Is your business ready for a CPQ Solution?

Every organization has various departments and one of the most crucial ones is sales and finance. This is most proximate to the customer or is a direct and more obvious indicator of business success. Any issue they face must be dealt with, for smooth and efficient administration. The sales team thrives on readily available information, so as to easily convert and manifest them into actual quotes. But it is no secret that no company has 100% perfect and promptly recorded, organized, and readily available information for sales reps to use. In the wake of such a crisis, Salesforce’s CPQ solution comes into play. CPQ stands for Configure, Price, Quote, and as the terms suggest, they are associated largely with the sales wing of your organization. It is a software for reducing intermediary hassles and enabling smooth conversion of quotes to cash.

Configure: Breaking down CPQ, the first part enunciates the term configure. It deals with reorganizing all attributes with respect to a product quote and as the name suggests, configure such information from various departments. CPQ helps in eliminating silos and allows active participation of all departments. Such information helps the sales reps to make meaningful and quick responses to their customers. Through systematic methods and pre-programmed set of rules, Salesforce CPQ solution effectively configures the pricing process after considering all factors such as discounts and other attributes to easily give an optimized quotation.

Pricing: The next element is pricing which can get complex as the cost of different elements tends to be abstruse due to unfamiliarity. On top of this comes the difficulty of incorporating discounts and other personalizations of each client to produce error-free pricing. The sales rep must be careful of not incurring the organization any cost arising out of hurried cost analysis and pricing. CPQ solutions avoid such miscalculations with the help of the above-mentioned inter-departmental participation. Once the reps have finalized on a figure, the finance team can inspect it and pass the information regarding any potential issues with the pricing. It also allows other departments, say IT (development) department, to advise about the weight-age of the program or requirements of that project.

Quote: The final element is the most significant part which is proposing the actual quote. CPQ Solutions work on preset rules and regulations to build and deliver accurate quotes. Since these rules are specified, the reps can save a lot of time from detangling such information. They can now make better, longer and more prospective calls to generate and retain more business.

Furthermore, CPQ solutions provide tools to generate prompt proposals, contracts and maintain minutes to keep deals going on. It helps to elude from any sort of snarl-ups or hindrances in the review process and even suggest unique quotes for each customer. Reps can select from these quotes and add other discounts to them which will not be difficult due to the pre-programmed rules. It also allows to access and track data from Salesforce opportunities. Overall standardization around the organization is achieved by lining up CPQ CRM and ERP and also connecting distant departments like manufacturing, operation, and sales. Another benefit is that these departments can use CPQ analytics to identify demand, product trends and make new modifications and innovations. It also renders solutions for revenue recognition and billing, integrates payment options to make collection faster and create reports on it automatically. Once a rep enters into a contract with a client, they can instantly make updates to it upon change requests by the client by just typing them in. Agility and accuracy in closing quotes indicate the efficiency of your organization, you too can achieve it with Salesforce CPQ. So do you think your company is ready for it?