Solution Architecture
January 16, 2023

Let CPQ Take Pricing Efficiency to the Next Level

Configure Price Quote (CPQ) lets you create quotes fast so you can keep up-to-date with your company's latest pricing.

WIth the holiday season upon us, maybe you have had the experience of ordering a gift for someone only to have it arrive late. Order confirmation, processing and shipping can eat up a lot of time. They are barriers. Layer over that legions of people ordering products all hoping they arrive before the holiday, and it gets messy.

The crux of the problem is that there is a disconnect between you, the customer, and the necessary process to get your order to its desired destination. This disconnect can create confusion, disjointing the process. Until all elements are in sync, your gift will not arrive. But imagine you could wave a magic wand and have all that go away.

While it won’t get you your packages any faster, Configure Price Quote (CPQ) can get all departments on the same page to streamline operations. That way, the same thing doesn’t happen to your sales team.

Streamlining

In a nutshell, CPQ enables you to swiftly create quotes that are always inline with your company’s latest pricing. It links to systems like your Customer Relations Management (CRM) and Enterprise Resource Management (ERP), ensuring your company data is consolidated into a central hub that sales team members can access without confusion.

CPQ is able to automate quotes by pulling from all available information. These programmed rules allow spot-on accuracy whether it is quantity discounts, promotional pricing, customization options, upsell or cross-sell opportunities or varied revenue types.

A good chunk of sales people’s time is not spent selling. Because there are fewer ins-and-outs to learn, CPQ allows new sales reps to hit the ground running. For already established sales reps, it empowers them to work more efficiently. Quotes are generated ten times faster with CPQ than without. Further, approval time is cut drastically as well, which allows reps to close deals quicker and move on to the next.

Research shows that 84% of small businesses with CPQ software are able to send quotes within 30 minutes compared to 57% of small businesses without a CPQ. And 95% of small businesses are able to send proposals within an hour, in contrast to only 75% of small businesses without a CPQ. All this bolsters your company’s ROI.    

Striking While the Iron is Hot

With every permutation of pricing already programmed into your system, CPQ eliminates any barriers for sales reps who might have to go hunting for the option that fits a particular customer. This allows reps to maintain the ability to offer customers a variety of options while streamlining how quickly they produce those options.

By walking the rep through the process, CPQ gives sales teams confidence in their ability to offer a quote that is already approved, which in turn gives the rep more autonomy. Whether it is subscriptions, bulk pricing, contract pricing, partner pricing or pricing for specific clients, reps always know the parameters under which they are operating.

Not only does CPQ give sales reps all the relevant quote information at their fingertips, it also leverages automation to generate renewal quotes, renew subscriptions or apply terms to an add-on application. This in turn builds trust with clients, who, after sailing through the sales funnel, see your company as being invested in their success.     

“Because there are fewer ins-and-outs to learn, CPQ allows new sales reps to hit the ground running.” @Accelerize360

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Cross-department Benefits

But CPQ doesn’t just help the sales team. By clearly defining the rules, CPQ allows sales reps to avoid quotes that could land the company in financial or legal hot water. After a customer has agreed to a quote, that order touches many different departments from marketing to operations: order received, invoice sent, payment, revenue logged, order fulfilled. A simple quote can have a large ripple effect across your company if all departments are not on the same page.

Because CPQ links to your ERP and your CRM, every corner of your company can benefit from the rich store of data being homogenized. Your operations department is up-to-speed on the latest trends, allowing that team to forecast new deals, confident that CPQ lowers operating costs. Executives can monitor the company’s revenue and efficiency. Marketers can better understand customer needs. Everybody wins.

In It Together

Perhaps there is a lag between generating a quote and getting it approved or you are sending out inaccurate quotes. Maybe you are building a recurring revenue stream. Whatever the reason, it is likely your company can benefit from CPQ. However, understanding how to put all this into practice is no walk around the maypole. 

Setting up CPQ parameters takes deliberation. An experienced partner can help clean up your system data and put in place the right rules to poise your company for success. By getting into the granular details of how your system operates, knowing which out-of-the-box solutions or templates will get your desired result and how to maintain your system as your business grows, a partner can walk you through the path to the finish line.

Of course, once setup is complete, you may have an administrator handle the upkeep. For smaller businesses who do not employ such an expert, a partner can assist, tending your systems in a way that keeps operations running smoothly and efficiently. 

So, make sure the disconnect that leaves your family and friends getting their Christmas presents after the New Year doesn’t infect your business. Get CPQ.