Improving sales of gym equipment starts here

Stronger, faster, leaner, more agile, simply looking better: these benefits are what most people want from using gym equipment.

Not coincidentally, they’re also the benefits those involved in selling fitness equipment — to clubs, resorts, spas, etc. — want in their sales processes. Bigger (stronger) deals, done more quickly, with less effort, and with better results.

Which is where IQX comes in, the CPQ (configure, price, quote) tool of choice for more than a few players in this niche industry. Let’s look at why, and let’s look at some numbers.

Getting swole!

Want bigger deals? Get better tools. A key benefit of CPQ tools is product and pricing configuration, which helps ensure you’re always putting your best bundles in front of your sales prospects, and at optimal prices.

A study done by the Aberdeen Group — a leader in business research and strategy — found that companies using CPQ experienced a 17% increase in deal size. Imagine adding 17% to the bottom line every time… your fitness equipment business will be at peak performance in no time!

Faster = better

Don’t take our word for it! Research from the aforementioned Aberdeen Group showed that organizations using CPQ solutions to improve sales reported a 28% increase in how quickly they can create sales proposals (compared to organizations not using CPQ-type solutions).

That kind of increase means you're getting your fitness equipment quotes into the right hands faster — a sign of a sales process in peak condition.

Pinpoint accuracy

Typically, speed and accuracy are a trade off: you want things done more quickly? Be prepared for them to be done more sloppily.

But not with CPQ. The same Aberdeen research group found that sales departments using an automated sales proposal tool like iQuoteXpress enjoyed a 27% increase in the accuracy of the information in their proposals. Faster? And with fewer mistakes? That’s a win-win.

Ramping up productivity

In fitness equipment sales, the main metric is deals closed, naturally. Close behind? Straight-up productivity. Once again, the numbers are in CPQ’s favor with a report by Salesforce — the industry’s leading CRM platform — showing that individual rep productivity spiked by 14% using a CPQ solution.

(NOTE: If you’re using Salesforce, we have some great news for you. IQX is a better CPQ than Steelbrick, has a single sign-on integration with Salesforce, and costs a whole lot less: only $39 a seat!)

Revenue

Let’s get to the bottom line, shall we? Gartner took a long hard look and found that companies using a CPQ solution to create proposals — leveraging all the tools: sales proposal templates, product and pricing configuration, proposal tracking, etc. — can enjoy a revenue bump of 20% or more. 

Dropping discounting

Sometimes, it feels like the only way to close a deal is to tempt your buyer with a discount. We get it. Here’s the thing: not only does your CPQ solution allow you to centralize and codify discounting practices (stopping reps from “going rogue”), it can also help eliminate it altogether.

It’s not a huge number like the bumps in revenue and productivity, but, according to Accenture, a CPQ solution can lead to a drop of around 4% in discounts given. Money that would have been left on the table now goes where it belongs.

Ready to take fitness equipment selling to a whole new level? We’re here to help with a demonstration of the fitness equipment industry’s CPQ of choice, iQuoteXpress.

Want to make a Zoho proposal? It’s as easy as I-Q-X

For years, iQuoteXpress (IQX) has been a proud, loud partner of Zoho (as this, this, this, and more show). As a single sign-on CPQ for Zoho CRM and Zoho Books, IQX has helped countless Zoho users create compelling sales proposals.

But if we were to choose one keyword, one customer-facing benefit, that has defined the partnership more than anything else it would be “automation.”

Because just as Zoho CRM and Zoho Books help automate critical business functions such as customer relationship management and accounting, IQX helps automate the work that fuels both of those systems — the work that creates customers to manage and revenue to account for — creating, sending, tracking, and closing out sales proposals in Zoho.

The benefits of automating the sales proposal process in Zoho are as limitless as the revenue opportunities, but let’s dig into a few specifics.

Saving time with Zoho and IQX

By integrating IQX’s robust CPQ functionalities (configure, price, quote — another name for sales proposal automation) with Zoho’s, a business can dramatically reduce the need for manual data entry and document generation, and empower a sales team to to focus on more strategic and revenue-generating activities.

With professionally designed sales proposal templates in IQX and automated workflows in Zoho, the entire sales quoting and closing process is expedited, enabling quicker responses to customer inquiries and reducing the sales cycle. A concrete example of the adage, “time is money.”

Creating consistency with Zoho and IQX

Consistency is something a customer can see. More importantly, it’s something they — and your own employees — experience.

Leveraging IQX and Zoho to create a templated, automated sales proposal process ensures both consistency and accuracy in your quotes. Additionally, with predefined templates and standardized content, a business can maintain a cohesive and professional image across all its proposals and connected content. This consistency helps enhance your brand identity, building confidence in prospects and comfort for clients.

Perhaps more important is the consistent experience you create for your sales team. With a templated process and repeatable workflows, every quote built — no matter which rep may be doing the building —  has the same look and feel. Additionally, your team is all working with the same set of tools, which drives both consistency and collaboration (the next benefit!).

Fueling collaboration with Zoho and IQX

While CRM stands for “customer relationship management,” a CRM solution also helps better manage staff relationships by providing a shared platform and tools that, by design, support collaboration across the enterprise.

Adding IQX to Zoho furthers collaboration as 1) the systems integrate (THE definition of collaboration) and 2) they ensure the information in sales proposals is aligned with customer information in both Zoho CRM and Zoho Books, providing a more complete view of the customer.

Also, integrating these systems enhances communication across departments, minimizing disconnects and fostering more cohesive and efficient workflows. As a result of this collaboration between both technologies and departments, the selling process is streamlined, reducing delays and improving the experience for sales reps and customers alike. Which brings us to our next benefit!

Improving the customer experience with Zoho and IQX

There’s no better, more proven path to driving revenue than by creating rewarding customer relationships. With Zoho and IQX working together, you can easily enhance personalization and customization (foundational in ANY relationship) in every sales proposal.

Zoho CRM helps you gather valuable customer data, preferences, and interactions — all of which helps you create a more engaging proposal, one that resonates with the unique needs and preferences of the prospect. This kind of personalization not only strengthens customer relationships but also increases the likelihood of closing deals successfully.

Fueling BI with Zoho and IQX

Finally, automation in your sales proposal process provides improved sales analytics and insights. Zoho CRM and Zoho Books provide robust reporting and analytics features, but adding a CPQ like IQX enables an even deeper dive into the metrics, allowing businesses to track the performance of sales proposals, identify bottlenecks, and optimize processes.

This data-driven approach empowers organizations to make informed decisions, refine their sales strategies, and adapt to changing market conditions. The ability to analyze proposal metrics and customer interactions provides valuable insights that can drive continuous improvement and innovation in the sales process.

A match made in heaven right here

You can get started with sales proposal automation in Zoho in the Zoho Marketplace or by contacting us. Experience the benefits of an automated selling process that delights customers, engages staff, optimizes analytics, and drives more revenue. It’s as easy as I-Q-X.

Quoting software and the SMB: A perfect fit.

What makes for the perfect match? Most would say, shared interests, mutual attraction, similar goals and life plans. True. But in so many cases, it’s often about meeting a need, or many needs, which is why quoting software and SMBs are basically a match made in heaven. Because the needs of the SMB are perfectly met by quoting software (a.k.a., configure, price, quote, or CPQ).

And while the needs of the SMB are basically consistent with the needs of ANY business–from mom and pop shops to Fortune 100 enterprises–it’s in the SMB world where meeting those needs quickly and completely often decides if an SMB thrives, or if it dies.

We see the most pressing needs of the SMB (and how sales quoting software helps meet them) as follows:

1. Time efficiency

2. Consistency/branding

3. Cost savings

4. Collaboration

5. Sales insights

6. Scalability

Time Efficiency

Time is always money, and the modern SMB has to make the most of every minute. Every time a sales rep is focused on administrative tasks is a minute they’re not selling.

But quoting software automates and streamlines the proposal creation process, saving countless hours of time for SMBs with limited resources (iQuoteXpress has been proven to reduce the amount of time it takes to create a proposal by as much as 70%). With professionally designed sales proposal templates that can be quickly customized – and templated workflows as well – an SMB can spend less time on every quote (and have a better quote, too!).

Consistency/branding

Many SMBs are often too bogged down in operations to consider the big picture of brand building, but it’s a strong, consistent brand that can help win deals and make an SMB into a Fortune 100.

Your quoting software can help here by ensuring you give customers the same look/feel with every quote. Take the time to contract a professional designer and build some branded proposal templates. For even just a few hundred dollars, you can create quote designs that set you apart from the crowd and build your brand for years to come.

Cost savings

Let’s not kid ourselves: for SMBs, enterprises, and ANY business, it’s all about keeping costs low. While they do mean an initial set-up fee and ongoing license costs, CPQ systems almost always deliver profound ROI, helping you do the work of ten sales people in one-tenth the time (and, as stated above, time = money).

Improved collaboration

While sales teams can be competitive, a win for any rep is a win for the entire SMB, and your quoting solution will allow your team to easily share winning proposals, product and pricing configurations, pitches, and more. It also helps create a level playing field for reps, giving them the same tools in their tool boxes.

Sales Insights

Find out the where, why, what, and how and every proposal, and better understand client interactions with quoting software. Most SMBs don’t need a full-on business intelligence platform, but the data attached to each winning proposal (and even some losing ones)? Priceless.

Scalability

It’s the rare SMB that doesn’t want to grow to enterprise level, so scalability in solutions is critical. Your CPQ system should scale right alongside, and not quarterly or annually: to best manage budgets and workloads, look for a CPQ provider that offers month to month licensing so you can scale as you see fit (not as they do).

The benefits show that quoting software and SMBs are the perfect fit. For SMBs looking to sell smarter, give us a ring. We can show you exactly how it’s done.

Building a home, building a quote: The meaning of CPQ in the modular housing industry

Want to build a modular home? There are specific steps to follow, with the essentials being design, manufacturing, transportation, assembly, and inspection/quality control.

Want to build a sales proposal using configure, price, quote (CPQ) technology? Just like with a modular house, there are specific (and amazingly similar!) steps to follow:

• design (of the system and of the sales proposal templates and product/pricing configurations that populate it)

• manufacturing (creating of a specific proposal for a specific RFP)

• transportation (sending the completed proposal to the client)

• quality control (tracking all quotes, ensuring your process and people are at max efficiency and efficacy)

The meaning of CPQ should be inherently known to those in the modular housing space as it mirrors what they do for a living: a templated, repeatable process, but tailored for each resident/customer.

Not so coincidentally, the benefits derived from choosing a modular home over a traditionally constructed home also reflect the benefits gained from CPQ.

The basic benefits of modular housing and CPQ are as follows:

Speed

Modular homes can be built much, much, MUCH faster than traditional homes. And quotes can be made 10x faster using CPQ than by using traditional methods like spreadsheets and Word.

Cost savings

Not only do modular homes cost less to put up (due to efficient factory production and eliminating the bulk of on-site construction labor costs), but they usually cost less to maintain, too. And quotes? Simple: time = money, and the time savings enjoyed using CPQ to create, send, and track proposals is money in the bank.

Consistency

Modular homes benefit from factory production and the repeatable processes baked into any production line. Like a printing press zipping off copies, the homes are created the same way each time. With CPQ, sales quotes also enjoy more consistency as they start from the same proposal templates, and go through the same process each time: select a layout, add products and pricing, customize for the client, and let it fly. An additional benefit of this type of consistency is the opportunity to observe and optimize the process over time.

Customization

While seemingly a contrast to consistency, customization is in fact a complement to it, and a key benefit. While the basic structure of a modular home–the frame, wiring, the plumbing–remains consistent, each homeowner is free to customize aspects of the layout, the appliances, the color, and more.

Same with sales proposals: while the template is consistent, key elements are customized for each prospect (product and pricing configurations, most importantly, but also content elements, such as imagery, calls to action, and more). 

Energy efficiency

Today’s modular homes are often built with energy efficiency front and center, being well-insulated and equipped with modern heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems that consume less watts and emit less waste.

What does this mean in terms of CPQ? Well… something entirely different. A CPQ system is simply a cloud-based business application, but it does conserve energy is a specific way: the energy of your team as they build quotes. Most CPQ systems reduce the time and effort (i.e., the energy) it takes to make a quote by 70% and that’s time that can be spent driving new business.

Let’s get building!

At iQuoteXpress, we’re proud to count many modular housing manufacturers, sellers, and distributors as clients. We understand how your business works and can help you get started building quotes faster so you can help others build and get into homes faster. Contact us to get started building quotes today.

CPQ PI: Sales Quote Tracking Detective

It was a sweltering summer day in the city of Opportunity. The sun beat down on the cracked pavement, casting long shadows that seemed to stretch forever. The city was bustling with businessmen and women, each one hustling and bustling in search of their next big deal. But in the world of sales, there was a mystery afoot - the case of the vanishing sales quote.

As I entered my dimly lit office, the ceiling fan creaked overhead, barely making a dent in the oppressive heat. I poured myself a glass of bourbon and lit up a cigarette, the smoke curling lazily towards the ceiling. It was a day like any other, until a dame walked in.

She was a real looker, with fiery red hair and a voice that could melt an iceberg. She introduced herself as Betty, a sales manager at a local manufacturing company. She had a problem that needed solving, and she'd heard I was the best in the business.

She told me plain and simple: "I've got a problem. Sales quotes are vanishing left and right at our company, and it's costing us a pretty penny. I need someone to get to the bottom of it."

I leaned back in my chair, taking a drag from my cigarette. This was no ordinary case; it was a case of sales quote tracking, and I was just the gumshoe to crack it wide open.

"Tell me everything," I said, my voice gravelly and low.

"Well," Betty began, "it all started a few months ago. Our sales team would send out quotes to potential clients, but they seemed to disappear into thin air. We had no way of knowing whether they were received, opened, or even considered. It was like they were vanishing into a black hole."

I nodded, taking another sip of bourbon. This was a classic case of the missing paper trail, a puzzle that required a keen eye for detail and a knack for uncovering secrets.

"Have you tried tracking these quotes?" I asked.

"We've tried everything," Betty replied. "We've sent follow-up emails, made phone calls, and even resorted to carrier pigeons. But we're no closer to finding the facts."

It was clear to me that traditional methods weren't going to cut it. This called for a modern approach, a way to track those elusive sales quotes in the digital age.

"Betty," I said, stubbing out my cigarette, "I'm going to need access to your sales quote system. Heck, your whole back-end platform: every biz app, every sales doc, every bit. I'll take a look under the hood and see if there are any clues hiding in the shadows."

She agreed, and I headed over to her office the next day. I examined what they were using to make, send, and track quotes, and it had more holes than a stack of Swiss cheese. Their system was outdated, lacking the ability to track when a quote was opened or how long it was viewed.

I recommended an upgrade to a modern CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system, one backed up by an even more modern CPQ (configure, price, quote) solution, a killer combination that would allow them to not only send quotes but also track their progress. With this new system in place, they could see when a quote was opened, how many times, and for how long. It was the missing piece of the puzzle.

As the weeks went by, the new system proved its worth. Sales quotes were no longer vanishing into the abyss. The sales team could track their quotes in real-time, follow up with potential clients at the right moment, and close deals more efficiently.

Betty was over the moon with the results. She thanked me with a kiss on the cheek and a promise of future business. As she walked out of my office, I couldn't help but smile. Another case solved, another mystery unraveled, another day in the life of Charles Price Quinn, Private Investigator: a.k.a., CPQ PI.

The meaning of CPQ in retail and wholesale

The most commonly asked question in retail: How much?

The retail and wholesale industry relies heavily on not just accurate pricing, but compelling pricing. To gain more insights and better serve customers, retailers are leaning into configure, price, quote (CPQ) software to help them both streamline the shopping experience and land on the best possible pricing.

In retail, the meaning of CPQ is closely tied to process, specifically, the processes of configuring products, presenting prices, and empowering sales reps and customers to automatically generate quotes, which provides a better customer experience (e.g., by empowering customers to configure products) while helping ensure accurate pricing.

In this article we will explore the meaning of CPQ and how it can be used in retail and wholesale settings to improve accuracy, reduce errors, increase customer satisfaction, save time, money, and give customers a better shopping experience. We'll look at the benefits of using CPQ as well as potential challenges associated with implementation and emerging trends in the industry.

Benefits of using CPQ in retail and wholesale

The power of CPQ cannot be overstated when it comes to retail and wholesale operations. By using CPQ, businesses can streamline many sales processes and eliminate manual data entry, reducing lead times and resulting in more accurate product information for customers.

In addition, CPQ solutions can dramatically reduce sales cycles by quickly generating accurate quotes for customers–especially critical in the wholesale space. This ensures businesses close deals faster than ever before while still providing the necessary customization options that customers need to make informed decisions about what they want to purchase.

Streamlining the experience in retail and wholesale

It’s all about the customer experience, and CPQ can help streamline and optimize that experience, providing customers with real-time information, and empowering them with the tools to essentially create their own experience, especially in portals where customers can configure products according to their exact needs (which — win-win! — helps business owners save time and money).

Additionally, CPQ can help those same store operators reduce manual work associated with pricing and discounting, ensuring customers only see accurate information.

But that’s just the start of a killer customer experience as CPQ solutions are also capable of offering product recommendations based on customer preferences, helping.customers find what they need — and what they might not have known they needed — quickly and easily.

Putting the AI in retail with CPQ

It’s true: you can’t spell retail without AI. And currently, you can’t compete in retail without it either. An AI-powered CPQ system can automate manual processes such as cataloging, pricing rules, product recommendations, order processing and lead times, resulting in faster response times for customers. 

More importantly, it can learn as it goes, providing customers with personalized recommendations based on existing preferences and real-time decisions customers may be making as well. And when you have a system that responds to customer needs in real-time, you have a system that delivers big wins.

Truth be told, CPQ has still not saturated B2C retail and wholesale spaces the way it has B2B markets. But that’s changing fast, and businesses have to adapt to the new reality and discover the meaning, and magic, of CPQ in retail.

Keep the pipeline moving with sales quote software

A steady flow of leads through the sales pipeline is the lifeblood of a business. Which makes managing and nurturing those leads essential to the health of a business: anything gets clogged up, and your business can suffer something like a heart attack.

This is where sales quote software functions like cardio. With its advanced features and streamlined processes, quoting software (a.k.a., “configure, price, quote,” “quote-to-cash,” “sales proposal automation”: its names, like its uses, are virtually endless) has become an indispensable tool for keeping the pipeline moving and healthy.

And just like a proper cardio workout, there are specific features and benefits to look for in both the solution and the process. Let’s take a quick look at some specifics.

Speed & accuracy

One of the primary reasons sales pipelines “get clogged” is a slow and error-prone quoting process. Using, say, Excel, Word, or whatever random tool came with your CRM to manually create quotes not only consumes valuable time but also increases the risk of errors–which invariably leads to customer dissatisfaction.

Sales quote software automates the process, enabling sales teams to generate accurate and professional-looking quotes within minutes. By eliminating the manual input of data and calculations, errors are minimized, and quotes are consistent, instilling confidence in both the sales team and potential customers.

Personalization & customization

Let them know you know who they are. As importantly, let them know you know who YOU are. Personalize each quote for each customer and customize each template to suit your brand.

Through a user-friendly interface (or what should be, anyway), sales reps can quickly tailor quotes by adjusting quantities, services, and pricing structures to match specific customer requirements. Personalized quotes not only demonstrate a commitment to meeting the client's needs but also increase the likelihood of converting leads into customers by showing them that your company values their individual business objectives.

And adding your brand’s look and feel to each sales proposal template can help set you apart from the dozens of other RFP responses your prospect is likely sifting through.

Real-time collaboration & approval workflows

In sales, there’s no time like RIGHT NOW, and that means working in real-time.

Your pipeline likely involves multiple stakeholders: sales representatives, managers, and sometimes even legal or finance teams. Sales quote software offers collaborative features that allow teams to work together seamlessly, regardless of their physical locations.

Real-time collaboration ensures that all parties involved can contribute their expertise and review quotes simultaneously. Moreover, built-in approval workflows help prevent bottlenecks by ensuring that quotes move swiftly through the necessary approval stages, eliminating delays and ensuring a fluid pipeline.

Sales quote tracking & analytics

What you don’t know can absolutely hurt you. Which is why the leading sales quote solutions include proposal analytics tools and dashboards that offer insights into your quote pipeline, helping you understand the performance of different quotes, pricing strategies, and reps.

With this data at hand, sales leaders can make informed decisions to optimize their approach, allocate resources effectively, and focus efforts on leads that are most likely to convert. Why guess what’s working when you can analyze it and know?

Sales is the beating heart of most every business. Ensure that it operates in top form by leveraging these features and more in your sales quoting software.

The meaning of CPQ for sales in manufacturing

At its heart, the manufacturing industry is about building, about putting automobiles, machinery, modular housing, and more together in the proper way and doing so as efficiently as possible.

The same dedication to repeatable, effective processes also applies to building sales proposals, which makes the meaning of CPQ (configure, price, quote) in the manufacturing industry essentially similar to the practice of manufacturing itself.

For example, automobile manufacturing. You design the car, assemble the body, powertrain, chassis, and interior, address the details (paint job, extras), and distribute to the dealerships and customers. 

Same goes with a quote: you design (or have someone else design) the proposal templates, add the products and pricing (the powertrain, chassis, and ALL), address the details (specifics for the customer), and distribute it to the customer.

By creating and leveraging repeatable processes, you not only improve efficiency, you also create more opportunities for improving workflows, collecting actionable data, and staying ahead of the competition.

But back to where it all starts: improving efficiency, how to measure that, and where the similarities are between manufacturing and “quote building.”

Comparing efficiency in quoting to manufacturing

For the most part, manufacturing companies have very similar KPIs in how they measure and improve production efficiencies. Outside production, there are countless and variable other efficiency metrics (cost of raw materials, market penetration, distribution, etc.), but we’re going to focus on KPIs in the actual manufacturing process:

• Cycle times: How long for one manufacturing cycle to complete, start to finish.

• Equipment efficiency: A focus typically on the machinery: Is there enough equipment up and running? Is it functioning at peak capacity? Does it support existing cycle times? Is there too much downtime due to malfunctions and maintenance?

• Rework rates: Nothing’s perfect. Rework rates (sometimes called “scrap rates”) capture how many “duds” come down the line in a given cycle.

Let’s compare those to your “quote assembly line.”

• Cycle times: How long does it take each member of your team to create and send a quote? How long on average? More importantly, how long do quotes sit in the pipeline before they’re signed or deemed dead opportunities?
  
  With the right CPQ system, you could reduce cycle times by more than 80%.)
  

• Equipment efficiency: What are you currently using? Excel? Word? Whatever was included with your CRM system?
  
  One of the key pieces in a CPQ system — the very meaning of CPQ, in many ways — is its product and pricing configuration engine. Creating and managing configurations in a spreadsheet is wildly inefficient as it’s decentralized (different versions of products and pricing will inevitably be stored locally) and time-consuming (as reps must sort through rows and columns to find what they need, and then copy that info into their quotes).
  
  With CPQ as part of your quoting equipment, you simply drag and drop product and pricing configurations into sales proposal templates, et voila! Additionally, these configurations are centrally controlled and administered, ensuring accuracy and availability.
  

• Rework rates: We’ll stretch this a little bit for sales quotes, because while there is sometimes some reworking required (adjusting pricing, adding/subtracting products or services, etc. — all of which you can track with a CPQ solution), the thing that matters most at this stage of your “quote assembly line” is closing.
  
  Do you know your current closing rates? Did you know you can increase them by 20% or more by using a CPQ solution like IQX? Why “rework” a quote when you can simply close  the deal?

Whether you’re in manufacturing, technology services, healthcare, or ANY business-to-business space, the fact of the matter is that you can “manufacture” more professional sales quotes with more efficiency by leveraging the power of configure, price, quote software.

Writing the right RFP response right and at the right time

An RFP response shouldn’t be something you “crank out.” Nor should it be something you ponder like a poet, waiting for the muse to inspire you (while your competition sends the quote).

Yes, there is a templated approach, but there’s also creative latitude, and an opportunity to go beyond merely presenting an offer and introducing your brand.

As with many B2B sales processes, the right RFP response starts with using the right tool: configure, price, quote software (CPQ), like iQuoteXpress (IQX).

The role of CPQ in RFP responses

What CPQ means in your RFP response process — and where it “plays” in that process — ultimately depends on the nature of the RFP.

In some cases, the creator of the RFP may simply be taking tentative steps, looking for vendors to make their case, providing top-level details on products, services, and expertise that address the moving pieces in the RFP.

But more often than not, the company behind the RFP is looking for something more actionable: specific product and service configurations (with pricing) that hit every deliverable in the RFP. 

Because, after all, RFP stands for “request for proposal,” and that means responding with a detailed sales proposal that hits the mark and sets you apart. This is where CPQ can help you respond to RFPs twice as fast, if not faster.

CPQ empowers your sales team with the tools required to create a professional proposal — easily customizable sales quote templates and a product and pricing configuration engine. Additionally, it provides you with the means to send, track, and modify your proposal and, where and when it makes sense, transform that quote into a contract.

The nuts & bolts — and bells & whistles — of an RFP response

Essentially, we just described the nuts and bolts of how CPQ can transform your RFP response process. But there are bells and whistles, too, and that’s where the aforementioned “creative latitude” can come into play, where you can customize your quote to more specifically address not just the RFP deliverables, but the company — the brand — behind the RFP and create a response that goes past relevance and into resonance.

We’re not trying to teach an English lesson here, but the difference between relevance and resonance in the “RFP response world” is critical. Because EVERY response received will likely be relevant. But if you know how to write killer RFP responses, you can set yourself apart by creating a connection more than simply a reply. You can craft a quote that resonates with your prospect, that reflects their brand while it builds yours.

Your RFP response is your opportunity to show you understand your prospect’s long-run mission and values as well as their short-run needs. It’s the moment, in most cases, where your company and all you have to offer is introduced to a larger audience within your prospect’s organization. It’s critical to deliver a response that shows you understand the big picture.

How does CPQ help you do this? It starts with your templates, of course, which should provide you with easily customizable components where you can craft your message and insert imagery that helps create resonance. But in the end, this part of the RFP response process is the one that requires the heavy lifting as you’ll need to communicate effectively and convincingly (this whitepaper can help).

The good news is that the nuts and bolts in your RFP response — the quote template, the product and pricing configurations — are only a click away in your CPQ system, freeing you up to focus on the bells and whistles. And unless you’re in a commoditized market where price always wins, it’s going to be the effort and attention to detail that sets you apart and helps close the sale.

The meaning of CPQ in fitness equipment sales

If you have landed on this page, you’re likely in fitness equipment sales, considering using CPQ (a.k.a.: configure, price, quote solution; quote to cash app; sales proposal automation tool), and seeing what it may mean for your business.

You likely saw this post title and went, “Wow. That’s exactly what I’m trying to find out.”

The reason this article exists, and on this website, is simple: iQuoteXpress (IQX) is the choice for some of the major players in the fitness equipment sales and manufacturing space. (Your competitors are likely using IQX to get their quotes to customers faster, and to make those quotes more compelling for those customers, too.) 

IQX knows the market and we have the perfect solution to help sales reps in the market close more business more quickly. So contact us for a demo. Or read on and discover some similarities between our solution and fitness equipment sales.

A sales quote can be like a fitness center…

Whether in a gym as big as a warehouse or in a converted meeting room in an office building or in a healthcare facility, a fitness center must be configured.

Yes, there’s often a templated approach — the treadmills are together, the free weights are in a dedicated space with a padded floor, etc. — but configuration is always required based on the shape and size of the space, the needs of the customers, and more.

Same with a sales quote. Using CPQ, you can also take a templated approach, first by building sales proposal templates based on the products you sell and industries you serve.

Then, with these templates, you can then quickly configure quotes for each specific customer, dragging and dropping product and pricing configurations (also pre-designed and uploaded into your CPQ solution), thereby creating a custom quote through a templated approach.

Tracking product life cycles and sales cycles…

In fitness equipment sales, it’s never “one and done.” Equipment gets old, breaks down, or is simply considered outdated by its users. Most sales reps in the space keep careful track of product life cycles and know exactly when to reach out to existing customers to see what may need upgrading or replacing.

With CPQ, tracking is naturally a little different but no less critical. Unlike most standard CRM systems — which typically only track whether or not a quote was sent and if it was signed — CPQ tracks the “minute metrics,” the minor adjustments to a sent quote, the communications that help nudge it across the finish line, empowering sales reps to better understand and act within the most critical part of the sales cycle.

Simply put, tracking data — be it of fitness equipment use, sales quote progress, or most any other product or service that can be sold or processed — is knowledge, and knowledge is power. (In the cases detailed above, that would be the power to drive more revenue.)

Faster, better, stronger

Isn’t that what fitness equipment itself is all about? You’re providing the systems and services that help make your customers’ customers faster, stronger, fitter, better.

And the same way the products you put in place deliver those benefits to the ultimate end-users is the same way CPQ benefits you. In the end, the meaning of CPQ for fitness equipment sales professionals is that it helps you develop more professional, more custom sales proposals more quickly. You’ll be able to beat the competition to the punch and create a greater impact on every customer.