A few years ago, we wrote about a problem many organizations underestimate:
incorrect or inefficient quotes.
Our research, based on interviews with a large number of companies, showed that quoting errors can cost businesses between 5–15% of their total revenue.
Since then, B2B sales have changed significantly.
Products are more configurable, pricing models more complex, and buying processes longer.
But one thing hasn’t changed:
👉 Quotes remain one of the largest sources of hidden revenue loss in many organizations.
In fact, as B2B sales becomes more complex, the impact of quoting mistakes may be even greater today.
Historically, quoting problems were mostly about manual mistakes:
But today the challenge is much deeper.
Modern B2B buying processes have become significantly more complex. Recent research shows that buying groups now typically involve 10+ stakeholders, especially in larger deals (6sense, 2025).
At the same time, decision-making has become more distributed and cross-functional, with multiple departments involved in evaluating vendors and pricing.
As complexity increases, so does the risk of:
Many companies treat quoting as a simple operational step in the sales process.
In reality, it’s a critical part of revenue management.
Revenue leakage often occurs when:
These mistakes rarely happen as one major failure.
Instead, they accumulate as hundreds of small pricing decisions that slowly erode margins and profitability.
In increasingly complex buying environments, where more stakeholders evaluate pricing and value, these inefficiencies become even more costly.
Incorrect quotes don’t just impact revenue.
They affect the efficiency of the entire organization.
For example:
1. Lost deals
A quote with incorrect pricing or configuration can quickly kill a sales opportunity.
2. Longer sales cycles
Modern B2B buying journeys now involve ~10 stakeholders, ~5 vendors, and can span close to a year, increasing the cost of delays in quoting (6sense, 2025).
3. Lower margins
Without structured pricing control, over-discounting remains one of the most common ways companies lose profit (McKinsey, 2024).
4. Internal friction
Sales, finance, and operations spend valuable time correcting errors and re-issuing quotes.
The result is that quoting becomes more than an administrative task — it becomes a strategic bottleneck in the entire quote-to-cash process.
The interesting part is that many companies already have the data they need to improve.
Every quote contains valuable insights:
Analyzing this data can transform quoting from a manual process into a strategic source of revenue intelligence.
At the same time, B2B buying has become increasingly digital and self-directed. A growing share of buyers now prefer to complete large parts of the buying journey independently, with 67% preferring a rep-free experience (Gartner, 2026).
Additionally, buyers are making decisions earlier in the process — with up to 94% of buying groups ranking vendors before contacting sales (6sense, 2025).
This increases the importance of accurate, consistent, and fast quoting processes, even before a salesperson is involved.
Despite modern sales technology, quoting challenges remain common.
Three root causes appear repeatedly:
1. Processes built in spreadsheets
Many organizations still manage pricing and configurations manually.
2. Increasing product complexity
As product portfolios grow, the number of configurations and pricing models increases rapidly.
3. Disconnected systems
When CRM, ERP, pricing tools, and finance systems aren’t integrated, friction appears across the quote-to-cash process (Forrester, 2024).
As buying groups expand and decision cycles lengthen, these inefficiencies become increasingly costly.
The organizations that succeed today make a key shift:
They stop seeing quoting as just a document — and start treating it as a strategic capability within Revenue Operations.
This means:
Companies that improve pricing discipline and governance can significantly increase profitability, often by several percentage points (McKinsey, 2024).
Incorrect quotes remain one of the most overlooked challenges in B2B sales.
And despite digital transformation, many companies still lose 5–15% of their revenue due to inefficient quoting processes.
At the same time, the opportunity is enormous.
As buying groups grow larger, decisions happen earlier, and B2B deals become more complex, organizations that modernize their quote-to-cash processes can:
The question is no longer:
“How quickly can we create quotes?”
The real question is:
“How much revenue do we lose every time we get quoting wrong?”
McKinsey & Company: Pricing and Revenue Growth: What Leaders Get Right (2024). (https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/growth-marketing-and-sales/our-insights/pricing-and-revenue-growth-what-leaders-get-right)
Gartner: 67% of B2B Buyers Prefer a Rep-Free Buying Experience (press release, Mar 2026). (https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2026-03-09-gartner-sales-survey-finds-67-percent-of-b2b-buyers-prefer-a-rep-free-experience)
6sense: 2025 B2B Buyer Experience Report. (https://6sense.com/science-of-b2b/buyer-experience-report-2025/)
6sense: The Timeline for Influencing B2B Buyers Is Shrinking – Insights from the 2025 Buyer Experience Report. (https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251112018032/en/The-Timeline-for-Influencing-B2B-Buyers-Is-Shrinking-Insights-From-6senses-2025-Buyer-Experience-Report)
Forrester: The State of Business Buying (2024). (https://www.forrester.com/report/the-state-of-business-buying/)