Table of Content
Do you want to improve communication with your customers?
Does creating quotes manually take a lot of time for you?
Do you sense opportunities to engage customers with tailored offers? Is it too complex for you to offer tailored offers with the current quoting process?
If you answered ‘yes’ to any of the above (or all of them), then it may be the right time to consider Configure Price Quote (CPQ) software.
Key Takeaways:
- Online CPQ software accelerates quote generation by automating product configuration and pricing rules.
- Real-time rules enforcement reduces errors and strengthens margin controls.
- Integrated workflows shorten sales cycles by eliminating manual approvals.
- Configurable templates make professional quotes rapidly reproducible.
- Analytics assists in understanding conversion patterns and optimizing quoting strategies.
What is CPQ?
A configure, price, quote (CPQ) system allows sales teams to quickly generate accurate price quotes for complex and configurable products.
With quote accuracy and customer self-selection available in real-time, quoting productivity rises considerably using the CPQ solution.
Companies can automate the process of configuring products, looking up pricing, and creating quotations and proposals with the help of CPQ software solutions.
A software application based on this technology has existed since the 1980s but gained popularity only in the 2000s. Today, over 60 software vendors provide Configure, Price, and Quote solutions.
Over the years, companies have also developed and built in-house solutions utilizing pricing data, product configuration rules, applications, and document generation tools.
Why implement a CPQ in your Sales Process?
Businesses want to close more deals, and they want to close deals faster.
CPQ helps in both.
1. Lowers Risk
One of the main reasons why companies use a web quote generator is to lower their risk. This can be achieved by ensuring that the right products are sold to the right customers at the right price.
The lower risk is not only due to better sales but also because of better forecasting. In other words, you will know how many units to produce, when to produce them, how much they should cost, and how much profit you should make on each unit. The result is less wastage and more profit for your business.
2. Shortens The Sales Process
With CPQ, you can configure the product in a way that’s more appropriate for each customer.
According to Aberdeen’s research study, companies adopting web quote generators have fewer conversations with prospects, which results in better lead conversions and thus shorter sales cycles.
3. Increased Deal Sizes/Upsell and Cross-sell
Research by Aberdeen suggests that the average deal size more than doubles if a configured price quote software solution is implemented.
CPQ solutions are the best way to increase the average order value (AOV) of your company’s products or services. You can identify opportunities to sell additional items and services to existing customers by suggesting to them other products or services during checkout or support.
This will not only increase your revenue but also reduce your customer churn rate by retaining customers who would have otherwise defected from your brand after buying low-priced products or services.
4. Improved Lead Conversion Rates
Leads are the lifeline of any business. They’re prospects who one day get converted into customers, after getting convinced that your product or service is right for them.
The best quoting software provides an easy-to-use interface that allows users to quickly configure products and services based on customers’ needs and preferences. A research study stated that CPQ users experienced an improvement of two percent in overall lead conversion rate compared to non-CPQ users, who experienced a loss of two percent.
This allows sales reps to focus on selling instead of configuring proposals manually, allowing them to spend more time with customers and less time on proposals.
Pro Tip:
- Don’t be alarmed if your B2B conversion is under 2%. It’s common. The key is to measure against your industry peers and your own sales funnel stages.
- Use CPQ usage data to refine rules that reduce exceptions and rework cycles.
5. Eliminates Human Errors
The more complex your products are, the more room there is for errors. If you have multiple product options and add-ons, it’s easy for your customer to place an order that doesn’t match what they need.
This kind of mistake can cause delays, extra costs, and even cancellations (all of which can be avoided by using CPQ software in your sales process). CPQ software ensures 100% accuracy in configuration, so companies generate higher revenue.
What to Look For in a CPQ Software: 7 Key Features
If you’re already working with CPQ software and are not sure whether it meets all your demands, below are seven key features to look out for.
1. Multiple Templates
The right configure price quote software provides a library of pre-built templates that you can use to create your configurations. These templates are easy to customize, helping you personalize the product offerings and prices to suit your customer’s needs.
2. Approval workflow
The approval workflow is a critical component of your CPQ software. It tracks the status of each quote and makes sure that nothing falls through the cracks. A good approval workflow will also notify users when changes are made to the order so they can review, edit and approve them before they’re finalized.
3. On-the-go Quick Quoting
Quickly generate an offer for a new customer or a sales opportunity through mobile quoting software. No need to go to your order management system. Just enter the quote directly into the platform, and it will appear on your customer’s screen as a draft quote. It’s perfect for those last-minute sales opportunities when you don’t have time to create an entire proposal.
4. Catalog Integration
The product catalog is the heart of your CPQ solution. It is where you will store all of your products and categories. The best software will allow you to upload products, images, descriptions, and all other relevant details. It should be easy to navigate and search through, so you can find what you need quickly.
5. Online RFQ
An online RFQ feature allows customers to submit requests for quotation (RFQ) directly from your product catalog or website. The tool provides an easy way for customers to purchase products without having to contact you directly or wait for a salesperson to contact them.
6. Other Integrations
With CPQ, you can create product configurations and bundles that make sense. CPQ integrates with your existing price list (delivered either via manual spreadsheets or PSA software) and also with distributors, product catalogs, and vendor partners’ databases. These integrations allow sales reps to automatically import the latest pricing information and create error-free quotes in minutes.
7. Secure and legally binding E-signature
As an IT partner, you often have to shift between multiple applications and deal with a myriad of email threads for simple signature approvals.
Make sure the web quote proposal solution you choose includes integrated and legally binding electronic signatures. These signatures are encoded, which provides an extra layer of security. It makes sure that only the intended parties can digitally sign your proposals and that no one has altered the document’s content.
Pro Tip:
• Map CPQ workflows to key sales stages in CRM to enhance pipeline visibility.
Online CPQ Software Accelerates Your Sales Cycle
Sales funnel automation is a powerful tool to reduce the time it takes to close deals; however, without the best quoting software in place, sales reps will have to make do with a SaaS system that creates more work for them than value.
VARStreet configure price quote software streamlines every step of the sales process, from lead generation to proposal generation, with the total sales acceleration platform.
FAQs
What does CPQ stand for?
Configure, price, quote. It automates product configuration, pricing calculations, and quote generation so reps stop doing it manually in spreadsheets.
How does CPQ shorten the sales cycle?
It removes the manual steps that cause delays: looking up pricing, configuring products, formatting documents, and chasing approvals. Reps quote in minutes instead of hours.
Can CPQ help increase deal sizes?
Yes. Built-in upsell and cross-sell suggestions surface relevant add-ons during the quoting process, which lifts average order value without requiring extra selling effort from the rep.
What integrations should CPQ software have?
At minimum: CRM, distributor product feeds, accounting/ERP, and e-signature. These keep pricing current, eliminate double entry, and let buyers sign directly from the quote.
Is CPQ only for large businesses?
No. Small teams benefit more per rep because every hour saved on manual quoting is an hour back in selling. Cloud-based CPQ tools scale with your team size and budget.
