RFQ (Request for Quote)

A request for quote is specification-bearing. That distinguishes it from an enquiry: the buyer has already decided what they need and is asking what it costs to make.

A manufacturing request for quote typically carries a drawing or model, material and finish requirements, tolerance callouts, quantity or quantity breaks, target delivery, and any certification or inspection requirement. Missing any of these produces a quote the buyer cannot compare or a supplier request for clarification that delays the response.

Manufacturing SEO has the request for quote as its primary conversion event, which is what separates industrial search from lead generation in most other sectors. One won request can carry years of revenue through repeat orders, so a program producing few requests can still return well.

The supplier response is a quote stating price, lead time, and a validity period. A supplier may also no-quote, declining to bid where the work is outside capability, capacity, or commercial interest. A no-quote is a normal outcome and not a failure of the request.

Quote-to-close attribution requires importing offline conversions into analytics, because the close happens in a quoting or enterprise system the website cannot observe.

See quote request generation for how a website collects one, and how industrial buyers search and decide for who issues it.