The Quote That Took Three Tries to Land

We watched a deal almost die once over a quote that got revised three separate times in a week — not because the customer's needs changed, but because three different people touched it and each one priced it differently.

First version came in high because the estimator defaulted to “standard” rates. Second version came in lower because a manager stepped in and wanted to “make sure we win this one.” Third version landed somewhere in the middle because the owner got looped in and split the difference, mostly to make the back-and-forth stop.

The customer, understandably, started wondering if they were being priced based on what CityVU — sorry, based on what the company thought it could get away with, rather than what the job actually cost.

That's Leak #4 doing real damage — not just to margin, but to trust, in real time, while the deal is still open.

If three different people quoted the same job at your company this week, how close do you think the numbers would land?