Salesforce CPQ is a configure price quote solution which is fully native to the Salesforce platform. It delivers automated sales quoting with out-of-the-box capabilities like Guided Selling and Pricing and Discount Schedules. But it’s not limited to this definition. It brings so much more functionality and flexibility to your sales team, no matter how complex the process is. It streamlines the entire quoting process, aligns all your disconnected internal teams and saves time while building accurate and timely quotes, all without leaving Salesforce.

Although configure, price, quote (CPQ) software has been available for decades, innovation in CPQ software is seen as the newest wave in sales optimization tools. CPQ is a sales tool for companies to quickly and accurately generate quotes for orders. CPQ applications often work in tandem with CRM platforms, ERP programs, and other business technology, which helps ensure integrated data as well as accuracy. Quotes produced with CPQ software are automated according to a preprogrammed set of rules, ensuring error-free pricing that takes into account quantities, discounts, customizations, optional features of products, multiple revenue types, and incompatibilities.

Sales reps spend just 34% of their time actually selling, and research shows that part of a sales team’s non-selling time is spent generating quotes, proposals, and gaining approvals. When CPQ is deployed and used correctly, users have reported:

• 10 times faster quote generation
• 95% reduction in approval time
• Two times faster moving from quote to cash
• 30% quicker ramp for new reps

With its functionality and potential for excellent return on investment (ROI), CPQ software is on the horizon for many companies. CPQ adoption will continue to grow as companies see the real benefits of using it in conjunction with their CRM and ERP systems.

• CPQ software eliminates a number of sales hurdles
• Even when you see the benefits of a CPQ program, you may think your current process still fits the bill. But even if your current
• sales quote generation seems to be enough, be on the lookout for these six signs that you need CPQ:
• You’re using legacy quote configurator.
• Revenue growth is outpacing your ability to operate.
• You’re building a recurring revenue stream.
• You need practical ways to implement more advanced business solutions, such as software with artificial intelligence built in.
• You’re sending inaccurate sales quotes to prospects.
• Someone manually reviews all your sales quotes.

What Is CPQ? A Guide to Configure, Price, Quote

Most companies that don’t use CPQ software have a sales process that’s slowed by the time it takes sales to deliver accurate quotes. However, these organizations rightfully don’t want to speed up the process if it means giving incorrect prices or unapproved discounts, or promising customers configurations that are unavailable. Thanks to a slew of variables that can change rapidly, the sales quote review process can become a bottleneck to closing sales. This means many companies struggle to get quotes to customers in a timely manner.

Pricing can be a major pain point for sales teams. For example, in an effort to make the sale, a salesperson may offer too large of a discount to a customer, and that reduced price ends up costing the company more than it was worth. It could also make future negotiations with the customer difficult as the salesperson tries to secure a fair price for both the customer and the company.

What is CPQ’s main advantage?

One barrier to delivering timely quotes occurs when sales reps want to offer the customer options, configurations, or prices, but have to go digging through spreadsheets to find the right pricing rules to create the quote. CPQ avoids this conflict — with the customer and within the organization — by clearly establishing preprogrammed rules. With a CPQ application, every conceivable configuration, price, discount, and scenario can be specified, making the product configurations and options straightforward based on company capability. Then, when the rep builds the quote, CPQ walks them through the process in order to create a complete, accurate quote, using a customized template, all within minutes. It’s automatically routed to the correct parties for approval, shortening the wait time even more.

CPQ helps departments collaborate and make sales quotes accurate.

While this solution certainly helps salespeople create accurate quotes quickly, CPQ’s effects on efficiency are more far-reaching. One of the biggest advantages of CPQ software is that the entire company can be involved. CPQ deployments, done right, allow sales, renewals, finance, and legal to each seamlessly have a hand in the different configurations. That means you won’t have

salespeople selling configurations that aren’t possible financially or legally.

With CPQ, you’re also able to create configurations and bundles that make sense. Instead of salespeople determining configurations independently, you can have the subject matter expert (SME) on the product determine the best options and configurations for your customers. These are entered into the CPQ system as rules so salespeople can offer the best possible options for your customers. When cross-functional teams work together, everyone wins. Your product becomes more solution- oriented and customer-centric than ever before.

The sales department may be the primary user, but CPQ software isn’t just for them to use. You can also optimize CPQ applications to benefit the entire organization. In successful deployments, your teams can use CPQ analytics to find demand and product trends.

Next-generation CPQs can increase revenues by automatically generating custom quotes that reflect accurate quantities, pricing adjustments, and discount authorizations even when selling complex product configurations.

Top 5 Benefits of Using a CPQ Tool in Salesforce

Positions at all levels of an organization including sales reps, sales operations managers, and chief revenue officers benefit from CPQ.

Here are the most important benefits of using a CPQ tool in Salesforce:

1. CPQ Produces Accurate Quotes

CPQ in Salesforce automates the product configuration, pricing, and quote generation process. Instead of relying on product lists and price books, sales people have everything they need to create accurate quotes built into the tool. Discounts and approval rules programmed into the

CPQ software place guardrails around deals, so rogue discounting is a thing of the past.

Next-generation CPQ solutions make quote accuracy possible through guided selling playbooks.

This advanced technology uses a series of dropdown menus to guide sales reps through the product selection process.

By answering a series of simple questions about opportunities from a dropdown menu, backend systems can accomplish a number of tasks like product selection, documentation generation,

pricing/discounting parameters, and product validation.

The result is the automatic generation of 100% accurate price quotes that reflect current sales strategies.

• CPQ Improves Efficiency

CPQ enables faster quote delivery. By improving efficiency in sales operations and reducing time spent on administrative tasks and quoting, sales teams are free to focus on customers.

CPQ in Salesforce eliminates inefficiency in the entire quote process by automating product catalog searches, pricing decisions, and discounting rules. It also streamlines the paperwork required to close a deal including document generation, customization, and ordering forms.

The result is that sales reps do not need to do things like search through product catalogs, email chains, or create their own proposal documents. They are free to spend their time selling

products, instead of doing administrative tasks. In addition, streamlining the sales process speeds up the sales cycle and helps salespeople close deals faster.

• CPQ Builds Trust with Buyers

Using a CPQ inside Salesforce provides sales professionals ready access to buyer information while working through the sales process from opportunity to close.

Offering the right product and the right price keeps deals on track and avoids roadblocks in the contract

approval process so buyers never feel a sales rep is not being responsive.

Buyers appreciate the customer-centric approach to building product configurations and receiving sales quotes based on their needs.

• CPQ Maximizes the Benefit of Existing Prospects and Customers

It’s easier to sell to existing prospects and customers than to find new ones. The same playbooks that ensure pricing accuracy also suggest up-selling and cross-selling opportunities that are in line with margin considerations, to sales representatives. Sales reps can make sure they take advantage of all the opportunities afforded to them by each prospect and customer in their sales pipeline.

• CPQ Increases Revenue

Using a CPQ tool in Salesforce allows for accurate quotes, increased efficiency, complete visibility on the purchasing process, and building trust with buyers. The result of all of these things put together is increased deal size and revenue growth.

CPQ lets you eliminate the administrative burden while producing more accurate pricing and quotes and

providing a better experience for buyers even while up-selling and cross-selling them.