Is it possible to cut quote times by 90%?

Yes, dear reader, it is. We saw a case study recently about a technology services company that reduced sales quote creation times by over 90% by adding a leading CPQ to their CRM. We won’t go into too much detail as the CRM in question was not Dynamics, but… imagine if it were…

Don’t get us wrong: there is so much Dynamics 365 Sales does better than any other CRM: nurture campaigns, forecasting, account management. But when it comes to creating effective, winning sales proposals, well, that’s not entirely in its wheelhouse. Nor is it in any CRM’s wheelhouse.

Not there’s anything wrong with that! Quickly creating killer sales proposals is a specialized task that requires a specialized application: quoting software, otherwise known as configure, price, quote (CPQ). And here’s what to look for when you’re looking to integrate CPQ and Dynamics.

SSO

Keep the kids in the playground, as it were. You want your users to access their sales quote making tool as if it were just another feature in Dynamics, which means single sign-on is a must. Not only does this make it more likely that reps will use their CPQ extension, but it also makes it easier for sales managers to monitor reps’ use of it, too, and to collect more actionable data from this oh-so-critical step in the closing process.

Support: the free-er the better!

Don’t let the notion of a lengthy or complicated implementation stop you from adding sales proposal software to your Dynamics system… because that’s all it is, in most cases, a NOTION.

The best CPQ providers out there don’t just hold your hand during implementation: they go all the way, ensuring seamless integration of the two solutions, building and uploading product and pricing configurations, and training your team. And (again, only the best CPQ providers) at no additional cost.

Value, which is more than a number

Value does not mean “cheap.” It means… well, value. The overall, measurable benefit derived from using a business application.

As we stated in our headline, a 90% reduction in the amount of time it takes to create and send a sales proposal is an immediate value (the time saved) but can also be an immeasurable one. Why? Because now that you’re getting proposals out more quickly, you’re getting those proposals into the hands of prospects more quickly, and likely to close more deals more quickly (if that whole thing about the early bird is true).

That said… value is still a dollar figure, too. There’s no reason a CPQ provider should be charging hundreds of dollars a seat or six-figure implementation fees. You can do better than that.

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