CPQ for the Distribution Industry

Salespeople in the distribution industry face unique challenges that make IQX particularly valuable. Distribution sales often involve a large volume of products with complex pricing, dynamic inventory, and ever-changing customer needs. IQX provides specific benefits to address these complexities.

Eliminates Configuration and Pricing Errors

Distributors often handle thousands of products, each with its own specific configurations, from bundles and kits to custom assemblies. Managing this product complexity manually can lead to significant errors. For example, a salesperson might accidentally quote an incompatible part or fail to include all necessary components for a bundled product.

IQX embeds these complex rules directly into its configuration engine. This prevents salespeople from creating invalid product configurations and ensures every quote is for a product or bundle that can be fulfilled correctly. The system guides them, prevents impossible selections, and ensures that every quote is accurate, saving time and money from incorrect orders and costly returns.

Streamlines Collaboration with Warehousing and Logistics

A distributor’s quote is the foundation for the entire order fulfillment process. Without a CPQ solution, a salesperson often has to go back and forth with warehouse and logistics teams to confirm product availability, shipping costs, and delivery times. This constant communication creates bottlenecks and delays the sales cycle.

IQX bridges this gap by automatically generating fulfillment-ready documents once a quote is finalized. This directly connects the sales process to your warehouse and logistics operations. The seamless hand-off eliminates manual data entry, reduces miscommunication, and accelerates the "quote-to-cash" cycle, benefiting both the salesperson and the rest of the organization.

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Provides Real-Time Pricing and Inventory Visibility

In the distribution industry, profitability depends on knowing your costs, prices, and stock levels in real time. A salesperson manually calculating a quote might miss a recent price change from a supplier, fail to account for shipping costs, or quote a product that is out of stock, leading to lost profits and dissatisfied customers.

By integrating with your inventory and ERP systems, IQX CPQ ensures every quote is based on the most up-to-date costs, includes all relevant pricing rules, and accounts for current stock levels. This is a crucial benefit in distribution, where a small error on a large order can result in significant financial loss and a damaged customer relationship.

Enables "Guided Selling" for Complex Catalogs

Distribution product catalogs are often massive and contain thousands of SKUs and product variations. It can take months or even years for a new salesperson to learn all the nuances of the product line, including which products are compatible, which are profitable, and which are currently available.

IQX is a guided selling tool that acts as an intelligent assistant, making it possible for a less experienced salesperson to accurately configure and quote a highly complex order. This reduces the training time for new hires and standardizes the quoting process across the entire sales team, ensuring consistency and accuracy no matter who is handling the sale.