Do you think your CPQ needs to live in your CRM? It doesn’t.
I’ve spoken to so many folks that think they need to use the CPQ that comes with their CRM system. But that’s simply not true. It’s more important that you look at your business processes and the state of your company to find the tool that best meets your needs, rather than defaulting to a legacy CPQ system that comes up short.
Consider this analogy: you have an old car that needs an engine replacement. Would you invest $50K+ in all the necessary repairs or just buy a new car with new technology that does what you need it to do?
Where your CPQ lives isn’t important. What is important is that your CPQ enables your business to do whatever you want and need to do.
CPQ vs. CRM
Your CRM is your customer relationship management tool. It helps you to manage all your customers (existing and prospective) and manage all the interactions you have with these customers. It’s a GTM tool most heavily used by sales, but also other functions like marketing and customer success. The purpose of a CRM is to increase efficiency, sales, and revenue.
CRMs do a really good job of identifying customer problems and how to resolve them. They’re good on the support and sales side, but they don’t really help on the front end of the process. That’s where CPQ comes in.
CPQ is a configure, price, quote tool that helps sales teams generate quotes quickly and accurately. It’s used by sales teams, but also sales ops and finance. The purpose of a CPQ is to streamline the sales-quoting process, ensure that salespeople are selling in a responsible manner, and enable finance teams to bill and recognize revenue for what is quoted.
6 CPQ considerations … that are more meaningful than where your CPQ sits
So if having your CPQ live in your CRM isn’t a requirement — what is? When evaluating CPQ alternatives, take into account the following 6 considerations:
- CPQ data goes back into your CRM. As long as the data goes back into the CRM, you don’t need to restrict yourself. You just need to make sure that there’s fidelity between your front and back office systems.
- CPQ-first mindset. CRM vendors aren’t in the business of CPQ; it’s just a side hustle. You should seek out tools that are purpose-built for certain functions. Don’t just take a default option because you think it will be easier (Hint: It won’t!). There’s a reason why all these purpose-built apps exist; because CRMs don’t provide the support SaaS businesses need.
- Fits your business needs. When it gets down to quoting use cases in enterprise software, CRMs are inherently complex and try to dumb down your use cases to fit into your CRM. You shouldn’t let a system decide for you how you want to sell.
- SaaS metrics. You shouldn’t have to create a field to calculate MRR or ARR — and yet many CPQs within CRMs don’t natively calculate these or any other essential SaaS metrics.
- Single source of data. CPQs have become, for those who use them correctly, the data repository for an organization. A data scientist might disagree with that description, but in practice it’s true: all your data finds its way in there.
- User-friendly. The best tool is the one that your users use. Lots of sales people don’t like the data entry in Salesforce so they don’t stay on top of it. This makes the data incomplete and unreliable. If your CPQ has an easy-to-use interface, sellers will be less resistant and more likely to actually use it.
Free your CPQ!
Still need convincing that your CPQ doesn’t need to live in your CRM?
Consider this …
Does your email sit in your CRM? Or do you use your email tool of choice and have it integrated within your CRM so that all the emails you send get pulled into the system?
Do you use your CRM for forecasting? Or do you use a best-in-class forecasting tool in the market to track your deal pipeline and sync with your CRM?
So why would CPQ be different? Why would you try to force your configure, price, and quote process into the existing ecosystem of an old customer relationship management platform?
The answer is … you shouldn’t.
Instead, find the right CPQ for your business, ensure it has all the functionality you need, and don’t worry about the non-issue of where it sits.
Need more help evaluating your CPQ options? Check out these 10 key capabilities to look for in CPQ for SaaS.
