Configure Price & Quote (CPQ) functionality helps deliver quicker quote generation and ensures accuracy by automating configurations. It offers a customized buyer experience and allows marketers to dedicate time to helping customers and prospects.
While CPQ is a powerful tool offering major benefits, it is challenging to implement. It saves time, increases sales, and streamlines sales processes if accurately deployed. Moreover, it leads to lower sales costs and higher revenue.
Here are a few benefits of CPQ functionality, and how CPQ transforms the B2B CX.
-
Personalization
Customization is hard when done manually. CPQ simplifies this by providing customers with customizable self-service options. CPQ’s platform uses data to help predict what customers are looking for and help them buy faster.
In B2B, CPQ allows personalization in the most significant way. Customers, for instance, can have specific pricing and catalogs customized just for them. At the same time, partners can have their catalogs that align with their specific needs.
-
Quick Results
CPQ provides speed to many B2B purchases. It enables marketers to generate complex quotes quickly. It provides speed and velocity by offering services and subscriptions, expanding its market.
-
Greater Accuracy
CPQ functionality in a CRM platform eliminates the possibility of errors in quotes and configurations that might cause the customer to switch. With rapid responses, customers can receive accurate quotes. Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) can also be sold with CPQ.
It streamlines the final contract negotiation process in terms and pricing. This way, the negotiation process doesn’t turn into a negative CX. All this is achievable when CPQ effectively integrates with sales automation tools.
-
AI and Automation
Embedding AI directly into the product offers optimal pricing with suggested cross-sell and up-sell opportunities. It empowers marketers with granular insights and allows them to handle deals better.
It boosts sales experience and eliminates extensive research work that sales reps must do independently. Thus, marketers can use it to save time to develop a deeper customer relationship.
-
Better Integration
CPQ implementation helps marketers get a new business baseline. It facilitates connection and communication of all the systems in the tech stack. The systems include variant configuration, commerce platform, and distributor self-service tools.
Challenges of CPQ Functionality Implementation
-
Believing that CPQ is Only for Sales
A common mistake firms make is believing that CPQ is only for the sales team, which is false. However, they will use it to generate quotes for products and services for the customers.
Other stakeholders include a commercial team, customer support teams, solution engineers, and a finance team. Marketers must understand that other stakeholders also impact and influence how a successful CPQ system is built.
They also significantly have an impact on key decisions. Thus, it is vital to ensure that these stakeholders are engaged right from the early stages of the project.
-
Profit and Loss (P&L)
Commercial and finance teams adhere to KPIs. Building a full quote P&L into a CPQ system is hard as these have every detail about what impacts the deal. Here’s an example-
- KPI assessments like Gross Margin, Net Margin, ACV, TCV, and AOV
- One-time fee management and its distribution across the KPIs and time
- Breaking down the P&L by month, quarter, and year and determining how each KPI behaves
Besides this, marketers must understand which CPQ tools to use. They must also prepare themselves for complex negotiations.
-
Customer-facing Documents
After a quote’s configuration and approval, a crucial step is to present it to the customer. Some believe a simple email does the job but demand high-fidelity documents that are challenging to achieve.
Customers demand high-fidelity Word documents, unable for the systems to mimic. Thus, marketers must ensure they set expectations before the CPQ process for customer-facing documents.
How Can Businesses Address the Challenges?
-
Set a Change Management Plan
Firms need solid change management for a successful digital transformation. Sometimes, companies do not understand its importance, and sales teams do not adopt the solution. Without better adoption, firms cannot get the most of CPQ. It will also be challenging to get customers to adopt the new system.
A solid change management plan allows the team to understand the tools needed to work with. It also allows marketers to assess the existing teams to see if they are sufficiently staffed and have the skills to adopt CPQ.
Thus, companies must well-train their staff and test their CPQ solution. They must also invest early to prevent hassles after the launch when making the needed modifications is much more complex.
-
Understand Complexities of CPQ Functionality
CPQ demands high investments but requires solid integration. Firms must not limit the integration to ERP or Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems. Instead, they must involve many business processes, like finance, sales, and product management.
It is vital to assess early to know how these business areas intersect. Companies must determine how CPQ implementation will impact workflow and what attributes the solution must meet for each business area.
Moreover, it is essential to identify accurate data for the CPQ processes. Firms must capture, verify, and import vital data points like discounts, packages, and contracted pricing. These insights can help know the customer base and build product models to create configurations ideal for the customers’ needs.
-
Apply a Multiphase Approach to Launch
Instead of rushing the process, firms must launch their CPQ in phases. They can launch a product line with a medium complexity level and go live. They can make adjustments by assessing their performance before tackling the next phase.
-
Set Measurable Targets
With CPQ implementation, marketers must ensure that the ROI is achieved. It must set specific objectives and evaluate whether or not CPQ is delivering efficiently. They must review targets, optimize as per the findings, and measure that CPQ is worthwhile.
Also Read: Key Elements of B2B Marketing
Conclusion
CPQ saves time by delivering quicker quotes and ensuring accuracy by automating configurations. Moreover, it provides a customized experience for buyers and empowers sales reps to sell more successfully.
All these factors help achieve a robust, customer-centric experience. Thus, it is essential to have a robust CPQ in place. Marketers must ensure it has integration and strong workflow capabilities. Moreover, it must be flexible and must offer omnichannel support.
The platform must integrate with CRM, ERP, and accounting systems. By gaining more customer data sources, firms can boost productivity and increase customer satisfaction. More importantly, the platform must process change- configuration, pricing, and quotes of products.
Companies must ensure that the platform is flexible to scale with business. More flexibility gives ample chances to control the internal software processes. Lastly, an omnichannel supportive platform is essential since back-office staff and customers utilize CPQ. Hence, choosing a portable system with mobile support is vital.
For more such updates follow us on Google News TalkCMO News.
