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A boom in customizable and configurable products over the last 20 years has made manufacturing more challenging than ever before. Customers no longer want one-size-fits-all products — they want to be able to create items that fit their individual needs.
Fortunately, this demand has been met with technology solutions to help manufacturers streamline product configuration. Configure, price, quote (CPQ) software is a specialized tool that helps sales teams build out and price custom equipment without so much input from engineers, dramatically speeding up processing time. Here are five easy methods you can use to sell your configurable products and make the most of your CPQ:
Once you’ve established your web presence, you need to put it through extensive testing to ensure it will work properly for your customers. If a customer tries to use your product configuration tool and the site crashes or gives them errors, then you’ve just lost a sale (and potentially future sales). Nothing harms trust and reputation more than a challenging order process.
Your engineering and sales teams need to work together to design products with the configurator and to ensure products are priced as expected. This will also help you identify optimal touchpoints for your sales team to interact with customers. Even though customers want convenience and autonomy, support is always welcome — especially when it comes to making a large or complex purchase.
For some product configurations, an online configurator isn’t going to be able to handle all of the details and specifications online. For advanced requests that go beyond your website’s capabilities, make it easy for customers to contact your sales team for support. Customer support should also be available for those who are not comfortable with online ordering and still prefer a one-on-one conversation during the sales process.
CPQ for sales frees up an incredible amount of resources for your sales and engineering teams, but you can’t realize its full potential without opening it up directly to customers. Follow these five strategies and you can not only increase your close rate, but also draw more customers into your pipeline.
