Quote Management Overview (From Rates to Customer-Ready Quotes)

Quote Management is where your team turns pricing inputs into a customer-ready freight quote you can send, track, revise, and convert into a booking. Instead of building quotes manually in spreadsheets, email threads, and PDFs, Velocity centralizes the full workflow: generate the quote, apply pricing rules, present a complete cost breakdown, and track customer engagement from one place.

This overview explains what freight quote management covers end-to-end and how it connects to Rate Management to generate quotes quickly and consistently.

What Quote Management Is (and What It Replaces)

Quote Management is the operational layer for producing and managing quotes at scale. It replaces:

• Manual spreadsheet quoting and copy/paste charge lines
• Disconnected tools for PDFs, email follow-ups, and approvals
• Inconsistent quote formats across sales reps or offices
• Lost visibility into what was sent, viewed, or expired

With Velocity, quoting becomes a repeatable workflow: inputs → pricing logic → quote output → customer delivery → tracking and follow-up.

You can read Instant Quoting Architecture if you want the full architecture behind repeatable speed.

How Quotes Are Generated (Rate Sources + Pricing Logic)

A quote is generated by combining rate sources with pricing logic.

1) Rate sources

Velocity can build a quote using one or more of these sources:

• Uploaded contract rates (e.g., carrier or vendor tariffs)
• Spot rates (ad-hoc pricing for a specific lane/time window)
• Live rates via integrations/APIs (when enabled)

These rates are managed in Rate Management, which acts as the source of truth for what prices are available and valid.

2) Pricing logic

Once a rate is selected, Velocity applies pricing logic such as:

• Markups or margins (percentage, tiered, or flat)
• Customer-specific pricing rules (by service type, lane, or segment)
• Charge rules (what to include, normalize, or group)

The goal is consistent outputs: two team members pricing the same shipment should produce the same commercial result unless one intentionally applies an override.

Final quote totals are affected not only by the rate source, but also by how markups, margins, and pricing rules are applied. For a detailed explanation of this pricing logic, see Pricing Rules, Markups & Margin.

What’s Inside a Quote (Freight, Surcharges, Margins, Validity)

A “complete” quote should clearly answer three questions for the customer:

1. What is the service? (mode, route scope, assumptions)
2. What is the full cost? (line items and totals)
3. How long is it valid? (expiry date and conditions)

Typical quote components include:

Core charges

• Base freight (e.g., ocean/air linehaul)
• Origin and destination charges (as applicable)
• Handling/terminal charges (where relevant)

Surcharges and accessorials

• Fuel, security, peak season, currency adjustments, etc.
• Optional charges based on scope (pickup, delivery, customs clearance, insurance)

Commercial rules

• Markups/margins applied to specific charge groups or the total
• Minimum margin thresholds (if your policy requires it)

Validity and conditions

• Quote expiry date and rate validity window
• Inclusions/exclusions (what’s covered vs out of scope)
• Assumptions (dimensions/weight basis, commodity restrictions, routing constraints)

How Customers Receive Quotes (Link vs PDF)

Velocity supports two common delivery formats:

Shareable link (recommended for speed and tracking)

Use a link when you want:

• Faster delivery (no attachment friction)
• A single “source of truth” if revisions occur
• Engagement tracking (viewed/downloaded/clicked)
• A clearer path to next steps (e.g., “Book Now”)

PDF (recommended for procurement and formal approvals)

Use a PDF when:

• The customer requires offline documentation
• The quote must be shared internally for sign-off
• The buyer expects a fixed artifact for comparison

To ensure consistency in how quotes look and read especially if you send quotes to customers regularly, you can create and reuse quote templates that include your preferred formatting, branding, and text. See Quote Templates for tips on setting up and applying templates in Velocity.

Best practice: default to link-first for day-to-day quoting, and provide a PDF when the customer’s process requires it.

Quote Lifecycle (Draft → Sent → Viewed → Accepted/Expired)

A standardized lifecycle helps teams forecast accurately and follow up at the right time.

Draft

• Quote is being prepared, validated, or reviewed
• Internal checks: scope, charge completeness, margin policy, validity dates

Sent

• Quote has been delivered via link or PDF
• Ownership is clear (who follows up, by when)

Viewed

• The customer opened the quote (high-intent signal)
• Best next step: follow up with clarifying questions and offer a call

Accepted

• Customer confirms they want to proceed
• Next step: convert to booking workflow (and confirm any final execution details)

Expired

• Validity window ended
• Next step: re-rate and reissue with updated validity, highlighting what changed (if anything)

Best practice: define follow-up rules by status (e.g., “Viewed but not accepted within 24–48 hours” triggers an escalation or reminder).

Quotes are time-sensitive by design, especially when pricing is based on live rates or volatile market conditions. To control how long a quote remains valid and to prevent outdated pricing from being accepted. Review Quote Expiry for guidance on setting validity windows and managing expired quotes in Velocity.

When you revise a quote after it’s been generated, Velocity keeps track of earlier versions so you can see what changed and why. To learn how Version History works including how to view, compare, and restore prior versions, see Quote Version History.

Common Quoting Flow (Operational Checklist)

Use this as a consistent internal workflow:

1. Select mode + lane + scope (door/port combinations)
2. Pull applicable rate source from Rate Management
3. Confirm charge completeness (origin/destination/surcharges)
4. Apply pricing logic (customer rules, margins, exceptions)
5. Set validity and terms
6. Send via link (or PDF if required)
7. Track status and follow up based on engagement
8. If accepted: move to booking; if expired: re-rate and reissue

FAQs

What makes a quote “complete”?

A complete quote includes service scope, full charge breakdown, totals, validity dates, and terms/assumptions.

Why does the same shipment sometimes produce different totals?

Differences usually come from rate source changes (live vs uploaded), validity windows, surcharge updates, or customer-specific pricing rules.

Should I send a link or a PDF?

Send a link for speed and tracking; send a PDF when the customer’s process requires an attachment for approvals.