Early bird gets the worm…well, not always. But it certainly helps.
In the world of quoting, it’s more likely that the early, accurate and precise bird gets the worm.
There are a lot of components and conflicts that need to be considered when presenting a quote. Firstly, it must be accurate. You don’t want to be stung down the line because you miscalculated a portion of the quote.
Ugh, that one hurts.
Secondly, you want to ensure that every quote can be handled as independently as possible of your engineers. Including them in the process erodes profits and diverts their attention away from other value tasks within your business.
It’s also not a scalable option.
Accuracy. Accuracy. Accuracy… and Speed.
Speed and accuracy are the hallmarks of establishing a trusted relationship. When there is trust and clarity, customers tend to buy…and more often.
Quoting is a very error-prone process and often results in underquoting work. And it’s generally not noticed until production has started, making it harder to raise a variation with the customer.
Empowering your sales team to provide accurate quotes is crucial. But leaving quoting solely in the sales department has traditionally presented issues, as sales teams require training to properly configure a quote that is based on technical accuracy.
You want the sales team focused on negotiating and executing scheduling, not technical fact-checking.
For a quote to be accurate, the materials need to be clearly defined, options listed with price impact and estimated delivery time provided. This requires company visibility and Enterprise Resource Planning to properly predict profits from sales as well as intertwine the entire process.
Creating a good Configure Price Quote solution
Providing your sales team with the right tools to be fast and accurate will shorten the sales cycle, increase conversion rates, improve forecasting and lead to larger deal sizes.
A good Configure Price Quote (CPQ) solution requires little sales training. By design, it is deeply integrated into your Enterprise Resources Planning (ERP), supply chain management and Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES).
By using a dynamic rules-based engine that allows sales reps to select models and define options, you can reduce training for new sales representatives. As well as avoid extra training when new products become available.
Real-world example
A product that our team at Klugo regularly configures for our clients is Verenia. It is a specialised Manufacturing & Wholesale Distribution tool used for highly complex, configurable and discrete products.
Our client was a medical equipment manufacturer that wanted to streamline the quoting process. They wanted an omnichannel approach that supported sales teams, external dealers, resellers and eCommerce channels.
They were able to integrate their NetSuite ERP and CRM into a process that seamlessly integrated with customers via a B2B portal, offered 3D CAD visualisations with their eCommerce channel and fully trained and onboarded sales staff with error detection software.
Quotes are being issued faster, products displayed in more clarity, and communication streamlined between stakeholders.
This completely changed the game for them. They were faster, more accurate and were able to visualise how ‘sexy’ their product was without the buyer seeing it.
Integrate the quoting process
If there’s one thing I can reiterate for those birds who want to capture the worm.
A good Configure Price Quote solution requires little sales training, is deeply integrated into the Enterprise Resources Planning, Supply Chain Management and Manufacturing Execution Systems.
It is crucial for the business that wants to scale.
Designing a system that enables this process is critical. But ultimately, it allows your business to win more work.
About Klugo
NetSuite + NextService
Klugo’s vision is to unlock the full operating potential of our customers to maximise the value of their business. We do this by helping our customers achieve operating excellence using NetSuite + NextService, the world-leading cloud ERP and FSM business platform for small-to-medium-sized businesses.
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