The sales process has never been more complex.
With products and services offering endless options and customizations, creating accurate quotes can quickly become a bottleneck for sales teams.
The result? Slower sales cycles, increased errors, and frustrated customers — all of which can cost your business valuable deals.
That’s where CPQ (Configure, Price, Quote) software comes in. CPQ tools help teams create fast, accurate, and professional quotes, helping them save time by ditching manual, error-prone price calculation methods.
When do you know it’s time for your team to explore a CPQ solution?
Understanding CPQ capabilities and business requirements can help you get buy-in for a CPQ tool to accelerate the sales cycle, close more deals, and enhance customer satisfaction.
Find out how a CPQ system can improve your sales process and what key features to consider when choosing a solution for your team.
What is CPQ
CPQ breaks the quote generation process into three steps to help teams generate fast, accurate quotes for complex, configurable products without relying on manual efforts like spreadsheets or formulas.
- Reps configure complex orders to cater to specific customers’ needs
- Reps price the selected add-ons and options
- Reps provide a quote with the final price based on the options and product configuration
Who needs CPQ?
A CPQ system can help your team if any of the following apply:
- You have an extensive product catalog
- You manage a high volume of quotes
- You have customers with custom or unique needs
- You create quotes for complex, configurable products
More specifically, CPQ solutions benefit small- to mid-sized businesses and enterprise organizations.
Here’s how teams can use CPQ software to simplify the quoting process:
- RevOps: Ensuring pricing accuracy and accelerating deal cycles. CPQ enables seamless collaboration across sales, finance, and operations.
- SalesOps: Reducing errors and speeding up the sales cycle. CPQ equips sales reps with tools to create accurate, customized quotes quickly.
- IT: Managing pricing and configuration systems. CPQ integrates with CRM and ERP platforms to enhance system scalability.
- Finance teams: Automating billing and invoicing helps minimize errors and lets finance professionals focus on more strategic initiatives.
CPQ requirements
Implementing any new software requires budget, buy-in, and an understanding of why the tool is beneficial and worth the investment.
Understanding business needs
Teams already have several tools in their tech stack.
According to a survey, 67% of sales teams use between 4 and 10 digital selling tools.
Any new addition must be necessary and valuable to improve processes or eliminate pain points.
Demonstrate how adopting a CPQ tool can solve common problems like reducing manual work, speeding up the quoting process for complex products, and minimizing errors that result from using spreadsheets or manual quoting processes.
Additional business requirements to consider:
Company size
Some tools are best for small to mid-sized businesses, while others are made with enterprise companies in mind.
You want to find a solution that works with your current company size but can also scale if necessary.
Product catalog and pricing structures
Do you have an extensive product catalog with numerous customization options? Are there complex pricing models, such as tiered or volume-based, or do you offer bundles and discounts?
Look for CPQ software that supports your organization’s specific pricing needs, including the ability to handle dynamic pricing adjustments, cross-sell/upsell recommendations, and approval workflows for discounts.
Showing ROI
Showing the ROI of a tool is a bit more challenging since you won’t see results until after you start using it.
To get around this, ask for case studies and user stories for any software you’re evaluating to see how it has helped other organizations like yours.
If your team struggles with closing deals due to a lengthy proposal process, show stakeholders how a CPQ tool can help with this problem.
For example, our client, Kiss Print Solutions, boosted close rates by 20% using PandaDoc.
“I have been using PandaDoc for about five years and find it invaluable for our quotations and order processing. Our quotations are engaging, factually correct and the tracking visibility is fantastic.” Luke Duggan, Group General Manager at Kiss Print Solutions
It’s also important to find a CPQ platform with built-in analytics and tracking tools.
This lets you measure performance metrics and compare results before and after using the new software.
Evaluating platforms and vendors
There are hundreds of CPQ software options on the market, and we’re proud to be rated as one of the top 10 CPQ solutions in 2024.
But choosing the right CPQ platform for your business requires talking to different vendors, comparing features (more on this below), doing software demos and trials, conducting market research, reading reviews, and more.
You need to compare platforms based on features, app integrations with the tools your team is already using, pricing, and ease of use to ensure product adoption.
Considering the implementation process
Any new software requires implementation, onboarding, training, and ongoing support.
Ask the following questions for any platform you’re evaluating:
- How long does CPQ implementation take (weeks vs. months)?
- Does your team offer implementation support?
- What type of product training does your team provide?
- How much technical expertise is required to use the product? Ask about the UI and if it’s a no-code solution that doesn’t require developer-level knowledge to configure.
- Does your team offer training and ongoing support for questions, technical support, or troubleshooting?
There’s no use in buying an expensive software platform only to discover a lengthy, complicated onboarding process or that most of your team can’t use it without extensive training.
CPQ requirements and capabilities
Once you’ve made the case for a CPQ solution, you need to ensure you find a platform with all the capabilities you need.
CPQ software offers several features to simplify the selling process, helping reps choose options, calculate prices, and create quotes all in one place.
Here are must-have CPQ features to look for:
- Dynamic pricing: Adjust product pricing in real-time based on market data, competitor insights, and more.
- Guided selling: Step-by-step forms using conditional logic to “guide” sellers through the process for faster, more accurate quotes.
- Rules engine: Create pricing rules for different scenarios like cross-sell or upsell opportunities, discounts, and product bundles.
- Payment processing: Embed payment options, like Stripe and PayPal, directly into sales proposals.
- CRM integration: Sync customer and product data from CRM platforms like HubSpot and Salesforce. Create quotes in one place vs. switching between apps
- Reporting and analytics: Track quotes and sales to measure performance
- Security and access controls: Contracts and quotes can contain private or sensitive data. Ensure the tool meets your security standards, including data encryption and access controls. User permissions ensure the right people can access sales documents and that no one can edit a quote once it’s approved.
Other nice-to-have features include:
Document generation
CPQ platforms that include document generation let you create sales proposals and quotes from one convenient location vs. switching between multiple apps.
PandaDoc offers pre-made templates to make document creation easier and faster.
Branding and customization
Build brand awareness and enhance customer trust by creating documents with your consistent branding.
Based on data from PandaDoc customers, 86% say they expert vendors to personalize sales materials.
CPQ tools with branding and customization options help you create professional-looking documents customized for your customers.
PandaDoc offers CPQ functionality, plus integrations with our other tools like eSignatures and document generation software to help you create, manage, send, and track quotes and documents from one convenient platform.
Find the best CPQ solution for your business
Choosing the right CPQ solution is a critical decision that can improve your sales cycle and help you close more deals.
CPQ software empowers teams with pricing strategies to create fast, accurate quotes and deliver results.
By carefully evaluating your business needs and selecting a platform with the right features and support, you can ensure a smooth implementation that drives long-term success.
Ready to give PandaDoc CPQ a try? Start your free 14-day trial.
