It doesn't matter what your business is about: you sell sports equipment or have a medical institution, the key point is that you do business, and some processes here are standard. Today we will talk about Salesforce CPQ (Configure, Price, Quote) - a sales tool that is an indispensable assistant for generating accurate sales quotes for the products or services you sell. "CPQ applications take into account optional features, customizations, quantities, and discounts, allowing sales reps to quote prices quickly and accurately" - Salesforce help.
To find out more about the CPQ sales tool, read our article "What is Salesforce CPQ? Super detailed overview of features and benefits".
Today we'll get acquainted with the peculiarities of such domains as manufacturing, retail, and healthcare and explain how CPQ can help them create unique price offers for customers, manage prices and orders for different types of counterparties and do it all quickly. Also, we will discuss how to set up CPQ for subscription products.
Today we answer the important question "What is Salesforce CPQ used for?" for each domain in practice.
What is Salesforce CPQ used for? CPQ for Manufacturing
It's typical for manufacturing businesses to have a pretty impressive bunch of pricing offers per each product line. The reason is a wide variety of customer and partner segments. For example, resellers from two different regions may have different pricing, as legal and border regulations have their impact on the end price. And you need to change prices due to various volumes, add discretionary discounts, and even add some special discounts to your Golden Partners in distribution. It is always a lot of effort as each variable adds manual work on price lists. Yes, you’d say Salesforce CRM has a standard working solution for that. But we bet you noticed the process is still too time-consuming.
So here comes CPQ, created to help your sales team operate with an impressive number of variables affecting the price with less time and effort. CPQ uses a multi-step pricing process to derive a net price from a list price. With CPQ price waterfall, you have a list price, but using various CPQ instruments, you can increase or decrease the cost on multiple tiers of discounts and control the order of discounts. In this way, you stay flexible, work with customers on favorable terms, and don't miss any detail of your quotes. Moreover, it enables your teams to work with hundreds of clients and still deliver a personal approach. And this is precisely an integral part of a fruitful relationship with customers.
What is Salesforce CPQ used for? CPQ for Retail
According to Deloitte, at the beginning of 2023, only one-third of retail executives were confident about maintaining or improving profit margins. Almost all retail executives expect inflation to pressure their profit margins. In retail, goods move fast, and so do customers' desires. Therefore to win the competition at scale, retailers consider pricing tools an efficient tactical tool.
For example, a proper and in-time accent on a relevant product with an alluring discount is an effective way to sell stock and get invested money back into a turnover. Discounts and special prices on product bundles are widely used for demand stimulation, upsell, market share growth, and even go-to-markets!
So, operating with prices wisely is a necessity for ambitious retailers, and CPQ pricing tools and discounting tools are worth attention. They are perfect for upselling, saving time for sales reps and making more profitable deals.
Let's have a look at an example of seasonal sales. If you work in retail, you know a lot about seasoning pricing. And you might also know how many appeals your customer support process is due to the mistakes in pricing, how much time it takes to make a new season list price, and not to sell with a loss. In CPQ, you may set up your custom fields and then price rules, which might change the price depending on the month, day, or even time (11:11 am, 11 Nov, for example). Plus, upsell adding to the product bundle retailing support services like delivery services, advisory services, and stylist services, and our congratulation, you are top in your field.
What is Salesforce CPQ used for? CPQ for Healthcare
A product bundle in Salesforce CPQ is a product with optional features or components that you want to include on a single quote line. For example, imagine you are a hospital or lab owner, and a lot of people come to you for Covid-19 PCR tests. And you know that to reduce the self-isolation period whilst meeting the mandatory British Government requirements, your clients will need not only that one test. So, you offer a lab tests bundle that consists of one Day 2 PCR Test, 1 Test To Release, and one Day 8 PCR Test. In this way, you satisfy the need of a great number of your patients with your service, offer a lower price for the package\ bundle, and of course, earn more.
Tell us about your clinic's services, and Sparkybit will customize Salesforce CPQ exactly for your needs.
What is Salesforce CPQ used for? CPQ for Health Insurance
There are so many factors that influence health insurance sales and so many variables that influence rating. That's why CPQ fits perfectly here. The point is: we need to satisfy the needs of all groups you work with. Create custom fields to collect data about the age of an insured person, about chronic diseases, etc. An account executive can select different plan options to include within a quote, select add-ons for dental services or add Covid-19 insurance. Choose options for both government and commercial plans. And using Salesforce CPQ advanced approval, send your results on approval to superior management before sending to brokers. Approval options also allow the account executive and an underwriter to collaborate on the plans involved to determine the correct rate for each.
And last but not least: CPQ could be set up for managers to see all expiring contracts and kick off the renewal process with one click.
What is Salesforce CPQ used for? CPQ for SaaS products
The subscription-based services are becoming more and more common among the business. We buy (or sell) subscriptions both for some solutions for our job, like video editors, or some entertainment products, like streaming platforms. A subscription service has a recurring billing element in its pricing structure. These recurring billings can be as frequent as monthly, bi-annual, or quarterly. Within the CPQ settings, you can determine whether you are going to select months or days for the subscription term. Within a CPQ setting, you can also select the subscription type. For instance, it can be One-Time Products (won't carry over on a renewal opportunity or quote); Evergreen Products (never expire and remain active until canceled); Renewable (the services can be renewed periodically, can include a bundle of products or has tier-level subscriptions).
Salesforce CPQ is more than just a sales solution. It is a solution for your organization to streamline bulky quoting and pricing processes into smoother operations and more profitable sales deals. Salesforce CPQ will help you manage the sales process in whatever industry you work in.
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