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There are two ways for manufacturers to increase sales:
1. Expand production output and sales teams to handle a higher volume of customers
2. Optimize processes to speed up time to quote, so you can close deals in less time
The latter is called sales acceleration — a strategy of leveraging digital tools, data, and other resources to streamline the sales process. Implementing sales acceleration frees up bandwidth so you can convert more leads without investing more resources.
With inflation, supply chain disruption, and an ongoing labor shortage creating a competitive environment for manufacturers, efforts to control costs and operate more efficiently are vital. Sales acceleration is a proven way to close deals fast and effectively, so you can generate more revenue.
Create a detailed map of your sales funnel and customer journey, and analyze overall performance. Clearly denote each phase, the tasks performed during each, and what each lead experiences.
KPIs like cycle time, response time, and customer churn will tell you almost everything about your sales process you need to know. Look for any stages of the sales process where a high number of leads regularly drop off, or take significantly longer than others to move toward a sale. For example, manufacturers often have an unusually high cycle time during the configuration and pricing portion of an order. Both of these issues indicate a problem with your current processes, and the entire organization needs to work collectively to address it.
PLM software helps manufacturers manage all of the data associated with every product, including materials used, manufacturing processes, initial designs and CAD drawings, marketing materials, and even sales performance after going to market. Since every team is able to digitize their product data and store it in a central database, it’s easier for sales to communicate and collaborate with other departments, speeding up the overall sales process.
CPQ software is designed to streamline and elevate the sales process for custom products. Cloud-based CPQs replace manual configurators with a self-serve web portal customers can use to assemble their own orders.
Sales acceleration requires a lot of analysis and operational change, but often, this can be as simple as implementing a CPQ solution. Whether you need to create a more engaging experience during the configuration process, or just generate a quote faster than your competitors, CPQ can help you improve the metrics that matter most.
Revalize offers a full suite of software platforms designed to accelerate the idea-to-cash journey, from PLM to CPQ solutions like Configure One Cloud. The versatile platform streamlines quoting for specialty manufacturers operating in a wide array of industries, and even offers robust product visualization so customers can see what they’ve built before making a purchase.
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