Every Minute You Don’t Measure Is a Margin You Could Be Losing

In my previous blog, I discussed those sneaky “quick tweaks” that chip away at your profit. The two-minute design changes that actually take twenty. But here’s the thing. If you’re not tracking those minutes, you’re probably losing money in areas you haven’t even noticed yet.

And what is one of the main culprits? Your quoting process.

The invisible time drain

When I ask my coaching clients how long it takes to quote a job, they’ll say “ten minutes, maybe fifteen.” Then we sit down together and actually time it. And suddenly those ten minutes turn into 30 minutes. Sometimes more.

Why? Because quoting isn’t just typing numbers into a spreadsheet or an online system. It’s finding the right materials. Checking what the supplier is charging this week. Working out turnaround times. Emailing the client three times to figure out what they actually want. Chasing them for artwork specs. Sending the quote and then following up if they don’t respond after a few days.

All of that adds up. And if you’re not tracking it, you have no idea how much time you’re really spending. Or how much it’s costing you.

The real cost of delay

Here’s what happens when your quoting process drags on. The client gets impatient. They think you’re not interested. They go somewhere else. You lose the job. Not because your price was wrong, but because you were too slow.

I’ve seen it happen countless times. A perfectly good print business loses work simply because their competitor gets a quote out faster. It doesn’t matter if your quality is better or your service is more reliable. Speed matters. Especially in an industry where clients often need things yesterday.

And here’s the kicker. You probably don’t even know how many jobs you’ve lost this way because you can’t measure what you don’t track.

You can’t manage what you don’t measure

This is one of those business truths that sounds obvious but is often overlooked. Measuring the impact of processes applies across your whole business. Design time, production schedules, client onboarding and more. In my one-to-one coaching programmes and within the Print Mastermind community, we work on all these areas with training and resources. But you can’t do everything all at once. Here, we are focusing on quoting. (Check out my website for more).

Here’s one achievable task that you can all do that will set you off on the right foot. For one week, track every quote request. When it arrived, when you sent it, how long it took and whether or not you won the job. That’s it. Step by step, task by task. That’s how real improvement happens.

You might be astonished. One of my clients discovered they were spending an average of 20 minutes on each quote. They were completing 30 quotes a week. That adds up to 10 hours. Over one full working day just on quoting. And their conversion rate was only 40% which is the absolute minimum you want to be striving for.

That’s a lot of unbillable time going into work they’re not even winning.

Build systems that work for you

Once you understand where your time is spent, you can begin to reclaim it. This is where management information systems like PrintLogic, Clarity, Shopvox or DecoNetwork come into play. These are excellent software tools that can help you save time and protect profit.

When your quoting process becomes more efficient, you can send quotes more quickly. You appear more professional. You secure more work. And you gain extra hours each week to focus on activities that genuinely grow your business, rather than just keeping it afloat.

Just like those “quick tweaks” I talked about last time, your quoting process might feel manageable. But if you’re not measuring it, you’re probably bleeding time and margin without noticing.

Start today

You don’t need to overhaul everything overnight. Just start measuring. Track your quoting time this week. See where the delays are. Notice which quotes take forever and which ones fly through.

Because every minute you don’t measure is margin you could be losing. And in a competitive industry like ours, you can’t afford to lose either.

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