Quoting a new brand without losing money on it
The questions that decide whether a quote is profitable, and the answers that should make you decline.
A quote is a prediction about how much of your time a brand will consume. Most of the cost of a difficult customer is not on the line — it is in the twelve emails, the reformulation, the packaging that arrives wrong, and the run that moves three times.
So the quote should follow the qualification, not replace it. The questions below take twenty minutes and change the price materially, and a brand who cannot answer them is telling you something useful.
Price the first run differently from the ongoing one, and say so. First runs carry trial, setup, more supervision and more hand-holding. Quoting your standard rate on a first run either loses money or forces you to inflate the ongoing rate to cover it — and the second is worse, because it makes you uncompetitive on the business you actually want.
What to actually do
- Is the formulation finished?A recipe still being adjusted means trial runs, wasted material and a schedule you cannot hold. Price it or decline it, but do not assume it away.
- Who is buying the ingredients and packaging?It changes your working capital, your risk on a late delivery, and whether a shortage is your problem or theirs.
- Is the packaging specified and sourced?Packaging is the most common reason a booked run does not happen. Ask for the supplier and the lead time, not just the format.
- What volume, honestly, in year one?Brands overstate this. Ask what they have actually sold, not what they project.
- What is the shelf life and where will it be stored?If they have nowhere to put finished goods, you do, and that is a cost.
- Price the first run separatelyTrial, setup and supervision are real. Bury them in the ongoing rate and you price yourself out of the repeat business.
Every run in NextBatch carries its own record — what was ordered, what arrived, what it weighed, what came off the line. When a brand disputes a number, the answer is a record both of you already agreed to rather than a search through email.