Manufacturing and Industrial Sales Pipeline Template
The RFQ pipeline: feasibility, quotation, technical approval, then a purchase order. Long cycles, engineering gates, real tooling costs.
The stages
Each stage states what is true about a deal sitting in it, and the one testable thing that has to happen before it moves. If the exit criterion is not met, the deal does not advance, whatever the rep believes.
RFQ Received
10% probability2 to 5 daysA request for quotation has landed with drawings or a specification. Not every RFQ deserves a response, and quoting all of them is what buries engineering.
Drawings or a specification are received, target annual volumes and required delivery date are stated, and you have confirmed the part or system is within your process capability.
Technical Feasibility Review
20% probability5 to 15 daysEngineering is assessing whether you can actually make it at the tolerance, volume and cost implied. Sales cannot answer this alone.
Engineering has signed off manufacturability, identified the tooling and fixturing required, and listed every specification item that will need a customer deviation.
Quotation Issued
30% probability14 to 45 daysA formal quotation is with the customer, valid for a defined period. Material prices move underneath this number.
A quotation has been issued with unit price at each stated volume break, tooling cost, lead time and a validity period, sent to both the named buyer and the responsible engineer.
Technical Approval and Sampling
50% probability30 to 90 daysFirst articles or prototypes are with the customer for engineering validation. This is the stage that separates a real programme from a price-checking exercise.
First article or prototype samples have been submitted and the customer engineering team has approved them in writing through PPAP, FAI or their equivalent process.
Commercial Negotiation
70% probability21 to 60 daysProcurement takes over from engineering. Price, terms, tooling amortisation and volume commitments are all in play at once.
Unit price, payment terms, Incoterms, tooling amortisation and the volume commitment are agreed in writing with procurement, and any price adjustment mechanism for raw material is documented.
Purchase Order or Contract Award
90% probability5 to 20 daysThe award has landed, either as a purchase order or a long-term supply agreement.
A signed purchase order or supply agreement is received that matches the quoted specification, price and volume, with no unilateral changes to terms.
Production Slot Booked
100% probability5 to 15 daysThe order is real and scheduled. Materials are committed and the customer has a ship date they can plan around.
The order is released into the production schedule with a confirmed ship date, long-lead materials are ordered, and the customer has been sent the confirmed delivery plan.
Fields worth tracking
Stages tell you where a deal is. These fields tell you whether it is any good. Add them as custom fields on the pipeline, and make the ones that gate a stage required.
Every downstream conversation, revision and complaint references these. Without them on the record, nobody can match a customer email to a deal six months later.
The quoted price only makes sense at a volume. Storing the assumed annual usage means that when the customer orders a third of it, you can see immediately that the programme is underwater.
Customer-funded tooling and supplier-funded tooling are completely different commercial risks. This field decides whether a lost programme costs you a quote or costs you the tool.
Material prices move. An expired quote that a customer converts into a PO nine months later is a margin loss you agreed to in writing.
ISO, IATF, AS9100, material certificates. Discovering a certification requirement after quoting is one of the most expensive surprises in industrial sales.
Automations worth building
A pipeline that only stores data is a spreadsheet with a nicer view. These are the three workflows that make this pipeline maintain itself.
On RFQ Received, score the enquiry against volume, capability fit and customer history, then create the engineering review task with a three working day due date and escalate to the engineering manager if it is untouched. Quoting speed wins programmes, and so does declining the wrong ones fast.
Seven days before the quotation validity date, notify the owner and create a task to either re-quote at current material prices or formally extend validity in writing. Never let a stale quote convert silently.
Fourteen days after first article submission with no approval logged, task the account owner and email the customer engineer directly. Sampling stalls are usually internal customer queues, and a polite nudge moves them.
Common mistakes with this pipeline
Engineering time is the scarcest resource in a manufacturing business, and an unfiltered RFQ inbox consumes it on programmes you were never going to win. Score enquiries on capability fit and volume before the feasibility review, and decline fast without apology.
Annual volumes on a purchase order are usually a forecast, not a commitment. Recording the full estimated annual usage as won revenue produces a pipeline that consistently overstates itself by 30% or more. Track committed volume separately from forecast volume.
A quotation with no tracked validity date is an open option written against your margin. Steel, resin and freight move, and the customer will convert the quote precisely when it suits them and not you.