The domain of B2B selling is not one that you can call simple and get away with. It’s the exact opposite of that. Yes, you figured it right

It’s a highly complex market, with intense competition from every side. As a result, sales teams are working outside of their work hours as well, most of the time. That’s not because they have added responsibilities, but because of the never-ending portfolios of complex products, bigger and more demanding quotes, and also satisfying their customers with an amazing experience.

All of this is a little too overwhelming, even for a team of the most dedicated sales reps. This is when something like configure price quote solutions make lives for everyone easier- for the sales reps as well the customers.

CPQ software solutions have been nothing short of a game-changer for B2B manufacturing companies. Configure price quote solutions provide an accelerated path for sales reps to put the quotes in a customer’s hands as quickly as possible. The right CPQ tool easily enhances an organization’s existing CRM systems, bringing to the fore a heightened degree of flexibility

As far as CPQ customer experience is concerned, things become too simple for them. Making a purchase is a very pleasant experience, as they get bragging rights to give a final design to their product before they purchase it. 

But a question arises- how to choose the best among many configure price quote solutions?

We have the answer for you! Keep reading on for more.

Factors to Consider When Choosing the Right CPQ Solution

CPQ implementation is a tricky business, and it works both ways. While the right CPQ tool can turn productivity on its head, landing on the wrong one can have the opposite effect. This is why it’s important to watch out for the right attributes for your choice of configure price quote solutions- 

• Financial Feasibility

There’s no use for a CPQ system that is so costly that you spend years recovering the cost itself. By striking the right balance between affordability and feasibility, you ensure that Return on Investment starts right away with the very first product sold. 

While some CPQ software solutions have a one-time flat fee, some offer a fixed monthly tariff. You should be able to make the right choice in terms of the financial model that suits your organization.

• The CPQ Architecture

Native and hybrid are two crucial CPQ architectures that differ on the grounds of their usability. Configure price quote solutions with native architecture is tailor-made for particular CRM systems, and cannot be integrated with other CRM systems.

However, in the case of a hybrid architecture, the CPQ system can easily work with any type of CRM or ERP system. Keep in mind that your regional teams might make use of different ERP or CRM platforms, and you will have to consider the kind of flexibility you are looking at. 

• Ease of Communication

A CPQ software revolves around major points of reducing costs, increasing productivity, and making quote generation a super-smooth process. Moreover, everything is trackable and guided selling is a genuine process.

All of this is done to foster better collaboration for both the sales teams as well as the customers. If your current list of CPQ software solutions does not include a tool that eases communication, then you need to keep looking.

• Ease of Use

Try to get a CPQ tool that’s simple to use. Applying too many brains to just navigate through is not what you should invest in. Smooth navigation also translates to efficiency in production elements like contracts, quotes, and other related aspects.

Clutter-free CPQ implementation leads to complete adoption within the organization as a whole, which is why it’s even surprising to find companies that have complicated platforms in the time of Agile methodologies. 

• Flexible AI & ML

In the present scenario, many CPQ solution providers boast of including AI on their platform, but this is limited to a few aspects in most of them. Such configure price quote solutions struggle when the customer base changes, market changes, and AI needs to implement changes to adapt and function with the changes. 

Get yourself a CPQ solution that can work in sync with Machine Learning feedbacks. This will ensure that none of your recommended products go out of relevance, thanks to constant upgrades in the store. 

• Don’t Go for Popularity

As an experienced sales manager, you may opt to recommend a popular CPQ without considering its merits and demerits to the management. This can take your organization to the opposite of progress at a pace where you won’t even realize what happened.

Invest a good amount of time to finalize a suitable CPQ platform and consider every option of every possible scale. A CPQ should be a one-time decision, and regrets will only lead to more damage. 

In The End

Configure Price Quote solutions have a lot of styles and scales. These are just a few of those factors that you should surely consider, while the other ones can depend on the kind of operations your business has. If you think progress is something you deeply strive for, KBMax offers a lot of features that will tick a lot of the right boxes for you.

Deloitte estimates that 36 percent of all consumers wish for customized products from their favorite brands. One in five can also pay a premium for it, and most will wait a few days more for it.

The 2020s have given a new degree of accessibility to customization – with that has come huge demand. Providing accurate quotes on customized products can be a headache. But with quoting software, it’s easy.

Sales quoting software enables businesses to quickly deliver customized products and quotes even when product options are in the dozens or hundreds. That’s critical for the manufacturing industry, as it needs immense accuracy in the said configurations.

Here’s a closer look at what quoting software is and why you should use it for your business.

What’s Quoting Software?

Quoting software – often referred to as CPQ or configure-price-quote – is a tool for accurate pricing for complex products to your customers quickly.

It works like this:

A customer calls your sales rep and tells what they need. The sales rep enters the features into the configurator, automatically calculating the price on the given variables. This number goes back to the client. The entire process takes a few minutes.

It can also work like this:

A customer visits your website and plays with your 3D configurator. The price updates in real-time when they select different options. When they’ve settled on the best combination of features and addons, they add it to their shopping cart and check out like a usual e-commerce transaction.

If you’ve ever selected options like colors, custom text, fabrics, or other preferences, then you’ve interacted with a brand powering its customer experience with CPQ. Today’s visual CPQ solutions are so advanced that they can do the same for buyers of highly technical, configurable products in the biotech space.

Sales Quoting Software Packs Efficiency, Accuracy, and Amazing Experiences

Imagine what your company could achieve if your sales reps spent more than 36 percent of their time selling, as that is the average time reps give to revenue-generating activities.

Even if your company uses a CRM, there’s a big chance that CPQ gives an opportunity to streamline the manual business processes. This is exactly where 60 percent of your sales reps’ time gets compromised.

Sales automation software, or a CPQ, that integrates with your CRM, takes a huge burden off your sales team by taking over those mundane processes that would otherwise be done by hand. In the process, it also:

• Boosts the sales cycle.
• Allows more automation of the manufacturing processes.
• Better business insights.
• Delivers a smooth business environment.
• Governs the B2B and B2C customer engagement.
• Boosts the consistency of business processes and customer experience.

Why Excel is Not Good to Track Product Options & Pricing

Do you use Excel to track your current pricing and product options? You’re not alone. If hundreds of those Excel templates for such purposes are an indication, it’s one of the popular uses for this program.

If you’re producing complex products though, it’s a bad solution.

Excel has a number of uses. But using it for configurations, pricing, and quotes brings in risks your business doesn’t require. For example:

• Manual processes are very slow. Scrolling through pages of Excel sheets by hand cuts on time and patience. Sure, Excel has those search functions, but…
• Cryptic codes also invite errors. To keep the sheets from swelling to huge sizes, a lot of vendors turn to codes or numbers to organize things. But what when two numbers get switched, or the wrong code is copied? It’s an absolute nightmare.
• Version control is pretty tough. Keeping everyone on the same page through Excel book means sending out a new version every time it’s updated. You could also try using one of the many cloud spreadsheet options, but they generally don’t have all the functionality of the actual program.
• Human capital has a risk. Codes are to be learned, which means that you will lose that expertise whenever a sales rep moves out of the company. Until the new one gets acquainted perfectly, you are running the risk of making more errors and generating much slower quotes.

Perfect Manufacturing Quoting Software

When it comes to the perfect software solutions, many options are available from well-known vendors like Salesforce, HubSpot, and IBM to smaller and more specialized vendors.

There’s no one-size-fits-all solution. However, there are much better or worse choices on your specific business needs and industry. That’s more true for companies in manufacturing. Here’s a look at what the best quoting software for manufacturing is all about.

You’re specifically looking for two things:

1. Not Too Big, Not Too Small

Most quote-to-cash and CPQ solutions out there are rich when it is about the features. Most integrate flawlessly with CRMs, and many take over most of all your backend operations. 

These programs assume that if you are big enough to depend on a CRM solution, you need every single feature you can get.

On the flip side, heavily specialized solutions might lead in the opposite direction. They will give those tools needed to manage your backend or provide a sophisticated configurator but depend a little too heavily on your CRM for the product details. 

When it comes to the right quoting software for manufacturing, you need to find the perfect fit. That means it:

• Allows you to scale the size of your software. This usually takes the format of integration support or even subscriptions to let you upgrade or downgrade as needed.
• Feels approachable. It may be robust, but you will not feel like using it if you feel overwhelmed. A good test? Check out what the analytics dashboard looks like. If you’re comfortable with the board, you’ll surely be able to take care of the rest.

2. Customer-Centric

Many CPQ solutions are just backend services,  meaning that they don’t have any public or customer-facing component. The product configurator is then reserved for your sales rep, and there’s also no support to embed it on your website.

For today’s buyers, that’s not sufficient. Increasingly, they want to self-serve. 

Therefore, you need to look for:

• Product configurators with user-friendly interfaces. 2D or 3D, this is a sign that it’s built to drive customer engagement and not merely office efficiency.
• Automation of the sales cycles and pricing. Real-time pricing updates quotes automatically, while sales cycle automation helps get products in customers’ hands faster.

Use A Suitable Quoting and Sales Automation Software

When your company gives out complex and customized products, using quoting software is a best practice. CPQ solutions like Salesforce CPQ, KBMax, and others streamline your entire sales cycle – from customer wish with the help of manufacturing and delivery. 

We’ve covered what quoting software is, how it works, and the benefits that you can reap from deploying it in your business. We’ve even taken a look at a few tools for B2B and B2C companies of all sizes to give you a sense of what’s out there.

No matter what quoting software you choose, make sure it’s the sales automation software that makes you quicker, more efficient, and better to respond to your customers’ needs. That’s the only way forward in the era of mass customization at scale.