Guide to CPQ Technology and Managing Orders
What Is Configure Price Quote (CPQ) Software?
CPQ software is an automation tool that provides an easy way to create quotes for configurable products. Managing the quoting process for complex products is never easy as there are too many variables involved. CPQ tools simplify the quoting process and will allow you to fulfill quote requests instantly.
When it comes to creating custom quotes, sales reps tend to waste several hours. These tools make your quoting process highly efficient, allowing you to deal with quote complexity without any difficulty. They automatically calculate the price of custom products and produce a quote quickly. An integral part of the sales process, the software can work wonders for your business.
CPQ Software Features
1) Let your Customers Configure Quotes
While configure price quote software does help to expedite the quoting process, very few people know that it can enable end-customers to configure products on their own. When the tool is integrated with your eCommerce platform, you can provide a range of options for your customers to configure products on the store. They can decide what product configuration suits their exact requirements.
2) Robust Rules Engine
The software allows you to create a set of rules for configuring and quoting products. These rules are embedded into the software’s advanced rules engine that ensures quotes are created accurately with no errors in pricing or compatibility. Product combination errors will be a thing of the past with CPQ software.
3) SaaS-based and Mobile Friendly
This is one of the most important features that has helped businesses to accept and fulfill quote requests from anywhere, anytime using any Internet-enabled device.
SaaS-based CPQ software solutions require a minimum investment, and are easy to manage, and run on Internet-connected devices. You can access your data and operate the software effortlessly as long as you have a reliable Internet connection.
How Does CPQ Software Work?
Configure
When a prospect requests a custom quote, the outside sales rep interacting with the prospect will collect and enter all the details in the software in real time. The details collected will be emailed to the inside sales rep instantly. Upon receiving the information, the inside sales rep will pass on this information to the production team. They will customize and create the product as per the unique needs of the customer.
Pricing
The custom product consists of multiple components with each component having a cost as per the pricing rules established by the managerial authority. The CPQ system is fully aware of the prices of every component, and hence calculates it accordingly. The total price is accurate with no scope for errors.
Quote
In this phase, the system puts together all the product details to create a fantastic quote. In case the customer requests a few changes in the quote, the document can be quickly updated and presented to the customer.
VARs/IT Reseller Using CPQ
It is a known fact that the majority of VARs/IT resellers depend on the quoting process to generate sales. As a value-added reseller, if you are selling complex products that come with a wide range of variations, you need to incorporate a full-featured CPQ system. VARs with large product catalogs should use this application to streamline their process.
CPQ and eCommerce Integration
These two applications when integrated can accelerate sales and take your business to new heights. As aforementioned, the integration will allow you to display configuration options for a specific product. It will allow you to create a centralized repository of sales data which will help you to analyze and track your sales. Through this analysis, you can make decisions to enhance your sales. When your sales-related data is organized, it becomes much easier to know exactly how your business is progressing.
Benefits of CPQ Software
Say Goodbye to Slow Moving Quote Process
There is nothing more tragic than losing customers due to the time-consuming quote process. Sales reps take time to create quotes because data is not available in one place. The software application resolves this issue by storing all the information in one central location. No wonder creating a sales quote as per the contract is a breeze.
Offer Personalized Service
The software helps to automate the process and create quotes that are customized as per the requirements of your prospects. They get custom quotes within a very short time. Discounts are taken into consideration while pricing the quotes.
Teams Across Departments can easily Collaborate
From sales reps to product experts, everyone can collaborate while creating custom quotes. With improved collaboration, your team can provide the best possible combinations that would be accepted by your customers.
Conclusion
CPQ software is one solution that is sure to provide an excellent return on investment. It helps to speed up the sales cycle as manual intervention is minimized. Faster sales results in increased conversions. It saves hours of your work and eliminates errors in your quoting process.
