What does CPQ mean?
CPQ is talked about a lot in Salesforce terminology, but what actually is it and how can you get the best results by using it? CPQ stands for Configure, Price, Quote. To help you remember this Salesforce has created a short rhyme:Salesforce CPQ user guide
Configure
The simplest way to implement Salesforce CPQ is through a series of questions. A good place to start is to find out which product(s) the customer currently wants to buy? This is the configure stage and allows you to have an idea of what they are already interested in, to allow you to better understand their needs. You can also use this stage to find out more about what they are potentially using the product for, or where, or any other relevant information. For example, a macbook being purchased as a workplace shared item would have different uses than if it was to be purchased for a work from home sole user. Dependent on the answers, Salesforce CPQ uses smart rules allowing you to see a tailored list of products matching the original. This means you can sell related products together and eliminate incompatible products from the same quote. For instance, with the aforementioned macbook the customer may want a mouse or keyboard to accompany it.
Price
Once you have established the original product and any additional items, the next question would be used to find out is what is the current price and combination costs? This is the price section of CPQ and is actually a lot simpler than you may think. Salesforce CPQ shows accurate pricing of products and allows you to form a combination price of all the products you want to accompany the original. Once you have had all the prices combined for you, without having to do any tedious adding up yourself, you can even give discounts in percent form. Providing a discount may be the incentive a customer needs to purchase the bundle you have discovered for them, over just the original product they first knew they wanted.
Quote
The final question you need to answer is what could we do next to benefit the customer and what details can we provide? This is the quote portion of CPQ and what allows you tie everything together. Using Salesforce CPQ you can generate a PDF with all the information and pricing details you have just harnessed and with one click, send it straight to the customer. You can customise the aesthetics of your quote to ensure it looks professional and suited to your business. Being dynamic means you can even amend or add to certain areas of the quote with ease as needed. Using e-signature integration, you can have everything you need to finalise the quote with the customer and complete deals as efficiently as possible.
Having everything in one place means faster deals, with fewer mistakes and who doesn’t want that? Head to our CPQ Implementation section to see how you can start automating billing processes and improving quote generation fast. Find out how to utilise the Quotes element of CPQ and a breakdown of all the relevant areas, tips and tricks on our CPQ blog section.