Asymmetric Upside: When to Quote the Almost-Right Project

<p>Q4 quoting season is here, and both hosts are running on empty. Michael is only 10% through IMTS follow-up and already booked solid for two weeks, while Matt had just over two hours of open calendar all week. They open with price increases (Develop is on its sixth in two years, and Gimbel adjusts pricing on the 15th) and why your products and processes getting better justifies charging more.</p><p>The core of the episode is a question Michael has been wrestling with: should a product-focused automation company take on projects that are a 75% fit? Matt shares how Develop handles high-risk, bespoke work, borrowing from large construction: listing assumptions, assigning risk categories, using allowances instead of fixed bids, and pricing every off-standard request as its own line item. The takeaway is simple: price for asymmetric upside, or do not take the project.</p><p>In sales and marketing, Matt narrows his sales hire to three strong candidates and explains Develop&#39;s push into the label printing market after joining TLMI. Michael gives a practical walkthrough of UTM links, why untracked Instagram, LinkedIn, and PDF links all show up as &quot;direct&quot; traffic, and why Facebook and Instagram ads are underused in B2B manufacturing. He also shares early Bing ads setup.</p><p>On engineering, the two talk about posting innovations before patents are finished, playing offense versus defense with IP, Gimbel&#39;s upcoming mini pallet tending system, and a new automated 16C collet with an external rotary union for bar pulling. In continuous improvement, Matt&#39;s ClickUp rollout hits 80% and he plans a mobile integration van, while Michael explains why Gimbel is consolidating out of its second building and moving from waterjet to laser.</p>