RFQ software for distributors and resellers

Search for RFQ software and you'll find two different kinds of tools under the same name.

• Tools for getting supplier prices (the buy side). They send your request to suppliers and collect their prices. This is what you need when a customer asks for something and you have to find out what it'll cost you.
• Tools for quoting your customers (the sell side). They build the quote you send to your customer, with your prices and your margin. They're often called CPQ (configure, price, quote), and they help when customers send RFQs to you.

A distributor or reseller often needs both, in that order: supplier prices first, then the customer quote. Let's dig deeper into the buy side (supplier quotes) first.

For a distributor, an RFQ usually starts with someone else's request. A customer emails asking for something you don't stock, or don't have a current price for, and wants an answer soon. Here is how one should execute this customer inquiry.

If you get a few inquiries a month and ask two suppliers each time, email works fine. RFQ software starts to earn its place when:

• You send the same request to three or more suppliers, and lining up the replies takes longer than getting them.
• Inquiries come in faster than you can turn them around, so quotes go out late.
• You can't remember which supplier quoted what last time, or which ones never answer.
• More than one person on your team handles inquiries, and suppliers get asked twice or not at all.

Most RFQ software is built for procurement departments buying for their own company. A distributor buying for a customer needs a few different things.

1. Built for getting supplier prices. Not for building quotes to be sent to your customers. Check this first, because both kinds use the same name.
2. It starts from the inquiry. Forward the customer's email, or describe what you need, and get a draft request. You shouldn't have to retype every line.
3. Nothing made up. If it uses AI to read the inquiry, it should only fill in what's in the text. You check every line before anything goes out.
4. Suppliers quote without creating an account. A supplier asked to sign up to a portal to price one inquiry often won't. A link they can open from the email gets you quotes.
5. Requests in your company's name. Suppliers answer people they know. A request that arrives from your company is less likely to be ignored.
6. Proof the request arrived. When a supplier doesn't quote, you want to know whether they saw it or it bounced.
7. Prices line by line, and the choice to split the order. On an inquiry with several items, the best price for each line often comes from a different supplier.
8. Reminders to suppliers who haven't quoted. So the chasing doesn't fall to you on a busy afternoon.
9. A record of who quoted, who won and who never replies. It makes choosing suppliers for the next inquiry quicker.
10. One currency per request. If some of your suppliers are overseas, you want everyone quoting in the same currency so the prices line up.
11. Room for your team. If more than one person handles inquiries, everyone should see the same requests and the same suppliers.
12. Pricing that suits how often you'll use it, and a free way to try it. You should be able to run a real customer inquiry through it before you pay.

• Forwarding the customer's email as it is. It's quick, and it tells every supplier who your customer is. Copy the lines into a fresh request instead.
• Promising your customer a price for longer than your supplier did. Say a supplier's price is good for seven days, and your customer takes three weeks to decide. If the supplier's price goes up in the meantime, it comes out of your margin. Give your customer a validity date that ends before your supplier's does.
• Asking the same three suppliers for everything. They're quick to ask, but they may not be the best for every kind of item. Add a new supplier now and then for the lines your regulars price high or slow.
• Letting price decide every line. The lowest price with a substituted brand or a long lead time can cost you the customer. Check what was quoted, not just what it costs.
• Going quiet when a line can't be sourced. If nobody can supply one item, tell the customer early and quote the rest. A late "we couldn't find it" loses the whole order.

SourcingHQ is a sourcing assistant for the first half of this job: getting comparable prices from your own suppliers.

• From inquiry to draft. Forward the customer's inquiry email, or describe what you need in a chat. You get a draft with the line items filled in from the text of the email. The AI doesn't invent line items or price limits, and you review everything before it goes out.
• Who to ask. It suggests suppliers from your own history, especially the ones who quote regularly. A new account has no history yet, so the suggestions get better as you use it. You can import your supplier list from Excel to start. It can also suggest new supplier candidates from the web, based on your location.
• Sending. Requests go out in your company's name, and you can see the delivery status of each one. Suppliers quote without creating an account, and reminders go to the ones who haven't.
• How suppliers quote. Each request runs as an auction, and you choose the bidding rule each time. With free quotes, the default, each supplier quotes any price under the maximum you set, and can change it before the deadline. That works much like an RFQ. With strict bidding, each new bid must beat the current lowest. Each request runs in the currency you choose.
• Comparing and choosing. When it closes, you get a comparison report in both Excel and PDF, with an AI summary you can accept, edit or discard. You can give the whole order to one supplier or split it line by line. You can also ask the assistant who you invited, who quoted, who won lines and who never replies.
• Team access. More than one person from your company can use the same account. They see the same requests, suppliers and results, so two people don't ask the same supplier twice.
• Attachments. You can attach files to a request, such as a drawing, a spec sheet or the customer's datasheet, so suppliers have them when they price it. Suppliers can reply with attachments too, either for their whole quote or for a single line.

The AI never sends, awards or contacts suppliers on its own. No other customer can see your data.

SourcingHQ has a free plan with 3 auction events and 1 seat. It isn't a trial and it doesn't expire. Paid plans are a one-time payment that covers 12 months. Suppliers never pay, and every request can have as many suppliers as you like. One request you schedule uses one event, and if you cancel it before it starts, you get the event back. See plans and pricing.