Is this a sales call in disguise?

No. You pay $1,500 and you get a written document. If you never speak to me again you still have it.

The $1,500 is invoiced after our call and is payable before we start. If we agree on the call that it isn't a fit for your shop, there's no invoice.

What if I already know what's wrong?

Then this is cheap confirmation with numbers on it for whoever you need to convince. If you already know the fix and it's working, don't buy this.

Do you need access to our ERP or drawings?

No. No logins, no CAD, no controlled data. Process and timing only.

Who sees the findings?

You. No case study, no logo on my site, no name anywhere unless you offer it.

Are you going to try to sell me software?

No. I don't resell anything and I take no commission from any vendor.

What if we do nothing afterwards?

That happens. You keep the document.

Your quotes go out late because every one of them goes through you.

A written assessment of how an RFQ becomes a quote in your shop. Three working days. $1,500 fixed.

Book a 15-minute call What the assessment covers

The assessment

Speed-to-Quote and Owner-Hours Assessment

$1,500 fixed. Written findings in three working days.

What you get

A step-by-step map of your RFQ-to-quote process with real timings at each step.
A data-sensitivity tag on every step, so you can see where sensitive information goes and does not go.
The three changes that return the most estimating hours, with cost and expected return for each.
An honest list of what to ignore, and why.
Net monthly benefit in plain numbers, discounted for imperfect adoption.

What it is not

Not an audit. Not a software pitch. Not a report that ends by telling you to buy something.

I do not need access to your drawings, CAD, or any controlled data to do this work. We look at process and timing, not files.

Book a 15-minute call

You already know where this hurts.

The RFQ that sat in an inbox for four days because everyone thought someone else had it.
The quote you priced at 9pm on a Sunday because you're the only one who can price it.
The job you lost to a shop that answered first, not a shop that was cheaper.
The customer who stopped sending RFQs and never told you why.
The estimator waiting on you for three numbers before he can send anything.
The follow-up nobody made, on a quote that was probably going to land.

What I look at

I follow one thing end to end. The path an RFQ takes from the moment it lands to the moment a number leaves your building.

01
Where RFQs arrive. Inboxes, the website form, the phone, the customer portal, a salesman's cell.
02
Who sees it first, and how long before anyone does.
03
What has to happen before anyone can price it. Drawings, material, capacity, a decision only you can make.
04
Where it waits. The queue you can see, and the four you cannot.
05
Which quotes genuinely need you, and which only need you because nobody wrote down how you do it.
06
What happens after the quote leaves. Who follows up, when, and whether anyone logs the answer.

Here is what you actually get.

Nobody else in this market shows you the deliverable before you buy it. This is page one of the assessment document, with sample numbers standing in for yours.

The assessment is a written document, 8 to 10 pages, addressed to the owner. Page one is the findings summary: your RFQ-to-quote timeline, where it stalls, what it costs, and the first change to make. Behind it sits the full trace of every RFQ we followed, the map of where your hours go, and a prioritized fix list you can hand to whoever does the work.

PLAYGLIMPSE / SPEED-TO-QUOTE ASSESSMENTSAMPLE

Prepared for: a 28-person precision machine shop (illustrative) · Page 1 of 8

Findings summary

Median RFQ-to-quote time: 4.6 working days
Of which waiting on one person: 3.1 days
Quotes out inside 24 hours: 9%

Intake is invisible. RFQs arrive in three inboxes and the owner's cell phone. Nobody can see the queue, so nobody owns it. Two of the 14 RFQs we traced were found more than three days after they arrived.

Pricing waits for the owner. 68% of quotes needed the owner for at least one number. Half of those needed him only because the last similar job's pricing lives in his head.

Nothing happens after send. 11 of the 14 traced quotes got no follow-up of any kind. Both jobs won during the trace followed a same-day phone call.

First change

Route every RFQ to one owned inbox with a 24-hour acknowledgement rule. Cost: zero. Time: one afternoon.

Numbers on this page are illustrative. Your assessment reports your shop's actual timings, traced RFQ by RFQ.

Read the full sample document (8 pages)

How it works

Day 0.: A 15-minute call. I tell you whether this fits. If it doesn't, I'll say so on the call.
Days 1 to 3.: The work. Two or three short calls with you and whoever touches quotes. No visit, no logins, no CAD.
Day 3.: Findings in writing, plus a call to walk you through them.

Under 2 hours of your time across the three days.

The $1,500 comes off the fix.

If you commission implementation work within 30 days of getting the findings, the full $1,500 is credited. You don't pay twice, once to be told what to do and again to have it done.

If the findings say your quoting is already fast and your problem is somewhere else, that is what the report will say.

What happens after, if you want it

None of this is required. Plenty of shops take the findings and do the work themselves.

Fix sprint: $5,000
Implementation: $7,500 to $25,000
Concierge: $2,500 per month

Every rung is fixed price, agreed before work starts. No hourly meter.

This is for

US machine shops, sheet metal shops and metal fabricators. 10 to 100 employees. High-mix, low-volume work. The owner or GM makes the call.

This is not for

Shops under 10 people. Anyone who wants software chosen or installed. Anyone who wants a consultant on their floor for six weeks. Shops where quoting is not the constraint.

Who you're dealing with

Las Venus, PlayGlimpse LLC

I run Lioncrest Retail, a UK wholesale and e-commerce business doing about £500,000 a year in collectibles and trading card accessories.

I built its pricing, repricing and order systems myself, and I run it with a remote team of 6.

I started my first company at 17, an HVAC installation business that did £200,000 in revenue in its first 3 months, in the summer of 2021. Today that company, Hulubre, installs heat-pump heating and cooling systems in London homes.

I hold a BSc in Computer Science from the University of London, first-class honours.

I'm not from machining, and this assessment doesn't pretend to be. It's about the days an RFQ sits in an inbox before anyone prices it, which looks the same in every business that quotes for work.

Questions

Is this a sales call in disguise?: No. You pay $1,500 and you get a written document. If you never speak to me again you still have it.
When do I pay?: The $1,500 is invoiced after our call and is payable before we start. If we agree on the call that it isn't a fit for your shop, there's no invoice.
What if I already know what's wrong?: Then this is cheap confirmation with numbers on it for whoever you need to convince. If you already know the fix and it's working, don't buy this.
Do you need access to our ERP or drawings?: No. No logins, no CAD, no controlled data. Process and timing only.
Who sees the findings?: You. No case study, no logo on my site, no name anywhere unless you offer it.
Are you going to try to sell me software?: No. I don't resell anything and I take no commission from any vendor.
What if we do nothing afterwards?: That happens. You keep the document.

Three working days. $1,500 fixed. Credited against the fix.

Book a 15-minute call las@playglimpse.com