How AI Can Automate Quotations in Your Sales Team

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The sales landscape is evolving rapidly, and companies are continuously seeking ways to improve efficiency and accuracy. One area ripe for innovation is the process of generating quotations. Traditionally, the process of making quotations for customer order requests involves a significant amount of manual effort, consuming a lot of your team’s mental resources and leading to delays, errors, and missed opportunities. However, with the advent of AI and Large Language Models (LLM), sales teams can now automate quotations, enhancing productivity and customer satisfaction. In this post, we'll explore how AI can transform your quotation process and the benefits it brings to your sales team.

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The Challenge of Manual Quotation Processes

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In many organizations, the quotation process is a labor-intensive task. In B2B sales, around 50% of all sales order requests arrive via mail and half of sellers’ revenue comes from email sales order requests. Given the importance of email communication, sales order processing teams spend around two-thirds of their time checking and responding to these emails. In detail, sales teams spend considerable time on the following tasks:

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1. Identifying Customer Intent: Understanding what the customer wants from the communication (reading email texts, checking attached documents…).
2. Extracting Information: Gathering product details, prices, and lead times from the ERP system.
3. Preparing Documents: Creating official and customized quotation documents.
4. Responding to Inquiries: Manually replying to customer emails.

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These steps are not only time-consuming but also prone to errors, which can lead to higher costs, dissatisfied customers, and lost sales opportunities. Moreover, the inability to respond quickly to client inquiries can result in losing business to more agile and responsive competitors.

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AI-Powered Quotation Automation: A Game Changer

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AI assistants can revolutionize the way sales teams handle quotations by automating the entire process. Here’s how it works:

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1. Instantly Recognize Customer Intent

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AI assistants can automatically recognize customer intent from any communication channel, whether it's an email, chat, or web form. By analyzing the content of incoming inquiries, AI can determine whether a customer is requesting a quote and identify the key details required for further processing.

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2. Extract Relevant Data

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Once the intent is recognized, the AI can extract critical information such as product names, SKUs, quantities, and other necessary details. This eliminates the need for manual data entry, reducing the chance of errors and speeding up the process.

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3. Cross-Check Against Your Systems (CRM, ERP) and Business Rules

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The AI can then validate the extracted data against your systems (CRM; ERP) and business rules. This includes checking for product availability, verifying prices, and identifying any discrepancies or exceptions for particular products or clients. For instance, if a requested product is not available or delivery time cannot be guaranteed, the AI can suggest the most similar alternatives based on your inventory.

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4. Generate and Send Quotes in Real-Time

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After validation, the AI can autonomously generate an accurate quote. The quote is then instantly sent to the customer, dramatically reducing the response time from hours or days to just minutes.

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5. Continuous Learning and Improvement

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AI systems continuously learn from past data and inputs, improving their accuracy and efficiency over time. This means that the more you use the AI assistant, the better it becomes at handling quotations.

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Transforming the Quotation Process

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Implementing AI in your quotation process offers several transformative benefits:

• Increased Efficiency: Automating repetitive tasks frees up your sales team to focus on more strategic activities, such as building customer relationships and closing deals.
• Reduced Errors: By minimizing manual data entry and validation, AI reduces the likelihood of errors that can lead to costly mistakes and customer dissatisfaction.
• Faster Response Times: With AI, you can provide customers with quick, accurate quotes, improving their experience and increasing the likelihood of conversion.
• Scalable Solutions: AI assistants can handle a large volume of inquiries simultaneously, making it easier to scale your operations without a corresponding increase in staffing costs.

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Case Study: The uify AI Assistant Right in Your Inbox

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Consider a company that uses Microsoft Outlook or Gmail as their primary tool for dealing with incoming sales orders. By linking the uify AI Assistant to their email communication tool, sales teams can automate the extraction and processing of quotation requests directly from their inbox. The AI analyzes emails, identifies requests for quotes, extracts necessary data, validates it against the ERP system, and generates a reply with the quotation—all within seconds. This not only saves time but also provides valuable insights into customer behavior and product demand.

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Conclusion

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AI assistants are transforming the way sales teams handle quotations, making the process faster, more accurate, and more efficient. By automating repetitive tasks and leveraging AI’s ability to continuously learn and improve, sales teams can enhance productivity, reduce errors, and provide better service to their customers. If you're looking to boost your sales team's efficiency and stay ahead of the competition, it's time to embrace AI-powered quotation automation.

Ready to transform your quotation process? Contact us today or book a demo to learn more about how our AI solutions can help your sales team work smarter, not harder.

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