Choosing a CRM for your aggregates business is one of the most important business decisions you’ll make. The right choice can increase your profits significantly, while the wrong one can waste time and effort. 

Read this blog to see why relying on generic software isn’t the best idea and the top 5 features you should look for when choosing aggregates industry software. 

The limits of spreadsheets and horizontal CRMs for aggregate producers

At first glance, spreadsheets and general CRMs seem like manageable tools. They’re familiar, flexible, and cheap to start with. 

But as soon as your quoting volume grows, they start to break down. Let’s look at why.

Aggregate suppliers lose margins by relying on spreadsheets because they can’t handle live pricing. Freight, diesel, and material costs change constantly, but spreadsheets don’t update automatically.

Your team ends up quoting off outdated numbers, cutting into profit without realizing it. And because these tools aren’t built for aggregates, even small errors like rounding mistakes or missed surcharges can cost thousands.

On the other hand, horizontal CRMs like Salesforce or HubSpot offer great contact tracking, but they don’t understand how aggregate producers work. 

They lack integrations with dispatch, don’t enforce margin floors, and can’t calculate per-ton pricing. To make them work, you often pay for custom configurations and manual workflows that slow down your sales instead of speeding it up.

Neither spreadsheets nor horizontal CRMs are built for how your business operates. They force your team to work harder to stay accurate. 

That’s where an aggregates industry software comes in. 

5 things to look for in an aggregates CRM

Aggregates producers need a system that reflects how they actually sell: by material, by ton, and by delivery zone. Here are 5 essential features that you should consider when choosing software.

Live pricing and margin protection

Aggregates producers quote in one of the most price-sensitive markets out there. A few cents per ton can make or break profitability. That’s why your CRM should pull live cost feeds of freight, diesel, and material directly into every quote.

When the data is live, every rep works from the same numbers, protecting your margins and reducing the risk of underbidding.

Look for systems that can enforce margin floors, automatically flag low-profit quotes, and apply dynamic pricing rules that update as costs shift.

With this cost intelligence, your team can quote faster and more accurately while maintaining the profitability you’ve worked hard to build.

Two-way integration with dispatch and ERP systems

Every quote should connect seamlessly to your dispatch system. This ensures your sales commitments align with real production capacity and delivery schedules, reducing the risk of overbooking or missed loads. 

Without integration, reps risk selling work your plants can’t fulfill or losing track of what’s actually been delivered.

A purpose-built aggregates CRM integrates directly with systems like Command Alkon or Sysdyne, syncing quotes, orders, and delivery data automatically. That means no more double entry, fewer mistakes, and complete visibility from quote to ticket.

With this level of connectivity, your sales and operations teams can finally work from the same live information, reducing confusion and improving customer response times.

Quoting workflows built for aggregates

This is one of the most important features to look at when choosing a CRM. 

That’s because aggregates quoting isn’t one-size-fits-all. You’re managing different materials, tonnage, delivery zones, and pricing structures. Your CRM should handle all of it with ease. Otherwise, what is the point of even investing in one? 

Look for platforms that allow you to build quotes by product, region, and customer type, using pre-set templates. The right CRM should also offer real-time approval workflows to ensure that any quote below target margins is reviewed before it’s sent, without slowing down your team.

This kind of control helps your reps respond faster while keeping pricing accurate and compliant with company policies. 

Business intelligence and forecasting

The right CRM will help you with quoting accurately, but will also give you the data you need to make better business decisions. While generic CRMs can help you provide some of that raw data, you still need to spend hours every week to make use of it. 

With a specific CRM for aggregates producers:

• You get pre-built dashboards that visualize key metrics like win/loss rates, average margins by region, and quote-to-order conversion.
  
• Forecasting tools project upcoming demand based on quote volume, helping you plan production, adjust inventory, and anticipate slowdowns before they hit.

With this level of visibility, management gains insights that drive smarter decisions across the business.

Ease of use and adoption

All the features we’ve discussed so far are important. But what if integrating such software takes 6 months of your time and your team dislikes using it? Would you still invest in it? 

The best CRM is the one that’s quick to adopt and the one your team actually uses. 

Aggregates operations move quickly, and your system should match that pace. Look for platforms with a clean, intuitive interface, mobile accessibility, and minimal training requirements.

User-friendly software reduces onboarding time and ensures your entire team uses it without friction.

Questions to ask before choosing your CRM

While we’ve discussed the top 5 features you should look for in an aggregates software, here are some other questions to keep in mind while considering your options. 

• Does it connect directly with your dispatch software?
  This ensures your quotes reflect real delivery capacity and scheduling.
  
• Can it enforce pricing logic and margin thresholds?
  Systems with built-in pricing rules help protect profit and consistency.
  
• Is it designed for aggregate quoting, not just generic sales tracking?
  Look for tools that understand tons, zones, and material mixes.
  
• How easily can your team see ROI once implemented?
  You should be able to measure time saved and margin improvement quickly.
  
• Can it scale with your growth and integrate with other tools you use? The CRM you choose should support expansion without creating data silos.

Producers using such software see results fast. 

Their quotes go out in minutes. Sales and operations teams share the same real-time data, reducing miscommunication. And managers track margin performance and customer trends in one place easily. 

Read on to see how Slabstack provides all the features we’ve discussed in this blog. 

Slabstack: Software purpose-built for aggregates producers and suppliers 

Slabstack, the #1 CRM for aggregates producers and suppliers, brings together everything you need to quote, manage, and win work profitably:

• Live pricing and margin visibility that updates automatically with every quote.
  
• Two-way dispatch integration with Command Alkon, Sysdyne, and other leading systems.
  
• Dynamic quoting workflows that protect profits while keeping sales fast.
  
• Predictive analytics that turn your sales data into actionable insights.

With Slabstack, aggregates producers move beyond manual quoting and disconnected systems. They gain a platform that unites their data, simplifies their workflows, and gives them confidence in every quote they send.

See how Slabstack connects your quoting, dispatch, and CRM in one system. Book a walkthrough.

Quoting for aggregates producers used to mean plugging numbers into a spreadsheet with different sections for type, size, grade, freight, taxes, markup, and repeating the same process for each customer. 

For years, that formula worked well enough, even when costs were changing, because there was no better alternative.

But now, most aggregate producers are realizing that manual static quoting is costing them time and money. 

In this blog, we’ll explore how the quoting process for aggregates producers has evolved, why traditional methods no longer hold up, and how real-time, data-driven quoting is helping producers protect profit and respond faster to market change.

Traditional quoting for aggregates: What most producers still do

For most aggregates producers, quoting still follows a familiar routine rooted in manual steps and spreadsheets. When a customer requests a quote, producers typically:

• Identify the aggregate type, size, and grade required.
• Estimate production, labor, and haul costs.
• Add applicable taxes, fuel adjustments, and environmental fees.
• Apply a markup based on cost-plus or tiered pricing models.

This traditional method provides some structure, but the main issue here is that it relies on static inputs and disconnected data sources that don’t reflect market volatility. 

Freight rates, fuel costs, and surcharges can shift by the hour, leaving producers exposed when they quote using outdated numbers.

For example, by the time a quote reaches a customer, diesel prices may have risen, or freight rates might have changed. This means you either end up underquoting and losing margins. Or overquoting and losing customers’ trust. 

Let’s understand this in more detail below. 

What are the problems of manual quoting for aggregate producers? 

Manual quoting through spreadsheets gives an illusion of control. In reality, manual quoting hides problems that quietly erode profitability. Here are the most common ones we see across producers: 

• Freight rates move faster than updates: Diesel surcharges and trucking rates shift daily. If freight tables aren’t refreshed in real time, quotes can quickly become outdated, locking in the wrong costs.
  
• Reps use different versions of data: When multiple salespeople in your team pull from separate files, consistency disappears. One rep may quote using last week’s rate, while another uses numbers from two months ago. That inconsistency confuses customers and also creates internal undercutting.
  
• Quote turnaround is too slow: Manual reviews and approvals can delay quotes by hours or even days. In a market where faster quoting helps construction suppliers close more deals, slow turnaround means missed opportunities.
  
• Margin visibility is reactive: Managers often don’t see actual margins until month-end or even year-end in some cases. By that time, it’s already too late to correct mistakes. A small error, say $0.15 per ton, on a 50,000-ton order can mean $7,500 in lost profit. Multiply that across every quote, every week, and the impact adds up fast.

All the issues we mentioned above stem from the same problem: disconnected quoting data. Without live cost inputs or automated checks, producers spend more time reconciling spreadsheets than quoting strategically.

That’s why many producers are updating how they quote. 

They’re combining their experience with real-time data so they can move faster, quote accurately, and keep margins steady. Read on to know more. 

How does automated real-time quoting help aggregate producers? 

Data-driven quoting strengthens your existing quoting process. When you have access to live cost feeds and built-in pricing logic, you can build quotes that reflect current market realities and protect margins automatically.

With real-time quoting, aggregate producers can:

• Pull live material, freight, and fuel costs directly into every quote.
• Enforce margin floors automatically to prevent accidental underbidding.
• Sync quotes with dispatch and ERP systems for instant conversion to orders.
• Track win/loss trends to refine pricing strategies over time.

All of this helps with getting accurate quotes out faster. 

In practice, this would look like this: Your sales rep starts a new quote for a 20,000-ton order and immediately sees diesel surcharges adjust to that day’s market rate. Freight costs recalculate automatically based on delivery distance and truck availability, and material prices pull straight from the plant’s live data feed. Real costs flow from dispatch, giving the rep a clear view of the total landed cost before they even hit send.

Managers view the same quote on their dashboards and check margins by plant or customer in real time. 

This connected visibility turns quoting into a controlled, strategic process. One where teams can respond in minutes and know every number reflects the current market.

But how do you get this level of automation? Let’s find out. 

How to start automating your quoting process? (5 steps you can take today) 

Moving to automated, data-driven quoting doesn’t require a complete overhaul of your existing systems. It starts with simple, practical steps that build momentum.

1. Centralize your cost data: The first thing to pay attention to is centralizing your existing cost data. You don’t want your team to have 10 different Excel sheets for different costs. Bring material, freight, and fuel cost tables into one place. Eliminate version conflicts by creating a single source of truth.
   
2. Automate cost updates: Once all your data is in one place, the next step is to update those numbers. Even weekly manual refreshes can dramatically improve quote accuracy. As you mature, move toward live data integrations.
   
3. Standardize quote templates: For this, start by creating templates your team can use for every quote. These templates should include fields for live cost data, automatic margin calculations, and built-in approval checks. Set clear rules for when a manager needs to review a quote and when a rep can send it directly. Keep the layout simple so reps can fill in details quickly while the system handles the math and margin validation.
   
4. Track quote-to-order conversions: Analyzing data is just as important. Understand which quotes convert and which don’t. Eventually, this data will build the foundation for better pricing decisions and help you plan for long-term success.
   
5. Integrate quoting with dispatch and billing: If you’re still handling quotes and dispatch separately, start by connecting them gradually. Begin with shared data between your quoting and dispatch systems, so accepted quotes can move into scheduling faster. Even partial integration reduces manual entry, avoids double work, and ensures your teams are referencing the same data. As you automate more, quotes can eventually flow directly into dispatch for scheduling and billing, bringing your sales and operations closer together.

Each improvement reduces manual work and brings producers closer to a predictive, connected quoting process.

While you can take these steps one by one, there is a way you can easily automate your quoting process using Slabstack. Get more details below. 

Slabstack: Real-time quoting software for aggregates producers

Slabstack is a CRM for aggregates producers who want to modernize their quoting without losing control. It connects live cost data, freight logic, and margin protection into a single quoting ecosystem, all built specifically for the construction materials industry.

With Slabstack, producers can:

• Quote using live cost and freight data pulled directly from dispatch systems.
• Protect profitability with automated margin floors and approval workflows.
• Gain real-time visibility across all quotes, reps, and plants.
• Seamlessly convert quotes to orders with dispatch and ERP integration.

For aggregates producers, this means consistent pricing, faster turnaround, and fewer profit surprises at month-end.

Ready to see what real-time quoting could look like for your operation? Book a walkthrough with our team and discover how Slabstack helps producers quote confidently in a dynamic market. 

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Spreadsheets look like a place where every formula, rate, and note sits neatly in its own cell. But for aggregates suppliers, those same spreadsheets quietly drain profit. 

When you’re quoting jobs that run thousands of tons, even a few cents per ton can decide whether you make or lose money. And in a business where margins are already so thin, that kind of leakage adds up fast.

If you’ve ever wondered why your numbers don’t quite match finance’s or why a profitable job turned out to be break-even, the answer might be hiding in your spreadsheets. 

In this blog, we’ll uncover how manual quoting tools erode margins every day and what suppliers can do to take control again.

3 ways spreadsheets give a false sense of control to aggregate suppliers

At first glance, spreadsheets seem like the ultimate control tool, and they usually start as such, where every calculation is visible and every change tracked. 

But over time, this system starts breaking down. Especially when each plant, region, or rep begins to maintain their own version.

So formulas break. Freight rates drift. Cost assumptions go unchecked. 

One rep updates a file while another sends a quote from an older version. What looks like precision is actually fragmentation. That fragmentation is where profit starts to slip away for aggregates suppliers.

Let’s look at the three most common ways this happens.

1. Outdated numbers on spreadsheets quietly erase profit

Aggregates pricing is volatile and shifts constantly: Diesel, explosives, labor, and haul rates all change from week to week and sometimes even daily. 

Yet the quotes for many aggregates suppliers still rely on spreadsheets built months ago. 

Consider this: Even a $0.15 per ton gap might seem harmless, but multiply that across a 50,000-ton order and you’re looking at over $11,000 gone before anyone notices.

When cost sheets become outdated, reps often quote yesterday’s prices while paying today’s costs. And the longer those updates lag, the more profit margin you lose. 

2. Freight affects margins 

Freight is one of the hardest pieces to track manually, and one of the easiest places for profit to vanish. 

Spreadsheets often rely on flat zone rates or simplified distance tables that ignore variables like tolls, backhauls, or surcharges. When fuel prices or haul distances shift, the spreadsheet doesn’t adjust on its own.

That means a quote might look perfectly profitable on paper but lose cents or even dollars per ton once the trucks start rolling. Those small discrepancies pile up over dozens of jobs and quickly turn into margin erosion that few can trace back to their source.

3. Version chaos creates margin confusion

Every time someone in your team copies or emails a spreadsheet, a new version of the truth is born. Sales, dispatch, and finance teams often operate on slightly different datasets, and nobody’s sure which one is correct. 

So your team ends up with conflicting quotes, internal undercutting, and inconsistent customer pricing. 

Beyond errors, version chaos also hurts trust within the team and with customers. When a client gets two different quotes for the same job, they don’t see it as a small mistake. They see a company that can’t keep its numbers straight.

Let's understand the repercussions of relying on spreadsheets in detail below. 

What’s the real cost of manual quoting for aggregate suppliers? 

Every hour a rep spends chasing freight rates, verifying approvals, or double-checking formulas is an hour not spent selling.

• Delayed quotes mean lost opportunities. 
• Slow approvals mean slower response times. 
• And each rework to correct a spreadsheet error compounds the waste. 

Over time, these inefficiencies become a hidden tax on every sale.

Even when quotes are accurate, the manual process behind them costs suppliers more than they realize. 

A rep might spend half a day collecting freight updates from different plants, copy them into multiple sheets, and wait for a manager to sign off. 

By the time that quote reaches the customer, the numbers might already be outdated. 

These slow, manual workflows also make it difficult to see why margins shift from one region to another. Without clear visibility into trends, like which plants quote fastest, which jobs lose the most freight, or where discounts are creeping in, managers are left reacting instead of improving performance.

But the good news is these issues can be fixed, and it doesn’t require overhauling how your team works. Here’s how. 

How can aggregates suppliers escape the spreadsheet trap?

Moving away from spreadsheets doesn’t require a complete overhaul of your existing workflows. Here are a few simple steps you can take today to make sure your team is avoiding rookie errors while quoting through spreadsheets. 

1. Centralize cost and freight data: Bring all cost and freight information into one shared file or dashboard. When everyone uses the same numbers, you reduce duplicate work and quoting errors.

2. Refresh inputs weekly: Set a consistent routine to update diesel, freight, and material costs. Some teams automate this through supplier emails or dispatch exports ensuring the numbers never go stale.

3. Set margin floors: Define your minimum profit thresholds by material or region. If a quote falls below that level, it should automatically trigger an approval. This keeps pricing disciplined without slowing sales down.

4. Track win/loss data: Record which quotes were accepted or lost and why. Over time, this builds a picture of pricing trends, showing where margins are shrinking, which customers buy on price, and where your team is strongest. 

Each of these steps builds clarity into your sales process. But even getting to this point can take a lot of manual effort and wasted hours. 

An easier way to reduce your dependency on spreadsheets is to use a specific CRM for aggregates suppliers like Slabstack. Let’s explore more. 

How Slabstack helps aggregates suppliers regain margin control

Slabstack, the #1 sales and business management platform for aggregate producers, provides a unified system that ties quoting, freight, and margin tracking together. All without changing how your teams already work. 

Our platform replaces manual spreadsheets with live cost data, dynamic freight logic, and automated margin protection.

And when every quote reflects today’s real costs, you stop guessing and start managing margin proactively. Reps quote faster, managers get visibility into every deal, and finance finally sees consistent numbers across plants.

One of our customers, Carew Concrete, a ready-mix concrete and aggregate producer, improved their quote accuracy from 50% to near 100% by using Slabstack. Here’s what John Malcolm, Vice President at Carew Concrete, has to say: 

“We chose Slabstack because it isn’t just a tool for today; the team is committed to building the features the ready-mix and aggregate business has always needed.”

Ready to move from spreadsheets to a system that works for you? Book a call with Slabstack’s experts and see how connected quoting can help you protect every margin point.

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