Sales reps face constant pressure to move fast–chasing leads, customizing quotes, and closing deals before competitors swoop in.

But all too often, salespeople get bogged down by manual pricing, approval bottlenecks, tedious tasks, and endless back-and-forth with finance teams and customers.

That’s where CPQ (Configure, Price, Quote) software comes in. CPQ accelerates the sales process by helping reps generate accurate quotes, apply the right discounts or pricing rules, and get approvals quickly.

CPQ tools lead to faster deals, fewer errors, satisfied customers, and a boost in revenue.

If your sales team is still juggling spreadsheets and scrambling to get quotes approved, it’s time to see how CPQ implementation can transform your sales operations.

In this guide, we’ll explore how CPQ functionality optimizes the sales process, key ways the right software can improve efficiency, must-have features, and best practices for using CPQ in sales operations.

What is CPQ?

CPQ (Configure, Price, Quote) is a process that helps sales teams quickly and accurately configure products, determine pricing, and generate professional quotes for customers.

CPQ software offers several features to automate the quoting process for complex pricing, helping reps create fast, error-free quotes for complex products or services.

What does CPQ mean in sales?

CPQ is the process sales teams use to configure a product or service to fit a customer’s unique needs.

As add-ons, customizations, and bundles are selected, the price updates automatically based on pre-set rules to ensure accuracy and consistency.

Sales operations CPQ

Sales reps have a tough enough job closing deals—pricing shouldn’t be another hurdle.

But without a structured system, they often find themselves scrambling to figure out the right price, factoring in customizations, add-ons, and discounts while ensuring the quote stays profitable and compliant.

CPQ software helps to simplify this process and improve sales productivity.

Consistent, accurate pricing

With CPQ, sales representatives don’t have to start from scratch every time they put together a quote.

The system automatically applies pricing models and product configurations based on pre-set guidelines, so reps always know how to calculate the correct price—even when dealing with complex customizations, bundles, or volume discounts.

Faster deals, fewer bottlenecks

Every delay in the quoting process is a potential lost deal. Without CPQ, reps often rely on manual approvals, which can slow things down and create friction between sales, finance, and leadership.

With CPQ, pricing guardrails are already in place, meaning sales reps can apply approved discounts and configurations without unnecessary delays.

Better cross-team collaboration

CPQ is an essential tool for sales teams, but it also helps multiple departments work together:

  • Finance gets accurate pricing data, reducing revenue leakage and ensuring profitable deals.
  • Legal and compliance teams have confidence that all quotes adhere to pricing policies and contract terms.
  • Operations teams receive clear product configurations, minimizing order errors and improving customer satisfaction.

When sales, finance, and operations work from the same pricing framework, the entire organization operates more efficiently—leading to higher revenue, faster deal approvals, and a better customer experience.

What is the sales process in CPQ?

At its core, the sales process in CPQ isn’t all that different from the traditional sales process.

It all starts with understanding a customer’s needs and finding the right solution.

The difference? CPQ makes it faster and more precise.

With CPQ, sales reps configure a product or service package based on the customer’s requirements—selecting the right features, add-ons, or customizations.

The system then automatically calculates pricing, applies discounts, and generates a quote in minutes—no spreadsheets, manual calculations, or guesswork required.

By using automation to streamline this process, CPQ reduces human error, accelerates deal cycles, and ensures pricing consistency.

How can sales operations boost revenue with a CPQ solution?

CPQ software helps teams drive more revenue by accelerating sales cycles, improving quote accuracy, and delivering data-driven insights.

Faster quotes

If reps are stuck manually calculating prices, chasing approvals, or fixing in errors, customers may lose interest.

Using CPQ, reps can generate quotes in minutes and use features like approval rules and workflow automations to speed up the review process. This means accurate quotes are delivered fast.

Smarter pricing

CPQ solutions provide real-time insights into sales trends, customer behavior, and deal profitability.

Sales teams can use this data to:

  • Identify the most profitable product configurations
  • Optimize discounting strategies to maximize margins
  • Spot upsell and cross-sell opportunities to increase deal size

Integrations for increased efficiency

A CPQ tool like PandaDoc, integrates with CRM (Customer Relationship Management) systems to help to centralize customer data, pricing history, and deal information.

This helps sales teams by:

  • Automating data entry—saving time and reducing errors.
  • Providing full visibility into customer preferences and past interactions to reps tailor their pitches.
  • Keeping sales, finance, and operations aligned—ensuring a smooth handoff from quote to contract to fulfillment.

With CPQ and CRM working together, sales teams can personalize their approach, speed up deal cycles, and close more revenue-generating opportunities.

CPQ best practices for sales operations

To get the most out of a CPQ system, teams must follow best practices for efficiency, accuracy, and adoption.

  • Set up product configurations. Building pricing rules and product configurations into a CPQ system helps reps avoid costly pricing mistakes and ensure consistent pricing with discounts, add-ons, and bundles. This also helps reps upsell and cross-sell based on predefined product recommendations.
  • Train your team for success. Even the best software won’t be effective if teams don’t know how to use it. Provide training to help reps understand the quoting process and how to configure products and ensure everyone is comfortable using the tool.
  • Automate manual processes. Set up automations for manual tasks that can slow down the sales process. CPQ software helps sales teams auto-generate quotes using pre-approved pricing rules and create approval workflows to reduce bottlenecks and a lengthy review process.

Top CPQ features for sales operations

There are a number of CPQ tools to choose from, so how do you choose teh best one for your business?

To otimize sales operations and drive revenue, teams should look for a solution with features that help to streamline pricing and automate processes.

Pricing rules

A robust CPQ system should allow you to set pre-defined pricing rules based on criteria like discounts, tiers, and customer segments.

Guided selling

This feature walks reps through a series of pre-set questions and prompts to help them configure the right product or service for the customer’s needs.

2-way data integration

CPQ software like PandaDoc integrates with leading CRM systems like Salesforce, HubSpot, and PipeDrive. With two-way data integration, any updates made in one system (like pricing changes in CPQ or customer data in CRM) automatically sync across all platforms, eliminating manual entry and ensuring data accuracy.

Tracking and analytics

CPQ solutions should provide real-time analytics on quoting activity, sales performance and recipient behavior.

Notifications

Timely follow-ups are key to closing deals, and CPQ should help by sending automated notifications and reminders.

Automated workflows

Manual approvals and back-and-forth communication can slow deals down. With automated workflows, CPQ streamlines approvals for discounts, pricing exceptions, and contract terms—ensuring deals move forward quickly without unnecessary delays.

Sales operations CPQ: Boost revenue and improve efficiency

Sales teams need speed, accuracy, and efficiency to close deals and drive revenue. But outdated, manual processes can slow teams down.

CPQ software helps to eliminate roadblocks by automating pricing, approvals, and quote generation. By integrating CPQ with your CRM, setting up pricing rules, and using automation, your team can accelerate deal cycles, improve accuracy, and boost profitability.

If your sales team is still using spreadsheets and manual approvals, it’s time to explore how CPQ can transform your operations.

Ready to get started? Contact us to see how PandaDoc CPQ can improve your sales process and help you reach your business goals.

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