[{"@context":"http:\/\/schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2021\/11\/15\/cpq-solution-real-world-benefits\/#Article","articleBody":"People prefer simple interactions with businesses, yet they want all of the latest features and capabilities in the products and services they buy. That leaves companies with a dilemma: how to sell highly complex offerings in the easiest, most transparent way. And it\u2019s why more of them are turning to a CPQ solution.\nProducts are becoming increasingly complex. Selling goods with various configurations and options helps you stay competitive, and your pricing strategy reflects this complexity.\nBut your B2B customers aren\u2019t thinking about that. Each time they buy from you, they expect top-notch customer experience \u2013 including rapid quotes, accurate pricing, and granular configurations that precisely reflect their order.\nTo balance product and pricing complexity with customer expectations, leading companies are transforming their quoting process. They\u2019re delivering outstanding buying and selling experiences that satisfy customers \u2013 and increase sales efficiency.\n \nCPQ software: A great look on you, incredible feel for your sales team\n   CPQ software benefits: Help your sales team thrive while making your business look great. Discover the powers of this key B2B sales tool.  \nCPQ solution: The time to change sales is now\nThere\u2019s no doubt that change is overdue in selling processes, for the benefit of both buyers and sellers. A recent report showed that 77% of B2B buyers qualified their latest purchase as very complex or difficult.\nYour sales personnel are struggling with these processes, too. In many organizations, sales reps spend up to two-thirds of their time on non-sales tasks such as creating quotes. Is that really where your best sellers should be focused?\nFacing these dual challenges, many companies have decided to modernize their approach to sales using CPQ and seeing real benefits:\nFast, accurate quotes\nPrecise configurations\nImproved efficiency with standard processes and discount management\nBetter sales experience and customer experience\nMore revenue\n \nBuying a CPQ solution: Top 5 Things to Consider\n   Buying a CPQ solution? Here are five things you should know before you make the purchase.  \nSimplifying the selling process with CPQ\u00a0\nAfter a divestiture from its parent company, an enterprise media and technical services company based in the US found its sales teams frustrated with too much paper shuffling and overly long sales cycles.\nSelling an assortment of live and on-demand, mobile, and multiscreen media products to service providers, operators, content owners, and broadcasters was complex and time-consuming. According to Kathryn Butterfuss, an SAP S\/4HANA evangelist at SAP who worked for the company, longer sales cycles even delayed revenues.\n\u201cSales reps wanted to be able to create a quote in front of a customer, revise it as necessary, and provide it in real time,\u201d she says.\nWith an advanced CPQ solution, the company simplified the selling process for both customers and sales reps. The CPQ provides real-time accurate data, including a bill of materials, helping sales reps create precisely the product that customers want.\nUsing integration from the tool to their ERP system, sales reps can gain insight into product lead times and accurately estimate delivery dates.\nThis integration also simplified a legacy five-tier sales approval method. Using automatically calculated profit margins for each deal, the solution automatically processes 80% of the company\u2019s proposed deals. Now, only the largest deals must be manually reviewed.\nAccurate quotes = sales efficiency & better margins\nCompanies also are using modern CPQ tools to replace a slate of nonintegrated, manual systems that salespeople use to support selling activities.\nSales reps at Straumann Group, a Swiss company that develops, manufactures, and supplies products that support esthetic dentistry, relied almost exclusively on spreadsheets. Lacking any company-approved tools, the sales team tracked stock-keeping numbers and prices for more than 20,000 items.\nYet those files were often outdated, causing reps to promise inaccurate prices to their customers, the doctors. Once a quote was approved, the sales team had little transparency into its status.\nAdvanced CPQ technology led to more accurate promotions and pricing, greater transparency into orders and delivery, and more standardization. The solution also changed the way Straumann Group conducts its sales processes.\n\u201cNow, sales reps can have discussions with customers and tailor offers within the boundary of a discount,\u201d says Michele Sassano, VP of marketing for the digital business unit of Straumann Group. \u201cWe can track new KPIs that refine the sales process to better serve customers. Right now, we are measuring how long it takes for a customer to react to an offer and how long each approval takes, for example.\u201d\nThe CPQ solution is also making life better for sales reps. Standardized processes, including discount management, increased efficiency, saving workers six to seven days per year.\n\u201cThat\u2019s one week of additional time that a rep can spend selling more or better managing the customer,\u201d says Sassano. What\u2019s more, he estimates that the new discount management approach improved the company\u2019s gross margin by 3%.\n \nB2B, better: Sell more. Happier customers. Meet the benefits of CPQ.\n   Learn how CPQ benefits customer experience and streamlines B2B sales by helping deliver fast, accurate quotes for complex products.  \nInvolve sellers early on for a smooth CPQ rollout \nCompanies that successfully deployed CPQ solutions are happy to share their advice about engaging sellers in the technology roll-out.\nInstead of making it mandatory to use the solution, Straumann Group invited its sales team to become co-creators of the tool.\n\u201cWe built the tools with the sales rep for the sales rep,\u201d says Sassano. \u201cBy inviting them to provide feedback on the tool before go-live, we increased their engagement with the CPQ technology. It also let us roll out the solution quickly and in an agile way.\u201d\nButterfuss agrees. \u201cBring in the sales force early and often,\u201d she says. \u201cNot just the change agents, but the actual sales force.\u201d\nHaving sales reps engage with the technology makes implementation much smoother for everyone. \u201cThe sales team brings forward new ideas and thoughts about how they can use the solution,\u201d she says. \u201cImplementing these suggestions also results in a very high level of adoption of the CPQ tool.\u201d\nThat\u2019s undoubtedly a win for both sales and your customers.\nStreamline sales. Maximize revenue. Come run with the best when it comes to CPQ HERE.","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2021\/11\/15\/cpq-solution-real-world-benefits\/#Article_Person","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2021\/11\/15\/cpq-solution-real-world-benefits\/#Article_Person_ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/23x6xj3o92m9361dbu2ij362-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Steven-Headshot-150x150.jpg"},"name":"Steven Spears","sameAs":"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/steven-spears-57895388\/","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/contributor\/steven-spears\/"},"dateModified":"2021-11-30T00:26:05+00:00","datePublished":"2021-11-15T06:01:01+00:00","description":"Find out how an advanced CPQ solution helped two companies streamline sales, improve efficiency, and boost the bottom line.","headline":"Putting a CPQ solution to work reveals real-world benefits","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2021\/11\/15\/cpq-solution-real-world-benefits\/#Article_ImageObject","height":"630","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/CPQ-solution-benefits-ftr-1200x630.png","width":"1200"},"mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2021\/11\/15\/cpq-solution-real-world-benefits\/","name":"Putting a CPQ solution to work reveals real-world benefits","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/","additionalType":"https:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/wiki\/Q1193236","description":"Relevant, timely information & analysis on commerce trends, both consumer-facing and B2B.","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/23x6xj3o92m9361dbu2ij362-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com\/wp-content\/themes\/hybris_foc\/assets\/images\/layout\/logo-new-2x.png?_=1","height":"96","url":"https:\/\/23x6xj3o92m9361dbu2ij362-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com\/wp-content\/themes\/hybris_foc\/assets\/images\/layout\/logo-new-2x.png?_=1","width":"500"},"name":"The Future of Customer Engagement and Experience","sameAs":["https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/a-call-for-a-better-experience\/id1479742201","https:\/\/twitter.com\/FutureOfCEC","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/groups\/4844282","https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/feed\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/"},"url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2021\/11\/15\/cpq-solution-real-world-benefits\/#Article"},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"2021","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2021\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"11","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2021\/\/11\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"15","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2021\/\/11\/\/15\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Putting a CPQ solution to work reveals real-world benefits","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2021\/11\/15\/cpq-solution-real-world-benefits\/#breadcrumbitem"}]}]