From 4 Hours to 45 Seconds: How an Importing Company in Mar del Plata Organized Its Day-to-Day

Published on February 17, 2026 | Success Story

Carlos, partner at a spare parts importer and distributor in Mar del Plata, knew the frustration of Friday afternoons all too well. While his family was waiting for him to start the weekend, he was still at the office cross-referencing data. The reason: a major client needed an urgent quote, and assembling it meant searching through three different stock spreadsheets, calculating duties and freight manually, and writing a formal email. On average, each proforma cost him four hours of manual labor.

The Administrative Bottleneck

Before implementing any changes, the sales team's daily process was an endless sequence of error-prone steps:

1. Searching for product availability in different files stored on different computers.
2. Updating unit costs based on the day's official and parallel exchange rates.
3. Copying all information into a text document for formatting.
4. Exporting the file to PDF and writing an introductory email.
5. Manually scheduling a follow-up reminder in the calendar to call the client back in a few days.

With an average of 20 weekly inquiries, the team spent nearly 80 hours a month copying and pasting information instead of selling.

The Solution: A Background Digital Assistant

The goal was not to replace the management system with a massive, expensive one that would require months of training. Instead, we consolidated the spreadsheets into a centralized database and connected a digital assistant (which we named *Tess*) that runs in the background.

Today, when a salesperson receives an inquiry, the process is very different:

1. The salesperson opens a simple form on their screen and enters the client's name and the requested products.
2. *Tess* checks prices and stock levels automatically.
3. The system generates the proforma PDF with the company's branding and drafts a personalized email.
4. The email is sent to the client, and the follow-up reminder is scheduled without anyone having to intervene.

The entire process went from demanding a whole afternoon to being resolved in **45 seconds**.

Business Results You Can Feel

• 79 monthly hours reclaimed: The sales team now focuses on finding new clients.
• Typos eliminated: By not having to copy data manually, errors in pricing and codes became a thing of the past.
• Happier clients: Receiving a quote in five minutes instead of the next day improved the company's conversion rate.

Tidying Up the House Before Digitalizing

The importing company's success was not just due to the new system. The key step was cleaning up the process before connecting it:

• Data cleanup: We eliminated duplicate files and left a single, reliable source of information.
• Standardized messaging: We wrote clear, professional email templates based on the type of client so that the assistant drafts with the correct tone.

Carlos's Lesson: Technology is not there to replace the salesperson's intuition or human relationship, but to free them from repetitive tasks that add no value. Carlos no longer spends his Fridays cross-referencing spreadsheets; now the company sells more and he makes it to dinner on time.