by James Campbell 
If you’re part of the Salesforce ecosystem you may have heard the acronym CPQ but aren’t quite sure what it means. If so, please read on…
CPQ stands for ‘Configure price quote’ and is an app which allows you to build sophisticated pricing and product combinations into your sales process within Salesforce.
For example, you might be an events business that sells exhibition spaces at your events. Different levels of sponsor may only be allowed to purchase certain complimentary products such as speaking slots, networking opportunities, different types of branding, etc. A CPQ tool allows you to configure your products into bundles to make it much easier for users to add complimentary products to an Opportunity. It also helps to prevent users from accidentally adding incompatible products to an Opportunity.
Some people often assume that this is native Salesforce functionality however it was only in 2015 that Salesforce acquired a company called SteelBrick for approx. $300m to bring functionality into the native Salesforce offering. The growth of CPQ tools is significant and we have certainly seen an increase in our customers adopting the tool.
If you think CPQ may be of use to your business and are keen to find out more, check out this TechTarget e-book…
This handbook examines those trends in CPQ systems and the ways different CPQ tools connect to Salesforce, while offering an overview on the benefits of integrating CPQ with billing and collections systems.