This trade is full of products that are hard to name. A cartridge with half its label peeled off. A tape roll with nothing on it but a printed core. A grinding wheel whose blotter is too worn to read. A sealant a maintenance tech has used for years and only knows as "the gray one." The customer does not know what to search for, so he calls, and one of your experts spends an hour on it.
The app gives customers and your team faster routes to a quote.
AI Quick Quote: say it, get a price
With AI Quick Quote, a customer says or types what they need in plain words, like "a box of 4-1/2 inch 60-grit zirconia flap discs and twenty-five 0.045 cut-off wheels" or "two cases of one-inch masking tape and a gallon of wax and grease remover," and gets a priced quote back. A planner can paste a consumables list in his own words. Lines that need checking are checked again against the full description and update on screen.
That handles a lot of everyday quoting without tying up your inside team.
Get this for me: send a photo
For products you do not list, Get this for me lets a customer ask for anything they do not see. They can send a photo through Get this for me, ideally of the label, the core print, the wheel's blotter or the box end, and it goes to your purchasing team and comes back as a quote. The customer, the rep and your team all get a copy.
Photos help a lot here. A clear picture of a cartridge label shows the product, size and mix ratio. A photo of the gun the customer uses tells you which cartridges and nozzles fit. A picture of a tape on the part it holds tells you a lot about what it needs to do. Reps can do the same in the field: a rep can buy what a customer asks for, or send it to purchasing.
The email quote desk
Many requests still come by email: a bill of materials from an OEM's engineering group, a list from a plant planning a line changeover, a body shop asking about a new panel bond adhesive. The email quote desk prices requests that arrive by email and answers them. AI decisions records every decision the agents made, so your team can check them.
Here is how the quote tools fit together:
- AI Quick Quote for catalog items, described in plain words.
- Get this for me for anything outside the catalog, with a photo.
- Email quote desk for requests that arrive in the inbox.
- Quotes in the app, where the customer accepts the price when ready.
Why the hard products are good business
The odd product is where specialty distributors earn their place. A maintenance manager who sees you identify a sealant nobody else could will call you first next time. Hard-to-find items are rarely shopped on price, and a question about one product often opens a bigger conversation, such as replacing screws with a bonding tape or setting up a proper dispensing station.
When a hard item is found, add it to the customer's part numbers or My Catalog. Customers tend to need the same unusual product again, and the second order should be one tap. If you stock it just for them, a dedicated custom inventory agreement keeps the risk shared, which matters for products with a shelf life.
The quote tools do not replace your application specialists. They take the easy quotes off their desks and organize the hard ones, so your best people spend their time on bond testing, line trials and the strange requests that build loyalty.
Want to see it with your own adhesives, abrasives and tape accounts? See how it works.