CPQ software helps businesses reduce the time sales reps spend on non-selling activities, such as product configuration and pricing estimates. You can select the best tool for your business needs using this guide.
Ensure your chosen solution can meet your CPQ requirements in the short term and your strategic vision for the future. Look for low-code solutions with modular components that can be easily added as your business grows and evolves.
Customer Experience
The key to selecting the best CPQ software is knowing your goals. Each business has unique internal processes that need to be automated. Find a solution that meets your needs and aligns with other digital tools your team uses to drive business. For example, a CPQ system that integrates with ERP systems and CRM platforms can streamline how you manage and store data, providing real-time reporting and analytics to help identify optimization opportunities.
The best CPQ solutions are those designed with the end user in mind. Look for a low-code solution that will be easy to use so it can be easily adapted to your internal processes and used by your team. This will minimize the learning curve, ensure quick adoption, and reduce the risk of users abandoning the platform in favor of manual methods or a competing solution.
A good CPQ platform allows sales reps to configure products quickly and accurately using an interactive product configurator. This eliminates the need for manual pricing calculations and engineering oversight, ensuring that quotes are always accurate. CPQ also provides a streamlined pricing process, which automates price determinations based on predefined rules. This can improve profitability and eliminate pricing errors, such as rogue discounting or margin erosion.
The type of product you sell and how that will change in the future is another consideration when choosing a CPQ platform. Ensure your solution can handle your current and future growth strategy, including any shift from product to service or project-based work.
Integrations
A great CPQ implementation will seamlessly integrate with your other business systems, especially ERP. This will enable you to eliminate silos and streamline workflows across departments. It will also give you a single source of truth for all product and pricing information, enabling your team to make informed decisions.
It will help you stay ahead of your customers by delivering accurate quotes promptly. By doing this, you can guarantee that your clients have the most incredible experience possible and raise customer retention rates. Additionally, doing away with manual procedures, lowering the required data entry, and expediting the quotation process will save you time and money.
The right CPQ solution will allow you to automate creating quotes for configurable products. It will also connect your internal systems, giving you visibility into your configurations and pricing rules. This will help you avoid costly errors impacting performance and profit margins. For example, coding errors can lead to pricing mistakes. Rogue pricing can also occur when discounts are not applied uniformly or consistently.
CPQ software can help you create and deliver high-quality sales proposals to give your customers a great experience. Codified, rule-based configuration simplifies the selling of complex products, and nested bundles enable users to select options from multiple product categories simultaneously. In addition, CPQ will facilitate the delivery of standardized pricing by calculating price rules based on BOM characteristics, production costs, optional features, and more. This can eliminate manual calculations and prevent erroneous pricing.
Automation
Whether pricing, approval workflows, discount structures, or preferred customer prices, CPQ tools offer an array of automation capabilities that improve the quality of sales quotes. These features can also help you locate optimization opportunities to enhance revenue growth.
A CPQ solution can automate the quoting process, including document generation, e-signatures, and payments. This can significantly reduce the time to quote, speed up the sales cycle, and provide a better overall customer experience.
To successfully implement a CPQ tool, your business must be willing to invest in change. It’s essential to set clear goals and a timeline for implementation and communicate with employees about their new role in the company. Doing this will ensure your staff is ready for the changeover and can benefit from the tool.
Some CPQ software offers bonus features like 3D visualization and virtual or augmented reality configuration experiences. These features wow customers, increase product understanding and boost sales. Other tools have a no-code rules engine that enables non-technical users to set CPQ logic and constraints easily. This makes it easier to launch new products and change existing ones, boosting agility. In addition, some CPQ solutions automatically generate everything needed for production, including CAD models, BOMs, CNC cut sheets, and parts lists. This speeds up engineering lead times and improves sales-to-engineering collaboration.
Security
When selecting CPQ software, you must ensure that your chosen product will protect sensitive information. This will guarantee no security lapses or hacking attempts and that the system operates as intended. During your research, ask the vendor what security measures they have in place and how they would prevent unauthorized users from accessing the information stored on their servers.
Another thing to look for is a CPQ solution that provides regular data reports. These can help you determine what is working and what is not so you can make changes accordingly. This will allow you to see the effectiveness of your strategies and help you optimize your workflows.
CPQ software can also help you create and send quotes to customers quickly. This can help you improve customer service and make your brand stand out. It can also help you streamline the quoting process and reduce quoting errors. While customers might be willing to forgive a small error on your part, they are unlikely to forgive your business if it results in a significant pricing error.
When looking for a CPQ solution, you must take the time to do your research and understand your business needs. Be sure to involve experienced members from sales operations and IT in the selection process. Their input and perspectives will be crucial in identifying systems worth considering for your CPQ solution.