Ask any custom apparel or promo manufacturer what slows down sales, and the answer is almost always the same: quoting. A buyer asks for 500 hoodies with a two-colour print and a sleeve embroidery, and someone has to work out blanks, decoration, setup, packing and shipping — usually from memory and an old spreadsheet.
Meanwhile the buyer has asked two other suppliers. Here is how to get faster without giving away margin.
1. Write down your pricing rules
Most shops have rules that only live in one person’s head: screens are charged once per new artwork, embroidery is priced per stitch band, orders under 50 pieces get a small-run surcharge, rush jobs cost 15% extra. Write them down in plain language. It is the single biggest step to faster, more consistent quotes — whoever makes them.
2. Keep one price list, with breaks
Put your blanks, decoration methods and setup costs in one place, with quantity breaks (for example 50–99, 100–249, 250–499, 500+). Update it when your suppliers change prices, not when a quote goes wrong.
3. Start from your most similar past job
Most “new” requests look a lot like something you have made before. Starting from that job — same blank, similar print — is faster and more accurate than starting from a blank sheet. The hard part is finding it quickly.
4. Ask the right questions up front
Half of quoting time is spent going back and forth for missing details. A request form that asks for quantity, sizes, colours, decoration method, print positions and deadline gives you everything on the first message.
5. Let AI draft — and you decide
This is where tools like Porta come in. Porta reads the request, finds your most similar past jobs, and applies your price list and rules to draft a complete quote in seconds. Every line shows why it was priced that way, so you review and adjust instead of building from scratch. Your margin stays your decision.
6. Make accepting easy
A PDF in an email still needs a reply. A quote on a customer page can be accepted with one click — and the order moves straight into production, with artwork approval and sampling as the next steps.
What this changes
- Quotes go out the same day — often within the hour.
- Prices are consistent, whoever on the team makes the quote.
- Margins are visible before the quote is sent, not after the job is done.
- Re-orders take seconds, because last time’s specs and prices are one click away.
Porta is built for custom apparel, merch and promo manufacturers. Join the beta and we’ll load your price list and past quotes for you.