affecting your profitability.
Errors create confusion during negotiations. They delay deals. Sometimes they cost you money when you honour incorrect pricing to save face.
AI dramatically reduces errors in quote generation.
AI-generated quotes pull relevant customer data from the system automatically, saving time and reducing errors. The system applies pricing rules consistently across every quote, ensuring accuracy.
When a quote is submitted, the AI engine benchmarks it against past data. The system flags key points like excessive mark-ups or questionable line items, allowing you to make informed decisions faster.
Expansive's Quote Analyser provides data-backed insights into whether prices and timeframes align with similar jobs. It alerts you to anything that looks unusually high or low, like having your own pricing analyst, minus the paperwork.
Manual quoting makes it nearly impossible to maintain consistent, up-to-date pricing.
Without automated systems, sales reps might not know what discounts they're authorised to offer. They promise pricing they can't deliver. They spend time chasing down stakeholders for every deal while customers wait impatiently.
Excessive discounting is common when teams don't have automated calculations based on customer profiles or clearly enforced rules to cap discounts. This erodes your margins and undermines your pricing strategy.
AI software assists with both standardised pricing and dynamic pricing strategies.
Set the parameters you need to optimise pricing. The system enforces discount policies, standardised pricing or dynamic pricing automatically. This ensures customers get fair prices while your company maintains profitability.
Finance maintains control over margins while sales move faster and maintain compliance with company policies. All teams work from the same data source, eliminating discrepancies between what's quoted and what's actually profitable.
The approval process is one of the biggest bottlenecks in manual quoting. Sales reps create a quote, then wait. They email it to their manager for review. If there are questions or changes needed, the quote bounces back.
More waiting. More revisions. More delays.
If the person responsible for handling quote requests is unavailable, response times can stretch, potentially losing business opportunities.
Manual approval processes lack transparency. It's difficult to know where a quote sits in the workflow. Has the manager seen it? Did finance review it? Who approved that discount?
Using Expansive's CAFM software provides a dedicated quote view screen, you can add costs, submit quotes, or edit them before sending for approval. The entire process is fully trackable and transparent, ensuring complete visibility from start to finish.
Managers can quickly review and approve quotes using AI tools. The system automatically requests approval for discounts exceeding set thresholds. It tracks changes and integrates revisions so the final review process is more efficient and easier to follow up on.
Everyone knows exactly where each quote stands. No more chasing approvals. No more deals dying in email limbo.
The benefits of AI-powered quoting extend far beyond your internal team. Your customers notice the difference immediately.
They understand exactly what they're paying for. This clarity reduces friction and builds confidence.
The system pulls current product information and applies pricing rules consistently, making your team look competent and trustworthy from the first interaction.
Better customer experiences lead to higher conversion rates and stronger relationships.
Scalability: Manual quoting becomes impossible as your business grows and your product catalogue expands, but with quote automation, your sales team can handle more quote requests without hiring additional staff.
Real-time data: Automated systems provide real-time data on quote status, win rates, and bottlenecks. Managers can make accurate predictions because information is centralised, not scattered across spreadsheets and email threads.
Reduced workload: Over time, automating tasks like data entry, pricing, and approvals decreases the workload for employees. They can focus on essential tasks that actually drive revenue.
Improved team collaboration: Sales, procurement, and finance work from the same platform in real time. No more silos. No more miscommunication. Everyone has access to the same current information.
Fewer invoicing errors: Automating your invoices alongside your quotes means fewer errors and faster payments. The data flows seamlessly from quote to invoice without manual re-entry.
Customisation and integration: AI software can be customised to your business's specifications and integrated with your current systems like CRM and ERP. This makes approvals happen faster and creates a unified workflow.
Ready to transform your quoting process?
If you're already using Expansive CAFM, speak to our team to discuss how AI can streamline your processes. We'll show you exactly how Quote Extractor and Quote Analyser can work for your business.
Want to see it in action first?