Why are manual quotes so slow?
Quote requests arrive as free-text emails with attachments, scattered across mailboxes. Operators read and interpret each one, re-key the details into a rating sheet or TMS, look up rates across sources and only then draft a quote, often 30 to 45 minutes later.
By that point, the customer may have moved on, and the rates used may already be out of date.
What are the steps to automate quoting?
- Capture inbound quote requests from your shared mailbox automatically.
- Parse the email body and attachments into structured shipment data.
- Pull live rates and surcharges so the quote reflects fresher numbers.
- Assemble a draft quote on one shipment, one live reference.
- Let an operator review margin and send in a couple of clicks.
- Sync the quote activity back to your existing systems.
How much time does automation save?
Operators using FRAI have moved from roughly 45 minutes to about 2 minutes per quote: a 93% faster quote process, while reducing re-keying errors and protecting margin with fresher rates.