Has your company taken the decision to implement a CPQ system? Congratulations! You have already taken a big step forward. A CPQ system will give you a whole new lease of life and benefit your company in many different ways. In last week’s article we told you about the six most common mistakes companies starting up CPQ projects make. Instead, we will explain how to create the right conditions for a successful CPQ implementation. We also tell you what preparations are important to make before the project starts.
Define clear objectives
To succeed with a CPQ implementation, it is very important to clearly define your objectives. Before starting the project, it is therefore useful to be able to answer a few highly relevant questions. For us at Animech, it’s super important to really encourage customers to reflect and clarify a few things before we start a project. What kind of project does the client want to do? What is the problem the customer wants to solve? What are the objectives to be achieved? Are the targets realistic? When should the targets be achieved? Also consider who the user is and whether the tool is intended to be a sales tool or an inspirational tool. Also make sure you have the right skills and resources in place.
SMART
It is important to set measurable goals and continuously monitor the progress of the project. For example, you can find out how many people interact with the system, the most common configurations and the most common choices your customers make. By analyzing data traffic, you can optimize the entire sales process. Why does everyone get off in the same place? Is there any way we can develop or simplify? Is something unclear and why does no one choose this? Setting objectives according to the SMART framework increases the chances of a smooth CPQ implementation:
Specifically
What do we want to achieve? Make sure it is clear what is to be achieved, that the objective is monitorable and as concrete as possible.
Measurable
The objective must be measurable. Also, make sure to agree on how objectives and results will be measured even before the project starts.
Accepted
It is important that everyone involved is involved and “on board” and has an interest in achieving the goal.
Realistic
Is the target achievable? The objective must be realistic, relevant and achievable.
Timed
Can the target be achieved within a reasonable time? Don’t forget to set a deadline for achieving the goal. Also make sure that everyone involved agrees on a deadline.
Involving staff
Starting a CPQ project involves all departments in the company. Therefore, it is important to involve everyone in both the planning and development of the project and ensure that everyone has a common vision. This makes it easier to make effective decisions and stay focused. What is particularly important is to clarify that this is something that will be of great help in the daily life of employees and not something that will replace them. Be sensitive to concerns and discussions and explain what changes this will mean and why you are doing this. Implementing a CPQ tool is a way to modernize your company and take a big step forward.
Have the right people in place
Ensuring that the right skills and experience are in place is crucial to the success of the project. This will facilitate and speed up implementation. You will need CPQ experts from your supplier but also input from the top salesperson and skills from all departments of the company. This project is intended to bring the whole company together.
Measure and optimize progress
To measure progress and find out what works best, you can work with A-B testing, for example. By asking: “Can we sell more without hiring more salespeople”? “Does the tool streamline the sellers’ everyday life so much that they can work with qualified sales instead of sitting and making small updates in quotes all day, which the system can handle itself?” Another easy thing to measure is the time between quote and order.
The CPQ tool simplifies sellers’ work by reducing much of the seller’s administrative tasks. This allows the seller to focus more on active selling instead, thus shortening the sales process. Allowing the customer to configure their own products increases the customer’s understanding of the product and confidence, which means that the customer comes to the seller much more “ready to buy”. Once the customer is ready to talk to a salesperson, it may only take one meeting because the customer is already confident in their decision. But getting the customer to complete 80% of the buying process themselves requires an engaging sales tool that is user-friendly and stimulating to use.
Focus on supercritical CPQ functions
A CPQ system, with its many features, will bring enormous benefits to your business. However, initially it may be useful to focus on a few of them and not implement all of them at the same time. Select the features that are fundamental and important to reach your current sales targets. Then you can gradually implement more and more features.
For the CPQ project to be a real success, it is also important that the system integrates seamlessly with your other key systems such as CRM (Custom Relationship Management) systems. By integrating the two systems, you collect all important data in one place. Last but not least: make sure that the users, i.e. the customers, are satisfied!
