Enquiry by e-mail
Hours or days- The mail lands in an inbox
- It waits until the estimator finishes the job in hand
- You ask back about material, tolerances, quantity
- The customer replies when they get a moment
- Quoting, then sending the offer
For machine shops
Buyers already expect a price today. The question is whose price they get.
Your customers get instant quotes from the large platforms and bring that expectation to you. You can meet it under your own name, on your own rates - or keep asking them to wait while somebody else answers first.
One enquiry, two routes
Where the time between enquiry and offer goes
On the left, what happens to an e-mail. On the right, what happens when the customer lands on a configurator.
Configurator on your site
Before the customer closes the tab- The customer uploads a file
- The engine measures the part and prices it
- The customer checks quantities and options themselves
- The order lands with you
Automation does not take the decision away from you: an unusual part still goes for approval, only far sooner than it used to.
What changes
Differences you can see in the calendar and in the inbox
From the moment a customer lands on your site to the moment the order is sitting in your panel.
01
A price before they ask somebody else
The enquiry does not sit in the inbox until the evening. The customer gets a number while they are still comparing, not after they have picked someone.
02
You answer when nobody is in the office
The configurator works in the evening, at the weekend and while you are away. An enquiry placed on Friday at ten at night has a price at one minute past.
03
The enquiry arrives complete
Instead of „can you quote this” with an empty mail you get a 3D file, material, quantity, tolerances and a lead time. The round of asking back - which alone can take two days - disappears.
04
Customers try the options themselves
Want to see the price at 10 and at 100 pieces, in aluminium and in steel, express and standard? They click through it instead of writing to you four times.
05
Your estimator goes back to engineering
Repeat quoting goes to the engine. People handle what actually needs judgement, and stop spending evenings pricing small parts.
06
Prices stop depending on the day and the person
The same part priced on Monday morning and on Friday afternoon costs the same. A customer coming back a year later is not surprised.
07
A quote that looks serious
A 3D model to inspect, the price broken into material, machining and setup, a PDF offer with your logo. For a customer who does not know you, that is the first evidence you know what you are doing.
08
Orders without retyping from e-mail
What the customer confirmed reaches the panel exactly as they chose it. No wrong quantity, no wrong grade, because nobody retyped anything.
09
You finally see your funnel
How many enquiries came in, how many became orders, which quotes do not close and at what value. Until now that knowledge lived in a mailbox.
10
You still have the last word
Value thresholds, complexity, unusual geometry - whatever you set holds the price with you for approval. Automation speeds things up, it does not decide for you.
11
More survives from the traffic you already have
A visitor who sees „upload a file, see the price” leaves an enquiry far more often than one who has to write an e-mail and wait. Same number of visits, fewer of them dropping out on the way.
12
The work stays yours, and so does the customer
A marketplace quotes instantly but keeps the relationship, the margin and the next order. Here the quoting runs on your site, under your brand and your rates - and you can point ads, your Google profile and your e-mail signature straight at it.
From the customer's side
What a visitor to your site sees
Three screens. No account to create, no contact form, no waiting for a reply.
1
They upload a file
They drag a STEP model or a PDF drawing into a window on your site. They do not need to know anything about how it will be made.
2
They set what they need
Material, quantity, tolerances, lead time. For an assembly they see the breakdown per part.
3
They get a price and order
They see the 3D model, the price per piece and per batch, and the cost breakdown. They order straight away or download the PDF offer.
From your side
What reaches the panel
The enquiry with its file, parameters and calculated price - ready to approve in one click
An e-mail notification, so nothing sits unnoticed
The option to correct the price before it goes out, if the engine underestimated something
A history of every quote, searchable and exportable
Orders with customer details and delivery status
Concerns
What people ask first
The questions that come up on the first call - including the awkward ones.
01How is this different from listing on a marketplace?
A marketplace also quotes instantly, but it owns the customer relationship, sets the margin and decides who gets the next job. Here the same instant quoting runs on your own site, under your brand, with your rates and your capacity in mind - the customer is yours before and after the order.
02Will customers start comparing me on price alone?
They already do, on the strength of a single number in an e-mail. A configurator shows what the price is made of and what happens when the quantity or the tolerance changes, which moves the conversation from „how much” to „why that much”. If you would rather not show prices publicly, you can require an access code or keep a mode where the customer sees the price only after you approve it.
03What if the engine prices something too low?
That is exactly why the price does not go to the customer automatically until you allow it. Starting out, it is sensible to hold everything for approval, watch a few dozen quotes, and only then release control where the numbers hold up. You also set a value threshold above which you always look at the quote yourself.
04How much work is it to get running?
Embedding it on your site is one line of code. The real work is configuring machines, materials and rates, then calibrating on a handful of parts you have already quoted - usually an afternoon. Calibration is the step not to skip: it decides whether the first automatic prices are acceptable.
05I do not have a website to embed it in.
You also get a hosted quoting page on your own address, with your logo and colours. You can link it from your Google profile, your e-mail signature or an advert - it works without a website of your own.
See it on your own part
Upload a file of yours and see what your customer would see. The trial account is free and needs no card.