Spot quotes with a margin approval rule
How the Logistics pack prices a spot quote lane by lane from carriers' buy rates, asks for approval below your margin rule and sends a dated rate quote.
By Achekam · · 4 min read · For Logistics businesses in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya
Launching soon. The Industry CRM add-on described in this article is launching soon. This article describes it as it will work at launch.
A spot quote is freight at its most impatient. A shipper needs a price for a load across the border by this afternoon. The sales desk phones a few carriers, scribbles their rates on a pad, adds what feels like a reasonable margin and sends a number. If the shipper accepts, the booking is made on whatever carrier was cheapest that morning. Weeks later, someone notices the lane has been running at a loss, because the margin added "by feel" never covered the extras.
The fix is not to slow the sales desk down; it is to give it a short, consistent routine. The Logistics & freight pack in Achekam's Industry CRM prices each spot quote lane by lane from carriers' buy rates, checks the margin against a rule the business sets, and asks for approval when a quote falls below it. Here is how it works.
Spot quote requests, lane by lane
The Logistics pack calls customers Shippers and keeps three kinds of record: Spot quote requests, priced lane by lane; Shipments, moved leg by leg; and Shipper accounts.
Pricing lane by lane matters because a single request often hides several journeys. "Johannesburg to Lusaka, then on to Lubumbashi" or "Lagos port to a warehouse in Kano" may involve different carriers, different borders and different risks on each lane. A price for the whole route that is built from a price for each lane can be explained, checked and, when something changes, revised one part at a time.
Carriers' buy rates for each lane
The quote-to-booking workflow starts by getting carriers' buy rates for each lane: what the carriers will charge you to move the load.
There is no carrier rate feed. Rates are entered by people, from the carrier's e-mail, rate card or phone call. That keeps the sales desk in touch with its carriers, and it means the rate on the quote request is the one somebody actually obtained. Record which carrier quoted it and when; a buy rate from last month may no longer stand.
The margin rule
Next, the workflow compares the sell price with the buy rates against the business's margin rule. The rule is yours. The pack sets no prices and no starter item carries a price, so neither the buy rates nor the margin come from Achekam. Investopedia's explainer on gross margin shows how the share of sales revenue kept after direct costs is calculated, a useful common definition for the desk.
Setting a sensible rule takes some thought:
- Base it on the full cost. A margin over the carrier's rate alone ignores border fees, insurance, finance cost and the time your own team spends.
- Allow for lanes that differ. Short local runs and long cross-border routes rarely deserve the same expectation.
- Write it down. A rule that lives in one manager's head cannot be applied consistently by the whole desk.
- Test it against results. Once the carriers' invoices for a lane are in, compare what the lane actually earned with what the quote assumed, and adjust the rule when the evidence says so.
Approval when the margin is below the rule
When a quote's margin is below the rule, the workflow asks for approval before the quote goes out. That does not mean the answer is no. There are good reasons to quote thin:
| Reason | Why it may be worth it |
|---|---|
| A return load on a lane where the truck would otherwise travel empty | Some income beats none on that leg |
| A new shipper the business wants to win | A first load at a sharp price may open regular work |
| A strategic customer with volume elsewhere | The relationship carries the lane |
| A carrier rate that has just fallen | The rule may need updating, not the quote |
What the approval adds is a decision someone can explain later. The approver should note why the thin margin is acceptable. If the same reason appears every week, the rule probably needs changing.
In the Industry CRM, some pipeline stages can only be entered once set conditions are met, such as a customer being named, an amount being set or a workflow step being done. Conditions like these help make sure a quote is not treated as booked while key details are still blank.
The rate quote with a validity date
Finally, the workflow sends the shipper a rate quote with a validity date. The date is not decoration. Fuel prices, exchange rates and carrier capacity all move, and a quote accepted weeks later at an old price can turn a good lane into a loss. A validity date lets you honour a quote within its life and re-price it fairly after.
Keep validity periods short for volatile lanes, and make sure the shipper can see the date clearly.
What the pack does not do
Be clear about the limits. The Logistics pack has no live tracking feed, no carrier rate feed, no customs system link and no credit-bureau check. Statuses, rates and customs entry numbers are entered by people. For spot quotes, that means the quality of the quote depends on the quality of the rates your team obtains and records.
Before the next spot request
Write the margin rule down, decide who approves quotes below it, agree how long quotes stay valid on each kind of lane, and make "record the carrier and the date" part of every buy rate. Once a quote is accepted, the load moves into the shipment stages described in shipments leg by leg to signed proof of delivery, and a new shipper should first be onboarded as in shipper credit applications and signed terms.
General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.
