Simplify complex sales with CPQ software

What is CPQ software?

CPQ, short for configure price quote, is a sales tool that helps companies sell complex products more effectively and efficiently. It's designed to simplify the sales process by automating three crucial tasks: configuring products to meet customer needs, calculating prices based on various factors, and generating quotes that can be shared with customers. 

Here are the components of CPQ:

• Configure: This part of CPQ involves selecting the right combination of products or services for the customer. It allows sales teams to build customized solutions based on predefined options. 

• Price: After configuring the product or service, the CPQ software solution calculates the price. It uses pricing rules set by the business to automatically apply discounts or adjust prices based on the specific combination of products and services selected.

• Quote: A document that includes the configured product or service details and the price. The quote also often contains terms and conditions, delivery timelines, and other important information.

Who needs CPQ software?

If your business falls into any of these categories, or a combination of them, it's likely that you need CPQ software.

• Complex product offerings: If you sell products with multiple configurations, customizations, bundles, or add-ons, CPQ can simplify the selection and pricing process for both sales reps and customers. This is common in manufacturing, software, or telecommunications industries.

• Lengthy, error-prone sales cycles: Does your quote generation involve manual calculations, coordination across teams, and lead to delayed turnaround? CPQ streamlines the process with automation and built-in pricing structures, significantly shortening the sales cycle.

• Compliance and pricing consistency: CPQ ensures consistent pricing and discounting rules are applied across all quotes. This is essential in industries with strict regulations or complex pricing models.

• Limited sales team capacity: If your sales team is bogged down by quote administration tasks, CPQ frees them up to focus on selling. The automation of tasks allows teams to handle higher volumes of deals.

• Need for data-driven insights: CPQ software often integrates with CRM systems, providing valuable data to improve sales forecasting, product development optimization, and sales strategy decisions.

What are the key benefits of CPQ software?

With the basics out of the way, let’s hone in on the concrete, practical ways in which CPQ software can help your business stand out from competitors:

1. Accelerated sales efficiency

Automating the time-consuming process of generating quotes is a no-brainer—shorter turnaround times free up your sales team to focus on selling, rather than administrative tasks. With configure price quote software, the time-consuming process of generating quotes is much less of a drain on your business. This leads to faster quote generation and significantly shorter turnaround times. Sales teams can respond to customer inquiries with lightning speed, improving productivity and freeing up more time to focus on selling rather than administrative tasks.

2. Unparalleled accuracy

No matter how good you are, we all make mistakes—manually calculating and configuring quotes, keeping track of everything through complex spreadsheets—it’s perfectly natural that human error creeps into the system one way or another.

Thankfully, today’s smart tools don’t succumb to human error—automating the pricing and configuration process goes a long way in making each quote accurate, reflecting the right product combinations and pricing strategies with a degree of accuracy that can’t be matched by doing things manually.

3. Enhanced compliance and control

Adhering to pricing guidelines and company policies is crucial—but it’s another area where human error tends to creep in and cause some revenue leakage. No shade—pricing discrepancies and unauthorized discounts are something we all contend with at one point.

With built-in pricing rules enforcement and approval workflows, CPQ software allows your business to keep everything consistent across the board, inside and out.

4. Personalized quotes

Basic customization is pretty unremarkable nowadays—with a good CPQ system at your disposal, you can generate customized quotes with discounts, applicable taxes for the region, and suggestions for add-on services that they may find useful. Personalizing quotes provides an exceptional customer experience.

5. Closing deals faster

It all ties together with this—you can close deals faster. Greater efficiency, better accuracy, and personalized quotes allow you to have a shorter sales cycle. Put simply—turn prospects into happy customers quicker, and keep on trucking with a more dynamic, responsive, and customer-centric sales process.

Top 10 CPQ software in 2024

1. Freshsales

Freshsales is an AI-powered CRM with CPQ built in. Craft comprehensive, detailed quotes with accurate pricing, a clear scope of services, implementation timelines, and post-sales support offerings–all aligned with your brand identity. Pricing tables directly linked to your product catalog eliminate manual errors. Built-in eSignatures mean smoother deal closures. Since it’s a part of CRM, data flows are effortless and sales teams don’t have to worry about integrating two pieces of software.

3. Salesforce CPQ

Offers a variety of features to streamline the sales process including guided selling prompts and recommendations to help navigate complex product catalogs. It also allows for the complex configuration of product bundles and pricing rules, discount controls, and advanced approvals. These features can help to ensure that margins are protected and compliance throughout the sales cycle. 

4. DealHub

Helps you simplify the quoting process by configuring custom quotes, ensuring consistent pricing and discounting, streamlining sales processes, and enriching CRM data. DealHub CPQ is easy to use and can be implemented quickly with no coding required. Additionally, DealHub CPQ integrates with several CRMs.

5. HubSpot Sales Hub

Helps sellers track deals and send quotes easily. It is built on top of HubSpot's CRM tools, and leverages data from existing deal records and the product library to speed up quote creation for salespeople. HubSpot CPQ can create professional-looking quotes, and has a fully customizable product library, approvals, a user-friendly eSignature tool,  and a comprehensive integration suite. 

6. Oracle CPQ

Oracle CPQ is a cloud-based application designed to streamline the sales process. It offers features like guided selling, automated configurations, real-time pricing, subscription ordering, and contract management.  Oracle CPQ integrates with various CRM and ERP systems, enabling a unified quote-to-cash flow.

7. Subskribe

Subskribe CPQ positions itself as the ideal solution for fast-growing SaaS companies with complex enterprise-level needs. The software promises to streamline the quote creation process for intricate SaaS deals with features like flexible pricing models, advanced approvals, and integrations. This in turn provides a better buying experience for customers.

8. Epicor CPQ

Epicor CPQ focuses on simplifying the sales of complex, custom products, particularly within manufacturing sectors. It emphasizes the power of visual configuration tools (2D, 3D, even virtual reality) to streamline the process for both sales reps and customers. The software integrates with a wide array of business systems like ERP, CAD, etc.

9. Conga CPQ

Conga CPQ emphasizes flexibility and integration throughout the quote-to-cash process. The solution offers a high degree of customizability, making it adaptable to different business processes and rules. It integrates with CRM platforms as well as various document generation and eSignature solutions. This focus creates a unified customer experience, streamlining sales cycles and minimizing data discrepancies.

10. Experlogix CPQ

Experlogix CPQ positions itself as a powerful solution designed to handle highly complex product and service configurations. It emphasizes a rules-driven approach to provide sales quotes, giving product and engineering teams extensive control over product definitions, available options, pricing, and discounting.

11. Qmaze CPQ

Specialized in providing swift, precise, and customizable quoting solutions, Qmaze’s CPQ is ideal for environments where customer self-service is key. It enables customers to independently generate accurate quotes, supported by interactive online 3D configuration to visualize products in real-time.

Features to look for in CPQ software

Let’s get down to the nitty-gritty—when you’re looking for CPQ solutions, these are the features that you should keep an eye out for and prioritize:

• Product configuration: Your CPQ should manage multiple and complex product configurations with ease. Look for features like guided selling tools, visual product configurators (if applicable), and a rules engine to enforce compatibility and dependencies.

• Pricing and discounts: Configure flexible pricing models (subscription, usage-based, tiered, volume-based, etc.). Apply discounts with a system that offers control and helps protect your margin and ensure profitability.

• Quote generation: Generate accurate, professional-looking quotes quickly. Ideally, this includes customizable templates and easy integration of contracts or other legal documents.

• Guided selling and recommendations: Help sales reps navigate complex product catalogs with intelligent prompts and suggestions. This can include upselling and cross-selling recommendations based on the customer's needs.

• Approval workflows: Establish automated, multi-level approval processes based on rules (deal size, specific products, etc.) to ensure compliance.

• E-signature integration: Allow for secure, quick digital signing of quotes and contracts–a huge time-saver in the sales cycle.

• CRM integration: A tight integration with your CRM is required for smooth data flow, eliminating manual updates and enabling better data-driven decisions. It’s best if your CPQ module is part of your CRM.

• Reporting and analytics: Reporting dashboards are necessary to track KPIs, identify bottlenecks, and optimize your sales process. Data analysis can reveal areas for improved pricing or product bundling.

Additional considerations:

• Scalability: If you’re a small business, the CPQ software should be able to scale with your business, accommodating evolving product lines and pricing models.

• User-friendliness: An intuitive interface reduces training requirements and boosts adoption among sales teams.

• Mobile accessibility: Empower your sales team with quote generation and access to product information on the go.

• Customization: The ability to tailor the CPQ application to fit your specific business processes and workflows.

Why Freshsales is the best CPQ software

The CPQ module in Freshsales enables you to create winning quotes easily. Here’s how.

1. Comprehensive, detailed quotes: Outline every element of your proposal, including pricing breakdowns, scope of services, implementation timelines, post-sales support offerings, and essential terms and conditions.

2. Seamless customization: Tailor quotes to reflect your unique brand identity with customized layouts, terminology, and visual elements like images and videos.

3. Pricing accuracy: Eliminate manual errors with pricing tables dynamically synced to your product catalog. This ensures consistent, accurate pricing presented within customizable tables.

4. eSignature integration: Get built-in eSignature functionality provided by Dropbox Sign. Your customers can sign documents with ease, accelerating deal closure without the need for a separate Dropbox account.

5. Complete quote visibility: Maintain a full audit trail of every quote's history–creation, revisions, customer views, signatures, and acceptance.