When you sell a wide range of complex products or services your prices will probably vary widely, depending on your customers’ specifications. However, manually creating accurate detailed quotations is time-consuming. Configure price quote (CPQ) software can change all this and improve the sales and profitability of your organization.
What is CPQ?
Configure price quote software allows you to quickly generate precise quotes for complex configurable products. Customized product specifications, accurate quotes and offers can be delivered efficiently so you can respond to more customer enquiries and improve your conversion rates.
✓ CONFIGURE – you will start by designing a product to meet your customer’s needs and preferences. While you might have a base price for the products in your catalog, the level of customization your customer needs will introduce a wide range of variables that will affect their final price. CPQ software allows you to construct, visualize and specify products and reduce the risk of human error.
Your CPQ software will automate the process with the aid of base product models, libraries of approved options and configurations, and guided selling features. It will use a menu of product and service options, available feature combinations, pricing, and discounting so your sales team can deliver quotations quickly, consistently and accurately.
✓ PRICE – complex customization makes pricing difficult but modern B2B buyers value flexibility and price transparency. However, the more options you offer the more difficult accurate pricing becomes. Pricing each customization manually after the configuration has been agreed by your customer slows down sales, delivery and payment.
CPQ software means the process can be automated to generate precise quotes based on rules you have defined in advance. This might include pricing based on attributes such as size, quantity ordered, colors, and finishes. You could also include discounts or special agreements for specific customers, prices that vary by region, required profit margins, and support and maintenance costs.
✓ QUOTE – you can quickly provide your customers with a detailed estimate and you can easily meet requests for comparative specifications. You can also give advice quickly about the implications of changing one or more customized options before finalizing the contract.
The Benefits of CPQ for B2B businesses
CPQ provides a seamless interface between manufacturers, wholesalers and customers. It can significantly improve your buyers’ purchasing experiences which will improve customer retention. This is an important consideration in a highly competitive market.
✓ FASTER PROCESSES – agility has become a key consideration for all types of business, not just for disruptive newcomers. CPQ gives you the opportunity to combine innovation and reliability in a single process, streamlining price negotiations and approvals.
Speed and easy application of your CPQ process can make the difference between retaining long-term loyal customers or a downturn in sales and increasing costs in new customer acquisition.
✓ CONSISTENCY AND ACCURACY – thanks to process automation you can set rules that will maintain consistency. Manual data entry and calculations will be reduced so you will also improve accuracy. You will avoid costly errors and be confident that customer orders can be profitably manufactured and delivered.
Your field sales team can spend more time selling, helping customers to specify the right solution for their needs. You can minimize delays whilst configurations and costing are defined and verified. Customer changes will no longer mean going back to the beginning and in many cases updates can be simply and quickly added to confirm the price implications.
✓ PERSONALIZATION – to achieve differentiation in a competitive marketplace the ability to deliver a fully customized product or service to your customers is a powerful tool. Your customers and business partners can have specific pricing and catalogs tailored to their requirements with customization options to streamline their B2B buying process.
✓ AUTOMATION – modern CPQ solutions use business systems integration and artificial intelligence (AI) to automate repetitive and detailed manual tasks which can often lead to errors.
AI tools can quickly combine customer sales data such as location, size, and revenue with product information and purchasing history to create data-based recommendations and suggestions for associated products, services, promotions and offers. AI can even evaluate the likelihood of your quotation being approved and recommend changes to increase the likelihood of acceptance.
✓ SELF-SERVICE – CPQ software can include behavior-driven questioning to allow customers to complete much of the specification themselves. They can explore options and make relevant choices via your B2B ecommerce platform. Your sales team can be their trusted advisors when they have questions or need further technical details to finalize the process, adding value and improving customer satisfaction.
✓ REQUEST FOR QUOTE – customer requirements can vary a lot so you can also offer an online ‘request for quote’ (RFQ) service where they can specify their requirements, add queries and attach documents. You can find out exactly what they are looking for and recommend the best possible solution with an accurate price. When they happy with their quote they can go straight to your online checkout to complete their purchase.
Streamline complex products and solutions with CPQ
With hundreds of possible configurations and varying customer requirements, guided CPQ software can help your customers specify exactly what they’re looking for.
By educating, informing, and supporting them throughout the ordering process, you create a seamless buying experience that increases customer loyalty and satisfaction.
If you provide high volume products, prices might vary depending on quantity and order frequency. Shipping could affect your quote too, depending on when and where delivery is needed and the size of the order. You can include all these details to give accurate answers through a fast and efficient process.
Book a free Cloudfy demonstration to find out how a flexible CPQ solution for your B2B ecommerce platform will deliver fast, accurate pricing when your customers require complex configurable products.
