What is CPQ Software?
Configure Price Quote (CPQ) software platforms help manufacturers use self-service, guided (and remote) selling to accurately configure manufacturing products and services for the new buying journey many manufacturers face. The new B2B buyer won’t wait for error-prone quotes they want their products custom and they want them now! Minimizing time-consuming back and forth between your sales and engineering is reduced by centralizing the customer experience within CPQ.
Much of the world has hit the pause button on how everyday activity creating a sense of nostalgia for how we used to work, and anxiety for the new way things will be done. Manufacturers have felt this anxiety as severely as other industries that have paused operations. These feelings are of course valid. But what if it was possible to turn that fear and anxiety into business self-reflection to find new solutions that can help you, and your business adapt to a new normal?
How can CPQ software prepare us for a new way of working?
Innovation is the ability to see change as an opportunity – not a threat. Manufacturers have been thrown into brand new ways of working from the back of the office to the front. Six-feet separate employees who used to work inches from one another. To sales teams scrambling to find ways to work, and demo highly configurable products remotely. These challenges have shifted how and when we work, making it important to find new ways to adapt to the current situation while also embracing the future with new ways to work.
CPQ is the innovation manufacturers didn’t realize they needed until now. Inefficient operations and slow internal processes have always hampered how your engineers and sales teams work. Giving them a new agile way of working is a benefit that will enable your company to grow at an exponential rate.
That sounds great but how is it possible?
Your sales team and your customer
Using CPQ helps your sales team from anywhere with less hassle. From guided selling to visual configuration your sales team can create fast, accurate and visually appealing sales pitches that your customer, who is pickier than ever will love. All of this can be done online or in-person for an omnichannel manufacturing experience. We’re very familiar with the changing customer demands, they want custom products from size dimensions to colors, fast and if they don’t get them they’ll go to your competition. With CPQ self-service it’s even possible to create a place for your customers to configure, price and quote their own products on their own time, something manufacturers in the past have failed to do.
Your engineering team
Increasing the dialogue and collaboration between your sales and engineering teams is something you’ve been thinking about for a while. The slow back and forth with error-prove handover has cost time, money and customer satisfaction in the past. Finding a way to turn collaboration into a strength is something CPQ software can radically change. By using CPQ which guarantees 100% accurate quotes + visual configuration which can show the smallest detail to prospects offers a synchronized and transparent way to have teams work together. This doesn’t just benefit your internal operations but keeps customers on a fast track to receiving their products.
Integrations for even greater speed
From CPQ for Salesforce, to CPQ for Microsoft Dynamics and even your favorite eCommerce solution, it’s easier than ever to highlight the strength of any business-critical system. Without these integrations it’s lead manufacturers to use messy spreadsheets and have information get lost, for incorrect quoting.
Every operation is different, but creating new ways to be agile in the coming months can make all of the difference in barley surviving or thriving in a new normal that mandates different ways of working. Using Smart Commerce powered by CPQ can be a choice that puts manufacturers ahead in the race for increased customer satisfaction, improved internal operations and higher profit margins.
These are just a few highlights of how Tacton CPQ Software can help manufacturers adapt to a new normal. Let’s get in touch and create a new manufacturing normal that will be the envy of the industry.