If your team is quoting regularly but not winning enough work, it’s time to look at what’s holding things back. Bid success depends on more than pricing or relationships. Often, it comes down to how well your sales process is structured and whether your CRM is helping or slowing things down.
In industries like construction, engineering, manufacturing, and wholesale, quoting is part of the daily rhythm. A small lift in your win rate can make a meaningful difference to monthly revenue. So when that number flatlines, it’s worth asking how much your CRM has to do with it.
What a Stalled Win Rate Might Be Telling You
Your bid win rate shows how many quotes are turning into deals. For technical and industrial sales, a typical rate might sit somewhere between 20 and 30 per cent, depending on your sector and client base.
The problem isn’t always the number itself. If your win rate hasn’t moved in months or is drifting lower, something in the process may be off. CRM usage is often one of the first areas worth reviewing.
Five CRM-Related Reasons Bids Don’t Convert
Sales leaders know how easy it is for small inefficiencies to build up. These are the most common ways CRM gaps cause missed opportunities.
1. Quoting Without Qualification
Some teams still quote every lead that comes in. When there’s no clear qualification step, poor-fit jobs take up valuable time and attention.
| What to check: Does your CRM include a qualification stage before quotes go out? Are reps using criteria like budget or urgency to assess fit? |
2. Weak or Missed Follow-Up
Sending a quote and waiting for a reply rarely works. If your CRM doesn’t prompt timely follow-up, good leads start to drift.
| What to check: Are follow-up tasks automatically created after quotes are sent? Can you see which quotes haven’t been touched in the last few days? |
3. No Data on Why Bids Are Lost
If your team isn’t logging the reason behind each lost bid, you’re missing key insight. Guesswork doesn’t help when it’s time to review strategy.
| What to check: Are reps required to record a reason before closing a lost deal? Are you using that data to spot patterns? |
4. Sales and Estimating Working in Silos
When sales and estimating aren’t working from the same records, it’s easy for key details to get lost. That can lead to quotes that miss the mark or don’t reflect what the client actually asked for.
| What to check: Can both teams access the same opportunity notes and files? Are technical documents and customer conversations stored in one place? |
5. Old or Dead Bids Still in the Pipeline
If your pipeline is filled with inactive bids, forecasting becomes less reliable. Outdated quotes also distract from the work that’s still in play.
| What to check: Does your CRM highlight deals that haven’t moved in a while? Do you have a process for reviewing and closing out aged opportunities? |
What BuddyCRM Does to Support the Bid Process
BuddyCRM is built with these problems in mind. It helps sales teams stay organised, act faster, and improve the way bids are tracked and managed.
Some of the features that make a difference:
- Built-in qualification steps that help filter out weak opportunities
- Automatic follow-up tasks after quotes are issued
- Win and loss reasons captured as part of every closed deal
- Shared records that keep sales and estimating on the same page
- Dashboards that show which bids are overdue or inactive
Quick CRM Audit for Bid Management
Here’s a short checklist you can use to review your current setup:
- Do you have a defined qualification process before quoting?
- Are follow-up actions created automatically when a quote is sent?
- Is the team capturing win and loss reasons for every closed bid?
- Can sales and estimating both access the full client record?
- Are old or inactive quotes reviewed and cleaned up regularly?
Final Thoughts
If your bid win rate hasn’t moved for a while, there’s a good chance your CRM process needs a tune-up. Fixing the basics like qualification, follow-up, and pipeline hygiene doesn’t just improve performance. It also gives your team the focus they need to work smarter.
Want to see how it works in practice? [Book a demo with BuddyCRM] and take a closer look at how we help technical sales teams win more work.