Reindeer AI slashed this 3PL’s quote turnaround from days to hours, boosting win rates by 10%

This 3PL’s quoting process was so slow they were losing business

This 3PL handles almost 1,000 customer quote requests every day, each with unique requirements. They receive requests through emails, spreadsheets, PDF attachments, and even photos of rate requests scribbled on paper. 

A dedicated team would manually process each request by extracting the details and contacting the customer to collect any missing information. Then, they would reach out to multiple carriers for rates and wait for responses before verifying with the sales team. 

Finally, they’d compile the options for the customer. It was a slow and tedious workflow that often took days for each quote. In the meantime, customers were left waiting, and many would seek out faster answers elsewhere.

They knew the process was broken, but it was hard to fix while juggling daily requests. Some of the key issues slowing them down were the fact that:

• Requests came in every format imaginable. Some were PDFs, others were Word documents, emails, or even photos of handwritten notes, and many were in different languages. Many included multiple scenarios in a single request, like shipping the same load from different cities or comparing air and sea options. Each request had to be read and re-entered by hand because there was no standard form, eating up valuable time upfront.

• Many requests lacked key information. Important details (like dimensions, weight, or insurance requirements) were frequently missing. The operations team had to email or call customers to fill in gaps, creating a back-and-forth that could stretch over days.

• There were too many systems and emails to manage. Even though carrier pricing data was in-house, the quote process still involved multiple manual steps across internal systems. Sharing quotes with sales and shipping teams was slow, error-prone, and inconsistent.

• Humans aren’t perfect. The shared services team that handled all the quotes became a bottleneck. When request volumes spiked, turnaround times got even worse. Manual data entry also meant mistakes.

All this left the 3PL’s average quote turnaround at about three days. In the fast-paced 3PL market, that delay was costly. They were losing potential shipments to competitors who responded faster, and their customer experience suffered each time a client had to wait or correct an error in a quote.

How this 3PL dramatically sped up their quote process with Reindeer AI

The 3PL realized that incremental tweaks to their manual process wouldn’t solve their problem. They needed a technological leap, so they worked with Reindeer AI to build an AI agent to overhaul the process from start to finish. 

Proof of value for the new build was quick. The AI model was trained on a small set of past requests and their outcomes. It learned to recognize the necessary data (like locations, shipment details, and special requests) across various document formats. Within a few weeks, the AI agent was live. 

Now, the moment a quote request comes in, the AI reads and parses it. It pulls out all relevant details, such as origin, destination, commodity, weight, dimensions, and any special service notes.

Reindeer AI then verifies the information. If something looks off or incomplete, like a missing pickup or address, it automatically contacts the customer with a polite, structured email in their preferred language asking for the missing details. 

This AI agent can communicate with the customer over several emails, if necessary until it’s collected all the required information to put together a quote.

Once it receives any missing information from the customer, the AI agent normalizes the data and creates a complete internal request for quote (RFQ). It even adds in any extra components the 3PL includes by default. 

Next, the AI agent hands off the quote to the sales team. Instead of emailing or manually sharing quote details, the AI instantly sends the full, clean RFQ to the right sales rep. That rep can review and finalize the quote in minutes without digging through attachments or double-checking data.

Reindeer AI automatically generates a complete, ready-to-send quote email in the 3PL’s preferred format. The sales team can review and make edits if needed, but most quotes go out as-is.

Once approved by the customer, Reindeer AI catches the incoming approval, and starts the provisioning process. The first step is extracting unstructured data from the documents the customer sends, in whatever form they’re sent.

Once the information is extracted and validated, the AI agent continues the provisioning process by sending it through the appropriate systems. Depending on the carrier or internal workflow, that might be by email, through a TMS, or another method. 

This automated process dramatically improved quote accuracy and the average quote response time for this 3PL, making for much happier customers and more closed deals.

This 3PL now produces accurate quotes 90% faster

This AI-driven approach to producing supply chain quotes dramatically improved this 3PL’s turnaround time. Their average quote response went from about 48 hours to just 4 hours, or a roughly 90% reduction. But a faster response alone wouldn’t mean much without accuracy. 

Because each quote was complete and correct, this 3PL saw their quote win rate climb from around 25% to 50% in just two months. 

The real value here is consistency. The team no longer scrambles to keep up with incoming requests or worries about details slipping through. Every quote follows the same process, no matter who sends it or how complex it is. That kind of reliability is hard to build and even harder to scale.