What is Configure Price Quote?

Configure Price Quote (CPQ) is a business tool designed to streamline the complex quoting and pricing process for configurable products. By leveraging advanced technology, this tool enables companies to generate precise and customized quotes accurately. CPQ software automatically calculates prices based on product selections, discounts, tax rules, and currency conversions, ensuring precision and consistency. 

With CPQ, businesses can easily configure products to meet specific customer requirements, apply accurate pricing rules, and generate professional quote documents. This helps speed up the sales pipeline and improve customer satisfaction through clear and timely quotes.

Before proceeding further, let's understand the key aspects of the CPQ process:

• These tools leverage integrated data from CRM and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems for actionable insights into pricing trends and product performance.
• CPQ systems can handle increasing product complexity and global pricing models seamlessly for growing businesses.
• CPQ helps sales reps unlock additional revenue potential by suggesting upsell and cross-sell opportunities.

How does CPQ software work?

CPQ process operates in three critical stages: 'Configure, Price, and Quote.' Let's understand how each step contributes to optimizing the sales workflow.

Configure

The first step involves selecting and customizing products as per the specific requirements of the customer. It allows businesses to create tailored product combinations and manage dependencies to ensure that every configuration meets unique customer needs. This complex product configurator allows companies to expand their product catalog without compromising sales efficiency.

Price

Once the product is configured, the CPQ system automatically calculates the pricing. This step includes applying factors like discount rules, custom pricing, currency conversions, and other pricing policies. This level of automation allows for real-time pricing adjustments, enabling CPQ users to respond swiftly to market conditions and customer negotiations.

Quote

The final step is generating a professional quote document that includes all configured products and calculated prices. This document must be accurate and consistent with the company's branding and policies. CPQ software allows salespeople to quickly produce comprehensive quotes that can be sent directly to customers. It helps speed up the approval process, reduces manual tasks, and enhances the overall customer experience. 

What are the benefits of using CPQ software?

Let's understand how CPQ software drives business success:

• Accurate Quotes: CPQ acts as a safeguard against manual errors, ensuring every quote is accurate and aligns with customer expectations. By automating calculations and configurations, it ensures profitability for the business while delivering value to the customer.
• Expanded Product Visibility: CPQ simplifies managing complex product configurations, uncovering overlooked options. When integrated with customer data from a CRM system, it suggests solutions based on successful past outcomes. This helps improve accuracy, customization, and overall customer satisfaction.
• Actionable Data Generation: CPQ captures detailed order and configuration data, aiding in sales forecasts. It also tracks unselected options, offering insights into customer preferences and driving product innovation. This enables future improvements in new products and production processes for competitive advantage.
• Minimized Manual Mistakes: CPQ automates the quote generation process, reducing errors from manual data entry, miscommunications, or misunderstandings. This helps ensure every proposal aligns with business capabilities and eliminates undeliverable promises.

Features to look for in a CPQ software

Here are the important features you should look for in CPQ software:

• Guided selling: A robust CPQ solution should incorporate guided selling features that assist the sales management team narrow down various options based on customer needs and preferences. This is beneficial for companies with extensive product lines, helping the sales team provide personalized and accurate recommendations in less time.
• Dynamic Pricing Rules: The right CPQ software should enable the creation of a dynamic product catalog that adapts to various pricing strategies. Look for tools that allow rules-based pricing adjustments, ensuring that your pricing remains competitive and relevant to market changes.
• Multi-Currency and Multi-Language Support: For businesses operating in multiple regions, the CPQ software should support multiple currencies and languages. This ensures that quotes are relevant for customers in different countries, ensuring smoother international sales processes.
• Product Bundling: Effective CPQ software simplifies the process of creating product bundles. It allows for the grouping of complementary products, services, or warranties. This reduces administrative tasks and ensures that customers receive comprehensive solutions.
• Analytics and Reporting: CPQ tools with built-in analytics provide valuable insights into sales performance, customer preferences, and pricing trends. Detailed reports enable data-driven decision-making and help identify areas for digital transformation of sales operations.

What industries benefit most from implementing CPQ solutions?

CPQ solutions are transformative for industries dealing with complex product configurations, dynamic pricing, and customized offerings. 

• In manufacturing, CPQ streamlines the creation of highly configurable products. This helps accommodate customer-specific requirements while ensuring accurate pricing. 
• Healthcare and medical device industries leverage CPQ to navigate intricate regulatory pricing structures and tailor solutions for diverse client needs.
• The Technology and software sector benefits from CPQ tools to manage tiered pricing models, subscriptions, and bundled solutions. This helps enhance customer satisfaction and revenue potential.
• The Telecommunications industry utilizes CPQ to offer customizable plans and devices. This enables seamless bundling and accurate pricing for diverse customer demands.
• Financial services leverage CPQ for precision in pricing and creating bespoke packages for clients.

Zomentum: The best CPQ platform for your business

Zomentum is a leading Configure Price Quote (CPQ) platform developed to streamline your sales process and boost efficiency. With its powerful automation features, Zomentum helps businesses create accurate quotes, manage complex product configurations, and expedite deal approvals. 

Our platform seamlessly integrates with existing CRM and ERP systems, ensuring consistent and up-to-date pricing and product information. Zomentum's intuitive interface allows for easy product customization, guided selling, and dynamic pricing strategies. This makes it ideal for companies with diverse product offerings and complex pricing models. 

By automating the quote-to-cash process, Zomentum reduces errors, accelerates deal closures, and enhances customer satisfaction. Our comprehensive CPQ solution is designed to help you close more deals faster and grow your business efficiently. 

Interested to give it a try? Book a 1:1 demo here.