Tag Archive for: CPQ SOFTWARE

Gone are the days when your customers were buying cookie cutter mold products. Now they want personalization: From the tiniest details to differentiating, bigger changes. Customers want to be treated as individuals and not numbers. Meaning, they want sales quotes specific to their wants.

But, satisfying these ever-expanding customer expectations is tough.

The good news: You can use tried and tested Salesforce CPQ software (Configure, Price and Quote), and enable your sales team with a higher horsepower to push your potential customer to the next stage of the funnel.

Salesforce CPQ allows your sales team to spend quality, precious time on actual selling instead of generating quotes and doing related activities.

According to Salesforce, when their customers have deployed CPQ Software, they’ve reported:

  • 10x faster quote generation 
  • 2x faster quote-to-cash 
  • 95% reduction in approval time 
  • 30% quicker ramp for new reps

What is Salesforce CPQ, Anyway?

Salesforce CPQ, part of Sales Cloud, is a native tool which generates targeted, highly personalized, and accurate quotes for sales orders. It follows a pre-programmed set of rules and brings together the available pricing and customer data to automatically create error-free quotes which are precise and tailored to customer’s requirements.

By using CPQ, your sales team can overcome the hurdles of creating custom quotes, all the time.

Why Do You Need Salesforce CPQ?

Being an effective Salesperson requires a special skillset.

You need to understand your customer, know what they want and be able to come up with solutions that help them achieve their wants. Easier said than done.

And your sales team needs to sell more to outgrow your competitors.

One way they can up their game a notch is by using tools like Salesforce CPQ.

There’s more…

So, we’ve compiled a list of added 5 benefits of using Salesforce CPQ and growing your numbers –

Achieve Accuracy

You do not want to lose a major potential client because of errors. One bad experience and your customer will shift gears towards your competitors. As much as 63% respondents said that they will leave a brand because of poor customer experience, in a 2022 survey conducted by Emplifi.

You certainly don’t want this to happen.

And wrong quote is no minor error to overlook. Error filled quotes can lead to you charging your customers less than your costs. Resulting in losses. So, Salesforce CPQ is your insurance.

Salesforce CPQ automatically creates accurate quotes as it even updates new goods, features, and pricing in real time. Let your customers see how meticulous your sales team is when they send correct quotes each time.

Reduce downtime

A major setback happens when your sales executive is sure of closing a new customer. But he or she couldn’t.  

And oftentimes, it is because of delays in creating and sending proposals to customers using manual spreadsheets.

Salesforce CPQ takes this downtime out of the equation by automatically generating sales quotes without requiring you to use the traditional spreadsheet method, routing them for approvals, when needed and integrating the CPQ software with eSignature for a frictionless experience. 

In doing so, it helps your sales executives make most of their time.

Because to be a trusted seller, your team needs to spend time on delivering value, each time they contact the buyer.  

Not only this, but more time at hand also means that the sales team can follow up with more leads and bring in more revenue.

 “Once we implemented Salesforce CPQ, our sales team could quote within a matter of minutes, we had automatic checks and approvals based on certain levels of costs, etc.,” said Brad Bilotta, Division IT Manager at Magnaflux. “And our win rates are now up well over 60%.”

Optimize contract process

The holy grail of sales is to speed up the sales cycle or the selling process. And in this new landscape, it is the one thing that each business wants to achieve.

Because you don’t want unexpected circumstances like changes in budget or your point of contact, have left the company, to stall your deal at the final stages.

Especially when your sales team grinds hard to move the potential buyers towards the end of the sales pipeline.

Salesforce CPQ shortens your sales cycle by streamlining your contract process. In addition, it uses Salesforce Einstein AI to anticipate all the possible scenarios in pricing. CPQ also helps in adjusting the prices based on external factors.

Ensuring your data is updated in real time.

Higher efficiency in configuration and quoting process means your business becomes a more trusted seller.

As is always, it’s about gaining the trust of your customers.

Increase deal size

Solving your customer’s queries and problems is prerequisite for effective selling. You want your sales executives to know every possible angle in detail.

Still, there are chances of highly technical questions arising in conversations and the expertise of a subject matter expert might be needed to answer those. Not always you can have one in the team due to budget constraints or he or she might not be available at the moment.

That’s where Salesforce Configure Price Quote Software becomes a viable option.

You can preprogram specifications and bundles in CPQ Software which can act as rules for sales executives. Letting your customers take advantage of Subject Matter Expertise through CPQ.

Through Salesforce CPQ and its AI based features, your salespeople can ask the right questions and provide a more comprehensive pricing which is based on customizations, add-ons, or complex configurations.

Additionally, they can use guided selling to upsell, and cross-sell offers.  

And in all of this create the opportunities for bigger deal sizes.

Maximize profitability with integrations

CPQ solves the many challenges your sales team faces like long sales cycles, unmet quotas, and declining margins. It provides accuracy, decreased timeframes, and higher conversion chances.

But you still lack the insights into the sales pipeline.

That’s where your CRM comes in. A CRM is also essential to managing the customer relationships once the deal is closed. And then there will be renewals or subscriptions to manage.

And Salesforce CPQ and CRM cannot work in silos because that would lead to half-truth about customers and associated data. And if you are an active user of an Accounting or Operations ERP, then you would also require it to work in tandem with your CPQ Salesforce and CRM software.

Only then you would be able to streamline your business processes and choose your single source of truth for accessing the data.

You can achieve this unified, profit maximizing sales process by integrating your Salesforce CPQ with your CRM and Accounting or Operations ERP with top data integration companies like Commercient SYNC, which lets you and your sales team see the whole picture.

That’s what  Nicole Taylor, MBA, Director of Marketing at Republic Manufacturing, agrees with, “The Commercient SYNC data integration between Salesforce CPQ, Pardot, and Sage 100 allows our Sales Team to take appropriate steps to increase their rate of closure based on real time information.”

The Bottom Line

Deploy Salesforce CPQ along with existing software and help your sales team achieve more. Remember to oversee the rules and options while programming Salesforce CPQ for using it optimally.

And to use Salesforce Configure Price Quote (CPQ) software to its full potential, integrate your current CRM and Accounting or Operations ERP with the help of Commercient SYNC.

Let you, your team and business reap in the benefits of error-free, timesaving, accelerated growth.


If you want to start your journey through CRM/ERP integration success with SYNC, click here to contact us to schedule a free demo.

Configure Price Quote software, otherwise known as CPQ software, is a sales and quoting solution designed to help companies generate highly accurate quotes based on specific configurations. It helps centralize and automate rules on product, pricing, and business. With its centralized structure, sales teams are able to access information in real-time wherever and whenever they need it.

What CPQ does is that it enables users to generate custom quotes on products, services, and packages based using custom configurations and a predetermined set of pricing rules such as discounts, bulk orders, season, location, handicaps, pricing fluctuations, and more. It allows users, particularly salespeople, to quote their customers quickly and accurately.

With CPQ solutions, companies are able to activate and streamline all their sales channels and empower their sales personnel. This leads to better and bigger revenue as businesses create and provide precise and competitive quotes possible to their customers, enticing and motivating them to consider and ultimately purchase.

CPQ brings a plethora of benefits to many businesses and industries. But the following advantages top the list while explaining why your company needs to invest in CPQ software.

asana cpq

  1. Accelerate Business Processes

One of the reasons why companies are using CPQ software to improve their sales and overall revenue is its impressive speed. It accelerates the entire sales cycle, which serves both employees and customers. 

In a conventional business setting, salespeople have to spend a considerable amount of time retrieving and accessing product information from various sources. Then they have to consult their pricing rules before coming up with prices or rates and give customers their quotes.

And in between, there are internal administrative processes such as reviews, clarification, and approval that take too much time. With so many time-intensive functions and other management mumbo-jumbo to do, it’s no wonder why sales representatives only spend 33% of their time on sales-related tasks

By utilizing CPQ software and incorporating CPQ in CRM systems, companies are able to eliminate many of these unnecessary and exhaustive processes, drastically accelerating the sales cycle. This integration should be considered one of the best CRM practices because of the advantages it brings to any business enterprise.

Salespeople don’t have to spend days and weeks to come up with accurate quotes. They can create quotes in minutes and deliver them to their customers in an instant. This is critical as sales statistics reveal that 50% of customers purchase from the vendor who contacted them first.

Aside from increasing their sales potential, the speed of CPQ software also adds value to the customer’s overall experience. Being able to provide accurate quotes by demand sparks engagement and drives interaction. A delightful experience not only leads to a successful sale but also repeat businesses and more opportunities.

  1. Generate Quotes Based on Customer Data

It is clearly established how CPQ platforms transform the slow and arduous sales cycle into a rapid yet precise process. But aside from dramatically accelerating your sales by generating accurate and competitive quotes in minutes, it also sheds light in other business areas where visibility is either poor or lacking.

Most CPQ solutions can work well on their own without having to integrate with other systems and technology suites. But given its unique position, many companies integrate their CPQ software with their current technology solutions such as CRMs to make life easier for their sales reps.

The vast majority of CPQ platforms are built to seamlessly integrate and work with Salesforce, one of the world’s leading CRM brands to provide sales personnel with better, faster access to real-time customer information. They are able to do more with CPQ Salesforce meaning they don’t have to build viable proposals and quotes from the ground up. 

That’s because the CRM software supplies the CPQ solution with customer information, including interactions, previous communication, and activities done by other sales reps. CPQ users can then create more effective and accurate quotes and proposals that are driven and based on customer data.

  1. Eliminate Supply Chain Issues

Aside from centralizing and automating pricing processes, CPQ software streamlines the sales cycle by eliminating many pain points in the supply chain via powerful automation. Traditional supply chain processes involve numerous variables and stages, making it notoriously complicated even for seasoned supply chain managers and experts.

Accounting for each of these variables is already a complex process in itself, impeding the execution of lead-to-order cycles, which then adversely impacts sales performance. Even international companies admit how poor supply chain management can seriously hurt their revenue potential.

Top sports brand Adidas disclosed that they failed to meet their 2019 growth target due to supply chain issues. The Germany-based athletic performance company predicted massive losses between $220 million to $550 million for the year, stating their current manufacturing infrastructure in North America was not enough to meet the rising demand in the consumer-rich region.

Integrating CPQ with supply chain management software allows businesses to closely monitor supply levels and automatically update acquisition and inventory teams whenever items, parts, and supplies are depleting.

Because CPQ  addresses many of these pain points via automation, businesses are able to keep their inventories stacked and way ahead of demand. This ensures that they have adequate supply in their inventory when an order comes through. As CPQ keeps their supply levels at an optimum level, sales teams have an easier time focusing on their customers’ needs. This ultimately results in faster sales, more revenue, and happier customers.

Asana CPQ

  1. Sell Products When Demand Is Low

Most companies deploy CPQ systems to boost the efficiency of their sales processes and drive revenue performance. However, only a few integrate CPQ software with their demand planning and ERP solutions to help predict market demand, which is a great way to leverage CPQ capabilities.

Speaking of ERP solutions, check this page from FinancesOnline for today’s leading ERP software systems.

When market demand takes a dive, it is important for companies to keep their items from stagnating in their inventory. CPQ provides them with the platform to find ways to keep their products moving and still be profitable even when market demand is low.

By being able to forecast market demand, CPQ systems aid companies in providing their customers with vast possibilities of configurations to make their low-demand products appealing to customers as demand begins to plateau out and then dwindle.

While disposing of low-demand products may not garner a lot in terms of revenue, it does open up valuable inventory space. This allows companies to stock on more high-demand products and generate significant profit off them, enabling them to still achieve higher revenue even when they sold off their low-demand items for little or no profit.

Aside from helping with demand, data from CPQ systems can also be used to fuel and create detailed year-end reports.

Achieve Agile Sales Cycles Now

CPQ software is proving to be an indispensable system for modern enterprises, as evidenced by the rapidly growing global CPQ market. 

Among the major factors of CPQ adoption is its ability to provide business enterprises unparalleled agility in creating and providing accurate and competitive quotes to customers. In this world where agility is essential, it’s no wonder why CPQ systems are enjoying increasing popularity and implementation.

Customers today put a huge premium on speed as much as excellent service regardless of the CPQ software costs. Businesses now have to be agile to remain competitive and significant in their respective markets. CPQ gives them that. That agility leads to faster sales cycles, better sales enablement, and huge revenue growth. As people in sales always say, “you close more, you win more.”