VoW For managing directors in special-purpose machine and plant building

How many days does your sales team put into quotes you never win?

Reading the specification, digging out old quotes, writing the text: an autopilot delivers that legwork finished. Your people do the costing and decide. In 30 minutes you know where it pays off first. Free, no workshop.

  • Free
  • 30 minutes
  • No documents needed
  • Tied to no vendor
Request the Quick Check How it works

Five places this round. After that we continue in January.

Brands Value of We has worked for

Projects since 2018 in brand partnerships, Web3 and AI. References from the Mittelstand will follow with the first pilots.

BMW MRed BullRalph LaurenJägermeisterMastercardOracle Red Bull RacingDHLDeutsche TelekomParamount+Soho HouseWings for Life World RunBoiler RoomThe Ocean RaceFrankfurt SchoolYuga Labs
01 What goes into every quote

Every quote starts with reading, searching and writing. Including the ones you lose.

  • A person reads the specification, page by page.
  • Only someone who has been there for years finds the right old quote.
  • Questions all land with the same expert in design.
  • And in the end only some of them are won.

It is not your people. What is missing is the autopilot.

1in10

quotes in capital goods becomes an order, often fewer.

Fraunhofer IEM 2023, citing Kleinaltenkamp 1999. An old figure, so we ask for your real one. Source
4in10

companies in Germany know or suspect that staff use private AI accounts at work.

Bitkom, 604 companies with 20+ employees, October 2025. Source (German)
1in4

people in German machine building is 55 or older. With them goes the knowledge of which old quote fits which enquiry.

Unternehmeredition, August 2026, based on VDMA figures. Source (German)

Many sales teams already help themselves and paste specifications into private AI chats. That shows how big the need is. But customer documents belong in a route you have approved, especially when your customer requires confidentiality.

02 The path of a quote

Where the days in a quote disappear.

Every special-purpose machine builder knows this chain. Which link eats the most time differs from company to company. The Quick Check finds out.

  1. 01Enquiry comes inSales officeYour team
  2. 02Read the specification, find deviationsSales engineerAutopilot
  3. 03Search similar projects and old quotesSales, designAutopilot
  4. 04Clear technical questionsDesignYour team
  5. 05Cost estimateCostingYour team
  6. 06Quote text and attachmentsSalesAutopilot
  7. 07Sign-offManaging directorYour team

The autopilot takes over reading, searching and writing. Costing and deciding stay with your people.

03 Copilot or autopilot

You don’t need another tool. You need the result.

A copilot hands your people a tool they have to use. An autopilot delivers the finished result, and your people only decide. Drag it yourself.

Today · licence bought

The tool just sits there.

Six months later hardly anyone uses it. People work on the side with their private subscription.

Enquiry arrives by emailYour team
Open a chat window, ask the right wayYour team
Check the answer, rework itYour team
Still dig out old quotes by handYour team
Write the quoteYour team
With an autopilot · result delivered

The work arrives finished.

The legwork is done. Your people do what you hired them for: decide.

Read the enquiry, pull out what mattersAutopilot
Pull matching past quotesAutopilot
Draft the quoteAutopilot
Price, go or no-goYour team
Sign-off and customer callYour team
04 What it can look like

Four points in a quote. One autopilot.

Which comes first for you is what the Quick Check shows.

Reading the specificationBy the time I’m through the specification, half the day is gone.
Today

A sales engineer reads every page and looks for where the customer deviates from your standard.

The autopilot

reads the specification and lists the deviations with page numbers.

Your team decides

The sales engineer checks the list and decides what goes into the quote.

Finding old quotesFor every quote I first have to dig out the old ones.
Today

Only a few people know which earlier project was similar. Newcomers ask around or start from scratch.

The autopilot

puts the closest old quotes and projects from your archive alongside, with the differences to the new enquiry.

Your team decides

Which project really fits and what to reuse.

Quote text and attachmentsEvery time we stitch the text together from three old ones.
Today

Copy text blocks, adapt them, assemble attachments. A lot of work for a document that often never becomes an order.

The autopilot

prepares a draft from your templates and matching old quotes, attachments included.

Your team decides

Sales checks, adds and sends.

Handover to designWhat did sales actually promise the customer?
Today

After the order, design asks what was in the quote, what was in the specification and what was only agreed on the phone.

The autopilot

merges quote, specification and email thread into one list of commitments.

Your team decides

Design starts from a checked list, not with questions.

The sentences are examples of what we expect to hear, not customer quotes. The autopilots are possibilities, not promises: what pays off for you we only say after the Quick Check.

05 How it works

Four steps. Each one earns the next.

After each step you decide again whether to continue. At the end there is no extra tool, just finished work.

Step 1 free

Quick Check

30 minutes well spent.

One conversation with you, by phone or video. Afterwards you know where your biggest levers are. If it fits, we then talk for 30 minutes each with two people from your team.

  • no documents, no preparation
  • no obligation
Request
Step 2 fixed price

Company assessment

Afterwards you know what to do.

Not a report, a plan you can act on. A short survey of the people in the office, conversations with key people, your workflows on one page. At the end it says which autopilot comes first, what it brings and who does what.

  • a concrete plan, in order
  • the plan is yours, with us or without us
Step 3 fixed price

Pilot

One workflow, measured.

The most important workflow from the plan runs day to day within a few weeks, in your environment and on what you already have. Beforehand we agree how success is measured and where you can step out.

  • measured in hours, before and after
  • a number you can show your board
Step 4 ongoing

Autopilot

You get the result.

We run the workflow inside your environment. You get the finished result, your people sign off. No extra tool anyone has to learn, no additional software subscription.

  • you pay for the result, not a licence
  • then, if you want, the next workflow
No prices here.

What the assessment and the pilot cost depends on the workflow. We name the fixed price after the Quick Check, before you decide anything.

06 Do the maths

How many days go into your quotes?

15
8
Reading the specification, searching old quotes, costing, writing, clearing questions. Everyone involved, combined.
20
Per year that is
180 working days on quotes, estimated

Request the Quick Check

Preset values are examples, not a measurement. Calculated with 12 months, 8 hours per working day and 1,840 hours per full-time job per year. For capital goods the literature gives a win rate of about 10% and lower (Fraunhofer IEM 2023, citing Kleinaltenkamp 1999). In the Quick Check we ask for your real figures. In the pilot we measure before and after.

VDI-Z From the trade press
“What used to take half a day, we now do in minutes.”
Dr. Christian Gerlach, managing director of Pipe Bending Systems, on AI in a machine builder’s office workflows. VDI-Z, February 2026, our translation. Source (German)
To be honest.

This is an example from the trade press, not a project of ours. We do not yet run an autopilot live at a mid-sized company. The first pilots will deliver the numbers, which is exactly why we measure. You would be among the first five.

07 Data protection and know-how

Your specifications stay with you.

  • i.

    Getting started needs no documents.

    For the Quick Check no specification, drawing, parts list or quote leaves your building.

  • ii.

    Autopilots run in your environment.

    In your Microsoft or Google account or on your own premises, next to your ERP and PDM. We create no second data store.

  • iii.

    Everyone sees only what they may already see.

    One autopilot, one purpose, your existing access rights. That can be checked and approved.

We work within your data protection rules and the confidentiality agreements with your own customers.

08 Who it’s for

Is this for you?

A good fit if

  • you build machines or plants as one-offs or small series, engineered or adapted for each customer.
  • you have roughly 50 to 500 million euros revenue and decide yourself.
  • your IT is small and there is no AI department.
  • every quote starts with a specification or a technical enquiry.
  • your sales engineers spend more time searching and writing than with the customer.

Probably not if

  • you are looking for AI in the machine, controls, vision or production. We work in the office.
  • a parent group makes the decision.
  • you are looking for another workshop.
  • We start with quotes. Then, if you want:
  • Service and spare parts
  • Technical documentation
  • Commissioning reports
  • Purchasing
09 Request the Quick Check

Five quick questions. Then 30 minutes.

Tick what applies. That way we get straight to the point in the call. We only need your email, everything else is optional. If you would rather just book a time, simply reply to our email.

1How big is your company?employees
2Which office workflows take the most time?pick several
3Where do you see the biggest saving?one answer
4Where are things stuck right now?pick several
5Anything we should know beforehand?free text

Goes straight to Richard. He replies with times for a call.

Here from our email?

Then simply reply to that email, for example with “Let’s talk”. Richard reads every reply himself.

LinkedIn

Prefer LinkedIn? Send Richard a message.

Message on LinkedIn
Richard Petrich

Richard Petrich, Value of We

Managing director of Value of We in Berlin. A small team building autopilots for office work in mid-sized companies. Not an agency selling workshops, tied to no vendor: Microsoft, Google, a specialised tool or something of your own, whatever works best for your workflow. And we tell you when something does not pay off.

I run the Quick Check myself.

? Questions

What managing directors ask us

What does it cost?

The Quick Check costs nothing. The company assessment and the pilot each have a fixed price. We name it once we know from the Quick Check which workflow it is about, and before you decide anything.

What’s the catch with free?

We hope you continue with us afterwards, but only if the conversation convinces you. 30 minutes is little for both sides, and we would rather show you first what we see.

How is the assessment different from a consultant’s report?

A report tells you where you stand. The assessment tells you what to do next: which workflow first, what it brings, who does what and when it starts. The plan is yours.

What does autopilot instead of tool mean?

A tool is something your people have to learn and operate every day. With an autopilot we run the workflow, and your people get the finished result to sign off. You pay for the result, not another licence.

Why only five places?

We run every conversation in person and analyse it ourselves. We cannot do more than five companies properly this round. Anyone who gets no place now is first in line in January.

Why quotes?

Because every quote starts with reading, searching and writing, and many hours hang on that, including for orders you never get. If the Quick Check shows more time is lost elsewhere, say in service or documentation, we tell you.

Is this about AI in the machine?

No. We work in the office and start with quotes. Controls, vision, production and predictive maintenance are better done by others.

We have an ERP and a PDM. Does that work?

Yes. We build next to what you have and use what your ERP or PDM already outputs: old quotes, parts lists, documents. Whether a direct connection makes sense we decide in the pilot, not before. We do not introduce a new system.

What about drawings and CAD data?

We need none to get started. In the pilot they stay where they are, and the autopilot sees only what each person may already see. We do not automate geometry or design. We work on the texts, lists and enquiries around them.

We already have Copilot. Do we need more?

Then we don’t start from zero. In the Quick Check we look at what it is used for today. Where it fits we build on it, in your Microsoft environment. The difference: your people have to operate Copilot, an autopilot delivers the result.

Our people use ChatGPT privately. Is that a problem?

Mostly it shows there is a need. It gets risky when customer documents or drawings end up in private accounts, especially with a confidentiality clause in the contract. We propose a route that is approved and works at least as well.

How much of our time does it take?

30 minutes of your time to get started. If it fits, 30 minutes each with two people from your team. We do the rest.

Do we have to continue with you afterwards?

No. What we recommend is yours. You can implement it with us or with whoever you like.

Fewer days on quotes you don’t win. Getting started is free.

30 minutes with Richard Petrich. Afterwards you know where your hours go and where an autopilot pays off first.

Request the Quick Check
Five places this round. All taken? Then you are first in line in January.