A note about the Author:
This edition of Tech with Tacton takes a deep dive into CPQ Software Analytics. Our author is Max Leitgeb, Configuration and Analytics Senior Product Manager at Tacton. Max is part of the original founders of Tacton and has spent more than 18 years with the company.
With the 2010s in the rearview mirror, one thing many companies have learned is how to make data-driven decisions. These data-driven choices can be anything from why sales closes deals to how to deal with new customer demands.
Many manufacturers are attempting to digitally transform their sales operations through Configure, Price, Quote (CPQ) software. Many individuals see CPQ as a way to accelerate the sales and quoting processes for their customers but miss out on critical insights for their business. While this is very true, CPQ gives a wealth of data that is often overlooked by customers. This data can change how your operation does business by utilizing CPQ software analytics. Analyzing these trends can offer you and your customer insights that will put them mile ahead of their competition.
Use CPQ Analytics Software across the organization
Using CPQ analytics, everyone from your CEO to the newest employee can benefit from the right information. With analytics, it’s easier for your sales team to see which product options are selling or offer a popular configuration of a product such as a truck that sells better with one cab as opposed to another. Eliminating unnecessary portfolio content will help your sales team by removing components and save them fewer clicks with guided selling. Simply put, removing unnecessary parameters and complexity from the product leads to less complex and fewer products needed in your stock and warehouse.
Your engineering team can benefit from seeing which product options are selling the best and which aren’t selling at all. Identifying both necessary and unnecessary product variance will allow your engineering team to better recommend products for each unique customer product portfolio.
Analytics can give key insight into your product portfolio. Seeing correlations between winning and losing details and product options can be a near-impossible process without a helpful tool. But with CPQ analytics it’s easier to detect both patterns and dependencies. Making actionable insights from the wealth of data can help your business grow across every department.
Get a better understanding of your customer
Customers are as unique as the parameters of the products you sell. Evolving needs for your customers are a precursor for changes in your portfolio to stay competitive. Analyzing what needs-based parameters have been selected can give you valuable insights of how your products will be used. This is of course valuable for sales and engineering. Sales can learn how buyers are purchasing their products, do they like one configuration better than another? Engineering can replace parts that aren’t used and develop products and parameters that add win/loss info for portfolio and pricing development.
By analyzing what needs-based parameters have been selected can give you valuable insights of how your product offering is seen by your customers and how to evolve it. By also taking into what is being offered and what is sold, can give you valuable insights in how to optimize your product variance and pricing.
Designing specific configurations adapted to region, market and customer can go a long way in speeding up your sales. For example, if you sell heavy vehicles like our customer Scania, it’s possible to analyze how an option is being used. Is the option being used in a tropical or a polar climate? Knowing these parameters can help you better understand your product offering and improve who you sell to in the long run.
Streamline inventory
With higher custom demands there is zero-tolerance for inefficient processes for your customers. Your business shouldn’t tolerate slow processes as well. With analytics utilized and underutilized products can be quickly removed from the inventory and save you money on components and storage in the factory.
Optimize your pricing and discounting structures
Leaving money on the table is never an ideal situation for manufacturers. But we all know how it works, your salespeople are always discounting too heavily to get the deal. By analyzing the business situations and discounts with win-rates, you can better guide your sales peoples to maximize profit with optimal discounting levels. Finding the right discount level for every quote will make your business more profitable and make your sales team’s job a little easier. Using data trends can help support your business by creating a planned pricing optimization functionality. With analytics, you can find a discount that is optimal for getting the deal with the first quote version.
Your manufacturing operation can be a complicated business at times. A multitude of product options, increasing customer demands and keeping your teams engaged is a constant juggling act. By forecasting using quote data, you enable you and your team to get a head start on planning your next successful venture.
Interested in seeing more about CPQ analytics? Schedule your personalized demo with us today! Or get the CPQ Software Analytics product sheet.