For manufacturers

A sales worker that answers your buyers, prepares the quote and gets the order in.

More capacity for your sales team. Your people keep the decisions.

A Corvair Virtual Worker is a software worker with one defined job. For a manufacturer, that job is inside sales. It takes an enquiry or a request for quote from a buyer, checks what the buyer needs, finds out what you can supply and when, prepares a quote under your pricing rules, asks the right person when a decision is above its authority, and follows the order through to a confirmed acknowledgement.

It works by phone, email and web chat, in the buyer's language, and it writes what happened into the systems you already use. Every step is recorded, so you can see what it did and why.

One workloadstart with enquiries and quotes
Your decisionsprice exceptions and technical calls stay with your people
Every step recordedwhat it did, what it read, who decided
What exists today. You can see working voice and chat demonstrations now. The product screens and the Northstar example on this site are designs with made-up data, not a finished product. A pilot with your team shows which channels, languages, systems and actions are ready for your work.
The work it takes on

From a buyer's request to a confirmed order.

This is the workload most manufacturers start with. The worker does the routine steps itself. It stops and asks a named person when a decision is outside what you have allowed it to do.

  1. Receive the requestAn enquiry or request for quote arrives by email, phone or web chat. The worker replies in the buyer's language.
    Worker
  2. Clarify what is neededProduct, specification, quantity and required date. It asks when something is missing rather than guessing.
    Worker
  3. Check what you can supplyAvailability or production lead time, read from your planning or stock system. It reports what it read, with the time it read it.
    Worker + your system
  4. Prepare the quoteA draft quote under your price rules, entered in your quoting or ERP system. Fixed prices are the default.
    Worker
  5. Get the decisionA price below list, a delivery promise or a technical fit question goes to the person you named, with the facts attached.
    Your people
  6. Order and confirmRecords the buyer's agreement, submits through your order process, reads the acknowledgement back and keeps the follow-up.
    Worker + order desk

Which of these steps are automated depends on the systems you have and what we test with you before launch. The first deployment does not have to automate every step, and you never need a worker for every department.

An example request

Northstar Manufacturing and a buyer called Harbor.

Northstar Manufacturing makes hoist assemblies. Its sales worker handles requests from outside buyers. Harbor Maintenance Services is one of those buyers. Both companies are made up, but the steps are the ones the product is designed to take.

The buyer's request, stage by stage 1 RequestEmail from Harbor:20 hoist assemblies,revision C, by 23 Sept,asks for $225 (list $250) 2 CheckProduct, quantity anddate confirmed. Stock:84 available, nonereserved yet 3 QuoteDraft quote enteredat list price. Not sent.The price request isabove its authority 4 DecisionSam, sales lead:keep the list price.Engineering: revision Csuits their use 5 OrderBuyer agrees to listprice and terms. Ordersubmitted through yourorder system 6 ConfirmedAcknowledgement readback from the ordersystem. Callback on18 Sept kept Who did each step BUYERHarbor Maintenance WORKER + SYSTEMreads planning system WORKERdraft entered in ERP YOUR PEOPLESam and engineering WORKER + SYSTEMwith your order desk WORKERreads back; follows up Three things the worker never mixes up A draft quote is not an offer. Nothing reaches the buyer until the price decision is made and the terms are approved. The buyer agreeing is not an order. The order exists when your order system has it and has acknowledged it. Stock being available is not stock being reserved. Reservation happens in your system, not in the conversation.
One request, six stages. The worker handles stages 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6 on its own, using your systems. Stage 4 goes to your people because a price below list and a technical fit question are their calls. Illustration of the designed workflow · made-up data
Read the figure as a list
  1. Request: Harbor emails a request for 20 hoist assemblies, revision C, needed by 23 September, and asks for $225 against a list price of $250.
  2. Check: the worker confirms the product, quantity and date, and reads your planning system: 84 available, none reserved.
  3. Quote: the worker enters a draft quote at list price in your ERP. It does not send it, because the price request is above its authority.
  4. Decision: Sam, your sales lead, decides to keep the list price. Engineering confirms revision C suits the buyer's use.
  5. Order: the buyer agrees to the list price and terms. The worker prepares the order and your order desk confirms the submission.
  6. Confirmed: the worker reads the acknowledgement back from your order system and keeps the callback promised for 18 September.
Moment 1

The request comes in

Harbor's email asks for a lower price and names a new purchasing manager. The worker does not take either at face value.

What it did: confirmed the product and date, read the stock figure from the planning system, and recorded the new name as "reported, not yet checked". It answered Harbor the same day with an acknowledgement and the list terms. It did not reserve stock and it did not promise a price.
Moment 2

The exception goes to a person

A price below list is not the worker's decision. It is Sam's, the sales lead. The worker prepares the decision so Sam can make it quickly.

What Sam saw: the request, the list price, the asked price, the stock position, the buyer's history and the other supplier's reported price. One button: keep the list price, approve a lower price within Sam's own limit, or pass it up. Sam kept the list price. The decision is recorded under Sam's name, with the time.
Moment 3

The order is confirmed, not assumed

Harbor agrees to the list price. The worker submits the order through your order process and then checks that the order really exists.

What counts as done: the order system's own acknowledgement, read back by the worker and matched against what was submitted. Only then is the order recorded as a result. The callback Harbor was promised for 18 September stays on the worker's list as a commitment.
Who does what

It works on its own inside the limits you set.

You give the worker a job and a set of limits. Inside those limits it plans its own steps and does them without asking. Outside them it stops and asks. Your people spend their time on the decisions, not on the chasing.

The worker does this without asking

  • Answers enquiries and confirms what the buyer needs.
  • Reads stock, lead times, prices and order status from your systems.
  • Prepares draft quotes at your listed prices and terms.
  • Asks engineering or planning for a check and waits for the answer.
  • Records what was agreed and what was promised, and keeps the promises.
  • Follows up with the buyer on the dates it agreed.

Your people decide this

  • Any price below list, or any concession, unless you have given the worker a written limit.
  • Whether a product suits the buyer's use, when that is not already in your approved information.
  • Delivery promises that depend on production, unless planning has confirmed the date.
  • Credit terms for a new buyer.
  • Anything the worker has never seen before. It asks rather than guesses.

When the worker asks a person, it sends the question with the facts attached and a date by which an answer is needed. If that person is away, the question goes to the backup you named. The buyer is told when to expect an answer. Nothing sits silently in an inbox.

How it shares work with your team without losing track of who owns what →

More it can take on

The same worker, more of your sales work.

Start with enquiries and quotes. Add the rest when the first workload is running well.

inventory_2

Surplus and end-of-line stock

Offer a list of items to approved buyers before a sell-by date, at approved prices. Offers stop on the date you set, and what is left goes to your review. Nothing is offered twice to the same buyer.

local_shipping

Order status and follow-up

Answer "where is my order" from your order system, tell the buyer about a delay before they ask, and offer an approved alternative when a part is not available.

campaign

Planned outreach to past buyers

Contact past buyers and distributors on a schedule you approve, with your approved message, and only where the buyer has not asked to be left alone.

Inside your business

It fits between the people and systems you already have.

Sales, engineering, production planning, order management and finance all touch a buyer's request. The worker asks each of them for what it needs, waits for the answer, and keeps the request moving. A person, a system or another worker can answer. The sales worker stays responsible for the buyer's request the whole way through.

Engineering

Does this product suit their use?

The worker asks with the buyer's details attached. The answer comes back as a record with a name and a time on it.

Production planning

Can we ship 20 by the 23rd?

Availability is read from your system. A delivery promise that depends on production is confirmed by planning before the buyer hears it.

Order management

Is the order in?

The worker prepares the order. Your order desk, or your order system's own process, confirms it. The worker checks the acknowledgement.

Finance

What terms for a new buyer?

Credit terms are a decision. The worker asks, waits, and never states terms it has not been given.

info
You do not need a distributor or another company to take part. The example above is one manufacturer and its own buyers. If your business also works with distributors or a sister company, the same worker can coordinate with them later. How that works →
Getting started

What you bring, and how a pilot starts.

What you bring

  • One workload to start with, usually enquiries and quotes, and the person who owns it.
  • Your approved product information, price list and the rules for exceptions.
  • Some real example enquiries, so we can rehearse with your own cases.
  • Access to the systems the worker will read and update, arranged by your IT contact.
  • A starting measure: how many requests you handle today, and how long they take.

How a pilot runs

  • A Corvair engineer sets the worker up with your team. Getting system access and phone or email routes ready starts first and can take a few weeks; the focused setup week starts once they are ready.
  • The worker is rehearsed on your example cases before it talks to a real buyer.
  • It goes live on a limited set of buyers, watched by your team and ours.
  • You see every request, every decision and every result, and you decide whether to expand.