SCPQ stands for Select, Configure, Price, and Quote, and it’s a type of software that helps sales teams streamline their entire query-to-quote process. The platform combines both Selector tools and CPQ capabilities for even greater efficiency than the two standalone platforms offer.
Selector features allow manufacturers to upload their entire catalog and automatically match customers to the products that meet their needs. From there, customers can use the Configurator to customize their products, with pre-set rules acting as guardrails to prevent them from choosing options that are out of scope for the manufacturer. Prices then update automatically to produce a quote in record time.
With so many touch points throughout the sales process, it’s incredibly vulnerable to human error. Any change to a configuration may require oversight from engineers to ensure it’s viable and within scope — as well as confirmation it will help customers achieve their desired result. Every change to a product will also alter the price and production schedule.
Manually producing quotes for complex and configurable fluid handling equipment isn’t just a time-consuming process — it’s also easy to make mistakes. Here’s how SCPQ software removes human error from the equation:
Matching a customers’ conditions of service to the appropriate fluid handling equipment can involve cross-referencing dozens, and sometimes hundreds, of different variables. SCPQ software automatically processes all of the data about a customers’ needs and generates a reliable list of compatible products for further evaluation.
When configuring products manually, sales has to confirm each change with engineers to ensure a specific build is viable. With so much back and forth, it’s easy for details to get lost in translation or misunderstood. SCPQ software eliminates a lot of these vulnerabilities by automating the configuration process. The system automatically flags changes to configurations that violate pre-set rules, so nothing is ever approved for production that can’t be built.
Every new configuration alters the final purchase price. Traditionally, salespeople have to calculate the impact of each configuration by hand. SCPQ uses the same rules-based configuration capabilities to automatically calculate pricing based on changes to the parts, components, and materials in a new product build, removing the chance for human error.
