by Callum Nicholson 
Salesforce CPQ (Configure, Price, Quote) is a powerful tool that streamlines the sales process and improves pricing accuracy and speed in responding to customers. Ultimately it improves a business’s ability to respond to and win deals. CPQ offers a huge amount of customisation and raw performance. However, like all platforms to truly unlock its full potential it needs to be implemented, embedded and optimised correctly for the particular needs of the business.
Like buying a great bespoke suit, unless it’s tailored and configured correctly it won’t quite fit right or deliver what you had hoped for. Similarly, as your business grows and changes you might need to alter the fit or configuration of the platform.
We have a great deal of experience working with businesses where CPQ isn’t quite working and the ‘fit’ isn’t quite right. In this blog, we will explore what CPQ should be doing for your business.
1. Streamline your Sales Process
Salesforce CPQ should streamline the quoting process, reducing the time it takes for sales reps to configure, price, and generate quotes. Automated workflows and approval processes ensure that deals move swiftly from proposal to close. Since your CPQ implementation, you should have seen an improved ability to respond to and win new business.
2. Integrating Seamlessly with CRM and Other Tools
It should work perfectly with your CRM, billing, and ERP systems. Good integration ensures that your sales, finance, and operations teams are aligned with and use the same accurate information to work together effectively.
3. Provide faster, more flexible and more accurate quotes
Your CPQ should take the headache out of creating quotes. Salesforce CPQ automatic quote generation pulls in accurate pricing, discounting, and contract terms to quickly turnaround quotes which can be tailored quickly and accurately. This will enforce pricing consistency, applying pre-defined discounting rules and approval thresholds. Ensuring compliance within agreed rules and guidelines while minimising pricing errors.
What improvements have you seen in time to quote, error rates and customer satisfaction?
4. Enhancing Guided Selling
The Sales team should be able to quickly identify the right products and configurations for each customer through guided selling. CPQ offers intelligent recommendations, upsell and cross-sell opportunities, and enforces compatibility rules.
5. Improved customer experience
By being able to respond more quickly and with greater transparency and accuracy the customers’ experience with your organisation should be enhanced. With improved perceptions and satisfaction scores. This impact is something that every business should strive towards as they drive greater sales performance, loyalty and ultimately profitability from your customers.
So, are customers sending more business your way? Is your customer lifetime value improving? Are you more profitable?
6. Greater customer insight
If you’re not sure how to answer the previous question, then CPQ should be helping you here too, by giving you useful customer data and insight to help with your decision making. Salesforce CPQ should offer real-time analytics and reporting capabilities. Tracking key metrics like quote conversion rates, average deal size, and discounting trends helps businesses optimise their sales strategies and pricing models.
7. Adapting to your changing business
You should own your CPQ solution and it should flex, scale and evolve to support your business challenges and opportunities. That could be expanding into new markets, dealing with changing market conditions, or implementing new pricing strategies. CPQ should have the agility and flexibility to help you achieve your goals.
Conclusion
CPQ might be doing everything you need and giving you a competitive edge—fantastic! But if that’s not the case, you’re not alone. The business landscape evolves quickly, and your CPQ system may not be keeping up or delivering the results you expected. That’s where we come in. Our expert audit can identify gaps, highlight missed opportunities, and show you just how simple it can be to optimise your CPQ for better performance. Get in touch with us today, and let’s make sure your CPQ is working as hard as you are.