Sales teams face constant pressure to deliver accurate quotes quickly while catering to increasingly complex customer needs.

Salesforce Revenue Cloud, a solution that combines sales, billing, and CPQ (Configure, Price, Quote), helps meet these demands.

While Salesforce Revenue Cloud offers a high-functionality, businesses often find additional value in exploring complementary or alternative tools like PandaDoc, which enhance and extend its capabilities.

Here we’ll get into Salesforce Revenue Cloud, its key features, the role of CPQ, and how PandaDoc provides additional tools to meet your business needs and improve partner relationship management.

What is Salesforce Revenue Cloud?

Salesforce Revenue Cloud is a specialized suite within the Salesforce ecosystem designed to manage the entire revenue lifecycle.

Its integration of billing, subscription management, and CPQ capabilities allows businesses to sync their sales and revenue teams and processes.

By doing this, businesses have smoother running operations, more accuracy, and improved customer relationships.

At its core, Salesforce Revenue Cloud simplifies traditionally complex processes.

By automating pricing, configuration, and invoicing, it enables sales teams to focus on closing deals rather than dealing with administrative tasks which can be both time-consuming and error-prone.

It also supports revenue recognition and subscription management, so you can rest easy knowing you’re compliant with financial standards and recurring revenue workflows.

Despite these advantages, Salesforce Revenue Cloud’s pricing model—often bundled with Salesforce’s broader offerings—can make it an expensive option, especially for smaller businesses.

Due to this, many SMBs (small to medium businesses) search for alternatives or complementary tools to maximize ROI.

CPQ and Salesforce Revenue Cloud

One of Salesforce Revenue Cloud’s standout features is Configure, Price, Quote (CPQ), an impressive and highly-useful tool for handling the complexities of pricing and quoting.

CPQ software automates the configuration of products or services, enforces pricing rules, and generates error-free quotes.

Sound too good to be true? Luckily for you, it isn’t.

For businesses with intricate product catalogs, CPQ is indispensable.

Having it in your back pocket means sales representatives can confidently configure products, even when compatibility rules or customizations are involved. This eliminates the risk of errors that could otherwise derail deals.

But wait, that’s not all!

CPQ’s ability to update pricing based on discounts, tiered structures, or real-time market changes allows sales teams to stay agile and competitive within the market.

Beyond its technical capabilities, CPQ improves the customer experience through personalized quotes.

Customers receive tailored pricing and product recommendations, which builds trust and improves the chances of conversion.

Salesforce CPQ also shortens the sales cycle, allowing deals to close faster.

Challenges solved by CPQ

Pricing and quoting processes are often fraught with inefficiencies, errors, and delays, especially for businesses that rely on manual methods or are dealing with disconnected systems.

This can decrease profitability and diminish customer confidence and retention.

Salesforce CPQ addresses these challenges through automation and integration.

By enforcing product rules, it eliminates the possibility of incompatible configurations, a common issue in industries with complex offerings.

The system’s pricing automation makes sure quotes reflect accurate pricing, taxes, and discounts, reducing the potential for costly errors.

Even better, Salesforce CPQ connects with the billing system, giving your team a smooth transition from quote to invoice.

These capabilities significantly transform the quoting process.

For example, a manufacturing company using Salesforce CPQ could generate a detailed, accurate quote in minutes, complete with product customizations and pricing rules, instead of spending hours manually compiling the information.

Sales reps are able to have a better forecasting workflow through salesforce billing.

Alternatives to Salesforce Revenue Cloud

While Salesforce Revenue Cloud offers impressive features, businesses often look to tools that can complement or provide alternatives to its functionality.

One such tool is PandaDoc, a document automation platform that enhances CPQ workflows through its emphasis on simplicity, collaboration, and integration.

Our client Avantio sends proposals within 10 seconds and has increased their digital marketing sales 200% in one month since adopting PandaDoc.

“Previously, we used ancient software that just didn’t provide the user-friendliness and efficiencies we needed to better serve our customers. PandaDoc was the clear winner because it easily integrated into our existing systems and provided us with a way to sell our broad scope of services to customers and boost sales. Our customers’ experience is our top priority, and building trust with them is critical. PandaDoc helped us up-level that experience by simplifying our processes and enhancing how we communicate with our clients.”

Marija Mise, Customer Success Manager at Avantio

We stand out with our document automation features, enabling sales teams to generate and share proposals, contracts, and quotes with ease.

Unlike Salesforce CPQ, which is deeply embedded in the Salesforce ecosystem, PandaDoc integrates with a wide range of tools, including Salesforce, HubSpot, and other CRMs.

This flexibility makes it a versatile option for businesses with diverse tech stacks.

PandaDoc also allows for real-time editing and commenting within documents.

Our built-in e-signature capabilities further accelerate the deal-closing process, eliminating the need for separate tools.

PandaDoc complements Salesforce CPQ while providing added value for those looking for a more collaborative and user-friendly software.

Revolutionizing sales with PandaDoc and Salesforce

PandaDoc’s ability to simplify document workflows and automate proposal generation goes hand-in-hand with Salesforce CPQ’s pricing and quoting features.

This integration allows sales teams to manage the entire customer journey—from initial inquiry to signed contract—without leaving their preferred platforms.

Looking ahead, PandaDoc is actively expanding its integrations to include Salesforce’s CPQ solution as part of its bi-directional integration strategy.

This upcoming feature will enable even deeper connectivity, allowing data to flow between the two systems.

Sales representatives will benefit from synchronized workflows, while customers enjoy a more simplified and tailored buying experience.

The combination of PandaDoc and Salesforce Revenue Cloud offers unmatched efficiency and flexibility.

Whether it’s generating quotes, automating approvals, or managing subscriptions, this partnership will help improve every aspect of the sales process.

Why PandaDoc?

Our API-driven architecture allows our software suite to connect with Salesforce and other tools within a company’s sales stack, including project management platforms and contract lifecycle management software.

This versatility makes PandaDoc a valuable addition for those looking to boost their sales operations.

We pride ourselves on our usability, providing a clean, intuitive interface that sales teams love.

Combined with plenty of automation and collaboration features, we help businesses close deals faster and with fewer obstacles.

This means smoother revenue operations and more revenue growth.

Conclusion

Salesforce Revenue Cloud, with its CPQ-centric capabilities, is a powerful tool for managing complex sales and revenue processes.

However, its high cost and ecosystem-specific aspect may nudge businesses to explore complementary solutions.

Tools like PandaDoc provide flexibility, enhanced collaboration, and a clean integration experience that can amplify the benefits of Salesforce CPQ.

As we continue to expand our integrations, including our upcoming partnership with Salesforce CPQ, the possibilities for sales teams to succeed only increase.

By combining the strengths of both platforms, you can revamp your sales processes and reach new heights.

Ready to elevate your sales workflows?

Subscribe for updates, explore PandaDoc’s solutions, or schedule a demo today to see how PandaDoc can transform your sales operations.

Disclaimer

PandaDoc is not a law firm, or a substitute for an attorney or law firm. This page is not intended to and does not provide legal advice. Should you have legal questions on the validity of e-signatures or digital signatures and the enforceability thereof, please consult with an attorney or law firm. Use of PandaDoc services are governed by our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.