Salesforce CPQ Basics

Welcome to our detailed exploration of Salesforce CPQ (Configure, Price, Quote), a pivotal tool for optimizing sales processes and enhancing business efficiency. Whether you are new to Salesforce CPQ or seeking to expand your knowledge, we will guide you through the essential aspects of this powerful tool, from its role in automating pricing and proposal generation to its ability to customize product offerings with advanced discounting and approval features. 

In this blog, you will learn:

• Salesforce CPQ
• Basics of Salesforce CPQ
• Product, Price, and Quote Overview
• Twin fields in CPQ

Salesforce CPQ Basics

Salesforce CPQ – Configure, Price, Quotes is a sales tool used by companies for sales optimization that allows sales reps to close deals faster by automating pricing and generating proposals with customized products.

A fully native solution hosted within the Sales Cloud platform is available on any device, easy-to- use software with out-of-the-box functionality like Discount Schedules, Advanced Approvals, Guided Selling, etc., that allows the business to make impactful sales decisions.

Key Concepts and Features

• Configuration simplifies product selection, ensuring the right related products (bundles) are sold together and reps do not create erroneous quotes.
• Pricing automates the pricing requirement of the business by enabling term or volume-specific discretionary discounts and provides dynamic pricing capabilities that help reduce manual calculation errors.
• Quoting makes it easier for the sales rep to generate a document customized for the customers and send details of the potential purchase in one click.
• Contract creation can be automated for subscription products using the Salesforce CPQ solution.
• Renewal opportunities and quotes can be generated automatically for subscription products before the contract expires.

Standard Quoting vs. Salesforce CPQ

CPQ – Product, Price, and Quote

Product

The biggest challenge the business face while catering to the needs of their customers is to understand which product/products will meet the customer requirements. Configurable product bundles help combine products that are sold together, and guided selling and dynamic product selection streamlines the sales process to close deals faster.

Price

Salesforce CPQ solution offers out-of-the-box functionality like pricing methods, price rules, and discount schedules to meet the pricing requirements of the ever-changing business world; to create technically and commercially viable quotes.

Quote

The quote document contains details of the products and services the customer wants to buy. It also contains information about the pricing, discounts offered, and specific terms. In addition, the sales rep can generate dynamic quote documents with the ability to customize quote PDFs down to their words.

Key Concepts & Features

• With the Salesforce CPQ solution, businesses that operate on the Subscription model can manage their ongoing contracts and renewals.
• Subscription term can be specified at the quote, quote group, and quote line level.
• Static, Dynamic and Nested bundles can be created to speed up the selling process and sell commercially viable products.
• Different pricing methods like “Contracted Pricing”, “Block Pricing” “Option Pricing”, along with discount options like “Discount Schedules”, help in creating accurate quotes.
• Customized product selection and pricing rules can be configured based on business logic.

Use Case

Cosmo Property sells various products, some of which should be sold together. Unfortunately, the sales reps often forget to add specific products that should be sold together as a set, resulting in erroneous quotes. How can the CPQ Specialist solve this?

Solution: Configure product bundles

Reason: With Salesforce CPQ, the sales rep can choose from pre-configured bundles – a group of products sold together. Based on the business requirement, “Static,” “Dynamic”, and “Nested Bundles” can be configured by the CPQ Specialist, making selling complicated product offerings easy.

Twin Fields in CPQ

There are specific pairs of objects in CPO that pass custom field values from the first object to the second object when the second object is created. The values are passed if the custom fields are editable and have the same API name and data type. These field pairs are called “twin fields”.

In this table, the source objects pass their field values to the target object having fields with the same API name and data type.

Use Case

The administrator at Sun Solar has created a field “Engraving” on the quote line object; the business wants the value from the “Engraving” field from the primary quote’s quote lines to reflect on the opportunity products whenever a quote line is created or edited. What should the CPQ Specialist configure to meet this requirement?

Solution: Twin Fields

Reason: A custom field “Engraving” on the quote line and opportunity product object with the same API name and data type can be created for this requirement. Whenever a quote line is created or updated with the value in this field, the value will map from the primary quote’s quote line to the opportunity product field.

Conclusion

Mastering Salesforce CPQ is essential for businesses to streamline their sales processes and enhance operational efficiency. This tool simplifies the product selection and quoting processes and offers dynamic pricing and discounting capabilities, ensuring sales representatives can swiftly generate accurate and customized proposals. By understanding and leveraging the features of Salesforce CPQ, companies can significantly improve their sales outcomes and customer satisfaction.

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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. How does CPQ work in Salesforce?

Salesforce CPQ operates within the Salesforce ecosystem to streamline the sales process by providing a robust platform for sales teams to quickly and accurately configure products, price orders, and generate quotes. It integrates seamlessly with the Sales Cloud, allowing for real-time data access and management. CPQ automates complex pricing rules, discounts, and approval workflows, ensuring that sales representatives provide accurate and optimized proposals to customers. By reducing manual entry and calculation errors, CPQ enhances efficiency and accelerates the sales cycle.

2. What are the fundamentals of CPQ?

The fundamentals of CPQ in Salesforce focus on three core components: Configure, Price, and Quote. Configure involves selecting the correct product combinations according to customer needs and predefined rules, ensuring compatibility and compliance. Price is about applying the correct pricing configurations, including discounts, customizations, and other financial factors, which may vary by customer or scenario. Quote involves generating detailed, accurate proposals that can be easily adjusted as needed. Together, these components help sales teams address customer requirements with precision and speed.

3. What are the key features of Salesforce CPQ?

Some of the key features of Salesforce CPQ include:

• Product Configuration: Allows sales reps to configure product bundles, including nested configurations, ensuring compatibility and adherence to business rules.
• Price Calculation: Automates pricing, applying discounts, subscriptions, and other custom pricing rules efficiently.
• Quote Creation and Management: Enables the generation of detailed, customizable quote documents that can include product options, descriptions, terms, and conditions.
• Guided Selling: Helps sales reps navigate through the selling process via prompts and suggestions, making it easier to find the right products for customers.
• Contract Management: Automates the processes of managing and renewing customer contracts.
• Advanced Approvals: Provides robust workflow capabilities to handle complex approval processes needed in larger deals.

4. Is Salesforce CPQ hard to learn?

The complexity of learning Salesforce CPQ can vary depending on one’s background and experience with similar tools. For users already familiar with Salesforce, many of the concepts and functionalities will be more accessible. However, due to its rich feature set and flexibility in configuration, new users may face a steeper learning curve. Thankfully, Salesforce offers extensive documentation, training, and certification programs through platforms like saasguru, which provide structured learning paths and practice environments to help users of all levels master Salesforce CPQ effectively.

5. Can Salesforce CPQ integrate with other systems?

Yes, Salesforce CPQ offers excellent integration capabilities with both Salesforce and external applications. It can integrate seamlessly with other Salesforce solutions like Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, and Community Cloud, ensuring a unified platform for all customer interactions. For external systems, such as ERP or custom databases, Salesforce CPQ can connect through various APIs and middleware solutions. This integration capability allows businesses to synchronize data across systems, improving accuracy and operational efficiency.

6. How does Salesforce CPQ support mobile users?

Salesforce CPQ is designed with mobility in mind, enabling sales teams to create, manage, and share quotes on the go. The platform is fully mobile-responsive, allowing users to access full CPQ functionality from any mobile device without compromise. This mobile support empowers sales representatives to respond quickly to customer inquiries, update deals in real-time, and close sales from anywhere, enhancing productivity and customer service.

7. What kind of support and training resources are available for Salesforce CPQ?

Salesforce provides a wide range of support and training resources to help users maximize their use of CPQ. This includes comprehensive documentation, user guides, and a vibrant community of users and experts on the Salesforce Trailblazer Community. Additionally, Salesforce offers specialized training courses and certifications specifically for CPQ, available through the Salesforce Trailhead learning platform. For more hands-on learning, third-party providers like saasguru offer detailed courses, mock exams, and practical labs designed to equip users with deep functional knowledge and practical skills in Salesforce CPQ.