Measure

Quote Conversion Rate

The proportion of quotations that become orders. Simple to calculate, easy to distort, and almost meaningless unless you also know what was quoted and why the rest were lost.

Also called: Win rate · Hit rate · Quote-to-order ratio · Bid success rate

Formula

Quote conversion rate = orders won ÷ quotations issued × 100

Unit: Percentage
Direction: Neither direction is automatically good
How often: Monthly for the trend, quarterly for decisions — a month rarely contains enough quotations to be statistically meaningful in a make-to-order business.
Normally owned by: Account Manager, Inside Sales / Sales Coordinator

What it is

Quote conversion rate measures how often quotations turn into orders. It is the most direct read available on whether the front of the quote-to-cash chain is working — whether the right enquiries are being chased, priced competitively, and followed up.

It should be calculated two ways, because they answer different questions. By count, it tells you how well the quoting process performs on a typical enquiry. By value, it tells you whether you are winning the ones that matter. A company can win 60% by count and 18% by value, which means it is winning small jobs and losing large ones — a completely different problem from a low rate on both.

The measure only becomes useful when paired with loss reasons. A conversion rate on its own tells you that something is wrong; the reason codes tell you whether it is price, lead time, capability or follow-up.

What each term means

Orders won: Quotations that resulted in an accepted order, counted in the period the quote was issued rather than the period it was won.
Quotations issued: Quotations sent to a customer in the period. Excludes enquiries declined at bid/no-bid, which are not quotations.
By value: The same calculation using the monetary value of quotes and orders rather than the count.

One quarter of quotations, counted two ways

Worked through with real numbers.

Inputs

Quotations issued in the quarter: 48
Total value quoted: £1,284,000
Quotations converted to orders: 17
Value of those orders: £212,400
Quotations still open at quarter end: 6 (£340,000)

Calculation

By count, using all issued quotes: 17 ÷ 48 × 100 = 35.4%
By value, using all issued quotes: £212,400 ÷ £1,284,000 × 100 = 16.5%
Excluding the 6 still open (decided quotes only):
By count: 17 ÷ 42 × 100 = 40.5%
By value: £212,400 ÷ £944,000 × 100 = 22.5%

Result
35.4% by count, 16.5% by value — or 40.5% and 22.5% once undecided quotes are excluded.

How to read it
The gap between count and value is the finding, not the rate itself. Winning 35% of quotations but only 16.5% of the value means the large opportunities are being lost. Averaged, the won orders are £12,494 against an average quoted value of £26,750 — the company is systematically converting the small half of its pipeline. That points at pricing on large jobs, at credibility on larger contracts, or at the estimating effort going into small work; it does not point at the sales team trying harder.

How to decide what good looks like

We do not publish benchmark figures we cannot source, because the ones in circulation compare businesses using incompatible definitions. This is the method instead.

There is no industry figure worth copying here, and any single number quoted as a benchmark should be treated with suspicion. Conversion rate depends almost entirely on how aggressively enquiries are screened before quoting, which varies enormously between companies doing identical work.

Start with your own baseline over at least four quarters, calculated both by count and by value. That range is your reference point.

Then decide which direction is actually good for you. A rising conversion rate can mean better selling — or it can mean quoting only safe work, or pricing too low. A falling rate can mean losing competitiveness, or it can mean deliberately bidding more ambitious work. The number alone cannot distinguish these, which is why it should never be a target on its own.

The useful target is usually a pair: conversion rate held or improved while average margin on won work is held or improved. Either one alone can be hit by damaging the other.

If you want an external comparison, the only honest source is your own customers — asking buyers how many suppliers they invited tells you your realistic ceiling on that enquiry far better than any published figure.

Where it misleads

PitfallCounting quotations that were never really quotations
Why it happens: Budget prices, ballpark figures given on the phone and revised quotes all get logged as separate quotations, inflating the denominator.
What to do instead: Define what counts as an issued quotation and apply it consistently. Count a revised quote as the same opportunity, not a new one.
PitfallMeasuring by count only
Why it happens: It is the easier number and it is what the CRM reports by default.
What to do instead: Always report both. The divergence between count and value is where the actual insight is, and it is invisible if only one is tracked.
PitfallAttributing wins to the wrong period
Why it happens: A quote issued in March and won in July appears as a July win against July's quotes, which is a different denominator entirely.
What to do instead: Attribute the win back to the period the quote was issued. It means the most recent months stay incomplete for a while, which is honest rather than inconvenient.
PitfallTreating a rising rate as unambiguously good
Why it happens: It looks like improvement and nobody questions good news.
What to do instead: Check margin and average order value alongside it. A conversion rate that rises while margin falls is a discounting problem wearing a success badge.
PitfallNot recording why quotes were lost
Why it happens: It is uncomfortable, it requires asking, and there is always something more urgent.
What to do instead: One mandatory field at close with a short list of reasons. Fifty losses coded honestly are worth more than any amount of analysis of the rate itself.
PitfallIgnoring the enquiries that were declined
Why it happens: No-bids never become quotations, so they never appear in the calculation at all.
What to do instead: Track bid/no-bid separately. A company with an excellent conversion rate that declines two-thirds of its enquiries may simply be avoiding the market.

How it gets gamed

Rarely dishonestly. Mostly these are things a reasonable person does when a number becomes a target.

Quoting only enquiries that are near-certain wins, so the rate rises while revenue does not.
Discounting to close, which raises conversion and lowers margin.
Splitting one opportunity into several quotations so a single win counts multiple times.
Leaving lost quotes open indefinitely rather than closing them as lost.
Recording informal price indications as quotations only when they are won.

Where it fits

Measured at these steps

Read alongside

Gross Margin

Common questions

›What is a good quote conversion rate?

There is no defensible universal figure, and published benchmarks usually compare companies with completely different screening practices. A business that quotes everything will have a low rate and may be perfectly healthy; one that quotes only certain wins will have a high rate and may be leaving the market alone. Your own baseline over several quarters, read alongside margin, is the only comparison worth making.

›Should conversion be measured by count or by value?

Both, always. By count tells you how the quoting process performs on a typical enquiry; by value tells you whether you win the ones that matter. When the two diverge sharply, the divergence is the finding — usually that large opportunities are being lost while small ones are won.

›How do you handle quotes that are still open?

Calculate the rate both including and excluding them. Including undecided quotes understates performance in recent periods; excluding them overstates it if some of those open quotes are effectively lost. Reporting both, with the open value stated, avoids arguing about which is right.

›Why is my conversion rate falling when nothing has changed?

The most common cause is a change in what is being quoted rather than in how it is being quoted — more enquiries screened in, a push into a new market, or a large customer running a competitive round. Check the mix and the average quoted value before concluding that selling has deteriorated.

›Is a very high conversion rate a problem?

It can be. Winning nearly everything you quote usually means either the screen is very tight or the prices are low. Both are worth checking, because the first means opportunities are being declined and the second means margin is being given away — and neither is visible from the rate alone.

Tools that calculate this

They do the arithmetic and show the workings. If you only want the method, everything you need is on this page.

Reviewed 2026-08-15. The formulas behind every CapsuleM8 tool are published in the methods reference.