Freedom Independent Sales
Self-audit · about 30 minutes

The 6-point pipeline self-audit

Six checks you can run alone, from your own accounting, CRM or shop software and your inbox. No call and no sign-up. Each one looks for money your reports can't show, because a quote nobody chased and a customer who quietly left look the same as a slow month.

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Notes for your trade: machine shops · fire & life-safety · commercial HVAC · engineering firms · dental labs

01

Open quotes nobody followed up

What to pull
Every quote or proposal sent in the last 12 months that is still marked open, pending or sent. Use your quoting tool, ERP, CRM, or a search of your sent mail.
How to count it
How many had no contact logged after the day they went out. Then add up their total value.
What bad looks like
A total you'd notice if it arrived as one order, sitting there with no second touch. Each one is work you already paid to estimate.
Why your reports don't show it
Most systems show a quote as open until someone marks it won or lost. A quote the buyer forgot about looks exactly like one still under review.

Machine shops: JobBOSS, E2, ProShop and Global Shop all hold a quote as open until someone closes it out, so the forgotten ones hide in plain sight.

Fire & life-safety: Run it one step earlier too: deficient reports from the last 90 days against repair quotes created for those sites. Then repair quotes pending more than 30 days, and how many follow-ups each got.

Commercial HVAC: For replacement quotes open more than 60 days, write down whether you know when each customer's capital budget locks.

Engineering firms: Proposals sent 3 to 18 months ago still marked pending, with no contact in 60 days. Add your on-hold projects and the date anyone last asked about each.

Your number

02

Your quote-to-win rate

What to pull
The same 12 months: how many quotes or proposals went out, and how many you won. By count, and by value if you can.
How to count it
Won divided by sent. If your records allow it, do it twice: quotes that got at least one follow-up, and quotes that got none.
What bad looks like
You can't produce the number without guessing, or the quotes with no follow-up win noticeably less often than the rest.
Why your reports don't show it
Reports show what you won, not what you sent. Quotes nobody marked lost drop out of the math, so the rate most owners carry in their head is wins over decided quotes, not wins over everything sent.

Machine shops: In a CNCCookbook survey of 100 shops, the average shop booked 51% of its quotes and the best booked 70%.

Commercial HVAC: BuildOps' 2026 benchmark puts the average quote-to-close rate at 48.9% and its top tier at 62.8%. That's the vendor's own platform data across several commercial trades, not HVAC alone.

Engineering firms: Unanet's 2025 AEC report has firms winning about half of the bids they pursue. It's a vendor report and doesn't disclose its sample size.

Dental labs: Doctors send cases rather than accept quotes, so skip this one. Check 5 is your version of it.

Your number

03

The Friday 6pm test

What to pull
Your own website form, RFQ inbox or service-request form, and your phone.
How to count it
Fill it in at 6pm on a Friday from a personal email address, the way a new buyer would. Write down when the first real reply arrives, and whether anyone asked a question or offered a time.
What bad looks like
Nothing before Monday. An automatic "we got it" with no next step. Or no reply at all.
Why your reports don't show it
Web requests usually land in a shared inbox. Nobody measures how long a new buyer waits, so the number doesn't exist anywhere until you test it.

In a test of 2,241 US companies, 23% never answered a web inquiry at all, and the companies that did answer took 42 hours on average (Harvard Business Review, 2011; an older study, mostly consumer-facing firms).

Machine shops: Also pull your last 20 RFQs and write two times next to each: when it arrived and when the quote went out. Modern Machine Shop's 2025 benchmarking reports a median quote turnaround of about one day for its Top Shops.

Commercial HVAC: Run it on your service-request form at 6pm on a weekday as well. It's the one number on this list no report shows.

Your number

04

Meetings booked vs. held, last 60 days

What to pull
Your calendar and your reps' calendars for the last 60 days: every first meeting, site visit or call booked with a prospect.
How to count it
Three numbers: booked, held, and no-shows. Then, for each no-show, whether anyone rebooked it.
What bad looks like
No-shows that nobody rebooked. Each one was a buyer who raised a hand and then heard nothing.
Why your reports don't show it
A calendar shows what's coming, not what didn't happen. A no-show just disappears from the week.

Your number

05

Customers who bought in the last 2 years, but not the last 12 months

What to pull
Sales by customer from your accounting system for the last 24 months, split into two 12-month columns.
How to count it
Customers with sales in the earlier year and nothing in the latest. Add up their earlier-year total, and mark any nobody has called since they went quiet.
What bad looks like
Names on the list nobody has contacted, and a total that would matter as one new customer.
Why your reports don't show it
No system sends a "stopped ordering" alert. A customer who moved the work elsewhere looks like a slow quarter.

Machine shops: For your top 20 customers, also check whether the buyer is the same person as two years ago. A new buyer inherits a vendor list without the history behind it.

Fire & life-safety: Customers billed 13 to 24 months ago with nothing in the last 12. Field software shows the inspections on the schedule, not the ones that never got booked.

Commercial HVAC: Agreements that expired in the last 24 months without a renewal, added up by annual value. An expired agreement drops off the schedule instead of showing up as a loss.

Engineering firms: Clients billed in 2021 to 2023 with no proposal since, added up by their best year. Zweig Group puts repeat clients at roughly three-quarters of A/E firm revenue (cited without a year or sample size).

Dental labs: Doctors billed 12 to 24 months ago with no invoice in the last 90 days. Then your top 30 doctors, this year's monthly average against last year's: anyone down 30% or more. Account level only, no patient or case detail.

Your number

06

Where your last 10 new customers came from

What to pull
Your last 10 new customers and, for each one, how the first conversation started: a referral (from whom), a buyer who moved from another company, your website, a trade show, outreach, a platform.
How to count it
Group them by source.
What bad looks like
Most came from one or two sources, or you can't say for half of them. Either way, the next 10 depend on luck.
Why your reports don't show it
Accounting records who paid, not how they found you. Referral sources aren't customers, so they're in nobody's billing system.

Engineering firms: Name the five architects or GCs who brought you the most work in the last five years. When did you last talk to each?

Dental labs: New doctors in the last 18 months who sent one or two cases and none since. The trial got delivered; nobody owned the call after it.

Your number

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