In the technology sector, businesses often have to deal with extremely complex product, software and service orders, which can prove challenging for most sales teams.
If you haven’t got efficient processes or systems in place to deal with large-scale, multidimensional orders, it can have a negative impact on your reputation and cause deals to fall through.
Walpole Partnership explores the top sales challenges for businesses in the technology industry and outlines the solutions available.
The complexity of product orders
A major challenge for B2B companies in the technology sector is the complexity of product orders. If a prospect approaches your business seeking a quote for a hugely varied set of products for its user base, you need an efficient way to price it all up.
For example, if your business provides computer equipment and IT solutions to other organisations, their workforces are likely to require an array of different products, with multiple variations in models, sizes, software and performance capabilities. Configuring all these components is a complex procedure and takes sales teams a lot of time to organise, resulting in delays and potential human error.
The solution
Configure, Price and Quote (CPQ) software capabilities support your sales teams by offering efficient, automated solutions to manage the data and bring quotes together in a presentable, streamlined format. Rules and triggers can be set up to ensure that product configurations are accurate, optimised and the best fit for the customer.
Large order volume
The complexity of product orders for tech businesses can be manageable if the prospects user base is small. If it’s a large-scale product order, including hardware and software offerings, plus services associated with certain products, this is not an easy task for your sales reps.
The solution
CPQ systems can manage a vast level of data. They configure complex orders to optimise quotes for global organisations with a large number of employees, which require new tech equipment for their users, across various sites.
Arming your sales team with a CPQ platform that boasts these automation capabilities will enable you to turn quotes around quickly and efficiently, shortening the sales cycle and building the trust of your prospects and existing clients.
CPQ systems can significantly boost your sales productivity. For example, PCCW, a leading global communications and technology company, revealed that implementing Oracle CPQ Cloud has increased sales productivity by 20%. (Source: Oracle).
Product and software licensing & leasing of tech equipment
Whether its computer equipment and hardware, such as desktops or printers, or cloud-based software packages and related virtual solutions, youll need to factor in licensing and possibly even leasing details. Does the organisation require new licenses for all users or only for certain users, or for certain products, etc? And what about ongoing monitoring and upgrades to software licensing? It can get complicated!
The solution
Subscription management can be solved with CPQ, even allowing for recurring or usage-based billing. CPQ can also support MACD (Move, Add, Change, and Delete). MACD is an optimisation solution for operational efficiencies, especially in the coordination and management of preapproved changes to IT assets. It helps to deliver streamlined, accelerated processes and cut down on time-consuming, manual tasks involved in configuring orders, related to changeable elements, such as product and software licensing.
CPQ systems have these MACD capabilities and this can also help with product leasing. If organisations choose to lease certain equipment within their orders, MACD helps to configure leasing costs and incorporate them into your sales quotes. This means that your sales team can manage and prepare multifaceted quotes, with intricate pricing breakdowns, efficiently and present them clearly to prospects and customers.
Top Sales Challenges: The Summary
Configure, Price, Quote solutions address the key sales challenges faced by technology businesses, saving time, reducing inaccuracies and boosting reputation, due to the efficiency of their automation capabilities. CPQ systems supercharge sales teams, giving them the ability to manage large-scale B2B orders, configuring complex orders with ease and incorporating product and software licensing and equipment leasing into pricing details.
Want to learn more about the key benefits of CPQ, the challenges the software addresses and how to implement a CPQ platform? Get our Complete Configure, Price & Quote (CPQ) Guide for the Technology Industry.
Walpole Partnership is an award-winning IT consultancy, specialising in Configure, Price and Quote (CPQ) solutions. Our experienced experts advise and support businesses with the implementation of CPQ systems, to transform their sales performance.
