How AI Turns Missed Quotes Into Real Revenue AI May Finally Solve One of Distribution’s Oldest Sales Problems: Quote Follow-Up By Frank Hurtte Hundreds of quotes go out each week. Most are never followed up on. That’s not a process issue. It’s a revenue leak. Nobody likes to admit it, but we've all seen it happen. Every experienced distributor sales leader knows this. Everyone agrees follow-up matters. Yet in most organizations, it happens inconsistently, sporadically, or not at all. The average distributor produces hundreds of quotes each week. That volume alone represents a major opportunity. If a distributor issues 500 quotes a week and even 5 percent of the unfollowed quotes would have converted, that’s roughly 1,300 additional orders a year. There is nothing worse than losing an order simply because the customer never actually received the quote. It happens more often than anyone wants to admit. Emails get buried. Spam filters intervene. A customer hesitates because the quote ...

Make AI Your Friend: Hope Is Not a Sales Strategy in 2026 Customers aren’t waiting for salespeople to find answers anymore. They expect you to already have them. AI has automated the top of the funnel. Service expectations are rising. And “activity” is no longer the same thing as progress. In 2026, the salespeople who win won’t hope for an easier year; they’ll prepare for a harder one. If you want to read the full article published in Industrial Supply Magazine , click here . Frank Hurtte works with industrial distributors who want better sales performance without the hype. A consultant, speaker, and trainer, Frank focuses on practical sales strategy, customer expectations, and preparing teams for what’s next, not what was. He is the founder of River Heights Consulting and a frequent contributor to industry publications like Industrial Supply Magazine. ...