2026-09-03 15:57:49 +00:00
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# Quote Operator — Quickstart
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**One-line job:** turn customer requests into priced quotes, fast.
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## What you do
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A customer wants something. We need to tell them "yes, we can supply
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it, and here's the price". You:
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- Pick up new quotes that come in by email or phone.
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- Find the right price (from the catalogue, an AI suggestion, or a
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supplier list).
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- Get the quote approved.
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- Send it to the customer.
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- Follow up if they don't reply.
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## Your day
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| Time | What to do |
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| **08:30** | Open `/quotes?tab=new`. Anything new from overnight? Pick it up. |
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| **09:00** | Open `/sprint`. Claim 2-3 items you can price fast. (30-min timer per item.) |
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| **10:00, 13:00, 16:00** | Same as 09:00. Keep the sprint queue small. |
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| **12:00** | Lunch. |
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| **17:00** | Set `follow_up_due` on every quote you sent today (5 working days from now). |
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**Three times a day**, glance at `/dashboard` — is the "Quote Pipeline"
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doughnut getting stuck in `new` or `claim`? If yes, the queue is
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backing up. Pick up more.
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## How to do the common stuff
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### 1. Price a line item (the most common task — you'll do this 50× a day)
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1. Open the line.
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2. Is there a **matched catalogue row** (look for the catalogue panel
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on the line)? Use its price. Set `pricing_source: "catalogue"`.
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3. Not matched? Search `/pricelist` by description or SKU. If you
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find it, copy the price across. Set `pricing_source: "catalogue"`.
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4. Still nothing? Look at recent supplier lists in `/pricelist`
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(the "Raw Uploads" tab). If the supplier is one we work with,
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use their price. Set `pricing_source: "manual"`.
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5. **Cannot find a price anywhere** → flag the line for the
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supervisor. Don't guess.
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### 2. Send a quote (once everything is priced)
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1. Click **Submit for Approval**. Status → `approval_pending`.
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2. Wait for the supervisor. (You'll see it move off the queue.)
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3. Approved? Click **Send Email**.
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4. Check the recipient. Add the customer rep to CC if you know them.
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5. The PDF is already attached. Hit **Send**.
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6. **Set `follow_up_due`** to today + 5 working days. Don't forget.
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### 3. Follow up on a sent quote
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1. Open the quote. Is there a reply logged? (Green chip on the row.)
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2. No reply? **Phone the customer first** — faster than email.
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3. Log the call in the quote's notes.
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4. Set a new `follow_up_due` date. Try again in 5 working days.
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### 4. Inbound email quote (the common one)
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1. n8n already created the quote in `/quotes?tab=new`. Open it.
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2. Check: right **customer**? right **company/letterhead**? items
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look right?
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3. Items with `pricing_source: "ai"` are pre-priced — verify, save.
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4. Items with no price landed in `/sprint` — go price them.
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## Don'ts — the 3 things you must never do
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1. **Never send a quote with a line that has `selling_price = 0`.**
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The system will refuse the send. If you can't price a line, ask
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the supervisor.
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2. **Never override an AI price without checking the catalogue.**
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The AI is right ~85% of the time. If you change it, write a
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`pricing_notes` line saying why (e.g. "catalogue price used,
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AI was 12% low").
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3. **Never leave a sprint claim to expire with no work.** Save
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what you have (even partial), or release the claim by walking
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away. Don't ghost your own claims.
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## When to ask the supervisor (the 4 most common situations)
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- **AI price is way off (more than 10% from catalogue).** Use the
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catalogue price and log the why. Don't agonise.
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- **Customer wants a discount.** < 5% — apply it, log the reason.
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5-15% — apply it, flag the approver in the quote notes.
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> 15% — don't apply; tell the customer it's above your authority.
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- **Email send failed.** Click **Retry** once. If it fails again,
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check the address (typo? bounced?). If still failing, escalate.
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- **Customer is unknown / wrong.** The quote landed on "Unknown
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Sender". Don't price it. Hand to the supervisor to create the
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customer first.
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## How you're measured (the 2 numbers that matter)
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1. **Time to first touch on a new quote** — target: **< 2 hours**
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during business hours. (How fast did you pick it up?)
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2. **Win rate** — target: **> 30%** of quotes you send become
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orders. (Out of every 10 quotes you sent, how many got accepted?)
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The supervisor pulls these for you every Monday. If either is red
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for 2+ weeks, you'll get a 1-on-1.
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## Who to ask
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- **Anything about a specific quote, a customer, a price** → supervisor.
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- **Anything broken in the system (button missing, error message, weird
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data)** → supervisor, who'll loop in the dev if needed.
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- **Anything you're not sure about** → supervisor. Better to ask
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than guess.
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