This distributor already had a quoting process they were proud of, and for good reason. They had a 23.1% close rate. The untapped opportunity wasn't fixing it; it was treating quoting like a demand channel. Over ten months I rebuilt the funnel around quotes — ads, attribution, CRM, and sales tooling. The mindset shift went from quote to compete to QUOTE TO WIN.
After 10 months, their year-to-date close rate was 40.5% on 60% more quote volume. In the last month tracked, sales from quotes were up 240%.
Quoting is a large, mostly untapped opportunity for industrial distributors. This client already had a quoting win percentage they were genuinely pleased with — a 23.1% close rate — but it was being run as a task, not a growth channel. That gap was a big opportunity.
My initial recommendation was deliberately ambitious: lift the close rate from 23.1% to 43% within eight months. Eight months later it sat at 40.5% — and, critically, on 60% more quote volume year over year. More opportunities coming in, and a far higher share of them closing.
I helped them create a sustainable flywheel: more quotes, closing at a higher rate, at better margins. Sales from quotes climbed steadily — the last measured month was up 240% — while gross margins expanded rather than eroded.
• Client: Industrial distributor
• Initiative: Quoting process optimization
• Close rate: 23.1% → 40.5%
• Quote volume: +60% YoY
• Gross margin: Expanded +1.5 pts
• Scope: Ads · attribution · CRM - sales enablement
A connected system across the funnel: generate quote demand, measure it properly (including offline) then nurture and close with the right tools and processes.
Cloud and data, monetization, and analytics — all wired together through a GitHub-based development workflow.
Quote-focused search and video campaigns driving high-intent requests.
Paid social campaigns and creative to attract buyers who needed to quote their business.
Dedicated quote conversion tags feeding smart bidding, audiences, and lookalikes.
Offline quote activity passed back to ad channels to close the attribution loop.
Automated quote workflows with tiered email + phone follow-up.
Excel-based tool for the sales team to optimize close rate and margin. Next: move tool to ERP.
A near-doubling of close rates on 60% more volume, at higher margins, didn't come from one clever tactic. It came from connecting demand, attribution, CRM, and sales tooling into a single quoting engine.
