Illustrative example — not a real client. Every number below is invented to show the format of a Leak Audit readout. Real readouts are built only from a client's own quote data.
Prepared for: Midland Industrial Supply (fictional) — a 70-person industrial distributor, Central Indiana.
Data reviewed: last 90 days of quotes.
The headline
Illustrative recoverable gross profit: ~$18,000/month (≈$216K/year). Built from Midland's own numbers: avg quote $9,500 · gross margin ~26% · ~140 quotes/month · current quote-to-win 31%. It's the size of the opportunity if the leaks are closed — not a promise of outcome.
Quote Integrity Score: 54 / 100 — "Bleeding"
| Dimension | Score | Leak pattern |
|---|---|---|
| Response speed | 8 / 20 — median first response 2 days | Slow-Hand |
| Ownership | 11 / 20 — ~55% of open quotes have an owner | Orphan Quote |
| Next step | 6 / 15 — ~40% have a confirmed next step | Orphan Quote |
| Follow-through | 9 / 20 — ~45% get the planned follow-ups | Ghost Deal |
| Aging control | 5 / 10 — ~30% stale 14+ days | Ghost Deal |
| Knowledge resilience | 8 / 8 — documented in the ERP | — |
| Handoff integrity | 7 / 7 — clean quote-to-order | — |
| Total | 54 / 100 | Bleeding |
The Leak Map (last 90 days)
| Stage | Count → advanced | Fixable leak | Pattern | GP leaked (est.) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lead in | 420 → 300 | 40 | Slow-Hand | ~$9,900/mo |
| Worth quoting | 300 → 300 | — | — | — |
| Quote out | 300 → 155 | 22 | Ghost Deal | ~$5,400/mo |
| In play | 155 → 96 | 10 | Orphan Quote | ~$2,500/mo |
| Committed | 96 → 93 | — | Handoff Gap (none) | — |
| Won | 93 | |||
| Total fixable leak | ≈ $17.8K/mo · ~$214K/yr | |||
Recoverable = deals × avg quote ($9,500) × margin (26%). Natural drop-off (non-fit leads, fair losses) is excluded — only fixable leak is counted. Conservative estimate, not a guarantee.
Top 3 leaks by dollars
- Slow-Hand — ~$9,900/mo. Median first response is ~2 days; same-day quotes close at nearly double the rate. The biggest lever.
- Ghost Deal — ~$5,400/mo. Almost half of sent quotes get no structured follow-up; still counted "open" 30–60 days later.
- Orphan Quote — ~$2,500/mo. ~45% of open quotes have no single owner and no dated next step.
Prioritized fixes
This week (no build needed): assign a named owner to every open quote over $5K; put a same-day "we got it, here's your timeline" acknowledgement on new quote requests.
System Build (2–3 weeks): a response-time rule so no quote waits more than 2 hours; a standard 3-touch follow-up cadence on every sent quote, tracked in the ERP; an open-quote board with owner + next step + age, reviewed weekly.
What I'd build — and what I wouldn't
I'd build the response-time rule and the follow-up cadence first; together they're ~85% of the recoverable money. I would not rip out your ERP or add new software — everything runs on tools Midland already owns. The quote templates are fine; I'd leave them alone.
Want this for your own quotes?
A Leak Audit is one week, fixed scope, starts at $5,000 — and if it doesn't find recoverable gross profit worth at least the fee, you don't pay. The fee credits toward a System Build if you move within 30 days.
Book a Leak AuditAll figures illustrative. A real audit reports only what your own data shows.