Hello, Team:

In our last outdoor sales meeting, I shared some concerns from Customer Care and Software Licensing, when quotes were submitted as orders, with errors in the software options, or errors in Dongle or PC bonded part numbers.  They would often make corrections when processing the order.  But when it was quoted again the following year, copying from the old quote (with the errors), the new quote contained the same errors as the year before.  I committed to them, that if they notified us of the error at the time, there’s no reason why we can’t get document that and get it right next time, and not repeat the same error year after year.

Here’s a best practice that I am using.  I create a text file in Notepad, put some notes in the text file, give the text file a unique name, and save it my quote folder.  You can use something different if it works better for you, but you are ultimately responsible for not repeating errors.

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For example, customer gave me a new Aftermarket Contact for future SMA & Calibration.

I put these notes in a text file:

AMS contact
Daniel Core | Quality Manager
Southwest Mold Inc, dba Seitz
212 Industrial Lane, Torrington, CT 06790 USA
Office: 860-489-0476 x 229 | daniel.core@seitzcorp.com

I gave it a unique file name that will stick out, when I go back and look at last year’s quote folder (2023) when I’m quoting in 2024.  This way I won’t miss it next year and get it wrong.

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You can do the same thing to document an error or mistake, to make sure you don’t repeat the error or mistake next year.

Sometimes I find a mistake on my own after quoting & receiving the PO, that needs to be corrected before submitting an order.  For example, maybe I quoted Dongle SMA part numbers when it needed to be PC Bonded SMA part numbers.  Sometimes Customer Care has asked for a new quote with corrections, and been told by Aftermarket we cannot do that.  In most cases we can do that.

I have created a new quote with the correct part numbers for order entry, and added “for order entry” to the end of the quote file name.  I submit the new “for order entry” quote for order processing, add all the normal attachments and internal notes.  I attach the .pdf for the original quote sent to the customer, and the new quote for order entry.  I add to the internal notes an explanation of what happened and why I created a new quote for order entry.  This way, if this order ever got pulled during a quality audit, all the attachments are there and the quote internal notes are there to expain to an auditor what happened.

Here’s another good example of a best practice for documenting a change for use in next year’s quote.

Today I had a customer move Curve from one CMM to another.  That would never be captured in next year’s 2024 quote by copying from this year’s 2023 quote.

By putting a note in a Notepad text file, and saving it in my 2023 quote folder with a descriptive file name, there’s no way I’ll miss that when quoting next year.