Okay, so you know that CPQ software can improve your team by making each seller more productive, faster, and better equipped to do their job. But do all CPQ systems do an excellent job of providing these advantages?
Not even close. It would help if you were picky about your CPQ as the sales manager. You shouldn’t just pick the first new CPQ software that comes highly recommended or that lands on your desk. Instead, it would help if you did some study first.
How to Choose the Best CPQ Software
When picking the right CPQ option, here are 15 things you shouldn’t forget.
1. Does it make sense, money-wise?
It looks like a simple question: Are you picking cheap CPQ software? Some solutions charge you every month, and solutions that charge you a one-time fee. Do you pay for extra features or “bloatware” you won’t use or need? Determine which fits your business and long-term goals best, then choose.
2. No Costs You Didn’t Expect
While discussing pricing models, look into the CPQ options you’re considering and try to find any fees that might come up, like when you start to grow. You don’t want to take a cheap option today only to pay more later.
3. It’s easy to talk to your team
CPQ software is meant to make complicated pricing faster, easier, smarter, and easier to track. A sound CPQ system has guided selling built-in to make the process easier and help everyone on the team work together better. You know, to keep looking if a potential CPQ doesn’t make it easy to talk to them so they can help your team in the field.
4. Easy to Use
Try to find CPQ software that is easy to use. That means getting around doesn’t require a lot of thought. It also makes making things like quotes, contracts, and other sales papers easy.
Adoption will slow down if you make the wrong choice. To get everyone on the team to use the software, you need an agile CPQ tool that is easy to use in the field.
5. Makes the sales process better without slowing it down
Studies show that the best CPQ software can help your sales team make more sales, get paid quickly, and get more repeats. But only if they know how to use it right.
Along with the training they need, your answer should give each team member the help they need to do well in the field.
If the CPQ makes the team less effective by keeping people from using their skills or slowing them down with a lot of paperwork, that is a big sign that you made the wrong choice.
Please do not wait until it’s too late. Take your team members to the demos and tutorials that CPQ providers offer, and pay attention to what they say.
6. Makes the sales process mostly automatic
When people talk about the best CPQ tools for your team, they will use the words “easy” and “quick” a lot. If, after putting CPQ into place, your salespeople still have to work too hard to come up with quotes, solutions that meet the customer’s needs, and discounts that are best for the customer, then that is not an agile option.
Your team should be able to make the sales materials they need quickly and easily. Customers will trust your CPQ software more if it can do things like that, leading to long-term loyalty extensions.
7. Meets Your Needs
Opt for a CPQ system that doesn’t have extra features that your team doesn’t need. Write down all the skills your team needs and think about what they might be missing that would help them get better. So, pick the best CPQ program to help your team the most.
Read this article to learn how to choose the best CPQ for your business.
8. Can be changed entirely
Your answer may have parts and features that work immediately, but can you change the CPQ to make it work perfectly for your team? It would help if you thought about this, especially as you grow.
You don’t want to be pushed from one CPQ solution to another, which would waste all the time and work your team put into getting used to the UI.
9. Easy to grow with your business
When we talk about scaling, you should ensure that your option will be easy to use as your business grows. For the same reason, you don’t want to switch to a better and newer CPQ option when your business grows too big for the old one.
10. Isn’t Always Bigger Better?
It can be time-consuming to compare and contrast different methods with the above points. As a busy sales manager, you might want to take a chance and pick the most famous CPQ solution for your needs.
Unfortunately, fame is not an excellent way to make decisions. It’s not always true that what’s most popular is also the best or most useful. Do your research before choosing so you don’t have to change your mind later.
11. It works well with other software
Finding the right CPQ software will work well with any other software you use, like CRM. That is important because having your team use different programs that don’t work together would be pointless and take time.
Such a setup would lead to confusion, different knowledge, and low adoption rates.
12. Analytics Are Included
Every team member should be able to see what’s working and what’s not with the help of regular data reports from the CPQ option you choose. It helps salespeople do their jobs better and guides them in their sales. A lot of our customers love the analytics feature of our CPQ software. So make sure there are regular reports.
13. You can get help
Does the app have a helpline you can call if needed? A way to send an email? Or, even better, will you be given a personal account representative?
It’s not a good idea to pick CPQ software that isn’t maintained. When you need help, you should always be able to ask for it.
14. Always Up-to-Date
A help system is essential, but you’ll also want to know that your CPQ solution is being updated often. In just a few months, even the best technology is outdated. The best CPQ tools today might not work at all tomorrow.
15. A Group of People Working Together
Can you access a message board or site where teams from all over the country (or even the world) can share their thoughts, questions, and experiences?
When your team shares insights across platforms, it helps them improve using the software. You might learn about things you didn’t know before, and each new thread will help your team the most.
There are lots of different kinds of CPQ options. There are many things to consider when picking the right CPQ software for your business. Think about the things we’ve talked about above, make an intelligent choice, and watch your team become world-class very quickly.
