At three in the afternoon a customer drops a photo of an old invoice on WhatsApp: “What’s this item now? Can you quote today?” Sales opens three Excel files: “price list 2024 final,” “prices_use_this,” and a CSV the warehouse emailed last week. Same SKU, three numbers. Then a voice note: “Please hurry, the other firm already sent theirs.”
The customer wants a PDF today. Frasertec Limited builds quotation automation: pick the SKU, the PDF goes to the customer. Another “latest Excel” will not fix it.
Now
Three Excels → Word
Hunt the price, guess which file, copy by hand. The customer chases on WhatsApp.
After quotation automation
Pick SKU → PDF
The price sits in the quotation. WhatsApp stays for spec.
Why a WhatsApp chase still leaves the quote slow
A Hong Kong trading or wholesale firm can run this a dozen times a day. Replies can be fast. The wait is finding the price and copying it. Miss a unit or a discount, and shipping arguments start the next day.
The price lives in three “latest” files
Ask sales where the list is and the answer is often “I’ll WhatsApp it.” You may open last year’s fair sheet, a supplier change not yet entered, or a customer discount on the last row of another tab. People save their own copies. Three people quote three prices.
The ask is rarely a clean SKU
Voice notes, photos, a three-year-old order mixed in. Sales hunts an old PDF for “the last similar sheet,” then guesses, then copies. WhatsApp, Excel and Word on three screens. One extra zero and the quotation is tomorrow’s evidence in a dispute.
Finding the price is not the end. You still copy into a PDF
Discount, freight, lead time and terms go in by hand. Some accounts want Chinese and English. A spec change means remaking the sheet. Posting the order copies the same words again: WhatsApp → Excel → PDF → warehouse. Each hop is another miss.
Another latest price list becomes final 2 next month
The easy boss move is a new Excel and a group message to use it. The customer still chases. You still copy. You also do not need another chat app. The customer is already on WhatsApp. What has to change is the quoting step: put the price in the quotation, stop copying by hand.
How quotation automation runs
You do not replace the whole company system. Start with the fifty lines customers ask about every week. Keep Excel and accounts. Frasertec puts the price into the quoting step.
Step 1
Keep talking on WhatsApp
Spec, lead time and photos stay on WhatsApp. You do not swap the chat app.
Step 2
Open the quotation and pick the SKU
Price, lead time and that customer’s usual discount are already there. No three Excels to guess from.
Step 3
The PDF goes out to the customer
No copy in the middle. When a price changes, the next quotation follows. Old PDFs and warehouse CSVs are not the list.
Three things you do
Now
Take the price list you actually use
Any file is fine. Do not tidy it into “final” first. Bring the three desktop files if you have them.
30 minutes
WhatsApp Frasertec Limited on 852 25788828
How many quotes a day, and how many files the price lives in. Free.
Next
Automate the fifty lines you sell most
Pick the SKU, send the PDF. You do not replace the ERP.
Bring the price list. Ask about quotation automation.
Frasertec Limited builds quotation automation for Hong Kong SMEs: pick the SKU, the PDF goes to the customer.
FAQ
Do we have to replace every system?
No. Keep the Excel and accounts you already use. Frasertec puts the price into the quoting step. Start with fifty SKUs you sell every week.
Is this another chat app?
The customer is already on WhatsApp. Another chat app still leaves you copying Excel. Quotation automation changes the PDF step, with no copy in the middle.
Previous: one department, one pain. Next: the quote is done, still sitting in the owner’s inbox.