RFQ acknowledgement SOP: register, number, reply in 30 minutes

What is an RFQ acknowledgement?

An RFQ acknowledgement is the first reply a forwarder sends to a request for quotation: it confirms the enquiry has been received, gives it a reference number and says when the offer will follow. It is not the quotation. It is the promise of one, with a number the customer can quote back.

It matters because customers often send the same enquiry to several forwarders. A fast, numbered reply in the customer's own mail thread shows the enquiry is in hand, and the number makes every later mail about it easy to find, for the customer and for your own desk.

Why should the RFQ number come before anything else?

Because everything after it needs a reference: the vendor rate requests, the vendors' replies, the quotation, its revisions and the booking. Mega Move India's desk works to one rule: register first. No price, no reply and no vendor request goes out before the RFQ number exists, and that one number stays with the enquiry until the shipment is completed.

In practice that means the number in every subject line about the enquiry, to customers and vendors alike: RFQ No. MMIPL26042.

What service levels should a desk set?

These are the targets Mega Move India's forwarding desk works to, counted from receipt (the email time, the WhatsApp time or the end of the call) in business hours. Set your own, but write them down.

Outside business hours the clock starts when the next business day opens. If the customer's own deadline is earlier, the customer's deadline wins.

What is the minimum needed to register?

Three things: the customer (or the requester's name or email), the origin and the destination. Never wait for anything else. Capture whatever else the enquiry gives, such as mode, Incoterm, equipment, commodity, weights, dimensions and cargo ready date, and never invent what it does not.

Missing details become questions. Note them as "info pending" on the RFQ and put the same questions in the acknowledgement. What to ask depends on the cargo:

How do you check for duplicates first?

Run these checks, in this order, before registering anything:

1. Same mail thread. A reply on a thread you have already registered is a follow-up.
2. An RFQ number in the subject or body. Look it up; a hit is a follow-up.
3. Same customer and lane within 14 days. If the earlier RFQ is still open, it is a follow-up. If it was lost or cancelled, reopen it. If it was won or completed, or the customer says this is a separate shipment, register a new RFQ and note the earlier number.

A follow-up is never registered again. Add a note to the existing RFQ, update anything that changed, ask the vendors again if the cargo, equipment or route changed, and reply quoting the existing number.

What should the acknowledgement email say?

Reply in the customer's own thread, keep the original copy recipients, and use the same wording every time. The subject keeps the customer's subject and adds the number: RE: <original subject> | RFQ No. <RFQ no>. This is the wording Moviqo generates, signed with the sender's name and the company name (today the generated text signs as Mega Move India Private Limited):

Dear <first name>,

Thank you for your enquiry. It has been registered under RFQ No. <RFQ no>.
Please quote this number in all further correspondence on this enquiry.

Enquiry summary:
- Route: <POL name (UN/LOCODE)> to <POD name (UN/LOCODE)>
- Mode: <Mode> · <Direction> · <Incoterm>
- Equipment: <qty> x <container type>
- Commodity: <commodity>
- Cargo: <packages> <package type>, <gross weight> kg, <volume> cbm
- Cargo ready: <DD Mon YYYY>

Our pricing team is working on it and we will revert with our offer by <quote due date>. If any detail above is incomplete or incorrect, please reply on this email.

Regards,
<sender name>
<company name>

Each summary line appears only for a detail the enquiry gave. With no due date, the promise becomes "we will revert with our offer shortly". When questions are open, insert them between the "pricing team" paragraph and "Regards", and change nothing else:

To quote accurately, please confirm:
1. <question>
2. <question>

What about WhatsApp and phone enquiries?

Acknowledge on the channel the enquiry came in. On WhatsApp, a short version:

Hello <first name>, thank you for your enquiry.
It is registered under *RFQ No. <RFQ no>* (<origin> to <destination>, <equipment>).
Please quote this number in all further messages. We will revert with our rates by <quote due date>.
– <sender name>, <company name>

For a phone enquiry, register it during the call or within 15 minutes, read the RFQ number to the caller, and send the written acknowledgement by email, or by WhatsApp if you have no email address.

When do you mark it acknowledged?

Only after the message has actually gone out, with the channel and the time it was sent. Marking it early hides an unanswered customer from everyone else on the desk. If someone else drafts the reply, an AI assistant included, the person who sends it marks it.

The checklist

1. Check for a duplicate: thread, RFQ number, same customer and lane within 14 days.
2. Register with at least the customer, origin and destination, within 15 minutes.
3. Note the open questions as info pending.
4. Reply in the customer's thread within 30 minutes, with the RFQ number in the subject.
5. Use the standard wording and add the open questions.
6. Mark it acknowledged, with the channel and time, once it has gone out.
7. Check the active rate sheets for the lane, then send vendor rate requests within 1 hour, with the RFQ number in the subject.
8. Keep the RFQ number in every subject line until the shipment is completed.

Rate sheets come next: see Rate sheet validity. The glossary defines RFQ, POL, POD and the other terms used here.