The new year often brings about numerous changes in a business. While we don’t think every change made in business is necessarily transformational, implementing your first – or brand new – Configure, Price, Quote (CPQ) tool is often associated with transforming the way that you do business.
But how do you go about ensuring that the introduction and implementation of CPQ into your business is successful? In our experience, one of the best things you can do is put together a CPQ success plan.
In order to achieve a successful CPQ deployment within your business we recommend that your plan include the following 5 steps:
How To Introduce CPQ Successfully
Start immediately, don’t waste time.
-Put your CPQ deployment team together. Make sure you choose team members who are aware of the CPQ tool that will be implemented and are happy to embrace CPQ as a useful business tool.
-Inform all stakeholders of your decision to introduce CPQ into your business.
Establish your change management approach.
-When you talk to your stakeholders ditch the jargon to ensure everyone understands what you’re talking about. You can’t assume everyone knows what CPQ is right off the bat.
-Communicate with your team. Schedule meetings, phone calls, and emails to ensure that everyone stays on the same page throughout the deployment of the new CPQ tool.
Establish your project management approach.
-Identify your pain points and resolve how you want to address them and measure your success.
-Clarify which project methodology you want to use and which project plan documents are right for your company. For example: change management plan, risk management, scope management, and so on
Take the time to prepare CPQ training so everyone in your business knows how to use your preferred CPQ tool.
-Look to senior management for support early on to ensure participation.
-Make training meaningful. You may want to test attendees at the end of training and only grant use of the CPQ tool to those who pass the test.
Optimize and adjust CPQ processes to take full advantage of your investment.
-Adjust your CPQ capabilities and sales processes as necessary to fit your business requirements.
-Use as much of the standard functionality of your CPQ tool as possible.
