Have you ever bought anything online? The answer is probably yes. In fact, online sales accounted for 14.4 percent of the United States retail marketplace in 2020 alone. With online giants like Amazon revolutionizing how we think about shopping for everything from toilet paper to shoes, and the COVID-19 pandemic keeping people from shopping in malls and local shops, it’s not surprising that eCommerce is on the rise.
If you’re one of millions of people the world over who have ever bought a phone case or a taco online, you’ve probably customized that product, too. If you’ve ever asked to hold the guacamole on a taco or add extra sparkle to your phone case, you’ve used CPQ software without even knowing it. Crazy, right? CPQ is an acronym that stands for configure, price, quote, and CPQ software is used widely across the eCommerce landscape to allow customers to customize products with ease. Let’s dive into the details of CPQ tools and how they provide solutions in the digital age.
Customize a product, and get a price quote in real time.
For customers, CPQ tools are priceless. The whole sales process is streamlined, and the customer gets full visibility throughout the process. Adding an extra feature to a product? Maybe that’s an extra five dollars. Or, maybe when you buy two of the same product, there’s a 10 percent discount. If you’ve ever watched a server at a restaurant keep track of multiple changes to a standard dishes, you know how much brainpower it takes not to make any mistakes when customizing products.
With CPQ software, the sales team can customize products and provide customers with a shifting price quote in real time. It’s all right there on the dashboard, which means less room for human error. This is absolutely the best practice, and it will ensure far more customer satisfaction.
Empower the sales team to manage discounts and profits.
For the sales team who are working hard to maintain customer approval, CPQ tools are incredibly helpful. Sure, sales reps use CPQ software for complex configuration that would be hard to otherwise manage, but that’s not all. When you pair CPQ software with asset tracking tools, it takes your sales process to the next level.
Vendors never need to tell a customer they’re not sure whether they have a specific product. An asset tracking tool lets any sales rep see what’s in the warehouse on their mobile device or on the dashboard on their laptop. Talk about powerful configuration tools—by scanning a barcode or a QR code, a sales rep can provide an accurate price and keep the supply chain flowing. Plus, with the added visualization this software boasts, it’s way better than a spreadsheet.
Give customer service agents access to easier CRM insights.
Even with the best asset tracking and CPQ software, human errors still happen. Salespeople are people, after all, and human error is why businesses have customer service reps. CPQ tools and asset tracking software helps here, too, though. When a customer service rep has these tools at their disposal, they can pull up the specific configuration a customer ordered in the database and see what the sales staff was working on. With these CRM insights, it’s easier to meet customer needs and to help salespeople not to make the same mistakes again.
Whether you’re a customer or a business owner, it’s important to understand the impact that CPQ tools have on business processes and sales processes. There’s a reason that the use of CPQ and asset tracking software solutions are so widespread amongst diverse businesses these days. With these available options, any business owner would be foolish to ignore the tools these solutions have to offer.