This page teaches a merchandiser or buyer how to track several enquiries at once, from first message to accepted quotation, in one sheet. This lesson mainly teaches information: what a complete tracking sheet needs as columns, and how to read it to see which enquiry needs attention next. At work, a factory or a buyer rarely handles one enquiry at a time. Several sit at different stages together, and without a single sheet recording all of them, an enquiry can sit unanswered for days simply because nobody is tracking it.
Omar, the owner of Cedar & Co., manages a mixed order book with Delta Garments: some styles ordered once as Make to Order, others restocked repeatedly as Make to Stock, together a hybrid mix across his domestic business. At any time, Omar has several enquiries open at once: one waiting on Delta Garments' quotation, one where he is still deciding on the terms, one already accepted and moving to production. This lesson brings together everything taught earlier in this course, reading an enquiry, costing it, setting its terms, and presenting it, into one tracking sheet that shows every enquiry's own stage at a glance.
You need: lessons 1.1 to 1.4, since this lesson brings together the reading, costing, terms and presentation skills already taught, rather than introducing a new one.
By the end of this lesson you can:
Not covered here: this lesson is the course's own recap and does not introduce new reading, costing, terms-setting or presentation rules; those are covered in lessons 1.1 to 1.4.
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Tracking sheet | A single sheet recording every open enquiry's own stage, from first message to accepted quotation, in one place. |
| Enquiry stage | The point an enquiry has reached: received, specification confirmed, quotation sent, terms agreed, or accepted. |
| Stalled enquiry | An enquiry that has remained at the same stage for longer than expected, usually because a question or a reply is still outstanding. |
| Order book | The full set of a buyer's or a factory's open and confirmed orders, tracked together rather than one at a time. |
| Conversion | The share of enquiries that reach an accepted quotation, out of all enquiries received in a given period. |
| Mixed order book | An order book containing more than one business model, such as both Make to Order and Make to Stock orders, tracked in the same sheet. |
A tracking sheet exists to answer one question at a glance: where does each open enquiry currently stand? A complete sheet gives every enquiry its own row, recording the buyer, the product, the stage it has reached, and the date it last moved. Without this, an enquiry that is waiting on a reply looks identical to one nobody has touched in a week, and both look the same as one already accepted, and problems go unnoticed until a buyer asks why nothing has happened.
| What can differ | The shapes you will meet | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Factory tracking many buyers' enquiries | Delta Garments tracks enquiries from several buyers at once, export and domestic, each with its own stage, so Mona can see at a glance which enquiry has been waiting longest for a reply. | Without one shared sheet, different merchandisers handling different buyers can lose track of which enquiries are stalled and need a follow-up. |
| Buyer tracking many factories' quotations | A buyer sourcing from more than one factory, comparing quotations for the same style, tracks each factory's own quotation in one sheet to compare price, MOQ and lead time side by side. | Comparing quotations only works cleanly if every factory's terms are recorded in the same format, in the same sheet, rather than scattered across separate messages. |
| Domestic buyer, mixed MTO and MTS order book | Cedar & Co. tracks both one-off MTO styles and repeat MTS stock styles in the same sheet, since a stalled MTS repeat order can sit unnoticed just as easily as a stalled MTO order if the two are tracked separately. | A hybrid order book needs one sheet, not two, since a buyer such as Omar needs to see his whole commitment to Delta Garments at once, not two disconnected pictures. |
| Management review of the whole order book | A factory owner or a buyer's management periodically reviews the tracking sheet to ask how many enquiries converted to accepted quotations in the last month, and how long each stage typically takes. | A tracking sheet that records dates at each stage can answer a conversion-rate question directly, without anyone having to reconstruct the history from old messages. |
Cedar & Co.'s tracking sheet currently shows five open items with Delta Garments: two MTO styles and three MTS repeat styles, at different stages. Omar reviews the sheet and notices one MTS repeat enquiry, for the same style tracked in lesson 1.3, has sat at "quotation sent" for nine days, well beyond the two or three days a repeat style's terms normally take to agree.
| Enquiry | Business model | Stage | Days at this stage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Style 1, new MTO | MTO | Specification confirmed | 2 |
| Style 2, repeat MTS | MTS | Quotation sent | 9 |
| Style 3, repeat MTS | MTS | Terms agreed | 1 |
| Style 4, new MTO | MTO | Accepted | - |
| Style 5, repeat MTS | MTS | Received | 1 |
The nine-day gap on Style 2 stands out clearly against Style 3's one-day gap for a similar repeat style, prompting Omar to follow up directly rather than assume the quotation is simply still being considered.
The worked numberOver the last full month, Cedar & Co.'s tracking sheet recorded eight enquiries sent to Delta Garments, of which six reached an accepted quotation.
Of the two enquiries that did not convert, the sheet shows both stalled at the quotation-sent stage for more than a week before Cedar & Co. chose a different supplier instead.
A common mistake is tracking MTO and MTS enquiries in two separate sheets, on the reasoning that repeat MTS orders are simpler and need less attention than new MTO styles. This reasoning misses that a stalled MTS repeat order, like Style 2 in Omar's own order book, can sit just as unnoticed as a stalled MTO order if nobody is scanning that second sheet with the same discipline.
This mistake costs real business when it goes unnoticed. Style 2's nine-day stall, if it had gone unnoticed in a separate, less-watched sheet, could have led Cedar & Co. to place the same repeat order with a different domestic factory instead, a loss of repeat business that a single, regularly scanned sheet would have caught after two or three days instead of nine. Tracking every enquiry, MTO and MTS alike, in the same sheet costs nothing extra and catches exactly this kind of stall before it becomes a lost order.
A business rarely handles one enquiry at a time; several sit open together, each at a different point between the first message and an accepted quotation. A tracking sheet gives every open enquiry its own row, showing which stage it has reached and how long it has been there. Reading the sheet regularly shows which enquiry has been waiting too long and needs a follow-up, whether it is a brand-new style or a simple repeat order. The sheet can also answer bigger questions later, like how many enquiries turn into real orders each month. Keeping every enquiry, of every business model, in one sheet is what makes a stall visible before it turns into a lost order.
Cedar & Co.'s management review asks Omar to report last month's conversion rate with Delta Garments, and to explain, using the tracking sheet, why the two enquiries that did not convert were lost.
Can Omar answer management's question directly from the tracking sheet, or does he need to reconstruct the history from old messages first? Decide before opening the answer.
Omar can answer directly from the tracking sheet, since it already records the stage and the date of every enquiry, including the two that did not convert. 6 ÷ 8 = 75% conversion rate, and both unconverted enquiries show the same "quotation sent" stall pattern now repeating on Style 2.
First, because the sheet recorded each enquiry's stage and date as it happened, Omar does not need to search back through old messages to answer management's question; the number and the reason are already sitting in the sheet.
Second, Omar can also flag to management that Style 2's current nine-day stall matches the exact pattern behind last month's two losses, turning the report into a warning that lets management act on Style 2 now, before it becomes a third lost enquiry.
Style 2, the stalled repeat enquiry, is for 6,000 pieces at Order A's own fixed FOB scale of USD 3.20 per piece, an order value of USD 19,200.
Reviewing the tracking sheet and following up on Style 2 today, rather than letting it reach nine days unnoticed, costs Omar only the time it takes to send one message to Delta Garments asking for an update.
A single regularly scanned tracking sheet is what turns a costly, repeated pattern of lost business into one short follow-up message sent in time.
Open the course workbook's Tracking Sheet, which combines the Enquiry Log, Quotation Build, Terms, and Presentation Log sheets from lessons 1.1 to 1.4 into one row per enquiry, with its current stage and days at that stage calculated automatically.
Download the full working sheet, with Cedar & Co.'s five current enquiries already filled in, from the link on this course's page.
1. What is the main purpose of a tracking sheet that lists every open enquiry in one row each?
2. Why should MTO and MTS enquiries be tracked in the same sheet rather than two separate ones?
3. A tracking sheet shows 10 enquiries sent last month, of which 7 reached an accepted quotation. What is the conversion rate?
| EN | AR | FR | TR | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tracking sheet | ورقة تتبع | Feuille de suivi | Takip sayfası | A single sheet recording every open enquiry's own stage, from first message to accepted quotation, in one place. |
| Enquiry stage | مرحلة الاستفسار | Étape de la demande | Talep aşaması | The point an enquiry has reached: received, specification confirmed, quotation sent, terms agreed, or accepted. |
| Stalled enquiry | استفسار متوقف | Demande bloquée | Durmuş talep | An enquiry that has remained at the same stage for longer than expected, usually because a question or a reply is still outstanding. |
| Order book | دفتر الطلبيات | Carnet de commandes | Sipariş defteri | The full set of a buyer's or a factory's open and confirmed orders, tracked together rather than one at a time. |
| Conversion | معدل التحويل | Taux de conversion | Dönüşüm oranı | The share of enquiries that reach an accepted quotation, out of all enquiries received in a given period. |
| Mixed order book | دفتر طلبيات مختلط | Carnet de commandes mixte | Karma sipariş defteri | An order book containing more than one business model, such as both Make to Order and Make to Stock orders, tracked in the same sheet. |
This course is complete. You can now read an enquiry, cost it, set its terms, present it, and track it, from first message to accepted quotation, across a mixed order book of export and domestic, MTO and MTS business. Back to the course map