Ever miss a deadline? Ever misspell someone’s name? Ever misplace a decimal point, turning a $10,000 sale into a $100.00 sale? We ALL make mistakes. (Someone who claims they don’t? Well, they made one the moment they made such a ludicrous claim.)
One of the best things about proposal software like iQuoteXpress is that it can help you keep mistakes to a minimum. We’re going to @@explore a few mistakes CPQ helps avoid or minimize@@: being “off-brand,” typos/wrong pricing, and security.
Off-brand proposals are “off,” period
Who are you? Who do you want to be? Who do your customers think you are? Your brand is about more than just a logo or a slogan. It’s how you present the value of your offer, and Values (capital “V”) of your business, and drive lasting connections with prospects and customers.
Your brand is also supported by and reflected in every message and missive that leaves your enterprise: your holiday greeting card, your product boxes or collateral, and — most importantly — your sales proposals.
“Most importantly?” you say?
“Isn’t how we represent the brand in our ads and at events and other marketing channels and activities equally important?”
Yes, it’s important, but nowhere else does the power and consistency of your brand matter more than in the sales quotes you send. Because it’s in that document where someone is making the decision to engage with (or continue engaging with) your brand.
Which means one of the best proposal software practices is ensuring the system is populated with templates that reinforce the value/values of your brand. Every template in the solution, from soup-to-nuts sales proposals to email replies, should have elements of your brand that say to the customer, “We are aligned with you.”
Wrong word? Wrong price? Wrong way.
So you’re using on-brand templates for every proposal you send: best practice.
Maybe you’ve also been proactive and hired a professional writer to draft the reusable parts of every proposal (the product descriptions, your boilerplate), etc.
Better still, you’ve preconfigured products and prices in the cloud — a key feature of sales quote solutions — making it so any and every rep has to only point and click to add the correct configurations and optimal pricing to a given proposal.
Using a CPQ solution like this should result in sales proposals that are roughly 80% templated and automated, which means fewer errors. But in that remaining 20%, there are still plenty of opportunities for mistakes. A best practice is to budget your time to ensure each proposal gets a second set of eyes. You’ll be glad you did. Because one typo has the potential to sink a deal.
Security made simple
One not-often-touted benefit the best proposal software always delivers is increased security. Think about it: in sales quotes, you’re often embedding sensitive financial information. Using a CPQ system to send your quotes delivers a level of security you simply won’t find in, for example, a fax or written quote.
It adds a level of accountability, too, as it allows for tracking sales quotes, too. You can see if it was sent/received/opened/responded to, and more. With other methods of sending proposals, well, you just don’t know.
If you'd like to learn more about this topic or see IQX for yourself with a free demo, contact us.
