CPQ (configure, price, quote) solutions software is a digital tool that’s developed to make the process of selling more convenient. This is particularly valuable for businesses that customize their products according to their clients’ specifications.
While retail often distributes mass-produced merchandise, companies in construction, automobile manufacturing, and Software as a Service (SaaS) industries have several product lines. These businesses have to create personalized quotations for each of their customers with specific pricing and discounts, which makes proposals challenging to track.
The danger of having customized quotations is that you may end up sending the wrong document or answer client inquiries incorrectly, which damages your brand’s reputation. Therefore, you must invest in reliable CPQ software to help you manage your processes.
Here are the ways that your business can benefit from CPQ solutions:
#1. Streamline Your Sales Cycles
The primary advantage of investing in CPQ software is that you get to shorten the stages that your leads go through. The typical sales cycle starts with acquiring leads, then contacting and qualifying them.
The next step is when you present the offer and negotiate. With a CPQ solutions program, you can streamline this process because the tool automatically pulls up the client’s information and customizes the proposal to their preferred product specifications.
With this, you can expect to close the transaction quickly. Moreover, you may even get positive word-of-mouth advertising and more leads from referrals due to the quality of service that you provide to your customers.
#2. Accurate Quotations
Most CPQ software programs enable clients to generate their own proposals based on the prices, product catalog, and discounts you put in the database. Aside from the automation benefits, you can also be sure that these quotations are accurate since a machine is computing them.
Not to disparage human knowledge, but computers are definitely more proficient in accounting for all variables that you typed in your database than your employees. There are a lot of factors that influence the capabilities of your human workforce.
For instance, they may commit a lapse in judgment if they are feeling under the weather or when they have emotional burdens. This can have an adverse effect on your business.
The advantages of providing accurate quotations to your customers include:
- Clear Communication – The proposal you send should make sure that you and your customers are on the same page, especially regarding the price, payment arrangement, and delivery timeline. You should also add your company’s terms and conditions to ensure that the client is amenable to them before they avail of your products and services.
- Transparency – Your quotation must have a detailed breakdown of your pricing so that customers know what they’re going to get. There should also be the scope of your work if you’re a service provider or the warranty of your merchandise for businesses that are selling products, whether in a physical store or e-commerce.
- Financial Preparedness – A proposal can help you become prepared financially because you can budget your resources depending on the signed contracts that you have garnered. You can forecast cash flow and revenue accurately to keep your business solvent.
- Credibility – Having an accurate and well-designed quotation can boost the clients’ perception of your brand. You establish that you’re serious about your business when you deliver the best to your customers, from proposals to the end product or service.
#3. Improved Inventory
One task that CPQ software programs automate is the inventory. Encoding the specifics for each product and service is the only challenging part of the process. But once you have that out of the way, you can trust the system to do the calculations for you and inform you when you need to order stocks from the suppliers.
#4. Boost Employee Productivity
This tool also serves as a centralized location for your customer information database and product catalog. With this, your employees won’t have to keep on opening a lot of different applications to keep track of your sales and which customer ordered what.
CPQ software helps boost employee productivity through its automated features. Plus, it gives them more time to focus on revenue-generating tasks like talking to your clients and persuading them to buy more products.
#5. Enhanced Client Relationships
There’s nothing more embarrassing for your company than when you have to take back what’s written in the initial proposal and send a new one. As mentioned earlier, CPQ software can decrease the chances of sending your clients an inaccurate quotation and risk damaging your relationship with your customers.
Conclusion
CPQ solution software programs are valuable to any business in any industry. It helps you streamline your sales cycle, generate accurate quotations, improve your inventory process, boost employee productivity, and enhance your relationships with your clients.
Unnati Vaidya
Unnati Vaidya is a freelancer Content Writer and SEO generalist. She is an enthusiastic reader of Novels and a big fan of watching Sci-fi movies and seasons!