Andrew Parker
Spreadsheets and manual calculations can’t keep up with businesses entering new markets, expanding their product lines, growing their workforce, and scaling their revenue. And even if they could, they waste customers’ time.
When sales reps sift through product data, calculate pricing on a case-by-case basis, and manually update quotes, customers are left twiddling their thumbs in the meantime.
CPQ (configure, price, quote) software automates the whole process and puts personalized quotes directly in customers’ hands with a few clicks of the mouse.
A billion-dollar market that’s set to double by 2030, CPQ is one of the fastest-growing trends in digital sales transformation. As companies in every industry, from manufacturing to healthcare B2B SaaS seek out new ways to increase efficiency, CPQ seems to be the ultimate equalizer.
The Benefits of CPQ Software in Empowering Sales and Supercharging Revenue
In today’s landscape, the vast majority (83%) of sales professionals use some form of CPQ to streamline their deal flow, add personalization to their customer experiences, and move buyers through the sales pipeline faster.
Here are five reasons you should consider the same:
1. Shorter Sales Cycles
Although it varies, the median B2B sales cycle is longer than two months. For six- and seven-figure contracts, that time can easily be closer to a year (at a minimum).
Across the board, the average sales cycle length increased dramatically over the last year — the typical startup’s sales cycle is 24% longer, while enterprises saw an increase of 36%.
Sellers and buyers are both busy — several months is a long enough time for either side to forget, move on, or go through internal changes (e.g., a key decision-maker finds a new role or the company realigns its focus).
Several of the main causes of sales cycle inefficiency can be traced back to the CPQ process. Slow lead response times, a lack of price transparency, difficulty helping prospects understand product complexity, and inaccuracies in the quoting process drag the deal cycle on far longer than it needs to be.
Non-CPQ users take 73% more time to produce quotes and proposals and move them through the approval process. That’s time that could easily be cut out using CPQ software.
2. More Deals at a Higher Value
Sales orgs using CPQ to personalize quotes, adjust pricing in real-time, and recommend upsells and cross-sells aren’t just closing more deals faster — they’re selling higher volumes to those customers, too.
According to research from SuperOffice, organizations using CPQ grow their lead conversion rate by 17% and more than double their average deal size.
In other words: Without adding any additional reps or changing their selling strategy, sales teams can more than double their contribution to the company’s bottom line by delivering faster quotes, accurate pricing, and customized product bundles to potential customers using CPQ.
3. Better Quote Accuracy
Your prospects won’t tell you this, but accurate sales quotes mean a lot to them.
They don’t want to go back and forth with sales over discrepancies. And they certainly don’t want to be set up for disappointment.
Since CPQ product configurators produce quotes and price estimates based on predetermined pricing rules, product data from ERP and order management, and customer segmentation data from CRM, they’re more accurate than any quote produced manually.
Higher accuracy means more trust. And that’s precisely what you need for stakeholder buy-in.
4. Streamlined Workflows
Global sales research from Salesforce shows us just how unproductive the sales process really is. The average seller spends two-thirds of their time on non-selling activities, which include everything from data entry to quote management.
The ability to configure customizable products or select from preset bundles based on customer segmentation, preferences, and eligibility removes a huge chunk of those non-selling activities from sales reps’ plates.
Since CPQ is integrated with other business systems, it also eliminates the need for manual data entry in CRM and individual product updates in ERP.
CPQ also addresses buy-side inefficiencies — online product configurations make it easy for customers to build, visualize, and order products without needing to talk to sales or wait for a quote.
5. Integration with CRM and ERP
To achieve complete operational efficiency using CPQ, it needs to integrate with other business systems.
Integrating CPQ and CRM means an autonomous flow of customer data, including:
- Which customers have been contacted and quoted
- The product models they’ve requested
- Their preferred payment terms and delivery methods
- Where they are in the sales pipeline
- Who communicated with them last
- How long it takes them to approve a quote
- The length of time from quote to deal closure
Sharing product and inventory data between ERP and CPQ is essential for accurate quotes. As sellers and prospective customers configure products, CPQ pulls real-time inventory and pricing information from ERP. That means no inaccurate quotes or accidental double ordering.
Better for Buyers and Business: Additional Benefits of CPQ
Up-to-date customer and product data, elimination of manual processes, and improved accuracy mean a better selling experience for your reps, higher quota attainment, and better sales performance. But the benefits of CPQ software go well beyond sell-side efficiency.
- Convenience, personalization, and self-service for customers. Buyers don’t want to talk to salespeople unless they absolutely have to, and 72% prefer a rep-free experience according to Gartner research. With dynamic quoting in CPQ, buyers can configure products on their own, visualize their purchases in real-time, and place orders in a frictionless way.
- Reduced operational costs. Process automation initiatives save companies up to 50% compared to their respective manual procedures. That puts hours back into your sales reps’ days, which is time they can use to nurture high-value relationships, prospect, and close more deals.
- Sustained competitive advantage. Considering CPQ’s potential to double sales output and increase customer satisfaction, adding it to your sales stack helps you differentiate based on customer experience and pricing.
- Automated billing and subscription management. Subscription businesses that use CPQ don’t have to worry as much about customer retention, involuntary churn, on-time payments, and contract renewals because it automates the billing process.
- Better sales and revenue forecasting. CPQ is an additional data source fore sales and revenue forecasting models. With continuous data synchronization between CPQ, CRM, and ERP, leaders, executives, and investors know exactly which product and service packages are selling the best and which customer segments are buying them.
