In recent years, businesses have witnessed an influx of new customers that could either drive up sales or deter company productivity. Beyond improving the products and services that your business offers, you are now required to conduct intensive market research to understand more about new customer demands. Furthermore, as this RAIN Group report revealed, 71% of buyers expect sellers and businesses to communicate with them in the early stages of the buying process. For marketers and sellers, this statistic is alarming news, especially if your sales process involves complicated elements. In the case of some companies, complications arise when your prices are personalized and configured.

Fortunately, any time-consuming problems can be solved by employing CPQ software, which stands for configure, price, quote system. The FinancesOnline.com CPQ guide makes it clear that these systems have the potential to take advantage of the bigger market. CPQ provides a personalized experience to your customers – a factor that can promote customer loyalty and ensure company performance. Unfortunately, CPQ comes with its challenges and issues that you may have encountered and triggered you to find an appropriate software to help you with the job. By now, you'd have met several obstacles in choosing the best one for your company. To help you with your decision-making process, here are 5 tips on how to select the right CPQ software for your company:

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Know your reasons

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Like everything else that can provide ease and convenience, CPQ software solutions come with a price tag that you may or may not be able to justify. As such, before you get deep into the process, you need to know why you're looking to employ a CPQ system. For one, it could be that you and your employees' workload have become unbearable, and having CPQ software can help. For another, such a system can help you do the complex calculations that take your focus away from other and possibly more important things. Whatever your reasons are, compile them and make sure that the bottom line is for the betterment of your company.

Ensure its usability

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The second tip you might want to know when choosing the right CPQ software for your company is to evaluate it for usability. Based on your reasons, do you think that CPQ software would be the best solution for the problems you seek to address? If so, then look for the features that can ensure its usability. Constraint-based CPQ software works best when you have simple products or services. Meanwhile, rule-based CPQ is perfect for managed services and other products that can be configured according to customer needs and preferences. Furthermore, the usability of CPQ solutions is dependent on the CRM you use. So, if you're unsure if it applies to your company, talk to the vendor.

Check the information it uses and offers

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The next tip is to check the information that your potential CPQ software may need to function according to what it was designed to do correctly. Information is an asset that is necessary for keeping a company alive. Before you settle on one vendor, ask about the security measures in place to protect your information. While you're at it, you may also want to ask about the benefits of the information it can offer, mainly if the system includes features such as analytics and insight, like key performance indicators. By engaging in these processes, you can make sure that your CPQ software is not only right but also secure.

Figure out if it's flexible and scalable

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Aside from the information side of your potential CPQ software, you might also want to check if it's flexible and scalable. The best CPQ software for small businesses will consider the very real possibility that their clients' businesses will grow and expand. As such, before you subscribe to the services of one vendor, then you need to be sure that it can adjust to new price configuration rules and more customer demand. In doing so, the effort will save you from the hassle of having to change vendors when your business grows.

Evaluate the price

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While this final tip may be self-explanatory, you must remind yourself of the price. A system, whether CPQ software or not, can only be cost-effective if it is properly implemented in the company. Consider the price tag given to you by your potential vendor. And then, go back to your record books and see if the cost of your system can reduce and prevent the cost in other areas. Such areas may include overtime pay, lead losses, and failed sales efforts. Do a cost-benefit analysis.

Personalized Customer Experience

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Implementing a CPQ structure in the pricing of your products and services can provide a personalized customer experience that can pose several challenges to you and your employees. While CPQ software can help mitigate some of that, you will need to take the time to evaluate each potential system carefully. Only then can you achieve both better customer experience as well as better workforce productivity.