Your sales team is turning away 40% of RFQs because engineering doesn't have capacity.
You have no idea if those are the right ones to ignore.
I was talking to a VP of Sales last week who runs four engineers supporting about a dozen sales reps. They get 60-70 RFQs every month and create proposals for maybe half of them.
I asked what happens to the other half. He shrugged and said sales makes a judgment call - if an opportunity doesn't feel strong or the customer seems like they're shopping around, they pass because engineering doesn't have the bandwidth.
So I asked how often sales gets that call right. Long pause. He admitted he has no idea because his team is so buried creating the proposals they committed to that nobody tracks what happened to the ones they ignored.
Here's what landed. His engineers are spending thousands of hours creating proposals every month, and sure, some close but most don't - that's just manufacturing sales. But while engineering is underwater, his sales team is turning away opportunities based entirely on gut feeling.
Those ignored RFQs could be better deals than the ones they're quoting. Could be existing customers who'll remember you didn't have time for them. Could be strategic accounts they've been chasing for years. Nobody knows because nobody has capacity to find out.
He mentioned hiring another sales engineer, but that doesn't solve it. That new person needs six months to ramp up, will go on vacation, might leave, will make mistakes while learning. You're always short on capacity.
The real problem is you're leaving revenue on the table because you're forcing sales to guess which opportunities matter while engineering drowns in the ones they picked.
The only way out is multiplying your engineering capacity without adding headcount. AI replicas of your technical experts create proposals instantly so you can quote everything and stop guessing.
You have no idea if those are the right ones to ignore.
I was talking to a VP of Sales last week who runs four engineers supporting about a dozen sales reps. They get 60-70 RFQs every month and create proposals for maybe half of them.
I asked what happens to the other half. He shrugged and said sales makes a judgment call - if an opportunity doesn't feel strong or the customer seems like they're shopping around, they pass because engineering doesn't have the bandwidth.
So I asked how often sales gets that call right. Long pause. He admitted he has no idea because his team is so buried creating the proposals they committed to that nobody tracks what happened to the ones they ignored.
Here's what landed. His engineers are spending thousands of hours creating proposals every month, and sure, some close but most don't - that's just manufacturing sales. But while engineering is underwater, his sales team is turning away opportunities based entirely on gut feeling.
Those ignored RFQs could be better deals than the ones they're quoting. Could be existing customers who'll remember you didn't have time for them. Could be strategic accounts they've been chasing for years. Nobody knows because nobody has capacity to find out.
He mentioned hiring another sales engineer, but that doesn't solve it. That new person needs six months to ramp up, will go on vacation, might leave, will make mistakes while learning. You're always short on capacity.
The real problem is you're leaving revenue on the table because you're forcing sales to guess which opportunities matter while engineering drowns in the ones they picked.
The only way out is multiplying your engineering capacity without adding headcount. AI replicas of your technical experts create proposals instantly so you can quote everything and stop guessing.
