RFQ response time calculator
This free calculator estimates how long your RFQs wait before a quote goes out, how many miss a same-day or 24-hour target, and how many rep hours a week your quoting really takes. Enter your own numbers; nothing is stored or sent.
business hours
Quoting workload: 15 h/week · Quoting capacity: 20 h/week · Utilization: 75 %
Likely to miss a 24-hour target: Yes: workload exceeds capacity, so the backlog grows every week.
Rep hours per week needed to keep up: 15 h/week
Planning estimate: 8-hour business days, requests spread evenly. Measure your real median from sent-mail timestamps.
How does the calculator work?
Each quote needs build time (minutes per quote) and waits in a queue while reps do other work. Weekly quoting workload = RFQs per week × minutes per quote ÷ 60. Capacity = reps × hours per week each rep spends quoting. When workload exceeds capacity, the backlog grows and response time climbs; when it is below, the wait is driven by how often reps check the inbox.
This is a planning model with simple assumptions (8-hour business day, 5-day week, requests arriving evenly). Measure your real response time from sent-mail timestamps.
How should I measure my real response time?
- Export a month of RFQ emails and the matching sent quotes.
- For each RFQ, subtract the received timestamp from the quote-sent timestamp, counting business hours only.
- Report the median, not the average, and the share answered within 24 hours.
- Track it weekly. See quote turnaround KPIs for the full set.
What is a good RFQ response time?
Buyers' expectations are high: in a 2020 Paperless Parts survey, 67% of part buyers said they expect a quote within 24 hours. See the full list of quote response time statistics. A 30-day pilot can be measured against a target like a median under one hour.
