Quote requests reach a freight forwarder's sales inbox in every format. An AI reader extracts the shipment details, prices the lane from the carrier rate sheet with margin rules, drafts a quote for the rep to approve and tracks it in the CRM.
Typical results
≈10 hrs/wk
Sales desk time saved on lookups and typing
≈20%
More quotes won from faster replies
100%
Sent quotes logged with a follow-up task
Figures reflect typical results for this kind of automation.
The challenge
A forwarder's sales desk receives dozens of spot quote requests a day, from one-line emails to detailed shipment specs. Reps read each one, look up the lane in the carrier rate sheet, apply margins and type the quote, which often takes half a day. Quotes are rarely followed up, and many expire before anyone checks back with the customer.
Before and after
Minutes from request to quote sent
−94%Quotes followed up before rates expire
3.3×Quote win rate
+20%The automation
A flow in Make reads each request in the sales inbox, and an AI reader built on OpenAI extracts origin, destination, mode, container type or chargeable weight and ready date. The lane is priced from the current carrier rate sheet with margin rules per customer tier, and a quote email is drafted for the sales rep to approve. Sent quotes are logged as CRM deals with a follow-up task 2 days before rate validity ends.
How it works
- 01
Request reaches the inbox
Quote requests arrive in the sales inbox as one-line emails or attached shipment specs.
- 02
AI extracts the shipment
Origin, destination, mode, container type or chargeable weight and ready date are pulled from each request.
- 03
Lane priced from rates
The lane is priced from the current carrier rate sheet, with margin rules for the customer's tier.
- 04
Rep approves the quote
A quote email is drafted for the sales rep, who checks the buy rate, margin and sell rate before sending.
- 05
Deal tracked in the CRM
Sent quotes become CRM deals with a follow-up task 2 days before rate validity ends and a won or lost status.
Starts from
- Quote request emails
- Carrier rate sheet
Delivers
- Quote draft for approval
- CRM deal with status
- Follow-up before expiry
The impact
Most quotes go out within about 15 minutes instead of half a day, and the desk saves around 10 hours a week of lookups and typing. Every quote is followed up before its rates expire, and faster replies typically lift the win rate by about a fifth.
Questions about this automation
What if a lane is not on the rate sheet?
When there is no current rate for the lane, container type or weight band, the draft is left unpriced. The rep gets the extracted shipment details with a note on what is missing, so they can request a rate from carriers, and the request still appears in the CRM so it is not lost.
How are margins set?
Margins live in the rate sheet as rules per customer tier, mode and lane, with a minimum profit per shipment. The automation applies them to the carrier rate and shows the buy rate, margin and sell rate in the draft, so the rep can adjust any figure before sending.
Which systems does it connect to?
It reads the sales inbox in Gmail or Outlook, prices from the carrier rate sheet in Google Sheets or Excel and logs deals in the CRM, such as HubSpot or Pipedrive. This is a multi-step build, usually rolled out in stages, starting with the most quoted mode.