Last updated: CPQ software: How to turbocharge sales and empower teams

CPQ software: How to turbocharge sales and empower teams

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For years, manufacturers with multiple, complex products like those found in the aeronautics industry have relied on configuration software to improve quote efficiency. Today, CPQ software branches the front and back office for optimal results.

Configuration software has become an integral part of operations for more than manufacturing companies. Any company with many highly configurable products – for example, those in high-tech – rely on configuration software, integrated with ERP and other systems, to produce accurate configurations. But this software has remained mostly a back-office, deal-desk function.

What if companies could extend the software’s functionality from the back office to the front office? What if sales reps could easily use the tool to quickly produce quotes?

Powers activate! CPQ software empowers your sales team

For sales reps, speed is of the essence. Customers today expect quick responses and convenience, and B2B customers are no exception. Waiting for sales reps to go back to a deal desk or for engineering to produce a quote increases the odds of them losing patience and snapping up a competitor’s quote.

To turbocharge the process, sales reps and back-office specialists should use the same software when producing complex quotes so they aren’t losing any precious time.

By integrating the tool with configure, price, and quote (CPQ software) designed for business users, sales reps can:

  1. Quickly create accurate quotes for customers with ease
  2. Maximize their ability to win the deal
  3. Guide customers only to what can be manufactured and delivered

AI-enabled CPQ software also does some heavy lifting for sales reps, providing them with optimized pricing recommendations. At the same time, automation ensures that margins are protected by setting guardrails.

Using machine learning, CPQ provides appropriate up-sell and cross-sell recommendations, based on historical data and customer attributes. This is a massive benefit for salespeople, since in an always-on world where deals are being created around the clock and there are hundreds of products that can be combined in thousands of ways, it can be easy to miss up-sell and cross-sell opportunities.

When sales reps can focus more time on selling and less time on manually calculating processes, they close more deals, and close them faster, especially with automated CPQ software they can use from their mobile device.

In fact, sales reps can become solution providers, selling high-margin solution bundles with products, services, and service contracts. Customers get exactly what they want, when they want it.

Mind on my money, money on my mind: CPQ boosts bottom lines

Companies continue to leverage the power of their original configuration software by reusing the product configuration models they’ve built over the years along with the pricing logic from their ERP systems.

This kind of integration reduces administrative costs by enabling companies to build sales rules in a business-friendly interface.

Moreover, companies can increase their revenue-generating power if the CPQ system is integrated with an e-commerce engine. Imagine an automaker that wants to offer a completely configurable car – it could speed sales by enabling a customer to order a complex configuration online.

In today’s digital economy, manufacturers and other companies with complex products must consider every option to streamline operations and boost productivity. By improving quote efficiency, organizations build a foundation that can drive growth for years to come.

Streamline sales.
Maximize revenue.
Come run with the best when it comes to CPQ HERE.

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