In small and mid-sized businesses across industrial, manufacturing, and construction sectors (and others), growth conversations usually start with sales. More leads. Bigger contracts. But for many of these businesses, especially the ones running lean with tight margins, the real opportunity for growth is not in selling more. It’s in how they buy.
Every dollar saved in purchasing directly boosts profitability in a way that few sales efforts can replicate. As Joel Collin-Demers points out, for companies operating at a 10 to 20 percent profit margin, saving just $1 in procurement has the same bottom-line impact as generating $5 to $10 in new sales. That kind of leverage turns smart sourcing into a growth engine—and highlights why investing in purchasing efficiency is just as important as driving revenue
Most companies still treat sourcing, RFQs, and quote comparison as administrative work. It’s done manually—teams email vendors one by one, dig through PDFs and email threads just to line up pricing, or reuse last year’s order just to move things along. This kind of busywork eats up time that could be spent on strategy or negotiation. A study by Ivalua found that procurement teams waste over 22% of their time each year on paper-based or manual processes. For companies that haven’t yet digitized these workflows, that inefficiency adds up to real operational cost.
Issuing a single RFQ manually can take between one to three hours, depending on the complexity, number of vendors, and time spent comparing responses. At a fully loaded labor rate of $50 to $90 per hour, each RFQ costs between $50 and $270 in labor alone. For a team handling 5 RFQs per day, that adds up to $250 to $1,350 daily, or up to $27,000 per quarter in time spent just managing and comparing quotes. These costs often go unnoticed but represent a major operational drain—and a clear opportunity for automation to deliver immediate ROI.
This is exactly where automation helps. By investing in tools that streamline RFQs and centralize quote comparisons, SMBs gain control and clarity. These tools can send requests to multiple vendors at once, standardize how quotes come in, and provide a clean side-by-side view of price, lead time, and terms. Buyers spend less time organizing and more time making informed decisions.
It’s not just about saving time. Automation builds a data trail. You start seeing pricing trends. You understand which suppliers are reliable, where the negotiation room is, and what a fair price really looks like. That kind of insight is strategic. It makes future sourcing smarter, not just faster.
McKinsey research shows that deploying digital tools—like sourcing automation, AI-driven spend analytics, and streamlined RFQ processes—can lead to 5–15% cost savings in the first 6–12 months. That efficiency gain comes from better price negotiation, reduced manual effort, and real-time insights into spend. Over time, the benefits compound: procurement transitions from a transactional function to a strategic lever that protects margins, builds resilience, and supports broader growth objectives
And in today’s environment, where supply chains are unpredictable and pricing fluctuates, being able to move faster and source smarter is a competitive edge. For companies that run lean, that kind of agility can be the difference between breaking even and turning a profit.
Many SMBs have already invested heavily in sales tech — CRMs, marketing automation, demand gen platforms. They’ve optimized the front of the business. But on the back end, where money goes out, there’s often no system at all. That’s a missed opportunity.
Buying smarter is not just about cutting costs. It’s a growth strategy. If you’re trying to build a more profitable, resilient business, start by modernizing how you source and purchase.
Pick one category. Send a batch RFQ through an automated tool. Compare the quotes side by side. See how quickly you can act, how competitive the pricing is, and how much easier the process feels. Then scale it.
Because growing your business isn’t just about what you sell. It’s about what you keep.