How sales managers can switch to digital prices work It’s more complicated than ever to make sales, so changing how you price goods and services is essential to the success of your business. There are many problems and challenges you still have to deal with if you’re stuck in the past and haven’t adopted and used CPQ (Configure Price Quote) software.
How can you lead your team through a digital price change so that they love the new system? We’ll talk about the problems Sales Executives have setting prices for complicated goods and services, with a focus on Microsoft Dynamics users. Then, we’ll list the top 10 things every Sales Executive should know before using CPQ to set prices digitally.
Problems with pricing in Microsoft Dynamics CRM
For sales teams, Microsoft Dynamics CRM is a great tool. It can help businesses keep track of their customer lists, interact with customers, find new business opportunities, and more. It’s also one of the easiest CRMs, which is why many marketing and sales teams like it.
However, making complicated quotes with Microsoft Dynamics CRM without the Configure, Price, Quote (CPQ) add-on is hard. CPQ software is made to handle the complicated tasks of setting up products, finding correct prices, and making quotes. Companies that use Microsoft Dynamics CRM might run into the following problems if they don’t have CPQ software to help them:
Errors in manual setup. If you only use a CRM, you’re more likely to make mistakes when setting up complicated goods by hand. It can be challenging for sales teams to determine the best mix of features, options, and specs, leading to wrong configurations.
Prices that don’t match up. Keeping prices the same for all your goods and services without automated tools can be challenging. If you do the price by hand, mistakes may cause you to lose money or make customers unhappy.
Getting quotes takes a lot of time. It can take a lot of time to make quotes for complicated goods. The sales cycle may be slowed because sales teams have to spend a lot of time getting product information, figuring out prices, and making personalized quotes.
There are not many chances for cross-selling and upselling. It’s harder to find cross-selling and upselling possibilities without automated tools that look at customer preferences, historical data, and product configurations.
I am having trouble keeping track of sales and deals. It’s easy to make mistakes when you manage discounts, promotions, and pricing tactics by hand. Teams can’t be sure price strategies are being used correctly and consistently if they can’t automate and follow predefined rules.
Complex upkeep for a product list. It might get hard to keep up with a complicated product list in Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Without technology, it can be hard to keep track of product changes, updates, and cancellations.
Not enough real-time price changes. The prices of goods and services can change a lot because of the market, the costs of suppliers, or sales. Without real-time updates, sales teams might offer outdated prices, which could cause them to lose money or give the wrong prices.
Limited ability to grow. Managing prices for many goods by hand gets more challenging and takes longer as the number of products and services grows.
There is a chance that the plan will be wrong. When proposals and quotes are made by hand, mistakes with product configurations, prices, and terms and conditions are more likely to happen. Customers may not be happy with this, which can hurt the company’s business image.
Problems with integration. If you don’t have CPQ software, connecting Microsoft Dynamics CRM to other systems like ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) or payment systems might be more challenging. For accurate order fulfillment and banking operations, seamless integration is a must.
Even though Microsoft Dynamics CRM has robust customer relationship management features, using a CPQ system can make pricing complicated goods and services much faster and more accurate.
CPQ will help you figure out how much to charge.
If your business has trouble with complicated prices, CPQ could help your sales team. CPQ software ensures that products are configured correctly by leading users through an organized process. Customers and sales teams can use it to pick the best features, choices, and specs, which lowers the chance of mistakes in complicated product setups. With CPQ’s dynamic pricing, teams can ensure that prices are correct by considering many things, like product features, customer segmentation, volume discounts, and market conditions. The tool also makes sure that all sales outlets are consistent.
CPQ has a lot more to give, though! When CPQ is integrated, it lets you:
- real-time changes to prices
- automatic discounting based on rules that have already been set
- Finding cross-selling and up-selling chances
- better proposal accuracy
- faster generation of quotes
CPQ supports different pricing models, like competitive pricing, cost-plus pricing, and more, so businesses can choose the pricing strategy that works best for them. Centralizing data and communication, CPQ makes it easier for teams to work together.
The best part is that CPQ is scalable, which means it can grow with your business. As your company grows, it can grow with you and handle the added complexity.
Now that we’ve gotten your attention on CPQ, we won’t leave you wondering how to use it to change how you price things. Keep reading to learn the best ways to use CPQ to change your prices digitally.
Do these five things before you start using a CPQ for Microsoft Dynamics CRM to change your prices online:
We’ve made these typical mistakes while working with top Sales Executives for years, so you can learn from them and avoid making the same ones. As you move to digital prices, follow these five important “do’s” to speed up the sales process, eliminate mistakes, and improve the experience for both the seller and the buyer.
1. Do make complicated sales processes automatic
It’s easy for sales reps to get frustrated with complicated sales processes, which wastes time and could cost the company deals. For instance, it might be hard for reps to quote accurately, primarily if they work with various SKUs for the same product. This can cause them to lose sales. The process of making quotes can be time-consuming and inaccurate. To make sure sellers have a smooth experience, it’s essential to simplify essential parts of the sales process, like making quotes.
2. Monitor how long it takes sales reps to make quotes.
Watching and knowing how long your sales reps take to make quotes is essential. There’s a good chance that your clients must wait longer than is fair or helpful for closing deals faster. Getting quotes and making sales quickly is significant, but speed isn’t everything. It’s also essential for your company’s credibility that the quotes are correct.
3. Ensure every customer’s price gives you the best chance to make money.
Your sales team should take advantage of every chance to make money when making customer bids. What is the best way to get this done? Make sure that your sales reps are giving people the best packages so that you can make the most money. With guided selling, you give your sales staff the best product bundles, such as upsell and cross-sell bundles, to ensure they make the most money possible.
4. Consider how the customer feels and make buying easy and quick.
When sales processes are too long and take too long to negotiate, deals can be lost, and the company’s reputation can be hurt. Research from Gartner says that giving potential buyers an extraordinary experience is the most essential thing that can affect their buying decisions. The general shopping experience is more important than the product and the price. So, it’s essential to ensure that your sales reps are quick and helpful with customers so that those customers can trust that quotes will always be done correctly and quickly.
5. Do buy CPQ software to make the sales process smoother and improve your experience with Microsoft Dynamics CRM.
CPQ software improves the experience for both the seller and the customer by streamlining the sales process, cutting administrative work, and ensuring the customer gets correct quotes quickly.CPQ software that is up-to-date and powerful can also track deal progress, measure customer involvement, and give sales process insights that can be used. In B2B sales today, where processes are often complicated and scattered, CPQ software is necessary to get the most out of Microsoft Dynamics CRM.
Top 10 Things You Should and Shouldn’t Do When Changing Prices Online with CPQ for Microsoft Dynamics CRM.
The top five things you shouldn’t do when using a CPQ for Microsoft Dynamics CRM to finish your digital pricing change.
Either sales reps are taught techniques and tips, or they assume that specific actions are okay. Sadly, many of these workers are doing the wrong things, so they’re not getting the desired results. Their mistake was that technology made this problem for them, not them. When changing your prices to digital ones, ensure your sales team doesn’t do these top five things.
1. Don’t make your sales rep do price estimates by hand.
Pricing estimates that are done by hand are risky because mistakes can happen. Sales workers can make quotes and contracts that charge the customer too little or too much. Discounts that are determined by hand also have the chance of being wrong.
With CPQ technology, you don’t have to guess when to set prices by hand. The salesperson only needs to enter the suitable product packages, and the CPQ software will determine the prices and discounts. Pricing and discounts that don’t follow the rules set by management are sent to the correct department automatically through approval workflows.
2. Don’t copy and paste information about customers from one tool to another.
As was already said, jobs that must be done by hand and allow for mistakes can cost money. It’s not helpful, takes a lot of time, and leads to mistakes in copying and pasting customer information from one tool to another (also called “chair swiveling”). When your CRM and CPQ software automatically sync, your sales reps can’t make mistakes that aren’t necessary and cost a lot of money.
3. Don’t think salespeople can act as “in-house lawyers” for you.
This also goes for changes to the Terms and Conditions during the discussion process. Sales reps shouldn’t be writing their contracts. Legal staff can set legal standards and make changes independently with CPQ software, so sales workers don’t have to make changes themselves. If changes need to be made after the price is sent, Legal can be sure that every contract sent is okay with them.
4. Don’t let approval processes hurt you; use them to help you.
Internal tasks shouldn’t slow the sales process down. For instance, approval processes shouldn’t hinder sales reps from “passing the baton.” The CPQ solution makes it easy for different teams that need to be involved in the process to do so. Also, automated approval routines eliminate the needless back-and-forth messaging and confusion that can slow the process from quote to close.
5. Don’t use tools that are hard to understand and easy to use.
Don’t use CPQ software that is hard to understand if you want your sales team to use it constantly. Remember that CPQ software should make essential parts of the sales process easier and faster, not make your sales teams mad. The answer must be up-to-date, quick to set up, and, most importantly, simple to use!
