Making things click in the sales industry is hard. Making sales using analog techniques dating back to the 70s is even harder. Kind of like challenging Gordon Ramsay to a cook-off when you’re blindfolded. Entering the digital era with CPQ software benefits your employees and clients, helping you see quicker response times and larger margins.
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Table of Contents
Primary Benefits
Implementing new software ideally feels like putting on goggles to see underwater. The benefits of CPQ software, make this transition akin to a welcome plunge. The popularity of online sales and soaring demand for customized products make CPQ software a welcome savior. But change is scarier than a Hitchcock film. Here are eleven reasons, including the benefits of CPQ software, to help face your fears and embrace a smoother, more efficient sales process.
Shorter Sales Cycles
Every savvy business person knows the quicker the route from sales leads to cash in your pocket, the better. Minimize time spent scrolling through spreadsheets for prices, waiting on configurations and manually creating quotes with a centralized database and automation.
Higher Deal Value
More customizations mean more money in the bank. Complex configuration tools allow customers the luxury of tweaking their orders and seeing a mock-up of the finished product. Use AI-powered upselling and cross-selling to get that bag by alerting clients to modifications and add-ons to enhance their order.
Added Customization
The age of Ford’s “any color as long as it’s black” statement is history. Today, personalization is an expectation, not a perk. Send 2D and 3D visualizations with customer-specific modifications, allowing customers to generate quotes with their configurations. Create real-time customized quotes, discounts and promotions to meet your customers’ needs.
Greater Flexibility and Accessibility
You don’t need to be a coder to CPQ-tionize your business. An easy-to-use interface boosts adoption rates and helps tweak the solution to your requirements. Use mobile apps to update pricing and send quotes in multiple languages and currencies.
Improved Productivity and Automation
Connecting with customers and building relationships is the most effective use of your sales reps’ time. Minimize time drafting complex contracts, manually entering contact details and pricing information with automated steps and auto-fill. Define rules to automate contract renewals, trigger next steps and price limits for approvals.
Elevated Consistency
Branding and presentation can make or break a first impression. Customize and save templates with logos and colors for sales reps to replicate. Establish workflows and best practices with pricing and centralized data to keep everyone on the same page.
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Increased Customer Satisfaction
The more you know about your client, the better you can meet their needs. A centralized database and CRM integration provide updates, contract renewals and upgrades. Recommend pertinent products and services using analysis and past purchasing patterns.
More Accuracy
Mistakes happen. However, a fumble in practice versus one at the Super Bowl are two very different things. Set pricing rules, discount margins and notifications to ensure your quote prices are accurate and you haven’t missed any vital information.
Streamlined Workflows
Like a Twitter exchange that won’t end, back-and-forth emails about pricing and discounts are incredibly time-consuming. Create approval workflows to alert upper management when outliers in discounts and pricing need a rubber stamp. Send reminders about deadlines to keep processes ticking.
Better Compliance
They’re called trade secrets for a reason. In the age of commonplace internet leaks, protecting client details and confidential pricing information is paramount. Make data security a non-factor with encrypted servers, user-based permissions and secure databases.
Reduced Training
Time spent on training is never wasted, but it can spread resources a little thin. Intuitive configuration engines ensure customizations are in sync with pre-established models and new reps don’t make pricey quoting mistakes.
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Benefits of CPQ and CRM Integration
CRM software is one of the bare necessities of any business. Chances are, you already have CRM in place. Add a CPQ system into the mix, and it’s like Captain America’s transformation, post-serum, of course.
CPQ and CRM integration benefits your company in the following ways.
Centralized Database: To paraphrase Tolkien, one storage catalog to rule them all. Get rid of pesky spreadsheets and frustrating double entries with a centralized database. Track configurations, store client information and view real-time pricing in one place.
Seamless Workflows: Life’s hard enough without switching between CRM and CPQ software to respond to leads. Integration allows sales reps to contact leads and create and send quotes without dealing with productivity lapses from context switching.
Better Visibility: Looking at CRM insights without CPQ insights is like trying to fix your offense without looking at the defense. Improve close rates with big-picture analysis and better understand the CPQ part of the sales process.
Guided Selling: A union of CRM and CPQ also brings guided selling into the mix. It gives customers the freedom to navigate the sales process independently. AI-powered capabilities turn data into actionable insights and improve the decision-making process.
Minimized Admin Time: Time spent manually configuring products, generating quotes and updating pricing information is time not spent selling and building relationships. CPQ’s knockout combo of automation and customization streamlines the sales process and frees up your sales reps.
Added Sales Opportunities: Identifying sales opportunities is easier said than done. Combined with CRM integration, machine learning and AI-powered tools help pinpoint existing opportunities and respond to customer behavior for better accuracy.
FAQs
What Is CPQ Software?
CPQ software is a tool that helps streamline the sales cycles of highly customizable products. It uses a pricing engine, product configuration, guided selling and quote management to increase deal sizes and reduce errors.
For example, let’s say you want to buy a car online. You’ll choose the model, color, and type of seats. As you move to the following steps, you may see suggestions for additional features like an audio upgrade or a remote start system. Once you’ve completed your “build a car,” you’ll get a pricing summary and the option to contact a dealer for a quote. You accomplish all these steps with a helping hand from CPQ.
Do I need CPQ software?
CPQ software is a handy addition for anyone selling or manufacturing highly customizable or multiple products. It’s also helpful if you have intricate pricing structures and frequently use a large number of quote line items.
How do I choose a CPQ system?
Choosing the right CPQ system depends largely on your industry, business needs and budget. Ask the following questions to understand your requirements better:
- Are you already using a CRM with CPQ features? Or are you looking for a CPQ solution to solve this problem via a native system or integration?
- What is your budget?
- What industry and products do you sell? Will a rules-based configuration work for you, or do you need something constraints-based? Is your product catalog expanding?
- Is adding many products and services to your quote a common practice? Some software starts to slow down with quotes of more than 1,000 line items, so test this feature during the demo.
- What are your requirements for AI-based capabilities? Do you need upselling, cross-selling and pricing recommendations?
- Do you need software with integrated e-commerce channels?
How important is AI in CPQ software?
AI has redefined the software landscape, and CPQ is no exception. Like butter on bread, AI enhances CPQ with its ability to analyze large data sets and improve guided selling, pricing and workflows. It can’t replace CPQ or sales reps but can magnify its benefits.
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Next Steps
Just like the right club can help you nail the perfect putt, the right CPQ system benefits your business in multiple ways. But the ideal software match can be elusive. Figuring out what your business needs is the first step.
Still working out where to start? We’ve got a free requirements template to help you kick things off. From there, you can begin ticking products and vendors off the list.
What’s the number one thing you would like CPQ software to accomplish for your company? Let us know in the comments!
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