Playbook · 7 min read
Fourteen checkpoints between an enquiry and a truck.
Fourteen checkpoints that decide whether an enquiry becomes a dispatched order, and who owns each one.
In short
The enquiry to dispatch checklist for Indian manufacturers
Fourteen checkpoints that decide whether an enquiry becomes a dispatched order, and who owns each one.
Why the line breaks
Most plants do not lose orders at the quotation. They lose them in the gaps between people, an enquiry that sat in a personal inbox, a rate agreed on a call, a specification the plant read differently, a committed date nobody wrote down.
Every gap has the same signature, a step with no named owner and no date. The checklist below closes them one by one.
Demand side, the first five
These five decide whether you are even in the race.
- Every enquiry lands in one place, not in a personal inbox or phone.
- An owner is assigned the same day, by name, not by team.
- A next contact date exists before the record can be saved.
- The requirement is captured as typed fields, not free text.
- Feasibility is confirmed by the plant before a price is promised.
Commercial side, the next four
This is where margin is won or quietly given away. Written prices with an approval trail make the difference visible before the order is booked, not at the month end review.
- Prices come from a price book by product, class, region and slab.
- Any deviation raises an approval, with a reason recorded.
- The quotation carries validity, delivery basis and payment terms.
- The customer approval is captured against the quotation, not a chat.
Plant side, the last five
A booked order is not a production order. One review gate between the two prevents most of the firefighting that follows.
- A Sales Admin review checks specification, stock and capacity.
- Committed dates are set once and visible to sales and the plant.
- Production reports progress against the order, not a separate sheet.
- Quality signs off against the specification the customer approved.
- Dispatch closes the order with documents attached to the record.
How to use it
Print it. Walk one live order through all fourteen points with your Sales Admin and Works Manager in the room. Mark each point green, amber or red based on evidence you can open, not on what people believe happens.
Two or three red points usually explain most of your delivery complaints.
Takeaway
If a step has no owner and no date, it is not a process, it is a habit. Give every step both.