How Salesforce CPQ Can Drive Sales In Manufacturing

There is no denying the fact that margins are everything when it comes to the manufacturing sector. Most manufacturers operate on such tight margins that even small price list changes lead to an enormous impact on the bottom line.

So the question here arises is what could happen if a sales representative inadvertently uses an old price list and the cost of iron has gone up a quarter since that price list was last updated? As a result, a million-dollar order could easily go from a profitable advantage to a huge loss. The worst part is that situations like these happen too frequently with manufacturing enterprises across the world. 

And now comes the good part – this is preventable and the solution lies in a Configure, Price, and Quote (CPQ) software.

Common Challenges In Manufacturing Due To Sales And ERP Disconnection

A big number of manufacturing enterprises face many common challenges that have the potential of limiting sales potential and creating situations like the ones we discussed above. Frankly, all of these challenges have their origin in a disconnection between the Enterprise resource planning (ERP) system and the sales team.

Every manufacturing enterprise has an ERP system and its importance cannot be negated anytime. However, ERP systems are known to create challenges for the sales teams at times as they are not primarily sales tools. 

Typically, ERP systems are slow and complicated when it comes to making instant changes. All in all, they are not optimized for a wide range of sales processes such as pipeline and lead management. Due to this, sales reps often end up using a plethora of systems or spreadsheets cobbled together before they can come up with a quote or manage deals.

When incidents like these happen, sales processes go for a toss and start performing outside the ERP although critical information such as valid configurations, costs, margins, and price lists “live” inside the ERP. Over a while, this disconnect between the ERP and the sales team leads to challenges such as:

• A higher likelihood for mistakes caused by double entries for sales quotes.
• Sales reps pricing and sell products that don’t reflect the products that can be delivered.
• Loss of money because of inaccurate price lists used by sales reps to develop quotes.
• Individual sales reps going on the extent of using their own methods to deliver quotes that can then lead to inconsistencies.

How Salesforce CPQ Resolves The ERP Disconnect To Increase Sales In Manufacturing?

Manufacturing enterprises can resolve the complicated ERP-sales disconnect by introducing a Salesforce CPQ program. By doing this, they can easily and effortlessly formalize the otherwise complicated process of configuring, pricing, and quoting products. Quintessentially, the Salesforce CPQ should act as the perfect bridge between your sales processes and your ERP system.

With a seamless Salesforce CPQ and ERP integration serving your enterprise, your product master list can continue to not only survive but prosper in the ERP. Furthermore, this integration helps you make all of the critical data (pricing, available products, etc.) readily accessible to your sales team through the Configure, Price, and Quote (CPQ) program.

This setup (when complemented with the right integration) ensures that all sales representatives (with the right CPQ for Salesforce) have the most up-to-date pricing and product information when it comes to eliminating the concern of quote generation based on inaccurate data. 

In addition to this, the integration between ERP and sales helps in introducing an automated and standard approval process for creating an auditable and documented process. The list of advantages associated with ERP-sales integration facilitated by Salesforce CPQ does not end here. It also helps in automating document input once customers sign the quote. This, in turn, eliminates the risk of human miscommunications or errors. These advantages of CPQ for Salesforce are truly advantageous for every enterprise, irrespective of its size or line of operations.

Beyond these initial uses, Salesforce CPQ implementation programs are also used by manufacturing enterprises to manage cost-plus markup pricing. The fact that a big majority of sales systems only do pricing, the Salesforce CPQ program integration helps in handling the appropriate markup to ensure that accurate pricing in terms of quotes is offered by sales reps.

6 Signs That Shows Your Manufacturing Company Needs Salesforce CPQ Implementation

1. Business growth is improving at a faster pace than your operation ability.
2. Your sales representatives send inaccurate quotes to the prospects.
3. The customer expectations are outpacing your capabilities for delivering proposals.
4. The proposal process constrains the revenue potential of your manufacturing business.
5. You are discovering breakdowns between the proposal and the fulfillment of the order.
6. The company is unable to perform to upsell or cross-sell properly.

Conclusion

Introducing the Configure, Price, and Quote (CPQ) solutions can help you drive sales in manufacturing by resolving the disconnection between ERP data and sales processes.

Want to discover how introducing Salesforce CPQ implementation makes a positive impact on your business? Contact Cloud Analogy to find out how its Salesforce CPQ implementation services are transforming success-driven enterprises across the world. Choose the global partner of the world when it comes to CPQ for Salesforce – choose Cloud Analogy.