Hardware and steel traders usually get stuck in three places: quotes that mean digging through old invoices, stock that’s hard to see across many sizes and specs, and receivables nobody chases. The tool most worth building first is usually a pricing engine that drafts quotes from customer tiers and past prices (blocking prices below cost, with a person confirming before anything is sent); then order and stock dashboards, a WhatsApp enquiry inbox and receivables reminders. Data comes from the AutoCount and Excel you already use, connected where possible. WINS has built a per-customer pricing engine for a steel and hardware trading company.
1. Where this industry gets stuck as it grows
- Quotes mean digging through old invoicesEach customer and quantity has its own price, so every quote means checking past invoices and price lists while the customer waits on WhatsApp.
- Prices move faster than the price listAn outdated price list leads to wrong quotes — sometimes below cost.
- Many items, unclear stockSizes, specs and models multiply; stock-outs are found too late, or too much stock piles up.
- Orders and deliveries run on group chatsWho owns which order and when it ships lives in WhatsApp groups.
- Lots of credit, nobody chasingMany customers on long terms; overdue payments surface only at month-end.
2. Tools worth building first
| Bottleneck | Tool |
|---|---|
| Quotes take ages and prices get missed | Per-customer pricing engine / one-click quotes |
| WhatsApp enquiries pile up | WhatsApp enquiry inbox |
| Stock-outs found late, shipments tracked in chats | Order & stock dashboard (AutoCount-ready) |
| Overdue receivables, slow reconciliation | e-Invoice preparation & automatic reconciliation |
| The owner asks around for today’s numbers | Business dashboards & automatic reports |
3. How it connects to what you already use
| Existing system / data | How it connects |
|---|---|
| AutoCount | Reads customers, past invoices, items and stock for customer tiers, quote references and stock dashboards. Connected directly where possible; otherwise imported from regular report exports. |
| Excel price lists | Your price lists and cost data are imported and turned into pricing rules, so a price change is made in one place. |
| Enquiries land in the inbox, and quote drafts drop into the chat in one tap, sent after a rep confirms. |
4. What always stays with a person
- A rep confirms every quote before it goes out — the tool never sends quotes on its own
- Prices below cost are blocked; pricing rules and discount limits are set by the owner, and changes are logged
- Reordering, order changes and write-offs are decided by the responsible person
5. What we’ve built
A steel and hardware trading company uses a per-customer pricing engine built by WINS: customer tiers and pricing rules are drawn from past invoices and applied automatically when quoting, prices below cost are blocked, and every quote draft is confirmed by a person before it goes out on WhatsApp.
6. Where to start
You don’t need everything at once. Pick the bottleneck above that repeats every day and costs the most hours, build one tool, let the team use it and see the time saved, then build the next. The first tool usually goes live in days to weeks, priced by complexity — start with a review to get the tool list and a quote for each item.
7. How WINS builds it
Frequently asked questions
We use AutoCount. Do we still need a separate quoting tool?
AutoCount handles invoicing and accounts; the pricing engine works before the invoice, quickly suggesting a price from customer tier, quantity and past prices and blocking prices below cost. They work together — data is connected directly where possible and imported from reports where not.
Prices change often. Can the tool keep up?
Pricing rules and cost data live in one place and are updated by the owner or a manager; every quote draft after that uses the new rules, and changes are logged.
Will reps lose room to use their judgement?
The tool gives a suggested price and a floor; the final price and the conversation are still the rep’s call. Discounts beyond a set limit can require a manager’s approval.
How soon can we use it, and what does it cost?
The first tool usually goes live in days to weeks, depending on complexity. Pricing depends on each tool’s complexity: start with a review to get the tool list and a quote for each item, then decide what to build.
Still digging through old invoices to quote?
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