Prices that change week by week
Steel, stainless and aluminium prices move and your principal updates the price list or surcharges all the time. Answering with an old price means losing margin or credibility.
The AI assistant for steel and metals sales agents
You sell steel, sections, tubes, fasteners or subcontract machining to fabricators and engineering shops. Ugo finds quotes, certificates and current price lists, keeps track of lead times and writes the technical emails for you.
A steel sales agent sells materials whose price changes more often than the price lists. Beams, plate, tube, merchant bar, stainless and aluminium follow raw material prices, alloy surcharges and stock at the service centres. A quote from three weeks ago may no longer stand, and the customer knows it. That’s why every price needs a validity period, a reference and a credible delivery date.
Your customers are steel fabricators, engineering shops, machine builders, window and door makers, installers and the purchasing departments of larger companies. They ask you for price, lead time and certificate, often all three in the same phone call. If you sell subcontract work, like laser cutting, bending, turning or finishing, add drawings, tolerances, batches and quantities to manage, and often a technical office to deal with.
Ugo helps you hold this flow together. It finds the last quote you sent a customer and the 3.1 certificate for a delivery in your inbox, reads the current price list from the folder shared with your principal and drafts the new quote from the template. It reminds you of expiring quotes and customers to get back to. Every email goes only after your “Confirm”.
What makes selling steel and metals hard
Moving prices, technical documents and customers who want precise answers.
Certificates and documents to track down
The customer asks for the 3.1 mill certificate for March’s delivery, or the declaration of performance for a project. They’re somewhere in your inbox, among hundreds of attachments.
Lead times and chasing
Non-standard sizes, sections on their way from the mill, machining waiting in the workshop queue. The customer calls to ask when it’s arriving, and you have to ask the principal.
Technical quotes, detailed and fast
Grade, dimensions, tolerances, quantity, finish, yield, transport. A quote for a fabricator needs attention to detail, but it has to land before the competitor’s.
Ugo for steel sales agents, in practice
Quotes, certificates and deliveries handled with short messages.
The last quote you sent the customer
Before answering a new enquiry, ask Ugo what you quoted last time. It searches your inbox for the latest quote, summarises it with materials, prices and terms, and tells you whether the customer replied.
Skills used
What did I quote Ferris Fabrications on the UC sections?
Quote of 12/09, sent to Luke Ferris: • UC 203x203x46 S275JR, 6 t • UC 254x254x73 S275JR, 4 t • delivery in 2 weeks, delivered to site • valid for 10 days The customer replied on 15/09 asking to revisit the lead time.
The 3.1 certificate for an old delivery
The customer asks for the certificate for a delivery from a few months ago. Ugo searches your inbox for your principal’s email with the right attachment and prepares the forward to the customer, which goes only when you confirm.
Skills used
I need the 3.1 certificate for the plate delivered to Gill Engineering in May
I found the email from Midland Steel Supplies of 21/05 with “Cert_3.1_heat_44817.pdf”, linked to delivery note 1182 for Gill Engineering. Shall I forward it to Sara Gill with a couple of lines?
The new quote from the current price list
Your principal uploads the price list in Excel to OneDrive every week. Ugo reads the current prices and creates the quote in Word from your template, with customer, materials and quantities. You read it before sending.
Skills used
🎤 Voice message (0:27)
Here’s what I’ll do: Create “Quote Ferris Fabrications 10-2026” from the template “Sections quote”, with prices from the 6/10 price list: • UC 203x203x46 S275JR, 6 t • UC 254x254x73 S275JR, 4 t • valid for 7 days I’ll save it in “Quotes/Ferris”. Shall I go ahead?
Chasing the delivery date
The customer asks when the material will arrive. Ugo checks the order on Odoo, emails your principal’s logistics team and, when the reply comes in, summarises it for you, so you can reassure the customer with a real date.
Skills used
Where are we with the Bennett Precision tube order?
On Odoo, order S01452 was confirmed on 30/09, no expected delivery date shown.
Ask logistics for the delivery date
I’ll email the Midland Steel Supplies logistics team: “Good morning, could you let me know the expected delivery date for order S01452, Bennett Precision? Thank you.” Shall I go ahead?
A typical day for a steel and metals sales agent
Between fabricators, engineering shops and purchasing departments, with Ugo keeping documents and quotes in order.
- 7:45
Ugo sends you the day’s visits and reminds you of the quotes expiring this week.
- 9:00
At the fabricator’s, the owner asks for the mill certificate for a past delivery. Ugo finds it in your inbox.
- 11:30
A purchasing department asks for a stainless price. Ugo reads your principal’s current price list on OneDrive.
- 14:00
After the visit to the engineering shop you dictate a voice message: CRM note, quote to prepare by Thursday.
- 16:00
Ugo creates the quote in Word from the template. You read it in the car and send it from your inbox.
- 17:30
You ask whether logistics has replied: Ugo summarises the email and you let the customer know the delivery date.
A steel sales agent’s tools, connected to Ugo
Price lists, quotes and technical documents you can check from WhatsApp.
The weekly price list on OneDrive
If your principal shares the price list or surcharges in Excel, put them in a OneDrive folder. Ugo always reads the latest version and answers with the current price.
Your inbox with quotes and certificates
Outlook or any IMAP mailbox: Ugo searches quotes, order confirmations and attached certificates, and forwards the right document to the customer once you confirm.
Quote templates in Word
One template for sections, one for tube, one for subcontract work, with placeholders like {{client}}. Ugo fills them in with the customer’s details and saves them in the quote folder.
Your principal’s Odoo
Many service centres and machining companies use Odoo. Ugo reads your customers’ quotations and sales orders, creates opportunities and activities, and adds notes to deals.
The skills to switch on
The most useful Ugo features for this job, starting with the first one to turn on. You switch them on from the portal in a few minutes.
Questions about working as a steel sales agent
What is a 3.1 certificate and why do customers ask for it?
It’s an inspection certificate defined by EN 10204, issued by the manufacturer, showing the test results for the specific batch or heat of material. Fabricators and engineering shops ask for it for traceability and for the CE or UKCA marking of their products. Ugo doesn’t issue it, but it finds it in your inbox and forwards it to the customer once you confirm.
How do you handle quotes when steel prices keep changing?
Always state the quote’s validity, the price list or reference price used and any variable surcharges. Keep track of what you quoted and when. Ugo reads your principal’s latest price list from the shared folder, finds previous quotes in your inbox and alerts you to expiring quotes with a scheduled task.
How do you find new fabricators and engineering shops in your area?
Start with the industrial estates near your best customers and search by type. With Maps, Ugo searches for steel fabricators, engineering shops or window makers in a town, with address, phone and website, up to ten per search. With Company websites it reads their site and tells you what work they do.
Does Ugo calculate weights, strengths or sizing?
No. Structural calculations and material choices are for the designer or the technical office, based on the standards. Ugo takes care of the sales and admin side: it finds quotes, data sheets and certificates, reads price lists, drafts quotes and emails and keeps your diary and CRM in order.
How much does Ugo cost and what data does it see?
Ugo costs €50 a month or €550 a year, excl. VAT, with every skill. It only sees what you connect: your email, your diary, the OneDrive folder you choose, your principal’s CRM. It only answers your verified number and the data is stored on servers in Frankfurt.
Useful references
Associations, bodies and official sources for the sector: external websites, independent of Ugo.
- UK SteelThe trade association for the UK steel industry, with data and news on the steel market.uksteel.org
- British Constructional Steelwork AssociationThe association for steelwork contractors and suppliers, many of them customers of steel stockholders and agents.bcsa.org.uk
- British Stainless Steel AssociationTechnical information and advice on stainless steel, useful when customers ask about grades and finishes.bssa.org.uk
- Aluminium FederationThe UK aluminium industry association, useful for anyone selling aluminium and its alloys.alfed.org.uk
- EuroBLECHThe international sheet metal working fair in Hanover, dedicated to machines and technologies for processing metal.euroblech.com
Quotes and certificates, always to hand
Connect your email and your price list folder. Next time someone says “I need the certificate”, answer from the car park.
