Determining the price for a single product is relatively easy – but coming up with a price for a combination of products and services within a quote is complex. There is software to help manage that precise problem. But what if HubSpot could help sales teams generate quotes promptly and sent them off with defined rules and conditions being followed?
The need for companies is to generate quotes without any errors creeping in. It may not be intentional but sales teams could be eager to win certain businesses and quote a discount that cannot be accommodated by the company. That leads to difficult situations.
Configure, price, quote (CPQ) software has to be used to manage just the quotes – and that, in turn has to be integrated with the rest of the systems within the company. HubSpot allows the creation of quotes that can be customised according to rules specified by the company. It gives sales teams’ flexibility and limits latitude to apply personal preferences.
Pricing could depend on the quantity customers specify, or could be tier-based, bundle-based or even seasonal, depending on the company’s product profile. No matter how complex the requirements, the end result after developing a workflow leads to better adoption by sales people when they can generate quotes independently as well and drives higher customer appreciation for a quick response.
Blueoshan has built depth in implementing CPQ requirements
The speed with which companies respond when quotations are requested plays a role in decision-making, even if it is not apparent
There are two sides to this – from the company’s point of view, the product portfolio should be configured in such a way as to make the application of discounts or product tiers in the generated quote visible to management and not deviate from the prescribed norms. The ability to modify to change percentages or price points at short notice is also required.
From the sales point of view, it should be easy to generate quotes with a minimal amount of work and send it off to prospects.
Since HubSpot already has the elements in place working out the details lead to faster turnarounds. Blueoshan has gone further by implementing complex CPQ templates for a company. Each product had a large number of SKUs, and complex computational requirements and logic to be applied. The quotes are generated at the backend and flow into the quote template keeping all brand identity requirements in place.
No additional software for CPQ is required. Everything is managed within HubSpot. Tracking the number of quotes generated and then finding out how many of them converted is the next step. It follows that since the workflow and automation is managed within HubSpot, keeping track of conversions is simple.
There’s a lot to be said for keeping everything within an integrated system.
HubSpot’s Sales Hub is the easiest to use for CPQ
That review comes from G2, which lists all the software options a company could be considering. There’s a direct consequence of ‘easy to use’. It gets adopted quickly, especially by teams already familiar with the HubSpot environment.
For inclusion in the G2, there are several conditions to be met and HubSpot has emerged as one of the top-rated contenders.
In HubSpot’s case, the CPQ functionality comes bundled with Sales Hub Professional. That makes it more attractive for companies to implement.
By computing the complexity with all the permutations and combinations a company has had to previously deal with in the background sales people can simply put in the configuration required by the customer. The system will work out the details – and geographically, if taxes have to be factored in, that can be managed as well.
What happens when customers have to provide some details?
Not all quotes can be generated with information from within the company. There are several situations where some of the information required has to come from customers. The objective is to determine how easy it is for customers to get the information.
If customers have to provide details, it’s still possible to generate instant quotes if the points of information are identified and communicated.
Sometimes, an approximation is sufficient because customers want a ballpark – one example is a quote for painting a house. The size of the house could give an approximation of the paint required. Then, apart from the cost of the paint, there is labour involved and the number of days the job will require. In this case, a formula for the number of square feet to be covered, along with data on the average time required to paint a wall can give the customer an approximation – and that is often enough to start a conversation.
Blueoshan has implemented an instant quote generator for a company in the renewable energy business. The customer provides a few details that they have access to – and instantly receive a well-formatted personalized quote on WhatsApp. The speed with which the quote is received after making an enquiry helps salespeople connect and convert prospects faster.
Earlier, it may have taken visits from company personnel to the location and enquiring with customers about the details. However, those are constraints because the sales person still has to provide the details to the billing department, after which the quote is generated and probably sent to the customer a day later.
This changes the on-ground situation and exponentially increases the number of quotes that can be sent out with practically no human intervention.
The trail of all these quotes is retained inside HubSpot and can be tracked later for conversion and responses from customers.
Get in touch with our experts at Blueoshan to drive greater efficiencies in streamlining the quotation process,
