Note: The information in this blog post is still applicable to Salesforce CPQ; however, as of Q1 2025, Salesforce CPQ has been officially deemed End of Sale and Salesforce’s new lifecycle management product has been rebranded to Revenue Cloud (previously named RLM). To view the timeline of CPQ and Revenue Cloud history, click here.
If you’d like to know more regarding the differences between Salesforce CPQ and Salesforce’s new offering, Revenue Cloud (RLM), please click here.
Salesforce CPQ can help turn your business around. Imagine running a venture experiencing rapid growth and on the brink of securing a groundbreaking deal. However, you find yourself treading cautiously as you navigate the process of creating the final quote. Despite having a capable team, their busy schedules and reliance on manual processes make the situation delicate.
Does this sound familiar? Rest assured, you’re not alone. Research indicates that a significant portion of a salesperson’s time is dedicated to selling, while the rest is consumed by tasks such as generating quotes, creating proposals, and obtaining approvals.
This long-standing issue has puzzled many sales leaders, leaving them unsure about the correct approach to tackle it.
Introducing CPQ Salesforce: Streamlining Sales and Nurturing Client Relationships
In the past, CPQ software may have been disregarded in favor of alternative sales technology solutions. However, there is a growing recognition among organizations of the value CPQ brings to the table in streamlining the sales process and cultivating strong client relationships.
An impressive 83% of sales professionals now rely on CPQ solutions for their operations, making it a vital tool that no company can afford to overlook or lag behind in implementing.
What is Salesforce CPQ?
Short for configure, price, quote, refers to a software tool designed to optimize the sales process when dealing with complex products or services. Its primary function is to streamline the configuration of products, determine accurate pricing, and generate quotes for customers.
Many sales teams often find themselves burdened with manual tasks related to spreadsheets during the final stages of their sales cycle. Instead of being able to move on to the next deal, they end up spending hours chasing contract approvals or attempting to accurately price their products.
By leveraging CPQ Salesforce software, sales teams can swiftly create customized quotes that align with specific customer requirements. It enables efficient and timely responses to customer inquiries, ultimately enhancing the overall sales experience.
By utilizing the software, these repetitive and time-consuming tasks can be automated, allowing sales teams to focus their energy on more productive activities.
As a software component within Salesforce, CPQ also offers automated sales quoting with a range of built-in features, such as Guided Selling, Pricing, and Discount Schedules. However, its capabilities extend far beyond these basic functionalities.
Salesforce CPQ provides extensive functionality and flexibility to sales teams, enabling them to handle even the most complex processes efficiently.
Streamlining the quoting process fosters better collaboration among internal teams and saves time by generating accurate and timely quotes, all within the Salesforce environment.
How Does It Work?
This tool is a powerful solution that streamlines the complex process of configuring custom heavy trucks for SMB enterprises. To illustrate its functionality, consider a scenario where an SMB enterprise is engaged in manufacturing personalized heavy trucks for its clientele.
The business operates with different teams within the digital experience cloud. These people are responsible for ensuring a smooth operation. One such team is the outside sales team, which interacts directly with customers to gather their specific requirements.
Another crucial team is the inside sales team, which is responsible for receiving the gathered information from the outside sales team. The inside sales team then collaborates with the design, build, and engineering teams to effectively configure the customized product and generate an accurate quote within the designated time frame.
CPQ facilitates this process by providing a comprehensive platform that automates and optimizes the entire workflow. Salesforce experience cloud ensures efficient coordination and accurate quoting for custom heavy trucks.
When it comes to the manufacturing business, particularly in the automotive industry, the entire process can be quite chaotic. The abundance of configurations, designs, and models often leads to confusion during the back-and-forth exchanges, whether it involves engineer-to-order projects or custom manufacturing processes.
In order to provide accurate and timely quotes, the sales team requires a significant level of expertise in design and engineering. CPQ in Salesforce stands out as an exceptional solution for addressing these challenges. Now, let’s delve into how it works throughout the entire process:
C for Configure
When a customer requests a specific model, the outside sales team can swiftly input the information into CPQ in real-time using dynamic guided selling techniques integrated into their smartphones.
Upon receiving this information, the inside sales team can collaborate with the engineering and design teams to initiate production of the requested truck model. Using the software, they can configure and customize the parts and accessories according to the customer’s requirements.
For instance, if the customer wants to replace the base engine with an upgraded one, the CPQ Salesforce representative can easily update the configuration within the software. With CPQ, the likelihood of errors from the engineering team decreases significantly, as they receive the most accurate parameters for configuring the product.
It ensures that the final product aligns precisely with the customer’s specifications and reduces the chances of any miscommunications or mistakes during the manufacturing process.
P for Pricing
It offers a comprehensive pricing solution that enables accurate pricing for the selected truck model. Its multi-layered discounting logic empowers sales representatives to apply various tiers of discounts, including volume discounts, distributor discounts, discretionary discounts, and more.
With Salesforce experience cloud pricing, you can easily update the discount and warranty information. Additionally, you have the flexibility to set an expiration date for the discount, which indicates the time frame during which the discount is applicable. It ensures that the deal’s financials are calculated in real-time, guaranteeing that the proposed deal is agreeable for both parties involved.
Moreover, CPQ allows you to explore different deal finance scenarios, such as direct purchase, lease, or subscription orders. You can assess these scenarios and their respective financial implications.
Once the details are finalized, you can simply click a button to submit the deal to the approval team for their review and approval of the discounts applied. CPQ in Salesforce streamlines the approval process and ensures that all discount approvals are properly documented and authorized.
Q for Quote
Once the discount is approved, the customer has the opportunity to review the quote and verify the terms and conditions before the final quote is generated. If any modifications are required, such as changing the contract termination period from 30 to 90 days, the customer can mark those comments on the document and send it back for approval.
Once the quote is generated and finalized, it is promptly sent to the customer for electronic signature, streamlining the ordering process. Simultaneously, internal stakeholders, including the Salesforce digital experience cloud representative, QA team, fulfillment team, and sales management team, are notified through portals or communities.
ITequality Will Leverage Salesforce and CPQ to Streamline Your Processes
Customer-centric strategies will always prosper if they result in giving your customers what they need. If you want to grow your customer base, you must leverage the right tools and complement them with skilled implementers.
ITeq can provide you with this and more. We’ve been in the industry for quite some time, and we know how to help businesses like yours. Our team is proficient in Salesforce CPQ. Talk to us today and get the help you need to improve your bottom line. Your numbers matter, and we’re here to keep these figures up and growing!
