Case Study: Quote Generation Cut from 8 Minutes to 28 Seconds

Client Overview

Industry: Manufacturing and Distribution (SME)

Operations: Four international regions with separate pricing

Systems: Gmail, Shopify, existing plugins (no ERP)

The business wanted to stay lean. No ERP system. No additional software subscriptions. Everything had to work within their existing ecosystem: Gmail for email, Shopify for ecommerce and quoting. The CRM was linked to Gmail, and all customer communication had to flow through email rather than Shopify notifications.

The Challenge

Quoting had become a bottleneck that was costing sales and draining the team.

Slow Quote Creation

Each quote took six to eight minutes. Complex quotes requiring supplier checks or pricing verification took fifteen to eighteen minutes. The process involved exporting PDFs, saving files, searching for attachments, and manually dragging them into emails. Repetitive, frustrating, error-prone.

Inconsistent Pricing Across Regions

Four international sites meant four sets of prices. When supplier costs changed, all four had to be updated manually. Margins were hard to track. Discount decisions were guesswork. Errors crept in constantly.

No Follow-Up System

Quotes went out and disappeared. No tracking. No automatic follow-up. No visibility into which quotes converted and which did not. The owner had no clear view of the sales pipeline or why deals were being lost.

Team Frustration

The sales team felt buried in admin. The repetitive nature of quoting was demoralising. They wanted to sell, not process paperwork. During peak season, balls were being dropped because the volume of quote requests exceeded their capacity to respond.

Before: The Numbers

The Solution

We tackled this in two connected projects: first the pricing database, then the quoting automation. Both built on existing systems with no new software.

Phase 1: Discovery and Scoping

We started by mapping how the team actually worked, not how they thought they worked.

• Interviewed all staff using the quoting system to understand their methods and pain points
• Found that each salesperson quoted differently, creating inconsistent customer experiences
• Identified pricing inconsistency as a root problem that had to be solved first
• Created a detailed project scope with milestones agreed by the entire team

Key insight: Talking to the whole team surfaced problems we would never have found otherwise. Staff knew where the friction was.

Phase 2: Pricing Database Automation

Before fixing quoting, we had to fix pricing. You cannot automate quotes if the underlying prices are unreliable.

• Built an automated pricing database that standardised prices across all four international regions
• Implemented live FX updates so regional pricing stayed accurate without manual intervention
• Created margin visibility so the owner could see exactly how discounts affected profitability
• One update now flowed to all four sites automatically

Phase 3: Quote Automation System

With pricing solved, we built the automation layer using webhooks to connect Gmail and Shopify.

Automatic Quote Generation

• Connected Gmail and Shopify via API webhooks (backend integration, no plugins)
• A simple tag in Gmail triggered automatic quote creation in Shopify
• AI recognised products mentioned in the email and matched them to inventory
• If no match existed, AI searched for alternatives and flagged them for review

Automatic PDF Attachment

• Each Gmail email has a unique identifier. We used this to link quotes back to conversations
• When a quote was saved, the PDF automatically attached to a draft reply on that email thread
• No more exporting, saving, searching, dragging. The quote appeared ready to send

AI-Assisted Responses

• Linked the knowledge base to draft replies
• AI read incoming emails and generated contextual response templates
• Templates included next steps for converting quotes to invoices

Phase 4: Quote Tracking and Follow-Up

Quotes going out was only half the problem. We needed to track what happened next.

• Built a database tracking every quote: when sent, when converted, days outstanding
• Created three automatic follow-up sequences with draft emails ready for the sales team to send
• If a client declined, feedback was logged and a summary report sent to the sales manager
• Daily visibility into quotes sent, conversion rates, and outstanding follow-ups

Results

The system went live and adoption was immediate.

Beyond the Numbers

The owner gained clear visibility into the sales pipeline. He could see how the team was performing, identify pricing issues, and track lost deal reasons for the first time.

The sales team was noticeably happier. The repetitive tasks they dreaded were gone. They got back to selling. During peak season, they handled volume that would have buried them before.

Staff said they did not think it was possible to automate quoting this much. They had assumed the only option was to buy new software or hire more people.

Key Takeaways

1. Talk to the team first. A full scoping session with all staff surfaced problems we would never have found otherwise. The people doing the work know where the friction is.
2. Repetitive tasks are automation gold. If something is done the same way repeatedly, it can almost always be automated. This speeds up work and lifts team morale by removing drudgery.
3. Simple beats complex. The simplest route is often the fastest, cheapest, and most reliable. We built on existing systems rather than adding new ones.
4. Integration creates visibility. When systems talk to each other, you get accountability and reporting for free. Seeing time saved and conversion improved makes the investment tangible.
5. Running lean can still scale. No new software. No extra headcount. Building on one ecosystem is often faster, cheaper, and easier to maintain than adding systems.