What Is CPQ?
The abbreviation CPQ stands for Configure, Price, Quote (sales process chain). It is about a wide range of customised products and services that must be configured in the form of specific and personalised quotes, including pricing.
Thanks to CPQ software, B2B and B2C companies have a wide range of options for optimising their sales processes and flexibly tailoring them to the needs of their customers. Well-known systems include Salesforce CPQ and SAP CPQ. Product configuration, pricing and quoting – CPQ software handles all processes automatically, securely and correctly according to a set of rules.
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CPQ – Definition and Features
Configure
Configure Products and Services
- Guided selling
- Completeness checks
- Effective configuration of products
- Cross-selling and upselling
Price
Pricing
- Accurate price calculations
- Extensive discounting options
- Approval workflows
Quote
Create Quotes and Product Variants
- Clear overview (usability)
- Configuration and versioning of quotes
- Quote comparison
- Automated data reconciliation
Intelligent Process Automation Using CPQ Software
CPQ systems are precisely tailored to the digital process chain for selling customer-specific products and services. Employees can provide personalised quotes with just a few clicks and customers benefit from tailor-made product recommendations, saving both groups valuable time and reducing the effort required.
larger-than-average deal size when using a CPQ solution.
higher quoting accuracy after implementing a CPQ solution.
faster quoting after implementing a CPQ solution.
Benefits of CPQ Configurators
Regardless of whether it is a small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) or a large company – those who offer a wide range of products usually have to invest a lot of time in quoting. This involves considerable manual effort on the part of employees and makes it difficult to keep track of everything. CPQ software has the great advantage of minimising all delays and error rates in sales processes and increasing revenue.
Process Automation:
Resource-Efficient and Powerful
With the help of rule-based workflows, reconciliations and approvals can be perfectly coordinated. An intelligent CPQ solution stores multi-level approvals, is easy to customise and shortens complicated processes to a minimum.
Quoting:
Consistent, Fast, Customer-Centric
Customer-specific agreements are identified and automatically integrated into quotes. Prices and discounts are always consistent, even when it comes to complex quotes with different quantities. This ensures that your customers benefit from consistency in brand and product presentation at all times.
Guided Selling:
Simple Cross-Selling and Upselling
Thanks to CPQ software, optional/additional products are automatically suggested based on customer interests and needs. Guided selling has been proven to increase sales success. Even when it comes to contract renewals, a CPQ solution minimises the churn rate through automation.
5 Good Reasons for Implementing CPQ Software
- Your company offers complex or regionally diverse products. As a result, your sales department spends most of its time creating customer-specific quotes.
- It is difficult to keep track of all the product configuration variants, dependencies and their prices. Consequently, the consistency, completeness and quality of your quotes suffer.
- There are different specifications for discounts and margins, which are documented in various systems or Excel spreadsheets and sometimes still require approval by senior staff.
- Time-consuming quoting delays presentation to customers.
- High consumption of resources hinders quick business deals and investments in customer retention.
Find the Right CPQ Provider Now!
Salesforce CPQ – Tailored Quoting
Salesforce Service Cloud is an ideal solution for all companies that offer a wide range of products or sell configurable products. Whether it is products, contracts or payments – thanks to efficient and fast CPQ processes as well as process automation, tailor-made, attractive quotes can be created quickly and payment transactions can be accelerated.
Benefits and Features of Salesforce CPQ
- Automatically configures products and services
- Calculates prices, including discounts and rebates
- Determines options for cross-selling and upselling
- Reduces error rates in sales processes
- Significantly cuts down on time and costs
The CPQ solution is hosted in Salesforce Sales Cloud and seamlessly integrated with the software company's system. This allows employees to access relevant data on the go and respond quickly to specific customer concerns. We would be happy to advise you personally on this CPQ solution. As an official Salesforce Partner, we will explain all the features and assess which CPQ tool will benefit you the most.
SAP CPQ – Perfect Configuration Plus Margin Protection
SAP CPQ is characterised by intuitive usability, which makes it easier for sales staff to create customer-specific quotes. The automation of workflows also significantly accelerates sales processes.
Benefits and Features of SAP CPQ
- Optimises and simplifies the configuration of products and services
- Minimises sources of error in complex workflows
- Automatically protects the margins achieved
- Ensures a consistent brand image
- Is easy and seamless to integrate
With SAP CPQ, it is easy for users to create error-free offers that match the brand image and to respond specifically to the wishes of customers. We would be happy to advise you personally on this CPQ solution. As an SAP Gold Partner, we support you in successfully integrating and setting up the solution.
Who Is CPQ Software Suitable For?
Generally speaking, CPQ software is suitable for companies in every industry. Which CPQ system fits best always depends on individual factors. Those operating in the manufacturing industry must pay attention to different criteria than SMEs in the e-health sector. Either way – every company can use CPQ software. CPQ tools are particularly worthwhile when complex, customised products are offered.
We Work with Strong Partners in the Field of CPQ Software
Integration of CPQ Software with dotSource
CPQ software makes it easier for your sales team to sell a wide range of customer-specific products and services. Your product and pricing strategy is integrated into your CRM solution and quoting is standardised. Discounts and restrictions are automatically taken into account and cross-selling and upselling options are suggested.
CPQ software conserves valuable resources by automatically triggering approval processes. Once quotes are created, contract renewals are automatically set up and sent out with suitable opportunities.
Our CPQ Services at a Glance
- Seamless integration of CPQ software into your existing IT infrastructure / CRM system
- Mapping of product and pricing strategies
- Definition of product structures and rules, specification of components and features, formulation of configuration rules
- Creation of rules for discounts and product dependencies
- Automation of approval processes
- Visualisation of quote documents
FAQ – Frequently Asked Questions About CPQ
What is CPQ software?
CPQ software offers features that make selling a wide range of products and services as easy as possible. With the help of features such as product configuration (Configure), price calculation (Price) and quoting (Quote), CPQ tools help users create specific quotes quickly and without errors.
What is a CPQ system?
CPQ system is a synonym for CPQ software. CPQ systems are used specifically to reduce ordering and processing errors, improve the quality of configuration processes, shorten ordering times, conserve resources and generate more revenue.
What is SAP CPQ?
SAP CPQ provides companies in e-commerce with a wide range of features for simplifying and streamlining their quoting. The strengths of SAP CPQ lie in configuration optimisation and automated margin protection.
What is Salesforce CPQ?
Salesforce CPQ comes with powerful features for companies in every industry. Process automation, accurate quoting and contracting as well as acceleration of incoming payments are just a few of the many benefits offered by the cloud-based CPQ solution.
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Nadine Kannengießer
Account Executive
Digital Business
