Companies shell out a lot of money for platforms like Salesforce to help make their sales and marketing teams efficient, but many of those companies do not maximize the features of those platforms. In fact, for lengthy processes like quoting prices, many organizations still depend on tools like Microsoft Excel.
Excel is a wonderful tool, but where there is Excel, there is plenty of room for inaccuracies and errors, especially when making changes to large, multi-line quotes, or engaging in quote analysis. Salesforce recognizes how dependent many of its customers are on Excel, and has an answer. Salesforce CPQ allows organizations to integrate its Excel templates into the platform to simplify quoting, improve accuracy and increase overall sales productivity.
A Streamlined Quoting Process Can Accelerate Growth
Salesforce CPQ helps organizations grow faster, cutting out a lot of the red tape that comes along with the quote process. In a manual quoting scenario, the sales rep has to meet with their manager or other leaders to get approval, and depending on the level of micromanagement and bureaucracy in an organization, those approvals can take days. Once approval is granted, the quote is then subject to revisions from the various managers who need to sign off on it.
With Salesforce CPQ in place, products and prices can be uploaded directly into the system and quotes that meet organizational standards can be generated with a single click, reducing the time a prospect or client has to wait for a formal proposal and keeping sales reps focused on revenue-generating activities rather than Excel spreadsheets and quote approval meetings with bosses.
Give Salespeople Access To Real-Time, Accurate Data
CPQ also prevents reps from being able to offer deep discounts or inadvertently quote incorrect pricing. The pricing in the system is the only pricing that can be generated and put into templates, protecting profit margins.
The data entered into the CPQ system can be accessed across the organization’s Salesforce dashboards. This means that managers can update pricing in Cleveland and reps on the road in Philadelphia will have accurate pricing immediately and can create accurate quotes in real-time directly from their laptop or tablet.
CPQ also integrates the data in Salesforce CRM to ensure that reps are offering the best products and services to meet the needs of the individual customer. Pricing can also be optimized through advanced rules set for things like volume discounts, percent-of-total discounts, pre-negotiated contract pricing and channel partner pricing.
“If you are currently on the Salesforce.com platform looking at CPQ is a no brainer. All signs pointing to it working better than Oracle’s product! Our Salesforce.com Architect is certified in CPQ and available to answer any questions,” says Chuck George, CSS Tec Manager.
If your organization is looking to attract the best and brightest Salesforce talent, contact the recruiting experts at CSS today to learn more about the ways we can help you achieve your staffing goals.