Sales ProcessThe sales process veries widely across an array of industries and technologies, if you are selling cars then yes, a mere 10% of quotations end up in sales. If you are selling environmentally changing technologies to multi billion dollar companies, then to even get the opportunity to quote means you are well along the path to potential sales. Companies such as Rio Tinto and Vale don't give vendors an opportunity to quote and negotiate multi year contracts unless they are very serious about the opportunity. These are not simply sales, these are partnerships with mulit year parts and service contracts attached to them. In this siutation, entertaining a quote means months of education, multiple meetings, Thousands and thousands invested in time and demonstrations and realtionships built. The quotation may be more than a mere formaility but in this situation it is a negotiation to an end.