The first impression matters a lot. It can make or break the relationship with your users. Besides, it is a significant driver of customer retention, shaping the experience and the narrative that resonates with users.
One of the first touchpoints is quoting. It is all about selecting the right product and calculating the correct price. To achieve this, SaaS companies need a reliable solution. The Salesforce CPQ is an answer to all of their concerns.
Areas where SaaS companies need a CPQ solution
SaaS companies are widely recognized for their capacity to offer innovative solutions while emphasizing ease of use and flexibility. Here, we examine some key features that distinguish SaaS enterprises from traditional enterprises in the market.
Subscription management
SaaS companies make it easy for customers to subscribe, upgrade, or cancel services with just a few clicks. This flexibility is crucial for customer satisfaction.
Product configuration
SaaS products can be customized to meet the needs of individual customers. User-friendly service configuration tools let them customize offerings, instilling a sense of ownership and relevance.
Pricing and discounting
SaaS platforms provide flexible pricing structures, which allow businesses to offer tiered pricing, volume discounts, and tailored pricing models. This flexibility allows us to serve a wide range of customers and markets.
Multiple pricing models
SaaS companies often offer multiple pricing models, such as per-user, per-feature, or consumption-based. Customers can choose the model that meets their needs and is within their budget.
Integration
Integration with other software systems, such as CRM, ERP, or payment gateways, is a key feature of SaaS. Businesses can connect and streamline operations and data across their tech stack.
Agile and scalable
SaaS solutions are known for their agility and scalability. They allow businesses to quickly adapt to changing market conditions and seamlessly add or remove services as needed.
Analytics
SaaS companies have good tools for reporting and analyzing data. Users can get valuable information about their operations, customer behavior, and performance, which helps them make better decisions based on data.
SaaS companies have powerful and adaptable solutions for businesses of all sizes. Their user-friendly, customizable, and data-rich environments continue to drive growth and innovation across various industries.
Salesforce CPQ solution helps with closing deals
CPQ solution (Configure-Price-Quote) helps businesses to organize their quoting process. This includes:
- product selection
- price calculation
- and generating PDF quotes.
The combination of these elements adds to a complete quoting process. As a result, you enhance the customer experience by presenting a proposition to close the deal.
Product selection
There are three main ways that Salesforce CPQ facilitates product selection:
- Simple product selection. With CPQ, you get a list of active products to choose which one to take. Regular updates prevent taking an outdated product.
- Guided selling is a helpful process when you or your customer do not know what products are the best fit. With a series of questions, Salesforce CPQ leads you through a guided selling process and helps to suggest the most appropriate product.
- Bundles are typical when you sell packages because the components rely on each other. You configure a bundle by selecting a product that’s associated with other products. What is even more important is that it reminds the sales team to discuss potential up-sells or future optional purchases with the customer.
Price calculation
The pricing calculator in Salesforce CPQ makes it easy to ensure pricing is always correct, and your quotes don’t contain any accidental calculations. What elements make up the quoting?
- Cost plus markup is when you set a unit cost for a product, and then your sales team can apply a markup.
- The block price method is used when a product should have a specific price if the quantity falls in a certain range.
- Discount schedules that apply to subscription products automatically discount them based on the overall subscription terms you set for a quote.
Regardless of the pricing method chosen, it is certain that Salesforce CPQ will provide the appropriate price. An automated calculation is a great advantage, as it reduces the risk of errors to the minimum.
Generate PDF quotes for customers
One process is to calculate the prices, the other one is to present it to the customer. The Salesforce CPQ also helps in this area. The reasons to generate a PDF quote could be various:
- Customers want a brief overview and specifics about the items and services they’re considering.
- Customers want a breakdown of prices and totals.
- SaaS companies want to provide their customers with accurate information, and they aim to do so quickly and efficiently.
- SaaS companies want the customer to sign the quote electronically, which makes the sales process faster.
Depending on the customer, what information to include and how to present it can differ. In the Salesforce CPQ, these are dynamic fields that you can hide when necessary. Lastly, the PDF quote can be generated and sent to the customer with a click. That’s it.
Benefits of the Salesforce CPQ for SaaS companies
The goal of reliable CPQ software is to close the deal while improving customer service. Which means that both sides of the transaction are winners:
- SaaS company gets an effective quoting solution
- and the customers get a seamless experience.
But the benefits can be described in a more detailed way, which includes such features as:
Source: Salesforce
- Faster sales cycle – the faster you sell, the more you sell which results in increased sales numbers
- One source of truth – there is one place that gathers all information about quoting, available for all interested parties
- Improved sales performance that results from less chaos, more efficiency and increased customer service
- Better data that is a foundation for further activities and decisions
- Minimized errors because the solution forbids any quotes that are technically or economically not viable
- Customized deals as a result of creating bundles and/ or discounts
- Improves renewal rates because the process is fully automated
- Supports omnichannel selling, meaning that no matter from where the customers come, they get what they want
- Accelerates revenue, which is crucial for any innovative products and services to further develop and grow.
Enhancing customer success with Salesforce CPQ
Every step in the sales chain counts. Every move affects the purchase decision. Every customer interaction is a chance to show that you care about your customers as people.
Without this, you risk treating them as if they were just another transaction. That may give you a quick boost, but eventually, you’ll lose out on customer loyalty, forging a network of customer advocates, and regular revenue.
Salesforce CPQ is not only about making a great first impression. It is about nurturing relationships and engaging the customer to increase loyalty and success.
