Enhancing Customer Experience with PIM and Salesforce CPQ

Now picture that your Head of Sales recently noted in a meeting that the team is facing challenges around efficiency. They are struggling to create quotes and close orders quickly enough to stay competitive, as the market demands rapid fulfillment and quick quote generation. She also mentioned that her reps struggle to answer questions quickly about the 1M SKUs that you offer. 

You decide to try to better understand her pain and see if there’s a solution to get the sales team back on track.

The Pain Points

After speaking with your sales team, you uncover a common thread: even though your sales team often finds themselves on the phone negotiating orders with distributors, they frequently lack visibility into accurate, up-to-date product information. They have to navigate multiple systems, rely on outdated product sheets, or reference old product catalogs, leading to delays, errors, and, eventually, a less cohesive customer experience.

The Role of High-Quality Product Information

Integrating a modern Product Information Management (PIM) tool with a CPQ solution can transform this scenario. 

Product Information Management (PIM) Solutions

PIM software is designed to centralize and manage product data across an organization, ensuring that accurate, consistent, and up-to-date product information is available to all relevant stakeholders, including sales teams, marketing departments, and customer service representatives. 

PIM systems help streamline the process of collecting, managing, and enriching product data, as well as distributing it to various sales channels, such as eCommerce websites, catalogs, and marketplaces, and CPQs.

Configure, Price, Quote (CPQ) Software

CPQ software is often used by sales teams to generate accurate quotes for products or services quickly. It enables representatives to configure products to meet customer specifications, determine pricing based on set rules and discount structures, and produce professional quotes, helping to automate complex sales processes, reduce errors, and increase efficiency. 

High-quality product information within the CPQ contributes to a consistent and cohesive customer experience across various sales channels. With accurate and comprehensive product information readily available, sales representatives can:

1. Provide consistent information: Ensure that customers receive the same high-quality information, no matter the channel, building trust and reinforcing brand reliability.
2. Increase order values: Leverage product associations to suggest compatible products. For example, if a sales rep is discussing a golf club cover of a specific color and pattern, they can recommend a matching golf club bag, increasing the average order value.
3. Facilitate swift quoting: Quickly search and add the right products to quotes. The ability to determine which fields (like product name and short description) are included in the quote improves visibility for the buyer, beyond just quantity and price.

Salesforce CPQ 

Built on the Salesforce platform, Salesforce CPQ is one of the most popular solutions on the market. Salesforce CPQ offers features such as guided selling, automated approvals, and real-time analytics, making it a powerful tool for sales teams. Its user-friendly interface and extensive customization options allow businesses to tailor the software to their specific needs.

Benefits of Integrating PIM with Salesforce CPQ

Now, let’s return to our sporting goods manufacturing example. Integrating a PIM system with Salesforce CPQ would offer numerous benefits and alleviate some of the pain points that were discovered within the sales team by enabling:

• A centralized record of consistent, accurate product information: With this integration, sales teams would have access to accurate and up-to-date product data directly within Salesforce CPQ.
• Improved quoting speed: Sales representatives can quickly search for and add products to quotes, leveraging comprehensive product data from the PIM system. This reduces the time needed to generate quotes, enabling faster response times and increasing customer satisfaction.
• Increased order values: By utilizing product associations and cross-sell opportunities, sales teams can recommend complementary products during the quoting process. For example, suggesting a matching golf club bag when discussing a golf club cover can boost the average order value.
• Enhanced customer experiences: Access to detailed product information allows sales reps to provide more informed recommendations and answer customer questions accurately, creating a more personalized and satisfying customer experience.
• Streamlined operations: Centralized product data management eliminates the need to navigate multiple systems or rely on outdated resources, streamlining operations and reducing the risk of errors.

The Symbiosis of PIM and CPQ

The sporting goods manufacturing example we’ve walked through is not exactly a unique one; brands and manufacturers across the globe struggle with these issues of inefficiency, data silos, and unreliable product information.

But integrating a PIM system with a CPQ solution, such as Salesforce CPQ, ensures that accurate, up-to-date product information is readily accessible,  enabling your sales team to provide superior service, drive higher sales, and ultimately contribute to the sustained growth and success of your business.

Have you heard the news? Akeneo PIM now offers out-of-the-box functionality for Salesforce CRM and CPQ! This powerful integration ensures that sales teams have access to accurate, up-to-date product information, enabling them to generate precise quotes quickly and meet customer expectations effectively. By doing so, B2B manufacturers can streamline their sales processes, enhance customer satisfaction, and ultimately drive higher order values.