|
A Day in the RFQ Trenches
Imagine this: It’s Tuesday morning. Your inbox pings with a new RFQ from a longtime airline client ... “urgent,” they say. The part number is barely legible, there’s no spec sheet, certificates are missing, and the timeline is tight. You and your team scramble: sourcing, validating, pricing, double-checking requirements. Somewhere along the way, things get missed, maybe trace, or a release, perhaps delivery dates. Meanwhile, a competitor sends a clean, compliant quote, and wins. Your client calls, apologizes, but says supplier “X” gave them more confidence.
If this scenario feels familiar, you’re far from alone. In aviation, RFQs (Request For Quotations) are high-stakes, high-pressure, and often unforgiving. But what if, instead of firefighting every quote, your team could treat each RFQ as an opportunity for predictable revenue, higher win rates, and less stress?
That’s the promise of mastering the aviation RFQ process. Over time, small improvements, better compliance, faster response, more transparent value, they compound. The pipeline stops being a source of anxiety and becomes a reliable growth engine.
In this article, I’ll walk you through the business impact, anatomy of a winning quote, the lifecycle of RFQs, common pitfalls, and finally how you can change your trajectory. Think of this as your blueprint, or one grounded in what real procurement teams tell us they need (your Voice-of-Customer), what they lose when processes are sloppy, and how shifting key levers can turn losses into wins.
The Business Impact
You may have heard it said: “Margins are thin in aviation.” That’s true, but the opportunities for margin improvement via RFQ excellence are often underestimated. Consider statistics from Loopio: across more than 1,500 teams surveyed globally, the average RFP/RFQ win rate is about 45%, up from 43% the previous year. That means more than half the time, your quotes are not selected. But each win has outsized importance.
Here’s where the math gets interesting: even a modest 5% improvement in win rate, say from 45% to 50%, can translate into double-digit revenue growth. In some scenarios, that could be ~10-15% uplift to revenue (or more), depending on average deal size, repeat rates, and client lifetime value. Add in that better win rates often improve forecasting and reduce wasted cost spent on losing bids.
But it’s not just about the top line. Quality improvements in RFQs yield cost savings too. How? Fewer revisions, fewer rushed overnight shipping (or fines), less rework when parts don’t meet spec, or documentation is incomplete. There’s a ripple effect: procurement, quality, compliance, logistics, all get less stressed. Clients notice. Trust builds. You get more repeat business. The pipeline becomes smoother.
So the bottom line: mastering RFQs isn’t a “nice to have.” It can be a competitive differentiator. It can move you from reactive firefighting to proactive growth. Thinking strategically about RFQs is thinking strategically about revenue, costs, reputation, and ultimately, resilience in a high-stakes market.
Anatomy of a Winning Quote
What makes a quote win? If you asked aviation buyers what they value most, “price” would come up. But by itself, price is rarely enough. In fact, many lost RFQs are not because someone else quoted cheaper (or only because of that), they’re lost because other elements of the quote failed to inspire confidence or meet requirements.
Here’s what buyers almost always evaluate, roughly in this order (though weighting can vary):
- Technical & Regulatory Compliance In aviation, this is non-negotiable: traceability, certifications (FAA, EASA etc.), compliance (AS, ASA, ISO), documentation, condition, specs. If any part of this is missing or sub-standard, you may be disqualified at first screening.
- Value Proposition / Risk Mitigation Beyond just “lowest cost,” what risk is the buyer assuming with you vs someone else? Lead time, reliability, support, spare stock, documentation, ability to respond to AOG (Aircraft on Ground) emergencies, all carry real cost. Buyers look for vendors who reduce hidden risk.
- Commercial Clarity & Transparency Is the pricing structure clear (unit price, terms, delivery, incidental fees)? Is lead time specified? What are payment terms? Is there clarity around what is and isn’t included (shipping, testing, quality control)? Unclear quotes breed distrust.
- Responsiveness & Speed Respond quickly. In many cases, being first (or among the first) gives you a psychological edge or the “primacy effect” in decision making. Buyers often favor vendors who are timely and appear organized. Slow responses suggest operational issues.
- Professional Presentation & Supportive Communication Even formatting, organization of spec sheet, making compliance easy to find, all subtle but high impact cues. And follow-up: sometimes, the difference between “quote lost” and “we couldn’t reach vendor” is that no one picked up the phone or clarified certs.
When all these pillars align, you move beyond “cheap quote” to “trusted supplier.” And in aviation, trust has value. It’s what turns single orders into long-term partnerships.
The RFQ Lifecycle
To deliver on the anatomy above, you have to fine tune the RFQ journey from end to end. It’s not just about the quote itself; it’s about every stage leading up to, during, and after submission.
Here are the key stages:
- Initial Review & Triage Right when the RFQ arrives, someone must check if the request is complete enough. Are specs present? Are required certifications indicated? Is documentation required? Do you have all the data to decide whether to proceed?
- Go / No-Go Decision Based on triage: can you meet the specs, price, lead time, regulatory requirements? If this is a long-shot, sometimes it’s better to decline or request clarification rather than waste effort.
- Technical & Data Validation This is where you check part numbers, traceability, condition, required documentation. You verify inventory, supplier capability.
- Quote Generation & Pricing Build the cost, margin, lead time, delivery, terms. Include contingencies if needed. Ensure that hidden costs (shipping, certificate fees, testing) are accounted for.
- Internal Review & Approval Many organizations need compliance or quality department sign-off. This can be a bottleneck if not streamlined.
- Formal Submission It’s when your quote goes to the buyer. The presentation - properly formatted, clearly labeled, spec compliance in front, pricing clear - matters.
- Submission Confirmation Ensure the buyer received it. Sometimes RFQs have strict deadlines, and they may not consider late or “lost in spam / email” submissions.
- Proactive Follow-Up After submission, follow-up matters. Did they have questions? Any missing documentation? Can you help clarify? Staying engaged shows professionalism and can give you the edge.
Skipping or weak-linking any one of these steps can cost you the deal, or cost you time and money even if you win, this is compounded by the quality of the process used. Efficiency and rigor in each stage turn the RFQ process into a repeatable, scalable engine.
Common Reasons for RFQ Rejection
You don’t have to guess why you lost a quote, often the reasons are avoidable, documented, and shared across many teams. Drawing on voice-of-customer feedback, public content from supply-chain experts, and internal debriefs, here are the most frequent failure modes:
- Incomplete or Vague Specifications RFQs that lack full spec data force vendors to guess. Misinterpretation leads to over priced or non-compliant bids. Buyers often reject because risk is too high. Skylink highlights that many “silent killers” of RFQs are vague or incomplete asks.
- Missing or Weak Documentation/Traceability No trace, no deal. If you cannot show certificates, lot history, FAA/EASA trace, etc., you are lower-priority, or disqualified. Skylink and others warn of hidden costs when documentation is sloppy.
- Slow Response / Missed Deadlines Buyers often award early to vendors who respond cleanly and quickly. If your internal reviews drag, or you don’t have required data prepped, you fall behind. As in manufacturing RFQs, those who respond fastest often win by default.
- Unclear or Non-Competitive Value Proposition If your quote doesn’t make the buyer feel comfortable with your risk, lead time, support, ability to deliver, then even a low price might not win. Buyers pay a premium for confidence.
- Pricing Mis-steps / Hidden Costs Maybe you leave out freight or certificate fees; maybe your payment or delivery terms aren't competitive. Even worse, discrepancy in pricing for what appears to be the same component (for regular customers vs occasional ones) undermines trust.
- Poor Follow-Up / Communication Breakdowns Sometimes quotes are lost not because the quote itself was bad, but because the buyer had questions or didn’t get clarifications, and the vendor didn’t follow up. They go silent; buyer picks someone responsive.
Learning from these rejection reasons is critical. They’re controllable. They are process failures just as much as they are technical failures. They map directly to stages of the lifecycle, and they map to what your customers tell you keeps them up at night (cost overruns, non-compliance, delivery delays, AOGs, and being left in the dark).
The Essential Way ERP.Aero Helps & Changes Trajectory
Now, here's where ERP.Aero (assuming you mean that platform) comes in, and not as another tool, but as a way to shift the curve: improving win rates, reducing risk, improving margins, and giving you breathing room.
Based on what RFQ challenges look like, ERP.Aero can address them in ways that align with what your customers, buyers, and your internal teams care about:
- Centralized Compliance & Certification Vault One of the biggest time-sinks is chasing certificates, trace data, FAA/EASA compliance and even AS/ASA/ISO, etc. ERP.Aero lets you store, manage, retrieve these docs as needed. At quote time, you can attach certs or show proof easily, thereby reducing rejections due to missing documentation.
- Real-Time Inventory & Lead-Time Visibility To give accurate quotes, you need reliable data: have we got the part? What condition is it? What’s the lead time if not in stock? ERP.Aero integrates procurement, inventory, asset history so that quote generators aren’t guessing. Better accuracy means fewer “oops” moments where you say “we don’t have it” after quoting.
- Automated Pricing & Cost Structures With tools for setting up standard pricing templates (including freight, testing, certificate costs, support for escalations etc.), ERP.Aero helps avoid inconsistent quotes. Your margin management improves. Buyers perceive clarity. Internally, less rework.
- Workflow & Approval Process Streamlining Instead of email chains, clunky shared documents, scattered spreadsheets, ERP.Aero provides structured workflows: you know who approves what, when, what’s pending. Bottlenecks pop up visibly. You can avoid delays between quote generation and submission.
- Fast Response and First-Mover Advantage By reducing friction in reviews, ensuring required data is at hand, and having templates ready, you can send responses faster. In aviation, where downtime (AOG) or urgent procurement matters, being early matters. You anchor in the buyer’s mind as organized, reliable, low-risk.
- Built-In Follow-Up & Communication Tracking You can track whether the quote was delivered, read, whether there were questions, etc. Also, ERP.Aero can schedule reminders or tasks for follow-ups, ensuring opportunities aren’t lost because someone “forgot” to check back.
- Analytics, Feedback, Continuous Improvement Perhaps most importantly, ERP.Aero lets you collect data: win vs loss, reasons for rejection, average response times, cost vs quoted vs delivered. That data becomes your feedback loop, letting you refine process, pricing, product mix, where to invest.
Using ERP.Aero doesn’t just patch weak spots, it shifts the baseline: higher compliance, faster, fewer surprises, better client confidence. It changes your RFQ process from reactive to pre-emptive, from risky to trusted. And when even a 5% improvement in turn around time can have a 10%-15% positive revenue impact, the answers become apparent.
Core Takeaway
Let’s pull it all together. Managing RFQs well in aviation isn’t about one magic trick. It’s about aligning process, people, and tools around what your buyers value most: certainty, compliance, clarity, speed, and trust.
You start with understanding the cost, and not just in dollars, but in reputation, in operational delays, in missed contracts, of sloppy RFQs. Then you look inward: can you build a quote that isn’t just “cheap enough,” but speaks to risk mitigation, regulatory safety, uptime, and professionalism? Do you have a repeatable process (lifecycle) that ensures nothing gets missed? Are you collecting feedback and learning?
And yes, tools like ERP.Aero are not panaceas, but they allow you to focus your effort where it matters, plug the holes where you lose deals (documentation, lead time uncertainty, response delays), and build in continuous improvement. Your customers notice when you become reliable, compliant, fast, and communicative. Over time, that becomes your competitive edge.
If you commit to moving from firefighting quotes to building a quote engine, systematic, data-driven, trust oriented, you won’t just win more. You’ll win better. And in aviation, “better” often means safer, less costly, more sustainable partnership. That is the trajectory I believe ERP.Aero can help unlock.
Are you looking for solutions? Have questions? Or just curious? Let's set up a no sale conversation to discover how a tailored approach can best serve your goals. ralph.merhi@ero.aero or call direct +1-305-209-3789.
|
|
|
