Missisystems Canada: Sales Review
How many requests come in, how many we win, what we earn, and how fast customers pay.
Requests keep rising, orders do not
Monthly, October 2024 to September 2026. The dashed line separates the prior year from the last 12 months.
Customer requests (RFQs) per month
Prior year 406 / month · last 12 months 444 / month
Orders won per month
Prior year 58 / month · last 12 months 48 / month
Order value per month (US$ equivalent)
Prior year US$2.84M · last 12 months US$2.64M (▼ 7%)
Where the money comes from
Invoiced revenue, last 12 months (Oct 2025 to Sep 2026), in Canadian dollars.
Revenue by country
Qatar and Oman are 92% of revenue
How concentrated we are
Share of revenue from our largest customers
If one of the top three customers stopped buying, about 14 to 17% of revenue would go with them.
Top 10 customers
Revenue is the last 12 months. Win rate is quotes from Oct 2024 to Sep 2025 that became orders. Days to paid is the average from the customer receiving the goods to their payment (it includes their goods receipt, GRN).
✓ good · ! watch · ✕ problem. Win rate: 25%+ good, under 10% problem. Days to paid: under 35 good, over 45 problem.
Why we lose quotes
3,639 quotes sent between Oct 2024 and Sep 2025. Overall, 17% became orders.
Win rate by quote size
Big quotes almost never turn into orders
Quotes over 100K: US$30M quoted, US$0.1M won. Most are likely budget price checks.
Win rate by our margin on the quote
Higher margin does not lose more often
We win specialty and hard-to-find parts at good margins. We lose common parts that big distributors sell cheaper.
Margin adjustments by customer
Two years of quotes (Oct 2023 to Sep 2025). For each customer we compared how often we win at lower vs higher margins. If higher margins do not lose more often, we can raise prices; if they do, we hold.
Recommended default markup per customer
Win rate shown for quotes at 12 to 16% margin → quotes at 16 to 25% margin.
| Customer | Win rate, lower → higher margin | Price sensitive? | Days to paid | Default markup now | Recommended |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Qatar Energy | 23% → 36% | ✓ No | 44 | 12.5% | 15% (+1% for slow collection and payment) |
| Qatar Fuel Additives | 29% → 40% | ✓ No | 35 | 15% | 17% |
| OQ | 6% → 12% | ✓ No | 53 | 12.5% | 14.5%; common parts quoted fast at standard markup |
| Occidental of Oman | 15% → 25% | ✓ No | 49 | 14.2% | 15.5% |
| Mesaieed Power | 9% → 11% | ! Price is not the issue | 43 | 14% | Keep 14%; cutting would not win more |
| Energy Machine Services | 1% → 3% | ! Price shopping | pays in advance | 12.5% | Keep 12.5%; minimal-effort quotes only |
| Qatar Chemical Co. | 35% → 28% (18% at 25%+) | ✕ Yes | 37 | 12.5% | Keep 12.5%; cap quotes at ~20% margin |
| Qatar Aluminium | 34% → 51% (20% at 25%+) | ✕ Above 25% | 27 | default | Keep; cap quotes at ~22% margin |
| Dolphin Energy | 38% → 29% | ✕ Yes | 43 | default | Keep; reliable buyer, protect the relationship |
Higher-margin quotes are often specialty parts, which partly explains why they win more. That is why the suggested increases are small (1.5 to 2.5 points), not jumps to 20%+.
Where staff time goes
The slow part is finding a supplier, not writing the quote.
Average days per step, from request to quote
Requests received Oct 2024 to Sep 2025
From goods ready to cash in the bank
We sell Ex Works: once goods are ready, the customer's freight agent collects them. 1,045 orders ready between Oct 2024 and Sep 2026, shipped in one go (part shipments left out).
Average days per step, from goods ready to payment received
About 62 days in total, measured on 859 paid orders.
Customers do not process our invoice until their goods receipt (GRN) is done, so we invoice once the GRN is in, and payment follows about 17 days later. What we can speed up: how fast the agent collects, and how hard we chase the GRN.
How long goods wait for the customer's agent
Share of orders by days from ready to collected
Average wait went from 12.4 days (prior year) to 15.0 days (last 12 months).
Average wait by customer
Days from ready to collected · orange = over 2 weeks
Are we delivering when we promised?
Orders placed Oct 2025 to Sep 2026, shipped in one go (421 orders). "On time" means goods were ready for collection by the delivery date on our sales order. We promise about 52 days on average.
How late orders were ready
Share of orders by days past the promised date
Late orders were ready 27 days late on average.
Ready on time, by customer
% of orders ready by the promised date · orange = under 60%
Using automation and AI to serve customers better
Most staff time goes into typing and chasing, not selling. Software "agents" can do the first draft of that work so the same team answers faster, follows up every time, and can take on new markets without hiring. Rule: the agent drafts, a person approves. No price is set and nothing goes to a customer or supplier without a person clicking approve.
Work done by hand each year
Oct 2025 to Sep 2026 · orange = automate first
Each customer request has about 4 lines, so 5,330 requests means about 22,000 lines typed in.
The agents, in the order we would build them
| # | Agent | What it does | What the customer notices | Time saved / year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Supplier quote reader | Reads supplier emails and PDF quotes; fills in price, lead time, validity; flags wrong part numbers | Faster quotes | ~840 h |
| 2 | Request reader | Reads customer RFQ emails and attachments; creates the request with all lines | Request acknowledged the same day | ~900 h |
| 3 | Follow-up agent | Chases suppliers for prices and ship dates, follows up quotes, sends ready-for-collection and GRN reminders | Nothing falls through; early warning when a delivery slips | most of ~2,600 follow-ups |
| 4 | Quote drafter | Picks the best supplier price per line, applies the customer's markup rule, writes the cover email | Consistent, faster quotes | frees the main quoter |
| 5 | Sourcing agent | Suggests suppliers from our history, drafts inquiries, sends on approval | Fewer "we can't find it" regrets | cuts 3.7 days to find suppliers |
| 6 | Order to invoice | Turns a won quote into supplier POs, prepares the invoice when the GRN arrives, matches payments | Accurate paperwork, quicker invoicing | ~600 orders without retyping |
Hours are rough (8 to 10 minutes per task), to be checked by timing a few tasks first. The request reader builds on the attachment reading already being developed.
Where to grow next
Relying on Qatar and Oman (92% of revenue) is risky. The plan below grows by industry, not by opening new countries, and uses what we already do well: finding hard-to-find parts. Customers already pay us more for that: quotes at 16 to 25% margin win more often than cheap ones.
| # | Step | Why | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fix the Middle East economics first | Markup changes (~CA$43K a year), faster collection (~CA$75K cash), call the customers that went quiet | Staff time |
| 2 | Be the hard-to-find parts specialist | Full effort on specialty parts at 18 to 25% margin; quote commodity parts quickly or not at all | None |
| 3 | Supply agreements with current customers | Fixed price lists for the ~25% of parts they reorder: steadier income, less quoting | None |
| 4 | US test: power and electrical parts | Severe US shortage of switchgear, breakers and transformers from data centers and grid upgrades. We already quote ABB and Siemens, and MI is in Georgia, a major data-center area. 90 days, 10 contractors + 2 utilities; success = 30 requests, 5 orders | Staff time, one trade show |
| 5 | Metals plants | We already sell to Qatar Aluminium, Saudi steel mills, Danieli and Elektron. US smelters are restarting (Century, Magnitude 7) and Danieli is equipping Hyundai's new Louisiana mill | Emails, introductions |
Not now: Canadian mills (50% US tariffs, layoffs at Stelco and Algoma), large tenders over US$100K (we win 1%), offices abroad. How US sales would work: MI sells to US customers and pays MCI a sourcing fee, so the profit stays in MCI; to be confirmed with our accountant.
What we recommend
Low-cost steps first. None of these needs new staff or outside money.
- Quote the Qatar Energy requests we currently skip.We win 34% of their quotes, yet skip about 137 of their requests a year. That could mean ~45 more orders.
- Keep quoting OQ, but spend less time on each quote.When we quote OQ less, they pay slower. Quote common parts at a standard markup without extra searching, and save full effort for specialty parts.
- Raise default markups slightly where customers are not price sensitive.Qatar Energy 12.5→15%, Qatar Fuel Additives 15→17%, OQ 12.5→14.5%, Occidental 14.2→15.5%. Hold prices for Qatar Chemical, Qatar Aluminium and Dolphin. About CA$43K more gross profit a year if win rates hold.
- Chase the customer's goods receipt (GRN).Customers will not pay until their GRN is done; it takes about 23 days after they receive the goods. Ask the buyer for the GRN a few days after delivery, and record the GRN date in the ERP (the field exists but is never filled) so we can see who is slow.
- Confirm supplier ship dates before they are due.Only about 27% of suppliers deliver by our PO date, so 1 in 3 of our orders is late to the customer. Ask each supplier to confirm a week before the due date, warn the customer early when it slips, and quote delivery from real lead times.
- Automate the typing first.Start with an agent that reads supplier quotes into the ERP (~840 hours a year), then one that reads customer requests (~900 hours). Staff approve everything; the time saved goes into follow-ups and new US customers.
- Chase slow collections.Send a "ready for collection" notice, then reminders at 7 and 14 days to the buyer and their agent. Start with Qatar Fuel Additives, Qatar Aluminium, Qatar Energy and Occidental (16 to 21 days on average). Review the US$145K waiting now every week.
- Build a "supplier finder" into the ERP.When a request arrives, suggest suppliers who sold that brand or part before and who usually reply. This attacks the 3.7 days spent finding suppliers.
- Ask whether large requests are real purchases.For requests over US$20K, ask the buyer if it is a budget check. If so, send a quick estimate instead of a full quote.
- Record why each lost quote was lost.Price, delivery time, brand, or no feedback. Today we cannot tell, so pricing decisions are guesses.
- Grow with sister companies before new countries.QAFCO, QAPCO, QatarEnergy LNG and OQ subsidiaries buy the same parts. Then register as a supplier with ADNOC, KOC, Bapco or Aramco.
- Manage credit risk ourselves.Set credit limits from each customer's payment record, add a small markup for slow payers, and ask new customers for a letter of credit or part advance on their first 2 to 3 orders.
How these numbers were produced. Read-only queries on the ERP production database on 15 Oct 2026. "Prior year" = Oct 2024 to Sep 2025; "last 12 months" = Oct 2025 to Sep 2026.
Revenue = invoice subtotals before tax, converted to CAD at each invoice's rate. Order value converts EUR, CAD and GBP orders to US$ at approximate current rates.
Gross margin = our quoted sell price minus the supplier's quoted price on won orders. It leaves out freight, duty and exchange differences, so the true margin is somewhat lower.
Win rate uses quotes from Oct 2024 to Sep 2025, because recent quotes may still turn into orders.
Ready to cash: "ready" = packing date on the order fulfilment; "collected" = Ship Date with the agent's AWB; "received" = Date Received. Orders with more than one fulfilment (part shipments, 16%) are left out. Customers only process invoices after their GRN, so "receives → GRN and invoice" is mostly the customer's GRN time; GRN dates are not recorded in the ERP, so this step cannot be split further. Days to paid per customer uses orders with goods received and payment recorded. The CA$75K figure is 7 days of annual revenue (CA$3.91M × 7 / 365).