Configure, Price, Quote (CPQ): Business Software That Replicates Best Sales Practices

CPQ: Configure, Price, Quote. These three letters hold the key to innovating your sales process. For many businesses struggling with slow-moving proposals, inefficient sales pipelines, and inconsistent quotations, CPQ has proven transformational.

In this blog post, we’ll be discussing the benefits of these types of software and share some tips for implementing them in your business for improved workflow accuracy and efficiency.

Importance of CPQ

Configure, Price, Quote (CPQ) is an umbrella term used to describe various sales processing and quoting software. Smart CPQ software streamlines your sales efforts by reducing friction and error across core sales processes: sales configuration, pricing information, and quotations. 

The best CPQ software should be able to help you win more deals faster. It can help you create smarter deals, generate error-free quotes and help customers understand your pricing information.

Let’s take a look at these three core processes in more detail. 

Configure

Sales configuration is fundamental to providing customers with what they need. Whether you’re selling marketing data software or chatbot tools, sales teams will often need to create customized product configurations on demand.

Personalized offerings simplify your sales process by making it easier for customers to locate what they need and improve the overall customer experience as a result.  

Complex product configurations can be made easy with the right tool.

Price

Most businesses have a pricing catalogue of some kind. The complexity of a business’ pricing scheme can vary widely. For example, if you’re selling numerous different types of software testing tools your pricing scheme will need to be equally flexible. 

A CPQ solution can help your business stay on top of pricing with configurable, automated pricing functions that make it easy to add and catalogue product items. A good CPQ tool can help you break down your complex pricing.

In turn, this helps sales professionals adapt to individual customer needs with variable pricing plans, discounts, upsells, and concessions. This means that you should be able to quickly provide personalized prices for specific clients.

Personalizing your offer means that you need a pricing engine that can show accurate prices for individual clients in real time.

Quote

Accurate and timely quotations are another integral part of the sales process. For example, a software development business will need to accurately and efficiently quote clients for automation testing. 

Part of the role of a sales representative is to compile and send out quotations to their clients. The more complex the products being sold, the more complex will the quotation process be, resulting in frequent errors or misquotations that could end up eating into revenues. 

A CPQ solution includes quotation features that help improve quotation accuracy by syncing automatically with your pre-established pricing catalogue.

The result? Fewer errors, reduced losses, and better customer experiences. The easier it is to create and send sales quotes, the better.

Benefits of using Configure, Price, Quote (CPQ)

Managing product configuration, pricing, and quotation separately can quickly become a bit of a minefield.

That’s why more and more businesses choose to implement CPQ solutions to help synchronize and optimize their sales processes. 

There are multiple benefits associated with using CPQ software; not just for companies but for sales teams and customers too. When performing data room due diligence for potential investments, it is important to carefully review and analyze the information provided in the Configuration-Price-Offer (CPQ) documents to ensure accuracy and suitability for the proposed investment.

A good CPQ solution can help deliver accurate quotes, streamline workflows, ensure accuracy, and improve relationships between businesses and their customers. Let’s take a look!

For the Company

First, let’s take a look at what CPQ solutions can do for your company as a whole. These are the big-picture benefits to your sales cycles, finances, and overall revenues. 

Shortens Sales Cycle

Sales processes are notoriously tricky to time just right. Most businesses have experienced their sales cycle slowing at one point or another. Oftentimes, this is the result of good intentions. 

Teams want to make sure that they’re giving customers the best product configuration options possible and generating accurate quotations.

But this takes time and can quickly start to cause bottlenecks in your sales cycle. 

CPQ tools overcome the issues associated with manual processes and improve efficiency whilst bolstering accuracy. 

CPQ software will automate your product pricing and quote generation processes so that sales reps can provide customers with customized products and prices in an instant and by doing so, help you with revenue growth. 

Cost Saving

Instead of purchasing a separate tool for each of your sales processes, CPQ software offers everything you need under one roof.

Plus, by opting for a SaaS tool, you’ll reduce all costs associated with implementation and maintenance! 

Potential for higher revenue

By increasing efficiency across the sales process, CPQ tools are good news for your revenues. That’s because, by automating key processes along the sales pipeline, CPQ software gives sales teams the time to focus on improving their services. And better experiences mean more deals closed. 

 For the Sales Team

Implementing CPQ software will also improve sales team experiences by automating previously time-consuming tasks like proposal generation and quotation. They help direct sales team towards increased sales.

As a result, your sales team should experience higher close rates and improved pipeline management.

Faster Proposal Generation

CPQ tools make proposal generation quick and easy. Sales reps no longer have to manually input numbers into spreadsheets. Instead, reps can put their time to better use and shift their attention to building better relationships with customers. 

Precise quotation

Manual price quotations typically involve sales reps wading through endless lists of pricing rules to generate a quote. This is both slow and leaves room for error.

CPQ tools automate pricing so that every possible product configuration and pricing scenario can be generated instantly. This liberates sales reps to deliver quotes quickly and with greater accuracy. 

Higher Lead Conversion

CPQ software allows reps to dedicate more attention to lead generation by freeing up their time. CPQ tools help reps identify and track high-quality leads based on real-time analytics.

CPQ software helps to eliminate false leads and evaluate the success of each lead generation campaign so you can constantly improve.

Higher Close Rates

By reducing rates of error in quotations, CPQ software also reduces the number of revisions that need to be made.

For example, if an agent misquotes a product to a customer that’s holding up a potential deal by two or three more interactions.

As a result, the overall sales cycle is condensed and close rates increase both in number and velocity. 

Real-time data dashboard

A typical CPQ tool will provide real-time high-quality data and analytics across your sales pipeline giving sales teams useful insights that can be used to inform the selling process.

Insights like how often particular products sell and which product configurations are most likely to meet the demands of a particular customer. 

Improved Pipeline Management

A CPQ solution can help streamline your sales pipelines in a number of ways. It can speed up the quote generation process and shorten the overall sales cycle by reducing the number of customer interactions needed to make and close a deal. 

For the Customers

CPQ software also benefits your customers. By streamlining the sales pipeline from the back end sales teams are freed up to spend more time working towards providing even better customer experiences. 

Reduce Waiting Time

One way in which CPQ software benefits business clients is by reducing wait time for product configurations and quotes. Customers don’t want to wait around for weeks on a quote. They want real time pricing.

CPQ software allows teams to issue customers with accurate quotes almost instantaneously. 

Product Satisfaction

A CPQ solution can improve product satisfaction rates by allowing your sales team to deliver highly customized product packages at better customer value.

Furthermore, by freeing up agent time, customers calling in with problems are more likely to receive the support they need quickly. 

Better Customer Service

CPQ software enables sales reps to engage with customers in order to provide personalised experiences.

When reps understand their customer's pain points it becomes easier to prescribe effective solutions that leave customers fully satisfied. 

The more you tailor your approach, the better results you'll experience.

Since they can get so much information from the quote software solution, you can rely on customer self-service, meaning your sales documents can answer any client questions.

Top CPQ Software of 2022

Ready to introduce CPQ software into your business? There are lots of great tools on the market right now. We’ve created a list of our top five choices to help you get started. 

Better Proposals

Better Proposals streamlines your sales efforts with digital documentation, quotes, client sign-offs, contracts, and more. Instead of using different systems to generate, sign, and track proposals, Better Proposals lets you do everything under one roof. 

There are hundreds of templates to choose from so you can create and send professional documents in minutes and convert more deals in the process.

All the templates can easily be customized, making Better Proposals a sales proposal automation solution that can cover all your sales needs.

Plus, with AI automated suggestions you’ll be able to be on top of what is and isn't working and continuously improve your sales processes.  

We also offer digital signatures, as well as payment integrations. That way your clients don't have to print out your documents but can sign the proposal itself with legally binding signatures.

If you need more proof that we're a great configure, price, quote (CPQ) software, let us show you how we can further speed up your sales efforts.

Our sales tool also lets your clients pay by using PayPal, Stripe or GoCardless integration.

Key features:

• Custom templates
• Digital signatures
• Real-time notifications 
• Direct payments
• Automated quotes
• Client signoff
• Automated sales reports

Price

We offer 3 different packages created for freelancers, small businesses and sales teams respectively.

Salesforce CPQ

Salesforce CPQ automates business ordering processes, contracting, and quotations and integrates with Salesforce’s CRM platform so you can pool all of your customer data under one roof. 

Top features: 

• Easy automated quoting
• Integrations
• View customer data in one location

Salesforce CPQ can help streamline your direct sales.

Price

The tool offers 4 different packages, depending on your needs.

Hubspot

Hubspot’s CPQ functionality monitors sales analytics and customer data to provide sales reps with insights and data to improve customer experiences. 

Key features: 

• Track leads
• Easy data-input
• Highly customizable

Price

The tool is free for Premium Hubspot users.

Oracle CPQ

Oracle CPQ software makes it easy to process and configure purchases by connecting your front and back office with other customer experience platforms. 

When integrated with Oracle Sales Cloud, it creates an all-encompassing, cloud-based solution.

Top features: 

• User-friendly
• Easy implementation

Price

DealHub

DealHub is a flexible configure, price and quote tool that generates no-code connected revenue workflows for sales teams that support customizable CPQ workflows. 

Key features: 

• eSign
• Document generation
• Digital sales proposals
• Subscription management

Price

Price is calculated upon request.

Does your company need CPQ software?

CPQ software is an invaluable investment for all kinds of businesses. If you’ve ever struggled with maintaining market agility due to slow-moving sales processes, then configure, price and quote software are for you.

You’ll be able to generate accurate proposals and quotes without all the repetitive manual labour so that agents’ time can be freed up to focus on the most important thing - customers! 

Importance of getting the right CPQ software for your business needs

With so many CPQ options, it can be tricky to pick the right software for you. Remember that not all CPQ solutions will share the same software quality.

It’s important to factor in some key criteria before deciding to invest in a new workplace tool. 

Look for software that:

• Makes sense financially and won’t surprise you with hidden costs.
• Is simple to use and makes it easy to communicate with your team. 
• Improves sales efforts with total (or near-total) automation.
• Can be customized to your individual business needs by integrating with existing business software tools and apps. 
• Will scale up and down with your organizational needs.
• Provides built-in analytics and data insights.
• Comes with comprehensive vendor support. 

Make sure you're including your team in the decision process. They should give you their thoughts on any software solution you're including in your sales stack.

After all, your configure, price, quote software should be enabling sales reps, not slowing them down.

Improve your bottom line with CPQ software 

When it comes to keeping your sales practices performing at their best, configure, price, quote (CPQ) software is the holy grail. Automating your product configuration, pricing, and quotations is the catalyst for increased efficiency, agent performance, and customer satisfaction.

With the right CPQ tool under your belt, you’ll save time, and money, and transform business practices from their root!

Start today, by signing up for a free Better Proposals trial.