What is Salesforce CPQ?
What are the benefits of Salesforce CPQ?
CPQ helps sales reps close deals fast: Many sales teams are stuck relying on spreadsheets and email when it comes to the final stages of their sales cycle, which means instead of moving on to their next deal, they waste hours trying to figure out how to price a product or chasing down a contract approval it. But CPQ changes all of that. Reps get their deal-making canvas to speed up even the most complex quote.
CPQ gives companies control and visibility over what's being offered and what's being sold. Without it, many sales teams operate under chaotic scenarios. Sending out pricing that isn't approved and promising products that no longer exist. Accurate tracking, analysing, or forecasting becomes nearly impossible when data is siloed in spreadsheets. CPQ puts guardrails in place and moves sales teams away from this risk.
CPQ enables you to launch new revenue models. Today's customers demand more flexibility in buying, and companies across all industries are responding by introducing new revenue models. But in order to do so, they need to implement technology platforms that support them. And spoiler alert, CPQ does just that. Feel free to go to Trailhead to learn more, or browse our YouTube channel for more specific demos and information about CPQ.
How CPQ speeds up the process?
A quicker sales process is vital to the new landscape of selling. Pryor commiserates with salespeople who think they’ve landed the deal only to realise unforeseen circumstances will stall or even kill it. Salespeople may realise, says Pryor, that the planned budget is no longer available, requirements have changed, reorganisation is imminent, or the decision maker has left the company.
CPQ speeds up selling processes, leaving less time for Murphy’s Law to permeate the deal. Salesforce CPQ users have noticed a faster sales process. For instance, Domino Printing Sciences reports an 80% more immediate quote delivery, and Nimble Storage marks a 34% increase in approval time. Cloudera’s quoting process is three times faster than before CPQ implementation. By speeding up the sales process, CPQ applications help sales organisations to reduce wasted time and protect more deals from stalling in the sales pipeline.
How Can CPQ Technology Streamline Your Quoting Process?
"Until recently, CPQ was a completely manual process that sales reps engaged in without much oversight," explains Pombriant. "Today, we try to generate just one quote, and the available technology helps us avoid making what were once common mistakes. For instance, modern CPQ can help ensure that if product B needs to be included with a sale of product A, it is."
Having preset rules for configuration in the system ensures configurations requested are possible and discounts are already approved or will be routed to people who can approve them. "Best of all," explains Pombriant, "the technology can accomplish all this much faster than email or other types of authorisation that salespeople sometimes forget to follow through on."
What Are the Benefits of Fully Integrating CPQ and CRM in Your Sales Processes?
The bottom line.
To ensure a smooth deployment of Salesforce CPQ, IT and SMEs should oversee the customisation of the rules and options for configuring. Once deployed, CPQ should be implemented with plenty of training and support for the sales staff, who will learn to use CPQ for upselling and cross-selling. Implemented correctly, CPQ will help sales save time, increase quote accuracy, and land bigger deals.
CPQ isn’t just a sales solution, nor "a back office solution," but a means for the entire company to streamline cumbersome sales processes into lean, productive systems. Adding Salesforce CPQ to existing Salesforce services defines sales as a process and helps teams focus on maximising time and resources, making the sales process efficient and lean.
Win Every Deal From Lead to Cash
