What does CPQ stand for: improve sales with Salesforce CPQ 6 min 04.02.2021

A sales department is one of the key links in the company’s chain. And be honest, almost every company is interested in an experienced employee who with all responsibility and endurance can close deals fast and thereby bring considerable profit to the company. However, expectations often don’t match reality, especially when it’s changing so often, as it’s now during the pandemic. Should we think about a special tool like Salesforce CPQ in order to help in a fast-changing environment?

According to the Salesforce’s State of Sales report, only 34% of the time manager spends on sales.  Ask your managers “what exactly do you do?” And will get such answers as leads prioritizing, prospects researching, quotes generating, sales info entering and of course, connecting with customers virtually and meeting customers in person as a point. But to achieve this result they spend 66% of their time on these routine processes. Is it a huge number? Yes, it is.  

In this regard, we also ask the question not how much time the manager spends, but how much of it they spend effectively. And in a summary, the main question is “what can I do to make my managers work more effectively?” We find answers in technology called CPQ. Let’s take a look at a CPQ meaning.  

CPQ meaning & Salesforce CPQ  

Imagine there is a suite of applications that automate the processes of forming quotes. In simple terms, it is the automation of actions that simplify the stages of the sales process.  

CPQ technology has traditionally been considered only a sales tool. However, with the growth of customer expectations and requirements for sales staff who need to achieve greater results with less cost, it has become a key factor that provides an improved customer experience and high-quality customer service.  

Quick Look At CPQ Market And Its Growth 

• Gartner predicts the CPQ market will continue to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 20% in the Market Guide for Configure, Price and Quote Application Suites.  
• 83% of sales professionals are using some form of CPQ systems today, according to Accenture Interactive’s recent study. And 81% are using technology-based tools to identify and take action on sales leads. 80% are using automated CPQ tools to provide prospects with quotes that include their product and service configurations. 
• Gartner has positioned Salesforce as a Leader in its 2020 Magic Quadrant for Configure, Price, Quote (CPQ) Application Suites. This is the fourth year in a row that Salesforce has been positioned as a Leader in the annual report. 
• Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global Configure Price and Quote (CPQ) Software Market 2020-2024 the increasing need for higher productivity is one of the major factors propelling CPQ market growth.  

What Is CPQ In Salesforce? 

Salesforce CPQ is a sales tool that gives companies an accurate pricing process for any given product configuration scenario. Special CPQ applications take into account additional features, settings, quantity, and discounts, allowing companies to quickly and accurately specify prices. Salesforce CPQ is a fast and easy-to-use software. Available on any device thanks to the cloud platform, it gives your sales team a direct link to the CRM to make the most effective decisions regarding the sales strategy. 

Salesforce CPQ gives an undoubted advantage to the business and now we are going to prove it to you. This tool can bring you the following: 

• No loss of benefits. Sales processes optimization by reducing time and refocusing on higher-priority processes speeding them up.   

Clear communication from the very beginning of the relationship between the buyer and the seller will avoid offering the wrong solution or product. CPQ can be implemented to ensure that the available options are discussed with the buyer. In this way, a sales manager will call the customer with an understanding of their problem, answer all existing questions that have been asked, and provide information about prices and configurations using CPQ. By speeding up a sales process, CPQ applications help sales departments to reduce wasted time and protect more deals from stalling in the sales pipeline. 

“Domino Printing Sciences reports an 80% faster quote delivery and Nimble Storage marks a 34% increase in approval time. Cloudera’s quoting process is 3 times faster than before CPQ implementation.” 

Salesforce 

• Your personal expert in identifying specializations, add-ons, and options for successful deal size growth.  

Each sale should be led by an expert who has the knowledge to solve the problems and is aware of which solutions will be most effective to implement. However, many managers do not have technical knowledge of the company’s more complex products or supply chain. Here comes the CPQ, which replaces the subject matter expert for each sales call. Since the technical specifications and parameters of your products are programmed directly into the CPQ software, your customer gets the benefit of subject matter expertise. Salesforce’s CPQ helps sales managers ask the right questions to offer specializations, add-ons, or complex configurations. As a result, we see an increase in successful closed deals and sales. 

• Opportunity to automate your quotes and increase sales. 

Wasting time studying configurations and quotes due to lack of information wastes both the seller’s and the buyer’s time, indirectly reducing the company’s credibility. CPQ can provide all possible scenarios in the field of pricing and optimization of the quoting process.  

“Salesforce CPQ user Dexter + Chaney showed a 30% higher quote accuracy after adoption. The more accurate and efficient the proposed configuration and quote, the more of a trusted partner your organization will become” 

Salesforce 

Summing up and speaking about effectiveness, when employees are forced to work from home, how many of them additionally spend time concentrating to avoid noise and sounds and how many sales still have to manually research and write each quote, spending their time needlessly. Nowadays, when the crisis is gaining momentum and sales as a survival function are being prioritized, it makes sense to reduce this percentage point using automation. CPQ is the right tool to make your sales department great again!   

Learn more about the tool for effective integration – Jitterbit.