# Deck 04 · Self-Service Quoting Tool — Seed brief

**Status:** Draft (not yet built)
**Saved:** 2026-06-28 by Jeff (verbal)
**Owner:** Plex / OMX Strategy

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## One-line thesis

A **self-service quoting tool** for Back-to-School (BTS) parents and small customers — so they price, configure and place pre-paid school packs and small commercial orders without picking up the phone.

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## Why now

- BTS-27 parent-pre-paid pack model (Jeff's locked direction; see project memory) needs a customer-facing surface
- Small customers (sub-$1k spend) cost more to quote manually than they pay in margin
- AI + better catalog data make self-serve quoting tractable for non-standard configurations

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## Two audiences in one tool

| Audience | Use case | Today | With self-serve quoting |
|---|---|---|---|
| **BTS parents** | Pre-paid pack for child | Schools admin handles it; OMX prints labels | Parent picks school + child + class → tool builds the right pack → pre-pays → label printed at OMX |
| **Small commercial customer** | Refit / coffee order / one-off | Calls rep (no rep) or emails accounts | Self-builds the quote, sees price, places order |

## Data + info to work through tomorrow

### Problem framing (what's broken)

- BTS-25/26 review showed parent-pre-paid model is the right BTS-27 evolution (T9 in the survey, Jo Robinson-Smith voiced it)
- Three existing school-ship models: **Bulk** (school-pays) · **Pack** (conveyor) · **Pack Through** (consignment-with-returns). BTS-27 parent-pre-paid is the **safer 4th** — pre-pay = no returns.
- Small customer cost-to-serve: rep call on a $200 quote loses money. K0 customers (~40,279 of them) average $206/yr — quoting them manually is unprofitable.
- 95% of NZ businesses have no procurement function — self-serve quote is the only way to reach them.

### Memory references

- BTS Review Workshop 2026-06-15 — 44 survey responses, 9 themes (Mon CFO/survey tension)
- Three school-ship models locked (Bulk / Pack / Pack Through) per Jeff 2026-06-13
- K0 universe: 40,279 customers, $206 avg revenue per Snowflake K-band analysis
- K0–K2 universe 10-14% is cost centres of large nationals (RENTOKIL, ESSITY, etc.) — but the rest is real SMB

### Benefits (the value story)

| Lever | Rough $ value | Note |
|---|---|---|
| **BTS-27 commercial uplift** | High | Pre-paid = better cash + zero returns vs Pack Through |
| **Small-customer cost-to-serve** | High | If self-serve converts even 20% of K0 quote requests, removes $X of rep cost; quantify with finance |
| **Win rate uplift** | High | Quote turnaround drops from hours/days to minutes → win more |
| **Margin protection** | Med | Engine quotes at contract price; no rep mis-quotes |
| **BTS family stickiness** | Strategic | Parent uses tool 1×/yr → OMX brand touch on the family device |

### Open questions to resolve tomorrow

## Cross-link with Ask Max

- **Ask Max** handles the *voice* path for the small SMB ("Max, I need a quote for an office refit")
- This deck is the *web/mobile* surface for the same intent
- The two share the underlying catalog + quote engine

## What it sells

- BTS share-of-pack and price discipline
- Small-customer margin (no rep call = no cost-to-serve loss on $200 orders)
- Speed-to-quote = win rate

## Layout candidates from the gold standard

- Cover: WeWork — a parent on Wednesday night doing BTS at the kitchen table
- Problem vector grid (4): Slow / Phone-dependent / Cost-to-serve / Margin-eaten
- Solution mirror grid
- Market size: BTS family count + small customer count
- Tagline: "Quote yourself."
- Product: Composite — phone + web showing the quoter
- Mind-map breadth: Parents · Tradies · Cafés · Clinics · Schools · …
- How-it-works: BTS parent scenario walkthrough
- Differentiation: vs. calling, vs. competitors' BTS
- Architecture: links to Catalog + Pronto + Xero
- Roadmap: BTS-27 launch + small-customer rollout

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## Research deepening (background-agent, 2026-06-28)

### 1. NZ BTS market sizing

- NZ school-aged children (5-18) population ~803,000 (MoE roll July 2025: ~803k primary + secondary).
- Annual per-child BTS spend (parent out-of-pocket, NZ Life Help 2026):
  - Stationery / classroom supplies: $100-$200/yr
  - Primary uniform first-year set: $350-$650
  - Secondary uniform first-year set: $600-$1,000+ (blazers, PE gear)
  - Camps / sports / BYOD: $300-$900/yr (excluded from BTS-quoting scope)
- Stationery TAM (the addressable wedge for self-serve quoting): ~$80M-$160M NZ-wide ($100-$200 x 803k). OMX MySchool already owns a material share via existing Bulk/Pack/Pack-Through models.
- Sources: nzlifehelp.com NZ school costs 2026; MoE Education Counts roll statistics.

### 2. Existing OMX ship-to-school models (memory confirmed)

Three live models — reference memory 2026-06-13 (`reference_omx_school_ship_models.md`):
- **BTS Bulk** — school pays, classroom-level delivery
- **BTS Pack** — conveyor-built individual packs
- **Pack Through** — consignment-with-returns (margin-leaky)

Jeff's BTS-27 **parent-pre-paid pack** is the FOURTH model. Strictly safer than Pack Through: pre-pay = zero returns risk. Real innovation is the **commercial layer** (parent-pays vs school-pays) and **per-student label** + **window mechanic** — NOT new logistics rails.

### 3. Small business quoting cost-to-serve

- B2B SaaS median CAC by motion (2026 benchmarks): **self-serve $702**, sales-led $11,400 — 16x gap. This is the lever the quoting tool monetises (push K0/K1 from sales-led to self-serve).
- B2B SaaS median payback 8.6 months; top performers <12 months. LTV:CAC target ≥3:1.
- SMB-segment SaaS CAC band: $3K-$8K (mid-market $8K-$20K; enterprise $20K-$50K).
- OMX read-across: a K0 customer averaging $206/yr (per Snowflake K-band analysis in seed) can NEVER pay back a $700+ CAC under a sales-led model. Self-serve is the only economically viable channel for K0.
- Sources: GTM 8020 CAC stats 2026; Powered By Search B2B SaaS CAC benchmarks; Data-Mania B2B Tech Startup CAC benchmarks 2026.

### 4. Comparable self-serve quoting tools

- **Officeworks AU** — 30-Day Business Account is online application + invoice management + multi-address, but **no self-serve CPQ surface**. Quote requests go to a rep. Gap to exploit: NZ equivalent has the same gap; first-mover advantage exists.
- **Staples Connect (US)** — small-business loyalty/portal layer, not a true CPQ.
- **Lyreco (EU)** — punchout to procurement systems for enterprise; no self-serve quoting for SMB.
- **Bunnings Trade (NZ/AU)** — PowerPass account is volume-discount + invoicing; no online quote-build.
- **Conclusion**: none of the obvious comparators ships a true self-serve CPQ for SMBs. OMX has clean whitespace if it gets there first.
- Sources: officeworks.com.au help centre (business accounts); industry CPQ comparators.

### 5. NZ small business count (the 540k figure)

- MBIE Small Business Factsheet 2022: ~535,000 small businesses (<20 FTE) — 97% of NZ enterprises.
- More recent MBIE/Stats NZ: total business count ~612,417 (2024-25); SMBs <20 FTE remain ~97% = ~594,000.
- The 540k figure in Ask Max sits on the conservative 2022 baseline. Acceptable headline; if challenged, fall back to "approximately 540,000-590,000 NZ small businesses under 20 FTE, MBIE."
- Sources: MBIE Small Business Factsheet 2022 (mbie.govt.nz/dmsdocument/27313); MBIE Defining Small Business 2019.

### 6. Quote turnaround benchmarks (industry → ground the "speed" claim)

- Traditional B2B distributor quote turnaround: **3-5 days** is the legacy baseline (now uncompetitive).
- Current best-practice: **standard configurations <1 hour**; complex/engineered **same-day**.
- Cincom CPQ research: 48-hour turnaround is now a deal-loser; "first accurate quote often wins regardless of price" in urgent segments.
- Distributors with manual special-order processes lose **3-8% of gross margin** on non-stock items.
- Mid-market companies (10k-100k SKUs) lose ~23% of potential revenue to bad product data.
- Sources: Cincom blog on CPQ quote turnaround 2026; Bizowie special-order management; williamflaiz.com SKU data quality.

### 7. Integration touchpoints (OMX-specific)

- **Pronto** — order rails; SO header carries customer + carrier + price; quote engine writes here.
- **Xero** / **MYOB** — SMB accounting integration is table-stakes for self-serve invoice flow (NZ has ~600k Xero subs across AU/NZ).
- **Salesforce N3 / Buying_Group__c** — already houses ~5,498 N3 accounts; quote engine must respect contract pricing here (per `reference_omx_n3_definition.md`).
- **MySchool** — existing parent-facing surface for BTS lists; logical host for parent-pre-paid quote build.
- **D_CUSTOMER.ACCOUNTCODE** — 99.6% match key to SF accounts; reliable join.