Top 7 Reasons to choose CPQ for Dynamics 365 for Sales

 

Dynamics 365 Sales is a world-renowned CRM platform from Microsoft, giving sales teams in the same office – or distributed across the globe – the tools they need to connect with customers and to be more effective at driving revenue. On the other hand, when it’s time to draft a proposal or to respond to a customer’s request for a quote, you’ll get very little assistance from the standard Dynamics implementation. 

(What is CPQ? Learn more.) 

With CPQ, complex pricing is made easy. Once configured, the system assists you to create an accurate quote quickly, providing a superior customer experience and moving your customer to act in that crucial moment when buyer interest is at its peak. With in-depth reporting on every quote, you’ll easily see your next best action to encourage your customers toward a purchase. 

Maybe you’ve noticed your sales team spending hours every week creating sales quotes and proposals. Sure, it’s necessary business. But wouldn’t it be better if they had more time to find new customers? CPQ frees them of the more tedious administrative tasks and empowers them to generate more revenue. 

CPQ is one of the most important supporting technologies for CRM. With so many options, how can you find a CPQ solution for Microsoft Dynamics that your team will enjoy using, and that will maximize their productivity? 

See how the CPQ solutions you may be considering stack up against these 7 criteria for success: 

1. CPQ in a Native Microsoft Dynamics User Experience 

The year 2018 saw many refinements in the user interface and functionality of Dynamics 365, including improvements to forms and dashboards, and enhancements to the visual hierarchy. Does your preferred CPQ solution blend into the Dynamics interface, making it easy and natural for users to determine pricing and create quotes and proposals as if it were part of the standard offering, with a single sign-on? Doing so allows sales reps to avoid app-switching and get everything done in one place – motivating them to make full use of the tool. 

2. Easy to Use Configure Quote Price System 

These days, your sales staff is juggling more responsibilities than ever. Staying well-informed of the company’s product offerings and pricing structure, sales methods, and policies is a challenge. Learning to use new software and communicating well with clients are also difficult, especially while endeavoring to share the right content at the right time with your customers in order to drive a sale. A CPQ can guide your representatives through a sales playbook. 

A CPQ that features sales playbooks and pre-configured rules for pricing will not only help you hit the ground running quickly but will also help users to feel more comfortable with the system overall. New members of your organization can rapidly get up to speed and close deals more effectively. 

3. Robust, Yet Agile Software 

A good CPQ will enhance productivity. It helps to streamline your sales process without being a rigid system; it can be customized for the way your organization does business. It is agile – meaning that it allows you to quickly adapt to changes. In your search, look for a CPQ that lets you quickly and easily customize your product catalog, configuration rules, pricing, and discounts. Branded templates allow for quick and easy document generation, but be sure the ability to create custom documents is included as well. 

4. Microsoft Dynamics 365 and CPQ That is Easy to Implement and Administer 

 

A long, complicated implementation can slow you down, drive costs up, and delay your return on investment. A CPQ with a straightforward setup, configurable without custom code, and seamlessly integrated with Microsoft Dynamics 365 will help you get down to business with minimal frustration. 

But it’s not just about the initial implementation. Your business, your customers, and your products are constantly evolving – and you need a CPQ system that allows you to adapt to changing circumstances. It should be a snap to update pricing, configure new discounting rules, and add new products. The CPQ vendor should offer ongoing support – making you their top priority – providing assistance with any issues that arise and is ready to help should you need any customizations in the future. 

5. CPQ That is Scalable for Growth 

A CPQ solution may meet your current needs – but will it grow with you? One key aspect of the growth equation is vendor support. They’ll provide frequent quality and feature updates, along with enhanced functionality, giving you a secure path for growth and adopting new technologies and best practices. A vendor focused on CPQ will be able to help you with any challenges you face along the way – a partner for sustained business growth. 

6. A Microsoft Dynamics 365 CPQ Add-on That Supports Complex Pricing Models 

If you’re in the services, finance, manufacturing, or telecommunications industries – just as examples – then you know how complex a price quote can be. There are so many variables involved in pricing products and services. On top of that, more involved billing processes, such as subscriptions, leases, add-ons, and bundled pricing can come into play. Since these features are lacking in Dynamics, having built-in functionality to automate these processes is critical in your choice of CPQ to ensure a streamlined and accurate quote-to-contract process. 

7. Dynamics 365 Provided Analytics and Intelligence in a CPQ Add-on 

Being able to visualize and track the buyer’s journey through the sales process can give you valuable insight which can be used to improve your pipeline, policies, and pricing to attract more customers. Learn how clients respond to your proposals. See what communication is the most effective. See how pricing and discounts affect your close rate. This kind of data empowers you to take action so that as a team, you can be more successful.  

CPQ Fulfills Microsoft’s Sales Vision 

This quote from Alysa Taylor, Corporate Vice President, Business Applications and Industry, Microsoft resonates with us at DealHub.io and our mission to offer a new breed of CPQ to our customers. 

We designed Dealhub to break down the barriers between sales and marketing, customer and sales rep, manager and sales team. Not only is our CPQ seamlessly integrated with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales, but even our vision for everything a CPQ can and should be for today’s businesses aligns with Microsoft’s platform. At Dealhub.io, we believe in bringing a new approach to CPQ to Microsoft Dynamics users – software that is easy to use and helps users to delight their customers. A notable feature of our CPQ experience is the personalized Deal Room, where every price quote can land, along with all other sales collateral, giving the buyer simple, centralized access to everything they need to sign the contract. 

Learn more about DealHub CPQ integration with Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Sales and how to streamline quoting and accelerate your sales process in this video: 

 

By Dealhub | Dealhub.io 

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