With CPQ, marketers can send customers fast, personalized sales quotes that are accurate. It makes your company look knowledgeable and efficient, a win for you and the customer. It also shortens the sales cycle, boosting revenue growth. And it eliminates the risk of sending inaccurate pricing quotes, which can damage your reputation.
What is CPQ?
The CPQ industry comprises companies that provide Configure Price Quote software. CPQ tools help sales teams create customer quotes with customized products and services. They can automate product pricing, apply discounts and special offers based on data and research, incorporate terms and conditions, and deliver all the components into a single document ready to be sent to the customer. Managing prices when a company grows and adds new product lines can be challenging. It is also difficult for sales reps to develop accurate price quotes for custom solutions in the time frames customers need. CPQ software helps to solve these problems by integrating with existing technological systems like PIMs, DAMs, and CRMs. It provides a seamless experience for sales teams and ensures they always work with up-to-date product information tailored to each customer.
When a company has complex products that offer millions of possible configurations, it is crucial to have robust CPQ solutions. Without one, it would take sales reps too long to find the best options that meet each customer’s requirements, and they would likely make mistakes that could cost the business money. It could include overselling products unsuited to the customer’s needs, losing upsell opportunities, or incurring costly warranty or replacement costs for inappropriate products.
What are the benefits of CPQ?
When you implement a best-in-class CPQ system, the benefits are multifold. You can deliver quotes to clients instantly, providing them with beautiful and standardized presentations of products and services that respect your branding and marketing strategy. It reduces the time it takes to prepare quotes and increases sales rep productivity. Furthermore, you will ensure that all prices quoted are accurate. It is crucial, as pricing errors cost organizations millions of dollars annually. CPQ software eliminates human error and helps companies avoid over-discounting products, thus allowing them to maintain their margins.
A CPQ solution can enable your team to configure complex products with zero errors and even help them choose the right add-ons for each client. It is a powerful feature, particularly in the fashion and apparel industries, where buyers can personalize their items by selecting logo printing, fabric color, or size. In addition, jewelry and luxury companies can use CPQ to allow potential customers to design their personalized signature pieces and buy them online with just one click. Lastly, some CPQ solutions can leverage AI to recommend the most appropriate product bundles for each customer. It allows sales managers to focus on upselling and cross-selling instead of spending time trying to understand which add-ons would suit each client. For instance, a manager can easily create a product bundle with the main printer, cartridges, or paper.
Why do I need CPQ?
If you’re a business with complex products and a wide range of options, packages, and other variables, then you need CPQ. This sales tool helps you streamline quoting by allowing reps to configure and price solutions quickly and accurately. It also enables you to manage your pricing policies and tighten the reins on discounting that might damage your bottom line.
CPQ aims to provide a consistent customer experience across all channels. That’s why it’s important to integrate this solution with your CRM system and other business applications so that all systems update in real time. Your team can get the most precise quotes thanks to it, which cuts down on the time it takes to prepare them and increases production. CPQ also helps you improve your product offerings by making them more streamlined and intuitive. You can enhance sales and profitability by using it to find upsell and cross-sell options that could be added to your current offering.
In addition, CPQ can help you increase margins by reducing manual processes that might speed up your sales cycle and lose paying customers. It can also help you make more accurate financial decisions by enabling you to see the impact of each pricing change before it is implemented. That can give you confidence that a new pricing strategy won’t cost your company valuable market share.
How do I implement CPQ?
To implement CPQ, marketers must first identify the specific objectives of the tool. These goals will guide the implementation process and determine which stakeholders are required for success. Marketers must then set targets and evaluate whether or not CPQ is performing efficiently to ensure ROI. To do this, marketers must analyze their existing sales processes and customer buying habits to understand their challenges. They should also create a roadmap for the entire sales journey to see how CPQ can provide value to each step. It helps them plan out the implementation process better and avoid any unforeseen issues that may arise.
Besides these, marketers must also focus on their sales teams to ensure the new solution addresses all their concerns and needs. They should do this by identifying the existing bottlenecks, inefficiencies, and backlogs that sales teams face to optimize the CPQ system for their needs. Using a guided selling capability within CPQ will be a big boon to your sales teams, as it will help them to offer a unified and more consistent experience for their customers. This feature enables them to answer customer questions about product features and benefits and recommend the right products for their customers’ unique requirements. It eliminates confusion and provides a consistent sales experience, boosting revenue generation.
