What is CPQ?
Configure Price Quote (CPQ) software is an essential sales tool used by businesses, particularly in complex manufacturing, to streamline their sales processes. CPQ allows sales teams to configure products, price them accurately, and generate detailed, customer-ready quotes within minutes. For manufacturers offering bespoke or highly customisable products, CPQ ensures sales teams deliver precise quotes tailored to the customer’s exact needs, eliminating errors and speeding up the quoting process.
In today's competitive manufacturing landscape, speed and accuracy in quoting are critical. With CPQ, manual errors are minimised, customer expectations are consistently met, and the overall sales cycle is dramatically shortened.
How Does CPQ Work?
At its core, CPQ performs three key functions:
- Configuration: The system guides sales representatives through selecting the right components, features, and add-ons for complex products based on customer requirements. This simplifies product customisation while ensuring that every configuration is technically valid.
- Pricing: CPQ automatically applies accurate pricing, including discounts, bundles, or special deals based on predefined rules, ensuring consistency and profitability.
- Quoting: Once the product is configured and priced, CPQ generates a professional quote for the customer, complete with all the necessary details—such as product specifications and terms of service—ensuring the customer receives a clear and accurate proposal.
Behind the Scenes: What Powers CPQ?
The power of CPQ lies in its integration with other key business systems and its use of real-time data. Key components behind the scenes include:
- Product Knowledgebase: CPQ draws from a central database containing all product information—rules, restrictions, available options, and pricing models—allowing it to generate precise configurations and prices each time.
- Business Logic & Workflow Automation: Predefined rules ensure that all product combinations are feasible, pricing aligns with discount policies, and necessary approvals are triggered when specific conditions are met (such as high-value deals needing managerial approval).
- Advanced Analytics: With CPQ, sales teams can use predictive analytics to better understand customer behaviour and pricing trends, allowing them to offer more competitive solutions.
How CPQ Helps Employees Across the Organisation
One of CPQ’s greatest strengths is its ability to benefit employees across the entire organisation:
- Sales Representatives: Guided selling functionality walks sales reps through complex product configurations. Even non-technical salespeople can confidently offer the right solutions, significantly reducing the risk of errors.
- Marketing Teams: CPQ enables marketing to swiftly roll out promotions, bundle offers, and discounts, which can be instantly applied by the sales team.
- Engineering & Production Teams: These teams receive clear, accurate configurations, reducing the risk of miscommunication. Special requests and approvals are efficiently handled through CPQ’s workflows.
- Finance Departments: Pricing is calculated using up-to-date data, ensuring that all quotes align with company profitability targets.
- Customer Service Teams: CPQ reduces order errors, leading to higher customer satisfaction as products are configured correctly the first time, every time.
Business Benefits of CPQ: ROI, Efficiency, and More
Manufacturers can reap significant benefits from implementing CPQ:
- Faster Quote Turnaround: Automating the quoting process reduces the time needed to generate proposals, speeding up the sales cycle and leading to faster deal closures.
- Reduced Errors & Returns: CPQ ensures only valid configurations are quoted, dramatically reducing production errors and costly returns.
- Increased Sales Effectiveness: Sales teams can confidently configure complex products without requiring in-depth technical expertise, allowing them to focus on building relationships and driving revenue.
- Boosted Profit Margins: CPQ ensures pricing accuracy and controls margins, reducing the risk of excessive discounts and protecting profitability.
- Scalability: CPQ is flexible and scalable, accommodating growth in operations or new product lines without adding complexity.
CPQ’s Seamless Integration with Existing Systems
CPQ integrates seamlessly with existing systems such as CRM (like Salesforce or Microsoft Dynamics) and ERP (such as SAP, Oracle, or IFS). This integration enables sales teams to work with real-time data, ensuring accurate quotes and alignment between sales, production, and inventory.
CPQ also integrates with PLM systems, ensuring product configurations reflect the latest designs and engineering updates.
Why Choose Cincom CPQ?
Cincom CPQ stands out as a leading solution for complex manufacturers. Here’s why:
- Tailored for Complex Manufacturing: Cincom CPQ is designed specifically for industries with intricate product offerings and multi-faceted configurations. It offers more flexibility and customisation compared to generic CPQ solutions from larger vendors like Salesforce or Oracle.
- Customisability: Unlike many off-the-shelf solutions, Cincom CPQ can be fully tailored to meet the specific needs of your business. Whether it’s advanced pricing models or bespoke approval workflows, Cincom CPQ adapts to your requirements.
- Deployment Flexibility: Whether your business prefers on-premise solutions or cloud-based deployment (SaaS), Cincom CPQ offers both, giving you full control over how your CPQ system is managed.
- Expert Support: Cincom’s team of CPQ experts are available to guide you through every step of implementation and provide ongoing support to ensure success.
- Proven Results: Cincom CPQ has a strong track record of delivering measurable results for manufacturers, including reduced quoting times, fewer production errors, and increased revenue.
As someone who works for Cincom, I’ve seen firsthand how we help manufacturers streamline their sales processes and accelerate revenue growth. If you’re in the manufacturing sector and considering CPQ, Cincom should be your first choice.
For more information on how Cincom CPQ can streamline your manufacturing processes and boost your sales, feel free to contact Darren Perrins
– Senior Account Manager,
Cincom Systems
