Configure-price-quote (CPQ) software isn’t new, but innovations for this digital tool have caused a new wave of adoption. It’s a sales-optimization tool that helps companies generate sales quotes quickly and accurately. These applications are used in conjunction with CRM platforms, ERP programs, and other software solutions. The ability to preprogram rules for the automatic generation of quotes helps ensure error-free pricing.
CPQ Explained
It helps to understand what CPQ is. Every type of product and service on the market today can be customized. Customers and salespeople have a lot of options for customizing, and there are instances where one customization restricts or creates options for further customization. This is known as configuring. There can be a lot of complexity around pricing customized products and services. Everything from quantity discounts and the availability of materials to the complexity of creation affects the price. Once a product or service has been configured and priced, it needs to be formally quoted and submitted for approval.
The Features of CPQ Software
There are several features of CPQ software that help streamline business operations, improve the customer experience, and increase sales. Configure One offers the most comprehensive product configurator on the market. Their enterprise CPQ software helps you close more deals, improve customer satisfaction, and eliminate errors. The web-based software solution covers the entire sales-to-production process, including product configuration, pricing calculation, sending quotes to customers, securing orders, and generating engineering documents.
CPQ visualization software features real-time 2D visualization that gives customers a personal connection with a product without investing in equipment. An interactive visual product configurator lets customers zoom, pan, and change drawings. CAD automation generates fully configured 3D images, sales drawings, and production drawings, as well as finished models. Product visualization tools help customers experiment with different configurations and see the effects in real-time. Animations help them see how a product works, and 3D models help customers know exactly what the final product will look like.
CPQ integration for Salesforce CRM keeps customer data accurate and up to date and automatically populates quote data. Users can generate comprehensive quote documents including bills of material, customer and item data, images, drawings, product cut sheets, and more. Salespeople can complete sales and submit orders for review and final approval through the web.
The Advantages of CPQ
When sales reps want to provide customers with options, configurations, and prices, they have to reference pricing rules to create accurate quotes. With the right CPQ solution, users can establish preprogrammed rules for every conceivable configuration, price, discount, and situation. This makes the options straightforward based on capability and eliminates the hassle in pricing. Quote automation walks sales reps through the process of building accurate quotes with the help of a customized template. These quotes are then automatically routed to the correct team members for approval, which reduces wait time.
The standardization of CPQ software helps companies maintain consistent pricing and discounting control. It’s also easier to manage contract pricing, subscription pricing, and channel and partner pricing as well as establishing advanced discounting and approval workflows. Any business with omnichannel sales that uses legacy quote configurations manually reviews sales quotes, sends inaccurate quotes, or sees revenue growth that outpaces operational capacity needs to leverage the functionality of CPQ software.
Failing to leverage the power of a CPQ configurator results in a slowed sales process that depends on the ability to create and deliver accurate quotes. Given the number of customization options, pricing, discounts, and need for approval that a sales team is responsible for, it doesn’t take long for problems to arise in the process of closing sales. Struggling to provide sales quotes to customers in a timely fashion can quickly lead to lost sales opportunities and revenue.
