Quote request

How do you reply to a quote request by email?

To reply to a quote request by email, thank them, restate the need, ask only for what is missing to price it, then give the next step. A Muzau agent replies with what the Brain knows about your offers and asks for the information you listed, without asking again for what the person already wrote. When it lacks a price, the reply reaches you already written, with a short question for you: you answer, you review, it goes out.

Why a quote request waits for its reply

A quote request rarely arrives complete. The person describes their need in a few lines, sometimes with an attached document, and a quantity, a date or a constraint is missing to price it. The reply waits until someone has time to read everything, and the customer does not know whether the request was understood.

When it does go out, it is often a list of questions the email already answered, or a price given too fast. Pricing stays with your team; the reply that takes the request all the way to the quote is the part the agent takes on.

How the agent goes about it

Input

The quote request, received at its address or handed over in your Gmail or Outlook inbox

It does

Rereads the request, replies using the Brain, asks for what is missing to price it

It delivers

A reply that moves the request forward, then the next step ready once everything is in

The reply draws on your offers, prices and lead times

The agent draws on the Brain: your offers, your prices, your lead times, your rules and your tone. They come from your website, a brochure, your terms of sale or your past replies, once you have kept them. It is instructed to state only the prices and lead times found in the Brain, and to hand over rather than guess. At its address, it reads the customer's attachments (PDF, Word, Excel, CSV); with Google Drive connected, it can attach the brochure you pointed it to.

No question the request already answers

For an agent that qualifies requests, the information to collect that you chose is the list of questions the agent will ask. Before replying, it rereads the last ten messages of the exchange and uses them instead of asking again for information already given. The person's answers go into the tracking file, in their own words; what they did not say stays empty. To choose that information, see how to qualify a prospect.

When a price is missing, the reply to the customer reaches you already written

If the request calls for a price, a lead time or an agreement that the Brain does not hold, the agent is instructed to pass it to you: a card in "To do", with the reply already drafted. Each piece of information it lacks becomes a short question for you, such as "How much does an assignment cost?". You answer, the agent rewrites it in your words, you review it and it goes out; Muzau then offers to keep your answer for next time. An email warns you right away when a reply depends on you, then reminds you after four hours if it is still waiting.

A complete quote request: the next step is already written

As soon as every piece of information has an answer, Muzau notices: you receive a card and an email with the request and the customer's answers to each of your questions. With Muzau's tracking file, the card offers the next step: suggest a meeting to the customer, send them the planned follow-up (a price list, a reminder, the quote step) if you chose it for this agent, or decline politely. The first is already written; you review it and send it in one click. The agent no longer replies to the customer on its own: if they write again, their message waits for you in "To do". Once your quote has gone out, put the address of a follow-up agent in copy: a case opens, which the quote follow-up will track.

How to write the reply to a quote request

A good reply moves the request forward by one step: the customer knows you understood, what they still need to provide and when they will have their quote.

• The subject line: reply in the same thread, with its subject, so they can find their request.
• The thanks: one sentence.
• The need, restated: two or three lines in their words, so they can correct a misunderstanding.
• What you can already say: a public price, a usual lead time, what the offer includes. Nothing you would not stand behind in writing.
• What is missing to price it: three questions at most, in a list, none that their email already answers.
• The next step: how soon they will have the quote after their answers, or a short call if the need is still unclear.
• The signature: a name and a direct number.

The mistakes that lose the request:

• sending them to a form to fill in when they have just written everything;
• asking every possible question instead of the ones that change the price;
• quoting an "indicative" price that will have to be revised upward;
• waiting until you have priced it to reply: if the quote takes time, an acknowledgement of receipt that says when it will arrive beats silence.

What it does not do

• It does not price custom quotes: it is instructed to state only the prices and lead times the Brain holds, and to hand over to you for the rest.
• Stating only the Brain's prices is a strong instruction given to the AI, which asks when in doubt, not a figure-by-figure check: only an invented date is caught by the software.
• It only rereads the current exchange, its last ten messages: what the customer wrote in another email, on another subject, it does not see.

Frequently asked questions

Should you give a price in the reply to a quote request?

Give only a price you would stand behind in writing, such as a public price list or a usual lead time. Otherwise, say what you need to price it and when the quote will arrive. A Muzau agent is instructed to state only the prices found in the Brain, and to ask you when one is missing.

What questions should you ask a customer who requests a quote?

Ask only the questions without which you cannot price it: what changes the price or the lead time. For a Muzau agent that qualifies requests, you set the list when you create it, ten at most, and the agent rereads the exchange so it does not ask again for what the person already wrote.

How long should you take to reply to a quote request?

Reply without waiting until you have priced it: a first reply confirms the request, asks for what is missing and says when the quote will arrive. A Muzau agent drafts its reply as soon as a request reaches its address, day or night; depending on your setting, it goes out on its own or waits for you in "To approve".

Should you reply to a quote request by email or by phone?

Reply in writing first, in the thread where the request arrived: the customer keeps a record of what you understood and can pass it on to whoever decides. Then offer a short call if the need is still unclear.

How do you reply to a quote request with a brief attached?

Read the brief in full before replying, and ask only the questions it does not answer. A Muzau agent reads the PDF, Word (.docx), Excel or CSV attachments of requests received at its address or forwarded to it. In a connected inbox, it only sees their name, and a PDF scanned as an image is not read.