How do you automate RFQ and quote replies?
Automating RFQ replies means letting an AI Sales Agent capture the request, ask for the missing details, pull specs and tiered prices from your rules, and draft a quote in minutes. A human still signs off on discounts and contracts. You reply fast, and you keep control of the numbers.
What does the agent actually handle?
An RFQ lands in your inbox, on WhatsApp, or through a web form. Most arrive incomplete. No quantity. No port. No incoterm. Your team writes back, waits a day, writes again, and the buyer has already emailed three other suppliers. The AI Sales Agent takes over that back-and-forth. It reads the request, spots what is missing, and asks for it in the buyer's language. Then it pulls specs and tiered pricing from rules you set, and drafts a reply. You review and send.
Why does reply speed decide who wins?
Buyers reward the first clear answer. Research from MIT and InsideSales found that replying within five minutes instead of thirty makes you about 21 times more likely to qualify the lead. The same work reports that 78% of buyers order from the supplier who answers first. Speed is not a bonus. It is the order.
Buyers also come in better informed. 6sense reported in 2025 that 94% of B2B buyers already use AI or large language models during their buying process, so they arrive with sharp, specific questions. And they do not keep office hours: Salesforce reports that 52% of buyers expect answers outside normal working time. Your factory sleeps; the buyer in Hamburg or São Paulo does not. An agent that drafts a reply at 2 a.m., ready for your morning review, covers those hours without a night shift.
How do you set up the flow?
Break it into seven steps. The agent runs the first six. A person owns the last one.
- Capture the RFQ from every channel — email, web form, WhatsApp, marketplace message — in one place.
- Read and tag it. The agent picks out product, rough quantity, and any hint of destination.
- Ask for the missing details: exact quantity, destination port, incoterm (FOB, CIF, DDP), and required certificates (CE, RoHS, FDA).
- Match specs from your product rules — model, material, packaging, lead time.
- Apply tiered pricing from your rules. Example: 1–499 units at one price, 500–999 at the next band, 1,000+ lower again.
- Draft the quote with unit price, MOQ, lead time, and payment terms.
- Route to a human. Your rep checks the numbers, edits or approves, and sends.
What should you load first?
The agent is only as good as the rules behind it. Load these before you switch it on:
- Product list with specs, materials, and packaging.
- Tiered price bands, in a stated currency, with valid-through dates.
- MOQ and lead time for each product.
- Incoterm rules and the ports you ship from.
- Certificates you hold, and the markets they cover.
- Discount limits, and who may approve each level.
Where must a human step in?
The agent drafts. A person decides. Keep these on the human side, every time.
| Task | Agent drafts | Human signs off |
|---|---|---|
| Standard tiered quote | Yes | Quick check |
| Discount below your published tier | No | Required |
| Contract, warranty, penalty terms | No | Required |
| Custom specs or new tooling | Flags it | Required |
| Large order that shifts production | Flags it | Required |
Set a rule: any number below your published band, any custom term, anything with legal or compliance weight stops for sign-off. The agent marks the risk; it does not hide it.
What does a good handoff look like?
The draft reaches your rep with the buyer's request, the questions asked, the matched specs, and the price band applied — all in one view. No hunting through threads. Your rep spends a minute, not an hour, and the reply still reads like your company wrote it. In our own build, same-day first reply is a design target we tune against, not a promise. Speed comes from clean rules, and you keep the final word on money.
See how the split works on product.html, or read common questions on faq.html. Book a short demo and watch it draft a quote from a real RFQ at contact.html.