How To Drive More CPQ Sales With AI In 2020 – Forbes

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Bottom Line: AI-based deal intelligence, pricing and predictive analytics are defining the future of CPQ selling today by providing real-time insights applicable to every sales cycle, from initial quote through contracts and renewals.

AI and machine learning are making immediate contributions to driving more revenue by improving deal price guidance, deal intelligence, dynamic pricing and improving rebate & incentive management. Every CPQ vendor knows that pricing is the catalyst they need in their applications to attract and keep new customers. Theyve redefined their product road maps to enable customers to create pricing segmentation models, provide price optimization guidance to sales teams, and optimize pricing for each product and customer. Salesforce is providing Einstein Pricing and Einstein Analytics Templates to optimize margins, improve close rates, improve quoting efficiency and improve subscription metrics.

What CROs Are Looking For

Chief Revenue Officers (CROs), Sales and Sales Operations VPs are looking for CPQ solutions to step up and deliver improved pricing guidance across sales cycles, ideally through intuitive, easily understood visualizations. A CRO of a medical device manufacturer who is generating over 40% of all revenue from CPQ sales strategies told me recently that for CPQ to make a difference in their company, it needs to do the following:

AIs Four Cornerstones Of CPQ Growth

Pricing agility, intelligence and speed win more deals by enabling organizations to complete quotes faster and more completely than competitors. AIs four cornerstones of CPQ growth are intelligent pricing, embedding sales insights into more sales cycles, improving deal workflows with greater intelligence and improving enterprise-wide CPQ integration. User experience is now table stakes to deliver any CPQ solution, and its the glue that keeps all four cornerstones aligned. Several vendors including Vendavo are defining their product strategies based on these trends and are well-positioned for 2020. Expanding on each of these four cornerstones provides insights into how AI can drive more CPQ revenue in 2020:

Conclusion

CPQ selling strategies effectiveness is improving thanks to AI and machine learning. Based on visits with medical device and discrete manufacturers who rely on CPQ for a large percentage of sales, four cornerstones of why CPQ is improving based on AI emerge. The first is how important intelligent pricing is becoming. In addition, embedding sales insights into more sales cycles, improving deal workflows with greater intelligence and improving enterprise-wide CPQ integration are cornerstones of CPQ in 2020. AI and machine learning are today improving revenue lifecycles by providing sales teams guidance on which deals to quote, at which price, for which specific products.

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How To Drive More CPQ Sales With AI In 2020 - Forbes