In short: Response time, quotes per person per day, win rate, margin per quote and quote accuracy. Track them weekly from a simple log and fix the worst one first.
Most small forwarders know their revenue and their job count. Far fewer know how long a quote takes to go out, how many quotes they win, or what each quote earns. Those are the numbers that decide whether the quote desk is a cost or a sales engine. Here are the five freight quoting KPIs worth tracking, how to measure each from a simple log, and what to do when one is off.
One spreadsheet, one row per quote request: date and time received, date and time quoted, who quoted it, customer, lane, mode, quoted total, margin, outcome (won, lost, no reply) and, if lost, the reason. Five minutes a day keeps it current. Everything below comes from that sheet.
What: the time from the request landing to the quote going out, measured in business hours. Track the median and the share answered within one hour.
Why: customers often book the first complete quote they get. Our guide to getting quote replies under an hour covers why this matters most for small shipments and repeat lanes.
Fix: standard templates, a rate sheet that's easy to search, and automation for the reading and assembly step.
What: quotes sent divided by the people quoting. Watch it alongside response time: if one rises while the other gets worse, the team is saturated.
Why: it tells you when quoting is eating operations time, and whether a new hire or a tool is the cheaper answer. A complete FCL quote done by hand often takes 10 to 20 minutes.
What: quotes won divided by quotes sent, overall and by lane, mode and customer type. Exclude requests that were never a real opportunity (tyre-kickers, lanes you don't serve).
Why: win rate tells you whether you lose on price, speed or clarity. Compare the win rate on quotes sent within an hour versus later, and on quotes you followed up versus not; see following up freight quotes.
Fix: ask every lost customer one question (price, transit time or something else?) and log the answer.
What: the dollar margin and margin percentage on each quote, with a floor per shipment. Average them by lane.
Why: a high win rate with thin margins is a busy team going broke. Lanes with low margin and low win rate are where your buy rates need work. See how to set margins on freight quotes.
What: the share of jobs invoiced within a small tolerance of the quote (say 2%), and the number of quotes revised before booking.
Why: every revision costs trust, and the usual causes are the same: a missed surcharge, a guessed weight, an unclear Incoterm, an expired rate. The fixes are a complete quote structure (FCL, air), clear validity and pricing that comes straight from the rate sheet.
Laneworks drafts the quote reply from your own rate sheet in about two minutes, which moves response time and quotes per person at the same time, and keeps every line traceable to a rate. See a sample draft, or forward a real quote request to try@getlaneworks.com.
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