A phone call, a postcode and three spreadsheets
Spot enquiries arrive all day: a small manufacturer who does not normally ship, a customer sending something unusual, a website form asking for a price on two pallets to Northern Ireland. To answer, somebody has to work out the delivery zone from the postcode, pick the right size band from full, half, quarter or micro, check the weight against the band, choose the service, then add tail lift, timed delivery or any remote area charge.
Each of those lives somewhere slightly different. The zone map is a PDF from the network, the sell prices are a spreadsheet the sales manager last updated in spring, and the surcharges are in someone's head. The quote takes ten minutes when it should take one, and two people will not give the same answer.
The pricing logic is scattered, not complicated
The rules themselves are not hard. They are just held in too many places, and none of them talk to each other.
- The network's tariff zones and cost price are updated by the network, on its schedule.
- Your sell price uses your own margin rules, which vary by zone and service.
- Surcharges for access, tail lift and timed services have their own list.
- Nobody can see the margin on a quote at the moment it is given.
When the network updates its tariff, the sell sheet is not updated at the same time, and quotes quietly drift.
Where slow, uneven spot quotes hurt
Spot enquiries often go to whoever answers first. A caller who is told 'I'll ring you back' has usually rung two other depots by then. Uneven quotes cause a different problem: a regular customer compares two prices from your office for similar jobs and asks why.
And a quote given without seeing the cost can sit below what the network charges you for that zone and service. You find out at month end, if at all.
The quoting screen we build
- We load the network's zone lookup so any postcode returns its zone and any remote area flag.
- Your sell rules sit in editable tables: price by zone, size band and service, with the margin rules your sales manager sets.
- Surcharges are options on the screen with their own prices, not a mental note.
- The screen returns a sell price, the network cost and the margin together, so the person quoting sees all three.
- Every quote is saved with the caller's details and can be emailed from the same screen, then converted to a booking if accepted.
- When the network issues a new tariff, the cost tables are updated in one place and the screen warns about quotes that now fall below your floor.
| Input | Where it came from before | Where it comes from now |
|---|---|---|
| Delivery zone | PDF map, looked up by eye | Postcode lookup |
| Size band | Asked, often guessed | Chosen from size and weight |
| Sell price | Sales spreadsheet | Your rules table |
| Surcharges | Memory | Ticked options with prices |
If you want an online quote form for spot customers, it uses the same rules, so web and phone prices match.
What it is like on the phones
The person answering can give a firm price while the caller is still on the line, and a sales manager can see every spot quote given this week, who gave it and whether it was accepted.
Tariff changes stop being a quiet risk. The day the new rates arrive, one update changes every quote from then on.
You may recognise this
- Spot quotes need the one person who knows the surcharges.
- Different staff quote different prices for the same job.
- Nobody sees the network cost when a quote is given.
- Quotes are not saved anywhere you can search.
- Tariff updates take weeks to reach your sell sheet.