Last Tuesday, I was on a call with a project manager who was frustrated about slow vendor responses. "They take two weeks to quote simple stuff," he said. So I asked to see his last RFQ.
It said: "Need lumber for Building B."
That was it. No quantities, no specs, no delivery date. Just five words. And he wondered why vendors weren't responding quickly.
Most teams are accidentally making RFQs harder than they need to be
After looking at a few hundred RFQ cycles, I've noticed the same patterns. Teams send vague requests, vendors email back with questions, those questions sit unanswered for days, vendors eventually give up or send half-baked quotes.
Meanwhile, everyone's blaming "slow vendors" when the real issue is unclear requirements.
Here's what vendors actually need to quote accurately: What you're buying (be specific), how much you need, when you need it delivered, where it's going, and what quality/spec you expect. That's it. Include those five things and watch response times improve dramatically.
The silent killer: never closing the loop
A vendor told me something that stuck with me. He said: "I spend 30 minutes putting together a quote, send it off, and hear nothing. Not even a 'thanks but we went another direction.' After that happens a few times, I stop prioritizing that GC's RFQs."
You don't need a formal rejection email. Just acknowledge receipt. "Thanks, reviewing quotes this week" or "Went with another vendor this time, appreciate the quote" takes 10 seconds and keeps vendors engaged.
Email is where RFQs go to die
I shadowed a PM for a day. He sent an RFQ to eight vendors via email. What happened next was chaos:
- Three vendors replied in separate email threads
- Two asked clarifying questions that other vendors also needed answers to
- One quote landed in spam
- Another vendor accidentally replied to just the PM instead of attaching their quote
He spent four hours just wrangling emails and copying numbers into a spreadsheet. Before he even started comparing prices.
The fastest teams use a simple three-day cycle
I watched one GC cut their RFQ time from two weeks to three days. Here's what they did: Day one, send complete RFQ with everything vendors need. Day two, auto-reminder to anyone who hasn't responded. Day three, review all quotes in one place and make a decision.
The key was moving away from email to a centralized system where vendors submit quotes directly. No attachments, no email threads, everything in one place. Vendors actually started responding faster because it was easier for them too.
Approval workflows can secretly kill speed
One team required four signatures for any quote over $5K. Four signatures! That added three to five days to every single RFQ cycle.
They simplified it: Project managers approve anything under $10K directly. Above that, one director signature. RFQ cycles immediately got faster, and they didn't sacrifice control.
If your RFQs are taking forever, look at your last five requests. How many had complete information upfront? How many got lost in email chaos? Start there. Fix the basics before you worry about fancy tools or automation.