Keep long custom equipment deals moving from first inquiry to installed machine
Every quote needs engineering, pricing and several approvals, and the buyer has a committee of their own. We set up HubSpot to track each step and connect it to your ERP, so nothing waits on someone's inbox.
Free, 30 minutes, and you'll leave with at least one clear next step.
Why custom equipment deals stall
Sales leaders at engineered-to-order companies describe the same few problems.
The quote waits on engineering
A rep promises a quote in a week. Engineering has a stack of others ahead of it, and sales can't see the queue.
Approvals happen by email
Pricing, margin and delivery date all need a sign-off. The thread grows, and the deal sits.
Dead quotes pad the forecast
Old quotes never get closed out, so the open deal list still counts machines no customer plans to buy. Production plans around deals that died months ago.
Service requests vanish
After install, calls and emails about the machine reach whoever picks up, with no tracking.
Who is involved in a custom equipment sale?
On your side, a rep, an applications or project engineer, someone who sets price and someone who approves margin and delivery. On the buyer's side, an engineer who writes the spec, a plant or operations manager who lives with the machine, purchasing, and sometimes an outside consultant or dealer.
A CRM set up for single-buyer sales misses most of that. We set up HubSpot so each deal shows every person involved and their role, and each internal step has an owner and a due date. Managers can see whether a deal is waiting on the customer or on you.
A standard product sale and an engineered-to-order sale
Standard product
- Price from a list
- One or two buyers
- Quote in a day
- Order goes straight to the ERP
Engineered to order
- Price built from engineering input
- A committee of buyers and influencers
- Quote after reviews and approvals
- Order needs drawings, specs and a confirmed delivery date
Deal stages we often start from
We change these to match how you sell, but this is a common first draft.
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Inquiry
Contact, company, application and how they found you.
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Discovery
Requirements, site details and the people involved on both sides.
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Engineering review
A task to engineering with a due date, and the result recorded on the deal.
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Quote and approval
Price, margin and delivery approved inside HubSpot before the quote goes out.
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Negotiation
Revisions tracked on the same deal, with follow-up reminders.
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Won or lost
Won deals create the order in the ERP. Lost deals record a reason.
Two custom equipment makers we've worked with
A power systems manufacturer left Salesforce and now sells from one system tied to its ERP
Read the case studyA commercial oven maker put its forgotten leads back in front of sales in just over 45 days
Read the case studyHow those two clients track engineering work
Both sell machines that need engineering before a price exists. At the power systems manufacturer, every sale needs engineering input, pricing and several approvals. We made each one a stage, with reminders and alerts when a deal stalls. Managers can now see whether a deal is waiting on engineering, on pricing or on the customer.
At the commercial oven manufacturer, design work runs in its own pipeline. A deal that needs a ventilation design sends a request to the design team, and revisions stay on the same record instead of in email. The results for each client are on its case study page.
After the sale, service and the next machine
The installed machine is the start of the next deal. Service requests, parts orders and upgrade conversations all point to the next purchase. We set up service inboxes so each email becomes a request with a named owner and a target reply time, the way we did for the oven maker.
Because service history sits on the same company record as sales, your rep can see that a plant has called about the same machine several times this year. That's a reason to talk about a replacement, and it's a conversation that used to happen too late.
Custom equipment questions
How do we track engineering reviews inside a deal?
Make engineering review a pipeline stage. Entering it creates a task for the engineer with a due date, and the deal can't move on until the result is recorded.
Can HubSpot handle deals that take a year or more to close?
Yes. Long deals need stages with expected time in each, reminders when a deal sits too long and a clear next step on every record.
How do we keep a forecast honest when every quote is custom?
Require a next step and a close date on every open deal, and close out quotes that have gone quiet. Stalled-deal alerts catch the rest.
How do we record everyone on the buyer's side?
Add each person to the deal with a role, such as engineer, plant manager, purchasing or consultant. Reports can then show which roles show up in the deals you win.
Can a won deal create the order in our ERP?
Yes, once you've agreed which system owns orders. The won deal passes the customer, price and delivery date to the ERP, so they're entered once. Drawings and specs can travel with it as files.
Should service requests live in the same system as sales?
Yes, if service drives repeat sales. Service history on the company record shows reps which customers are ready to talk about a new machine.
Can parts and upgrade sales be tied to the original machine sale?
Yes. When parts orders and upgrade quotes sit on the same company record as the original deal, reps can see each site's full history. That shows which plants are due for a conversation about a new machine.
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