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Configure. Price. Quote. CPQ can revolutionize a sales cycle, and though CPQ is not unique to Salesforce, (there are many different options for CPQ out there) but the powerful Salesforce version is one of the better options on the market.

Salesforce CPQ

What is CPQ?

For any company that faces the challenge of quickly and efficiently producing error-free sales quotes, CPQ is the answer. CPQ is essentially a software that helps your Sales reps create accurate, up to date and effortless quotes for clients. This software is especially effective if your company offers a large number of pricing and combination options.

CPQ takes what used to be a complex, time-consuming process and makes it quick, simple and eliminates errors.

CPQ functions like a pricing wizard. It tracks and stores all of your products, prices, and options, and allows your Sales reps to click through the process to create the quote. Let’s take a look at each function.

Configure

Creating an accurate quote can often be quite a challenge. Every business has their share of bundles, combinations and product options, and each of these can, in turn, have their own associated requirements. Maybe a certain product can only be sold in a bundle or perhaps a product requires a number of customizations. You don’t want to send out a quote that doesn’t include these essential details.

In the end, memorizing all of your business’ pricing rules, dependencies and exceptions can be tricky if not impossible. And pricing spreadsheets and charts aren’t always effective either. This is why having all of your business’s rules loaded into a smart guide is a must for many companies. CPQ does the hard part and makes sure every quote is configured according to your specific rules.

Price

Just like product configuration, there are very often pricing exemptions and discounts that need to be considered for every quote. Few businesses sell their products at full list price to all customers. From discounts for nonprofits to special incentive promotions to credits for current customers, you probably have more than a few considerations for every price quote.

Mispricing a quote can not only be embarrassing but can potentially jeopardize the deal. With CPQ, you can create advanced pricing rules and take into account discounts, pre-negotiated pricing, subscriptions and more. The more complex your pricing options, the more your Sales team needs CPQ to streamline the entire process.

Quote

Following the configuration and pricing automation, CPQ provides a professional and efficient method of creating the quote. Salesforce CPQ allows reps to create the quote and send it via email (complete with e-signature options) all with just a few clicks. This is all done from a WYSIWYG editor, making template creation a breeze.

 

The Benefits of CPQ

More Sales – Turning out fast quotes leads to higher conversion rates and also gives your reps more time to work on additional deals. Complex, in-efficient processes leading to long quote creation times are a huge problem for many companies. Getting an accurate quote out the door quickly is pretty essential in the fast-paced world of 2018. Adding in the automation of CPQ to the process dramatically speeds up the process, giving your company a decided advantage over your competition. 

Better Accuracy – Automating your company’s workflow rules not only makes the process faster, but it means significantly increase accuracy. Validation rules ensure that every quote that goes out is properly priced and configured, and will take into account all of your business rules that could easily be forgotten or inaccurately applied through human error. With CPQ, you can rest assured that outgoing quotes have the correcting pricing, product combinations, description and are within discounting limits.

Efficient Invoicing – With an easy quoting process, that is stored directly into your CRM, you also get full tracking and reporting on your invoicing. Not only does this save you time, but it also leads to improved customer service.

Subscription Management – Subscription-based services require quite a bit of administration, but CPQ can help. The software streamlines many of the processes, such as discounts, refunds, renewal and contracting to make subscriptions easier.

Usage-based billing – Salesforce Billing and CPQ allow your company to handle complex usage and subscription-based monetization needs out of the box.

Better Reporting – An integrated solution, connected to your CRM, provides deeper insights into your business. You can track and report on buying patterns, projected cash flows and more. Create custom dashboards so you can keep an eye on your most important metrics with a quick glance.

Reduced Administration – With streamlined automation for invoices and quotes, CPQ takes a lot of the legwork out of administration. You can reduce administrative overhead, and have them spend more time on other projects.

Salesforce Quote-To-Cash

Salesforce doesn’t do just a basic CPQ, but offers what they refer to as a full “quote-to-cash” platform. Quote-to-cash is the combination of both Salesforce CPQ and Salesforce Billing that brings together the best features of both. You get everything from the chart below:

Not only do you get all of these fantastic features, but you can keep your CPQ on the same platform as your CRM, making for a better and more powerful integration. With Salesforce CPQ, you can access customer credentials, past purchase history and many other great integration features.

Do You Need Salesforce CPQ?

Like most customer configuration and development projects, adding a software like Salesforce CPQ to your org will be based on a number of individual factors. If one or more of the below apply to your company, you may need CPQ:

  • You have a large Sales Team. Think 100+ employees. 
  • If your salespeople spend around 25% of their day creating quotes
  • Your products have many different custom configuration options

These are just a few simple guidelines, and by no means are hard and fast rules. If you think Salesforce CPQ is something that would help your company and would like more information, Contact one of our Consulting Specialists.

-Ryan and the CloudMyBiz Team

 


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