Sales · 29 July 2026 · 5 min read
How fast should a freight quote actually be?
We looked at what happens to win rates when response time drops from a day to under an hour. The pattern is hard to ignore.
Ask a shipper why they picked a forwarder and price is usually the second answer. The first is that someone got back to them quickly with a number they could act on.
Across the teams we work with, the pattern repeats: when first response drops below an hour, quote-to-win rates improve noticeably — not because the pricing changed, but because the customer stopped shopping.
Speed here isn't about typing faster. It's about removing the queue between the enquiry and an approved rate. When a salesperson can search a lane, see the valid options and apply the agreed margin themselves, the pricing desk stops being a bottleneck and starts being a strategy function.
A reasonable target for most forwarders: standard lanes answered within 15 minutes, complex multimodal enquiries within the same working day, and nothing sitting unanswered overnight.
See Freight Puzzle with your own rates
Bring a handful of your carrier contracts to the call. We'll load them, quote a live shipment, and you can judge the difference for yourself.