What is a CPQ Software?
A configure price quote or CPQ software helps B2B salespeople quote prices for customisable products. Sometimes, businesses have many variable products or services your customers can choose from. This also means that every customer needs something different.
Finding accurate prices after selecting their desired variables is challenging without a quoting software. It may seem simple but quoting a price is a detailed-oriented work. Human errors, time consumption and inaccuracies are common when you quote a price manually. This not only ruins team efficiency but also leads to an unsatisfactory customer experience.
If you’re a B2B business with customisable products, you can use smart CPQ tools like SYMSON to quote an optimal price and save time. You can streamline processes and manage approval workflows without having to miss anything. Above all, with the right CPQ tool, you can increase sales team performance and generate more sales.
Read More: How CPQ Tool is different from an Integrated Price Management Tool
What are the 4 Challenges the Sales Team faces when Quoting a Price?
Sales teams often find it challenging to quote accurate prices for customers who need bespoke products or services. Often, they struggle to maintain the quoting process manually. If you rely on price lists and spreadsheets to quote prices, it can cost you a business deal.
Some businesses still use outdated pricing processes to create a custom quote. Following an obsolete process leads you to misquote a client and extend the sales cycle. Then, your sales team must continue with the paperwork instead of generating revenue.
Now, let’s look at some common problems we’ve noticed with manual quoting. Later in this blog, we’ll also see how smart price quoting software could help you.
- Configuring products and services
Product configuration is like a jigsaw puzzle. Customers present their problems, and your sales team assembles a solution with customisable products and experiences.
Many businesses lack streamlined processes, forcing sales reps to consult various documents and departments for complex configurations.
Price quoting software simplifies this by consolidating offerings in one place. SYMSON CPQ lets you control sales by pre-configuring products and services, improving time-to-quote, and enabling reps to create accurate quotes and close deals quickly.
- Unnecessary discounting
Sales reps aiming to hit monthly sales targets might offer too many discounts. They may do this without considering the impact on your bottom line. Lack of proper discounting rules can hurt your profit margins.
In this case, approval workflows can standardize discounting and pricing policies. In SYMSON, you can set price guardrails for your sales team to not offer discounts beyond an agreed price point. That is, you can set a price range between which your sales team must stick to when offering discounts. If a rep quotes a price lower than that, the approval workflow becomes active and notifies authorities to review the discount and pricing.
This is where the combination of SYMSON and your CPQ tool is a better option than other quoting software. In some, authorities receive notifications to review discounts almost every time. This becomes problematic to review every deal. In SYMSON, as an authority, you can set the price guardrails and communicate it to the sales reps and get fewer notifications.
- Missed upsell opportunities
Manual price quoting distracts sales reps from selling. That’s because they focus too much on mixing the right products and other technicalities. This causes them to miss out on chances where they can upsell the deal. Overall, it leads to suboptimal sales impact. You can’t afford to lose money today.
Hence, you must switch to advanced quoting software that specialize in CPQ. It guides reps through the process, helping them identify customer needs and provide the right products and services (including add-ons). Likewise, combining SYMSON's capabilities with your CPQ tool makes sure to optimise every sales opportunity.
- Inconsistent Pricing
Companies face problems in maintaining uniform pricing with old pricing processes. If you misquote a customer, you can lose the deal. Using spreadsheets for quotes increases the risk of errors and outdated information. The quoting process is already error-prone. Let’s try not to make it worse.
Automating the quoting process eliminates miscalculations. The SYMSON price corridors functionality helps you manage and update your product catalogue, and acts as a useful base to feed into your CPQ tool. It also helps you set the correct pricing structure and billing for all your products.
- Slow quote responses
Customers hate to wait. And if they’re waiting too long to hear a quote from you, it may cost you the deal. That’s because they may already receive quotes from your competition. Once sales reps have the right mix of products, all they need is an attractive quote.
Smart integrations can also help reduce the time taken to generate documents. Using SYMSON with your CPQ tool helps your team get back to customers with an optimal quote on time, as the algorithms work swiftly to deliver all necessary data for a quick and accurate quoting process.
- Complex approval workflows
Using older processes or general CPQ tools can cause delays in getting necessary approvals. That’s because there may be too many approvals on the authority’s plate. SYMSON improves this by adding a process in between. It allows you to set a price guardrail which reps cannot exceed. Few reps going beyond the agreed range trigger the workflow leading to quicker price reviews.
These price quoting challenges slow down the sales cycle and affect the team's overall morale performance. Let’s understand how smart CPQ software helps you bypass such issues.
How SYMSON & CPQ Helps Improve Sales Team Efficiency
SYMSON is a smart solution that addresses common challenges head-on. When combined with CPQ, it automates and enriches the price quoting process so customers get prompt responses with attractive price quotes. You wouldn’t need to deal with small errors and inaccuracies. In fact, your sales team can now focus on what they do best- selling. They can use the CPQ tool for quoting prices and optimise sales with full confidence that all relevant data is accurately taken into account.
1. Simplifying the Quoting Process
A good CPQ tool can automate and simplify price quote generation in a whiff. With SYMSON as a data source, sales representatives can configure products, apply accurate pricing, and generate professional quotes in a matter of minutes. This automation not only saves time but also ensures consistency across all quotes.
The impact of quick and accurate quoting on sales productivity is significant. Your team can respond to customer inquiries faster. This also reduces the sales cycle and increases the chances of closing deals.
2. Reducing Errors and Enhancing Accuracy
Manual price quoting processes are rampant with potential errors. Incorrect pricing to outdated product information are common issues. These mistakes can lead to lost sales and damaged customer relationships. SYMSON removes these risks by providing your CPQ system with functionalities that ensure all quotes are accurate and up-to-date.
Advanced CPQ software enriched with SYMSON reduces errors and improves product quote accuracy. This reliability builds trust with customers and increases the likelihood of successful sales.
3. Streamlining Approval Workflows
Approval workflows are a vital part of the sales process, but they can often be a bottleneck. SYMSON offers automated approval workflows that speed up the process. This ensures that authorities review the price quotes and approve them on time.
Faster approvals can lead to quicker deal closures. It also allows your sales team to move on to the next opportunity without unnecessary delays. This boosts productivity and improves the customer experience.
4. Boosting Sales Team Morale
SYMSON manages the technicalities to reduce the sales team's frustration. Repeated errors and complexities can be a source of dissatisfaction in their job. When they have the right tools to work with, sales reps can improve their performance. This boosts their morale and increases job satisfaction.
SYMSON allows your sales team to focus on building relationships and closing deals, rather than getting bogged down by administrative tasks. The result is a happier, more motivated sales force.
Summary
In summary, SYMSON offers a range of benefits to your custom CPQ tool that transform your sales team's efficiency. By simplifying the quoting process, reducing errors, streamlining approval workflows, and boosting morale, this powerful CPQ enhancer empowers your team to achieve greater success.
Ready to see how the SYMSON & CPQ combination can boost your sales team's efficiency? Explore our CPQ enhancement features and experience the difference for yourself. Contact us today for a demo and discover the benefits of CPQ with SYMSON.
Do you want a free demo to try how SYMSON can help your business with margin improvement or pricing management? Do you want to learn more? Schedule a call with a consultant and book a 20 minute brainstorm session!
