Enter how often quoting, order entry or reconciliation runs and how long one cycle takes. You will see hours used per month, hours that a conservative 40% automation rate could remove, and how fast a paid diagnostic pays itself back. Free, no sign-up, and every number stays in your browser.
Hourly cost = monthly cost / 21.75 days / 8 hours. Automatable share is capped at a conservative 40% — the same figure we accept delivery against. Amounts are shown in CNY (¥), the currency we quote in; the hours ratios are currency-independent.
| Runs per month | — |
|---|---|
| Hours used per month | — |
| Hours saveable per month (40%) | — |
| Saveable amount per month (estimate) | — |
| Annualised saving (estimate) | — |
| Suggested diagnostic tier (estimate) | — |
| Payback period (estimate) | — |
Method: hourly cost = monthly cost / 21.75 / 8; hours used per month = times per week x minutes / 60 x (52 / 12); saveable share capped at a conservative 40%; diagnostic fee starts at CNY 3,000, +CNY 1,000 per additional process, capped at CNY 8,000; payback = diagnostic fee / monthly saving. All figures are estimates; the real baseline is measured on site.
Want the full Quote-Process Checkup report (9-step breakdown, peer ranges, human-review checkpoints, a 30-minute interview)? Send one email — a human replies within one business day.
Ask for the reportThe summary above is your own input and result — copy it into an email so you do not have to retype anything.
The checkup is built for owner-operated businesses between 20 and 200 people where quoting and reconciliation still run through people: trading companies and wholesalers, fastener and hardware distributors, light manufacturers who configure to order, and multi-branch service operators. The common signal is simple — at least one person re-types the same numbers in more than one place. A quote clerk, an order-entry clerk, a sales assistant or the owner spends a meaningful part of the week copying data between a chat thread, an Excel sheet, an ERP and a PDF. If quoting is occasional and every order is genuinely bespoke, automation is not worth it, and the numbers here will show that too.
1. Industry scene. Pick the closest match. It shifts the reference ranges we compare you against, not the arithmetic.
2. Monthly cost of the role owning the process. Enter what the role actually costs per month — add roughly 30% on top of gross salary if you want the fully loaded cost with contributions and benefits.
3. Times per week. Count quoting requests, order entries or reconciliation runs in a typical week, not your peak week. Peak weeks double the number and turn a real payback into an invented one.
4. Minutes per run. Time one complete end-to-end cycle: finding the old price list, checking stock and lead time with a supplier, applying discounts and freight, waiting for approval, formatting the quote, and re-entering the same figures into the ledger. Track five cycles with a stopwatch before you estimate.
5. Processes to diagnose. How many separate flows you want reviewed (default 4). This only changes the suggested diagnostic tier — it does not change the per-flow saving.
Hours used per month are times per week x minutes per run / 60 x (52 / 12). We convert from 52 weeks a year rather than assuming a four-week month: that single choice is the difference between the widely quoted "48 hours a month" and the 52 hours the same flow really costs. Saveable hours are capped at a conservative 40% of the hours involved — we would rather understate the saving than put an optimistic number in a contract. The annualised figure is an estimate and exists to show magnitude, never as a quotation. Payback divides the diagnostic fee by the monthly saving; under three months, the arithmetic usually justifies a 30-minute interview, and above twelve months it usually does not.
Copy the summary, add the one step that costs you the most time, and send it to [email protected] — or simply reply to our email with a time slot. We will take the process apart into measurable steps, show you which parts a system can absorb, and give you a baseline you can hold us to: acceptance is measured in hours saved, over two consecutive weeks, against numbers both sides signed.
Who is the Quote-Hour Checkup for?
Owner-operated businesses between 20 and 200 people where quoting and reconciliation still run through people: trading companies and wholesalers, fastener and hardware distributors, light manufacturers with custom configurations, and multi-branch service operators. The signal is simple: at least one person re-types the same numbers in more than one place. If quoting is occasional and every order is genuinely bespoke, automation is not worth it — the numbers will show that too.
How do I fill in the five fields?
1. Industry scene: pick the closest match; it shifts the reference ranges, not the arithmetic. 2. Monthly salary: the real monthly cost of the role that owns the process (add roughly 30% if you want the fully loaded cost). 3. Times per week: how often the process runs in a normal week, not your peak week. 4. Minutes per run: one complete end-to-end cycle, including looking up prices, waiting for approval, and re-entering data into the ledger. 5. Processes to diagnose: how many separate flows you want reviewed (default 4); this only affects the suggested diagnostic tier.
How should I read the results?
Hours per month = times per week x minutes per run / 60 x (52 / 12): we convert from 52 weeks a year instead of assuming a 4-week month, so the number matches your own calculator. Saveable hours are capped at a conservative 40% of the hours involved. The annual figure is an estimate — use it for magnitude, never as a quotation. The suggested diagnostic tier starts at CNY 3,000, plus CNY 1,000 per additional process, capped at CNY 8,000. Payback = diagnostic fee / monthly saving. Everything here is an estimate; the real baseline is measured on site over two weeks and signed by both sides.
Is the data I enter uploaded anywhere?
No. The checkup runs entirely in your browser: no backend, no analytics, no third-party scripts. The salary and frequency you type never leave your device. The email address shown on this page is only used when you choose to send the summary from your own mail client.
Is it free? Do I need to sign up?
The checkup is free and needs no sign-up. What is paid comes later: a diagnostic engagement (FlowScan, from CNY 3,000, credited 100% against a delivery project signed within 60 days), and then the build itself once the baseline and the numbers are agreed.
What happens after I get a number?
Copy the summary, add the step that costs you the most time, and send it to [email protected] — or book a 30-minute interview. We take your process apart into measurable steps, give you a magnitude and a payback estimate, and you decide whether to work with us.
Three write-ups that explain the method behind the checkup — the 9 steps of a quote, ledger versus automated reporting, and how hours saved are calculated. Each ends with a link back to this checkup.
What a quote clerk actually does all day: the 9 steps from enquiry to quote — A generic 9-step teardown of enquiry to quote: who does each step, how long it takes, who it goes to, three checks you can verify on the spot, and the frequency x minutes / 60 measure.
Excel ledger vs automated reports: why you should not maintain the same data twice — A ledger is hand-copied, second-hand data: delay, definition and loss. When Excel is still the right answer, when to let data record itself, and how to cost the second entry.
How "48 hours saved a month" is calculated: the ROI of one quoting process — Same process, 48 hours a month or 52? The difference is the definition. Every conversion step, three scenarios, and why delivery is accepted on the conservative 40% tier.