Who approves a quote at the trade counter?

Ask the people in a branch who approves a quote and you may get a different answer from each of them. The person who typed it. The branch manager, but only for big ones. Nobody, unless the customer queries it. Whoever is not on the phone. The account manager, for their own accounts.

All of these work some of the time. The trouble is that "some of the time" is exactly when the expensive mistakes get through.

Why approval matters more than it looks

A quote is a promise. Once a builder has it in writing, the price, the product and the quantity on it become what they expect to pay and receive. A wrong line found before the quote goes out is quick to fix. The same wrong line found after delivery costs a return, a credit note, a driver's time and, sometimes, the account.

Approval is the last point where a mistake is cheap.

Separate preparing from approving

The simplest improvement a branch can make is to separate the two jobs. One person prepares the quote. A second person, or the same person after a deliberate pause, approves it against a short list of checks.

This is not about distrust. People who prepare a quote see what they meant to type, not what they typed. A second look, even a quick one, catches the transposed digits, the wrong unit and the line priced at list instead of the account price.

Set rules for who approves what

Not every quote needs the branch manager. A sensible set of rules might look like this:

• Routine quotes for existing accounts at standard prices: any trained member of the counter team can approve, as long as it is not the person who prepared it.
• Quotes with special prices, large totals or new customers: the account owner or branch manager approves.
• Quotes that promise stock that has to be ordered in, or a delivery date: the person responsible for stock or transport confirms.

Write the rules down, with the thresholds that fit your branch, and stick to them. The point is that everybody knows, for any quote, who signs it off.

What the approver checks

The approval itself should be short and the same every time:

1. Every line points to a real product, and any line that could not be matched is clearly marked as open.
2. Units match how you sell each product.
3. The price level is right for this account, and any break or special price is in date.
4. Quantities match what the customer asked for.
5. Customer name, job and delivery details are right.

On a normal quote this is a short job. On a long list it takes longer, but it is still faster than unwinding one bad delivery.

Keep approval quick

The fear with approval is that it becomes a queue. Quotes pile up behind one manager and builders wait. Three habits stop that:

• Approve in small batches through the day rather than at the end of it.
• Make open questions visible on the draft, so the approver is not hunting for them.
• Keep the routine checks routine, and save the long look for the quotes the rules say need it.

Write the approval down

Whatever rules you choose, record who approved each quote and when. It does not need to be elaborate: a name and a time on the quote record is enough. When a customer queries a price three weeks later, the branch can see who signed it off and what they saw, instead of relying on memory. It also shows, over a month, whether approvals are piling up on one person.

How approval works with a draft

I built QuoteClerk AI around this split. It prepares the draft: each line of the customer's list is matched to your own catalogue and priced from your own prices, and uncertain lines, ties and missing prices are flagged rather than guessed. A person on your team approves every draft before anything reaches a customer. Nothing is sent without approval, and every export leaves an audit record.

For a side by side view of the two routes, read QuoteClerk AI vs manual quoting.