Are you keen to adopt Salesforce CPQ (Configure-Price-Quote) software to enhance the business opportunities? There are some steps that you need to follow for a CPQ Implementation Guide. Before, going ahead with the implementation, let us throw some light on “How Beneficial is Salesforce CPQ?”.

How Beneficial is Salesforce CPQ?

Your organization needs to work smarter and efficiently to stay profitable, staying ahead of the competitors. CPQ is basically a sales tool that aids in accurate pricing in a product configuration in a product configuration scenario. Sales reps can quote prices quickly and accurately.

CPQ helps your organization when deal size, time, quote accuracy and sales processes. Moreover, when Salesforce CPQ, integrated with CRM is  available on the mobile devices and generating quotes in a lean way is possible. Salesforce CPQ leads to a faster sales process, cutting costs and differentiating your brand. 

Let us find how CPQ works with various verticals. 

Salesforce CPQ Software with Verticals 

Salesforce CPQ works well with various verticals, catering to the requirements of the specific industries, facing business challenges and with shifting demands. You can boost profit for your organization with this image-driven, easy-to-use software, providing a single view from order to the delivery. You can innovate with Salesforce CPQ. 

CPQ integrates out-of-the-box with ERP, CRM or CAD software such as Oracle, SAP, Microsoft Dynamics and others. For an ERP, CPQ increases efficiency, faster implementation and deployment and reduces cost of ownership. 

Let us try to find how to go about Salesforce CPQ Implementation.

How to Guide on Salesforce CPQ Implementation?

How to Access the Salesforce CPQ package?

Here are the two alternate ways to access the CPQ package:

• Integrate the CPQ package with Developer Login 
• Download the package and integrate with the desired user login 

Integrate the CPQ package with Developer Login 

Or 

Download the package and integrate with the desired user login

The steps of downloading the CPQ package are:

1. Create a Developer Login with the below link, if not already created, using the below link:

https://developer.salesforce.com/signup?d=70130000000td6N

1. Next, click on the below link for downloading the Salesforce package:

https://steelbrick2.force.com/apex/installPremium

You need to decide on the platform to download, Production or Sandbox, with all users given permissions and install Salesforce CPQ with required customizations. It takes 20-30 minutes to complete the installation process. 

1. However, if you need further insights on Salesforce CPQ for different industries please refer to:

https://www.cpq-configurepricequote.com/cpq-industry-focus.php

After installation of your CPQ package, you need to review the common objects and features. 

C. What are the Guidelines for Setting Up of CPQ?

Here are some of these guidelines:

• Approval Process: Define the flow in each stage of the approval process and be ready with a diagram that displays the movement of a quote from one level to another as well as the quote attributes driving the decision tree. 
• Discount Schedules: Create volume discounts based on quantity or terms of your products. When adding these products to the quote, CPQ lets a proportional discount on the net total for the quote line. 
• Quote Templates: CPQ provides these layouts for the quote documents used by the sales reps. It allows you to customize the quote details such as terms and conditions, logo, etc. It is possible to set a default template for your organization. 

Please refer to the below link for further details. 

To review the field lookup and master-details relationship in CPQ,  we need to be clear on the configuration settings. 

D. Configuration Settings for the Developer Login

Some objects and fields are default and standard to be used in the CPQ layout. Here is a link that displays the default and standard objects and fields:

https://help.salesforce.com/articleView?id=cpq_object_relationships.htm&type=5

The above objects and fields help to build the configuration, pricing and quoting of the products. 

E.  Configure CPQ Page Layout to Profile

A CPQ Page Layout must be assigned to a profile, say a System Admin profile. The System Admin assigns access to other profiles. 

The steps for configuration of an opportunity object for the Page Layout are:

Login to Salesforce- >Setup-> Locate “Profiles” in the Quick Find Search box-> Select “System Administrator”- >Edit->Page Layout->Account-> Click View Assignment->Edit Assignment->Select “CPQ Opportunity Layout”->Save. 

(Source: https://cdn.mindmajix.com/blog/images/salesforce-cpq-03_1705.png)

Next, we add users to the installed CPQ package. 

 F. How to Add Users to the Installed CPQ Package?

Here are the steps to add users to CPQ:

Login into Salesforce->Go to Setup->Search in Quick Find Search “Installed Packages”->Click on “Manage Licenses”-> Click on “Add Users”-> Select from “Available Users”-> Add.

(Source: https://cdn.mindmajix.com/blog/images/salesforce-cpq-01_1705.png) 

Let us now look into the steps of CPQ implementation. 

Steps for Salesforce CPQ Implementation 

Here are the steps for Salesforce CPQ Implementation:

• Establish Overall Goals
• Optimize the CPQ Business Process
• Prioritize CPQ features
• Initiate the System Integration and Updation 
• Change Management 

Establish Overall Goals

First. you need to find the KPIs of the sales process. This allows you to evaluate whether the right ROI is delivered or not. Some of these KPIs are:

• Less Turnaround Time for Quotation Generation
• Determine the Accuracy of Generated Quote
• Reduce Selling time
• Increase in Order Value

The most important goal is selected and new goals set for constant refinement of the workflow. 

Optimize the CPQ Business Process

Customer Experience is defined by the Sales process of a specific organization. It is important to identify and fix the challenges of the Quote-to-cash process. Before starting the CPQ implementation process, the user need to:

• Concentrate on the CPQ workflow. 
• Define, optimize and document the most effective quote generation and approval process. 
• Know the details of the portfolio of products – Number of SKUs, discounts, terms and pricing and value-added service. 
• Understand customer behaviour, set pricing rules and product bundle configurations, in consultation with the sales team and the Subject Matter Expert (SME). 

Prioritize CPQ features

Identify the sales goals into various categories such as most critical, critical, not critical. You need to select the out-of-the-box features that meet your business requirements. An example to cite is when your organization needs to accelerate the approval process, the implementation of the Advanced Approval feature is highly recommended. And this is for policy alignment with automated approval chains, spanning across functions.  

Initiate the System Integration and Updation 

Salesforce CPQ runs on data taken from disparate sources and also considers physical documents of different formats. You need to consider the following:

• Identify the nature of the data and the source. 
• Check the data for accuracy and quality and clean up the data before the implementation starts. 
• Maintain the data in real-time and with transparency. 
• Locate the owners of master data for error-free data. 

One more must-have consideration is testing the CPQ in a Sandbox environment and removing the bugs before you go live on CPQ. 

Change Management

A well-planned change management process is required as there may be resistance to changes in the workflow to accommodate the CPQ tool. Consider the following:

• Create a change management team with members from various functions and alignment with the top management by showcasing how CPQ affects the bottom line of your organization.
• The Change Management must cater to the needs of users of other functions consisting of members not just from the sales team but IT, finance, engineering and product management. 
• Use training to educate reluctant users on CPQ.
• Make it mandatory of the stakeholders to incorporate CPQ in their quote-to-cash workflow. 

Summary 

AnavClouds is a certified Salesforce Partner and offers services on custom development, implementation and support of various Salesforce products. Hire a CPQ Implementation consultant from AnavClouds today, to provide you with valuable insights on Salesforce CPQ implementation and bring about an acceleration in your sales process, with faster and accurate quotes.