On the surface, creating a product catalog in a CPQ solution sounds so simple: you just… well… create it. How hard can it be?
The truth is that in many CPQ solutions out there, getting your products into the solution–the way you WANT them in the solution–can be a complex undertaking. E.g., if you’re using Salesforce, there are actual online classes to take that show you how.
Most of us don’t have time for a 15 minute YouTube video let alone a series of tutorials. Which is why even after a business makes an investment in a CPQ solution, the product catalog therein may be lagging, and reps may still be building quotes using spreadsheets because they don’t see what they want–what they’re used to–in the new system.
So how do you do it? How do you take a spreadsheet of hundreds or even thousands of SKUs and “automagically” roll them into your CPQ system? If you’re using iQuoteXpress (IQX), the short answer is you don’t. Because we do it for you.
Leave the heavy lifting to the experts
By definition, a CPQ solution should be making life easier, not harder, for your sales reps. If the system isn’t intuitive or if they can’t find what they’re looking for in the product catalog, they won’t use it.
This isn’t a problem unique to CPQ. User adoption, or lack thereof, is a challenge for every business application. The secret to success and ensuring you hit the ground running is to have every piece in place so all your team needs to do is take the wheel. I.e., don’t make them sit through an online tutorial!
At IQX, we provide a level of implementation support you won’t find anywhere else. Our team works closely with yours, creating bundles and populating the product catalog in your CPQ solution in the exact way you and your team need it done.
When the day comes to go live, you can rest assured that what your reps see in their shiny, new sales proposal tool will be the exact product and pricing configurations they know. The difference will be that instead of entering them manually into each quote, they can now simply point-click.
Single sign-on integration
A familiar product catalog is critical to ensuring successful adoption of a CPQ solution across your business. But perhaps even more importantly is a familiar interface. Which is where seamless integration with CRM is critical. To get people using a new tool, you need to put it in their existing toolbox.
IQX can integrate with every major CRM solution on the market. With single sign-on for Dynamics 365, single sign-on for Zoho CRM and Zoho Books, and an API that makes adding IQX to Salesforce, HubSpot, Oracle and other platforms an easy undertaking, IQX “fits right in” to your existing system.
As with the product catalog, it sounds easy: seamless integration. But how do you do it?
Again, as with the CPQ product catalog, you leave the heavy lifting to IQX. Our engineers ensure that your new application doesn’t come with any of the aforementioned “user adoption” challenges as the app feels and operates more like a new feature in your existing CRM. It’s a seamless integration on the back end and, more importantly, a seamless experience on the front end.
From uploading and integrating every product into the catalog, to integrating the system, to creating an engaging experience for every rep… you can leave it all to the experts at IQX.
