Best 15 CPQ Software for Startups in 2022

What do you think is the most complex process in this ever-competing and B2B selling world? Unarguably it is sales that are among the most complex processes for any organization.

Right from organizing and presenting the products, to implementing offers and discounts, it is the sales that entail immense complexity, and it takes a lot of valuable time for any organization.

Organizations with complex product lines and frequent product changes face numerous challenges in managing all variations.

Whereas the sales teams are heavily overwhelmed with complex product offerings, large portfolios, and frequent product changes, which hamper their ability to deliver the personalized and seamless experience that customers are looking for.

This is exactly where the CPQ Software comes as a big helping hand for the organizations facing challenges with multiple product offerings, different types of pricing, contract pricing, discount management, quote generation, and frequent updates.

What is a CPQ Software?

A CPQ (Configure, Price, and Quote) Software is a tool that provides accurate pricing with any given product configuration environment.

A CPQ software considers product offerings, optional features, quantities, discounts, and customizations, which allows sales representatives to generate error-free quotes for customizable services and products accurately and quickly.

Image Credit: salesforce.com

A CPQ software allows the sales representatives to remain focused on their core functions, and to engage with customers without thinking about quoting prices for a wide range of products.

How does CPQ Software work?

CPQ Software stands for Configure, Price, and Quote. Let us understand what the meaning of these terms is and how this software functions.

Configure:

In this fast-paced technology world, the requirements of end-users keep changing continuously. CPQ software enables you to configure multiple products in a way that you can efficiently meet your customer requests. It takes care of selling opportunities while leaving no room for any manual errors.

Price:

Another challenge is to price your customizable products or services correctly. CPQ software uses Artificial Intelligence to accomplish the task of keeping the pricing reasonable, profitable for the sellers, and keep it within the customer’s budget. 

Quote:

Customers look at multiple options before zeroing in on a specific vendor, and here an accurate product or service quote plays an important role. CPQ software helps businesses to offer accurate and error-free quotes to their customers, it also allows sellers to review the quote at any point in time and accommodate last-minute changes.

Read Also: – Top 10 Most Promising Salesforce Trends for 2022

How a CPQ Software can transform your Business?

CPQ software can offer some unimaginable benefits to any business and transform its capabilities and profitability. 

Here we have a few benefits you can expect from a CPQ software :

Think faster with Automation – 

CPQ software allows numerous possibilities via process automation, that not only saves time but mitigates potential errors as well. It enables users to search right product and pricing from the product portfolio.

Improved Revenue –

CPQ software can seamlessly automate your business processes and workflows, which ensures your sales team is equipped with the latest product catalog and price list on a real-time basis. It improves product offerings and revenue.

An analysis-led Insight –

Data plays an important role in this digitally connected world, if you have critical customer data in hand, then you can offer better-personalized products to your customers.

CPQ software comes with AI and Data analytics capabilities, that help you fetch in-depth analysis of your consumer data and preferences.

Low Risk – 

Businesses face the risk of losing customers if they provide quotes with incompatible products and incorrect pricing. Such issues may pose other risks like legal issues, bad reputation, loss of sales, and many more. A CPQ software helps you prevent all such types of risks.

Improved Billing –

A CPQ software integration can make your billing so easy. Due to automation and improved workflows, the sales team does not need to re-enter the data, which reduces potential errors as well.

Image Credit: salesforce.com

CPQ software is also compliant with ASC606 (revenue recognition standard), which ensures your billing is handled as per the current industry standards.

Mobile and Cloud friendly operation –

CPQ software offers both on-premises and cloud hosting models, and it could be accessed on mobile devices. It empowers your sales representatives to engage customers and sell anytime, anywhere.

eCommerce friendly –

We are living in the eCommerce era, where buyers prefer to purchase without any external assistance. eCommerce is an omnichannel marketplace, and any business must be ready to use it.

CPQ software comes with numerous capabilities to make your business eCommerce friendly.

Artificial Intelligence aided improvements –

Modern CPQ software comes with AI capabilities to offer better up-selling and cross-selling competencies, pricing guidance, recommendations,  and deal scoring so your sales representatives can close the deals quickly and smartly.

Better contracts  –

To manage your contract lifecycle effectively,  top CPQ software could be integrated with your contract process. It ensures correct contract pricing is available, automatic subscription renewals are performed, and payments are made as per the contract conditions.

Faster go-to-market –

CPQ software makes it easier and quicker for your sales team to introduce new products and update the existing ones without any hassles. It offers a full-fledged admin console, that enables sales managers to keep a track of any sort of changes in your product portfolio.

Image Credit: salesforce.com

Top 10 Signs – When your business requires a CPQ Software:

How do you know if your business needs CPQ software?

Well, this is not an easy question to answer. However, we have listed a few signs that you must observe in your business, and if one or more of these signs reverberates with you, it is the right time to opt for CPQ software for a startup.

1. If your sales reps struggle to find the correct products for customers in your massive portfolio.
2. If your sales team takes too much time to respond to an RFP or Quote.
3. Your customer can not configure or find the intended products themselves.
4. If your products are very complex and need further configuration, which could be performed by an experienced professional only.
5. If the record of quotes is only available with your salesperson, and no one else is aware of it.
6. If your sales team is unable to perform cross-selling for your customers.
7. If your sales team gives unrealistic discounts on your products and services, which is impacting the overall profitability.
8. If your sales team is developing and sharing quotes using legacy and outdated software.
9. If your sales reps have different quotes and recommendations for a similar product.
10. If your sales team is frequently sending erroneous quotes to your customers.

Criteria you must consider while selecting a CPQ software

If you are planning to purchase CPQ software, then you must consider and assess the below criteria to take the correct decision.

Ease of Use –

For any startup, this is an important reason when selecting CPQ software. Your sales staff and other teams will be using it; hence it should be easy to understand and use, then only your sales reps will be able to provide accurate quotes to your customers.

An ideal CPQ software: 

• Must be easy to use
• Should be flexible and agile
• Improves the team communication and sales process workflows

While selecting a CPQ tool, you must opt for the one that makes your work easy, as complicated procedures may take a toll on your sales team’s capability to engage with the customers.

Pricing –

For any startup, this is unarguably the most important criterion to select suitable CPQ software. The software must be sustainable and affordable for your business if you are planning to implement it in long run.

An ideal CPQ software must help you meet your business objectives, and use the necessary features without paying for unnecessary components. You must check the payment plans and methods of your CPQ vendor. 

You need to check if they are offering monthly payment plans or a flat fee, and then select the one that is affordable for you. Also, ensure your CPQ vendor does not charge a hefty fee in case of business scaling in the future. 

Integration Abilities –

Any startup will prefer to purchase CPQ software, which could be easily integrated with its existing systems, ERPs, and CRMs to avail the best possible business value.

You must work with your vendor to understand the integration potential of the CPQ software and understand the kind of challenges you may encounter in the future if you scale your business.

Automation Capabilities –

Startups look for software that can automate their workflows and reduces the manual work involved in quote configuration and pricing so that sales reps can pay more attention to their core objectives.

An ideal CPQ software can easily automate your sales process and it empowers your sales reps to access the required data instantly.

Top 15 CPQ Software in the Market 

Choosing a suitable CPQ platform can ease the challenges of managing product configuration requests, offering real-time pricing, cross-selling your products and services, and gathering e-signatures.

The best CPQ software goes beyond offering quotes and proposals services and makes your sales lifecycle more effective to grow your business bottom line.

Here we have the Top 15 CPQ software available in the market : 

1. Salesforce CPQ –

It is a popular Salesforce CPQ and billing platform that helps you with the consolidation of the finance and sales process. It enables you to observe customer patterns and preferences via automated tools to optimize your sales process and improve revenue.

Suitable for: Startups and Large Enterprises

Pricing: Three plans are available:

• CPQ: $75 per month per user (annually billed).
• CPQ:$150 per month per user (annually billed).
• CPQ and Billing Plus: Customized pricing is available according to your requirements.

2. HubSpot Sales Hub –

It is built on the renowned HubSpot CRM platform that offers seamless CPQ functionality via strong sales analytics to facilitate robust growth.

Suitable for: Startups and Mid-sized organizations

Pricing: We have 3 pricing plans available :

• Starter: It is billed at $540 per year, $45 per month (It includes 2 paid users, $23 per month will be charged for an additional user).
• Professional: It is billed at $5400 per year, $450 per month (It includes 5 paid users, $90 per month will be charged for each additional user).
• Enterprise: It is billed at $14,400 per year, $1200 per month (It includes 10 paid users, $120 per month will be charged for each additional user).

3. Proposify –

Proposify is online proposal software that offers the ability to process error-free sales documents and provides in-depth insights into your sales workflows to generate accurate forecasting.

Suitable for: Startups, small businesses, consultants, and professional services.

Pricing: It may cost you $49 per month under the per-user model. You may contact Proposify for a customized pricing model for your organization.

4. Zoho CRM –

Zoho is a state-of-the-art CRM solution, that can streamline your sales and CRM lifecycle management via its workflow automation.

Suitable for: Startups, Mid-sized and large enterprises.

Pricing: It offers four pricing plans, where all plans are billed annually, and it also offers free trials for all plans:

• Standard: $10.82 per month per user.
• Professional: $18.93 per month per user.
• Enterprise: $32.46 per month per user.
• Ultimate: $35.16 per month per user.

5. Oracle CPQ –

Oracle CPQ Cloud offers exceptional CPQ services that help you optimize your sales cycle to improve revenue and performance.

Suitable for: Startups, mid-sized organizations, and large enterprises.

Pricing: You can contact Oracle CPQ to get the pricing details.

6. PandaDoc –

PandaDoc comes with over 750 customization templates, real-time reporting and analytics, and other collaboration tools to accelerate your sales cycle.

Suitable for: Small Startups and Mid-sized organizations.

Pricing: Here we have 4 distinct pricing plans available:

• Free eSign: It is Free 
• Essentials: It costs $19 per month for a single user. A free trial is provided.
• Business: It costs $49 per month for a single user. It also offers a free trial.
• Enterprise: It comes with custom pricing for those who require CPQ software and other APIs integration.

7. DealHub.io –

It is an award-winning sales-engagement platform that offers real-time insights to simplify the quote generation and tracking process.

Suitable for: Startups, Mid-sized, and large enterprises.

Pricing: It offers two pricing plans 

• Deal Room: It enables you to create personalized sales proposals.
• Deal Hub CPQ: It offers better capabilities using Zero-code CPQ.

However, the pricing details are not revealed, you need to contact DealHub.io for further information.

8. Configure One –

It is a highly popular CPQ solution that is known for its seamless integration capability with Salesforce. It also enables customers to see live visualizations of options they have selected.

Suitable for: High-Tech startups and Manufacturing units.

Pricing: The basic version starts at $150. It does not offer any free trial version.

9. Qwilr –

Qwilr is a wonderful proposal and CPQ solution that provides easy document processing with e-signatures, and automation. It can be integrated with Salesforce, Slack, Xero, and HubSpot without any hassles.

It visually represents documents, which makes it very easy to design quotes, proposals, and client updates.

Suitable for: Startups, Mid-sized and large enterprises

Pricing: It offers a 14-days trial for all new users. Apart from that, it comes in two pricing models. 

• Business – It costs $39 per month
• Enterprise – It costs $590 per month

10. SAP CPQ –

SAP CPQ offers quintessential CPQ features, that can transform your selling processes. It comes with native mobile support, that allows customers to access it via mobile devices without any hassles.

Suitable for: Mid-sized and scaled enterprises

Pricing: It offers two pricing plans 

• Standard: $71 per month per user
• Professional: $112 per month per user

11. IBM Sterling CPQ –

IBM CPQ can revolutionize your selling and buying process of complex products and services across channels. It makes it easier for your customer to buy from your organization.

Suitable for: Small Startups, Mid-sized and large enterprises.

Pricing: You can contact IBM CPQ customer support to get a customized pricing plan for your organization.

12. Conga CPQ –

Conga CPQ is a multi-channel and cloud-based sales management platform that allows the sales representative to create quotes based on real-time pricing information.

Suitable for: Startups, Mid-sized and large enterprises

Pricing: You can contact Conga customer support to get a customized pricing plan for your organization.

13. Pricefx –

It empowers your sales reps to respond to requests rapidly, quote with utmost accuracy, and secure more deals. It comes with an error-free CPQ ability, pricing calculation, and simulation, that allows your sales team to address pricing inquiries and deliver accurate quotes.

Suitable for: small startups and Mid-sized organizations.

Pricing: It offers customized pricing plans according to your business needs. You may contact Pricefx customer care for further information.

14. Paperless Parts –

It is a cloud-based native CPQ platform, that comes with a centralized quoting tool that empowers your sales team to analyze data, make better decisions, and deliver accurate quotes. It helps you manage risk with more automated and streamlined processes.

Suitable for: Startups and Mid-sized organizations.

Pricing: It offers 3 pricing plans

• Growth – $300 per month
• Professional – $750 per month
• Enterprise – You may contact customer care for a customized enterprise pricing plan.

15. XaitCPQ –

It is a cloud-based CPQ software developed for providing complex pricing of configurable products. It captures information about the product, services, business rules, and pricing at a unified location to streamline and automate sales tasks. It offers seamless integration with Sage, Salesforce, SAP, and Microsoft Dynamics 365.

Suitable for: Startups, Mid-sized and large enterprises

Pricing: You may contact XaitCPQ customer support to get a customized pricing plan for your organization.

Best CPQ Software – Final words

The conventional quoting process was prone to pricing errors and several risks, that lead to deal failure. This is the reason why more organizations are implementing CPQ software, which helps them mitigate usual bottlenecks and risks associated with the conventional quoting process.

CPQ software offers a plethora of benefits, but it is inherently complex to implement and integrate with your existing system.

At Arka Softwares, we have a team of seasoned experts who can streamline your CPQ onboarding experience by reinforcing best practices, training, and crucial business processes, to make the whole process faster and more productive.

If you are planning to implement CPQ software for your business, please get in touch with our consultants. We can train, empower, and enable your sales team to easily ramp up on the CPQ platform in no time.

Satyam Chaturvedi

Satyam Chaturvedi is a Digital Marketing Strategist at Arka Softwares, a leading mobile app development company dealing in modern and futuristic web and mobile app solutions. He loves to spend his time in studying the market trends and helping startups and enterprises in achieving their business goals.