Manual sales processes lead to errors, time wasted, and money left on the table

The ability to efficiently create reliable price quotes is crucial to accelerating sales cycles, impacting business growth, and creating a satisfactory customer experience. However, the process can involve numerous parameters and become a complex and time-consuming task. This is especially true when the sales quote involves an ensemble of components and variables whose costs depend on multiple considerations such as industry, product configuration, etc.

As a result, salespeople often find themselves manually computing prices and then using tools such as Excel or Word to issue a sales proposal. This not only makes the process tedious, but also leads to calculation errors, discrepancies in pricing and legal policies, inconsistency in how the organization’s brand is represented, and wasted time and effort on generating customized quotations.

In fact, according to Aberdeen Group, only 38% of companies are sending accurate price quotes, leaving significant revenue on the table.  

So how can organizations simplify the process and increase their speed and efficiency when generating quotes in Microsoft Dynamics 365?

3 ways to streamline the quoting process and increase sales efficiency

1. Implement playbooks and guided selling

If you are reading this, you are probably using Excel or other manual templates to calculate and create your company’s price quotes. Sales playbooks are intuitive and configurable wizards that use “guided selling” to walk salespeople step-by-step through each customer engagement and content generation activity. These guided flows can be customized to every type of sales scenario, enabling salespeople to create personalized quotes within minutes effortlessly.

2. Employ digital proposals instead of Word, Excel, or manual templates

Digital proposals release sales teams from time-consuming manual entry when creating business proposals. The whole deal cycle can be managed and nurtured from one point of interaction instead of sending and tracking numerous files. This not only saves time and minimizes errors, it enables prospects to share proposals with their internal stakeholders with just a couple of clicks.

3. Use insights to optimize every stage of the deal

Getting real-time alerts on customer engagement allows salespeople to quickly identify buyer intent, track progress, and see which content is resonating. They can pinpoint friction areas, and quickly make changes to optimize the experience for customers and guide the deal forward quickly and more efficiently.

As organizations grow, the manual processes and templates that served them when they were small become difficult to scale, unmanageable, and time-consuming. I have worked with dozens of Sales Operations professionals, IT managers, and other Sales related capacities and one of the things that almost always surprises them is how easy it is to implement tools within Microsoft Dynamics 365 that automate processes and make quoting simple, easy and fast, leaving salespeople time for what they do best, sell.

DealHub CPQ helps MSD 365 users close bigger deals faster

One of the easiest tools to implement, and perhaps one of the most valuable is Configure, Price, Quote (CPQ). Automated quoting with DealHub CPQ enables Microsoft Dynamics 365 users to eliminate sales process inefficiencies and close larger deals. This is illustrated by the success BDR Thermea is experiencing using DealHub. For this enterprise company, DealHub implemented a dynamic sales playbook that streamlines the sales process for representatives, no matter how intricate the sales cycle is. By responding to a set of pre-configured questions, sales professionals can generate precise price quotes, eliminating the need for the back office’s assistance in creating quotes.

The native integration with Microsoft Dynamics 365 ensures real-time synchronization of customer data between the CPQ and the CRM. As sales reps progress through the sales playbook, quotes are automatically generated with customer data, accurate pricing, and valid product configurations, reducing manual input. Additionally, DealHub CPQ allows for zero-coding backend changes, enabling easy modifications without the reliance on coding by operations teams. Eliminating bottlenecks and simplifying implementation and maintenance has improved the scalability of BDR’s sales operations.

The implementation of DealHub has yielded notable results for BDR. Salespeople now operate more efficiently, with DealHub automating customized quotation documents, leading to increased compliance, fewer contract errors, and significant time savings. The sales team can independently produce accurate quotes within just two minutes, a substantial improvement from the previous four-hour manual process.

A major benefit to BDR is how DealHub CPQ has empowered its sales representatives to be self-sufficient in managing extensive product catalogs with thousands of SKUs. This self-sufficiency has not only increased the confidence of the operations team in the accuracy of deals sent to customers but has also reduced their dependency on external partners. BDR values DealHub CPQ for its user-friendly interface, support for large product catalogs, adherence to complex pricing rules, and the ability to update the product catalog swiftly, transforming a process that used to take weeks into a matter of minutes.

Read more about the easy way to generate quotes in Microsoft Dynamics 365 for sales.

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For business application managers searching for a quoting solution for Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Sales, CPQ promises to revolutionize pricing strategies, enhance customer experiences, and boost revenue. However, embarking on a CPQ journey isn’t without its challenges. To help you navigate this transformative process successfully, we’ve compiled a comprehensive guide that outlines the top 10 “Do’s” and “Don’ts” for digital pricing transformations with CPQ. Whether you’re just starting your CPQ implementation or looking to refine your existing strategy, these insights will prove invaluable in aligning your efforts with business goals and avoiding common pitfalls.

The Do’s: Charting a Course for Success

1. Do Align with Business Goals: The first step to a successful digital pricing transformation is ensuring it aligns seamlessly with your organization’s overarching business goals and objectives. Without this alignment, your efforts may go astray, wasting time and resources.

2. Do Involve Key Stakeholders: Engage a diverse range of key stakeholders, including sales, marketing, finance, and IT, right from the outset. Their insights and perspectives are invaluable in crafting a holistic CPQ strategy and ensuring a unified customer journey.

3. Do Prioritize Data Quality and Integration: Data is the backbone of effective CPQ. Prioritize data quality and seamless integration with other business systems to ensure accurate pricing and streamlined processes.

4. Do Take a Customer-Centric Approach: Place your customers at the center of your CPQ strategy. Offer personalized pricing options and a frictionless buying experience to meet their needs effectively.

5. Do Provide Continuous Training: Empower your sales teams with ongoing training and support. This ensures they maximize the use of CPQ tools and optimize pricing strategies effectively.

6. Do Measure and Analyze: Implement key performance indicators (KPIs) and analytics to track the effectiveness of your pricing strategies. Data-driven adjustments are essential for staying ahead in the market.

7. Do Experiment and Iterate: Be open to testing new pricing models and iterating your approach based on feedback and results. Flexibility is key to staying competitive.

8. Do Ensure Legal Compliance: Don’t overlook the importance of legal compliance. Ensure that your pricing strategies adhere to all relevant regulations and industry standards.

9. Do Select CPQ Vendors Wisely: Choose a CPQ vendor that integrates natively with Microsoft Dynamics. Select a vendor that aligns with your business needs and offers scalability for future growth to ensure your long-term success.

10. Do Invest in Change Management: Develop a change management plan to ease the transition and gain buy-in from employees at all levels. A smooth transition is crucial for success.

The Don’ts: Navigating Common Pitfalls

As you embark on your digital pricing transformation with CPQ, it’s essential to be aware of potential stumbling blocks that could hinder your progress. Here are the top 10 “Don’ts” to steer clear of:

1. Don’t Neglect Data Quality: Avoid relying on inaccurate or outdated data for pricing decisions. Without clean, reliable data, your CPQ system’s output may lead to costly errors.

2. Don’t Rush Implementation: Take the time to plan and execute your CPQ transformation thoughtfully. Rushing into deployment can result in overlooked details and suboptimal outcomes.

3. Don’t Overcomplicate: Keep your pricing models as simple as possible to prevent confusion for both customers and internal teams. Overly complex pricing can deter potential buyers and frustrate your staff.

4. Don’t Ignore Customer Feedback: Disregarding customer feedback can lead to pricing strategies that don’t resonate with your target audience. Listen to your customers; they are your best source of insights.

5. Don’t Neglect Training: Failing to provide adequate training can result in underutilization of CPQ tools. Invest in thorough training programs to ensure your team can harness the full potential of your CPQ system.

6. Don’t Set and Forget: Pricing strategies should evolve with changing market conditions and customer preferences. Avoid setting them in stone; regularly review and adjust as necessary.

7. Don’t Skimp on Security: Ensure the security of customer data and sensitive pricing information. A data breach can not only result in financial losses but also damage trust and reputation.

8. Don’t Disregard Legal Compliance: Ignoring legal and regulatory requirements can lead to costly legal issues. Stay informed about the laws and regulations that pertain to your industry and pricing practices.

9. Don’t Forget Scalability: Implement a low-code CPQ solution that can scale with your business’s growth. Failing to consider scalability can result in limitations that hinder your expansion plans.

10. Don’t Silo Departments: Collaboration is key to a successful CPQ transformation. Avoid working in departmental silos and encourage cross-functional collaboration among all relevant teams.

By being mindful of these “Don’ts,” you can navigate the challenges often accompanying digital pricing transformations with CPQ. Combining the “Do’s” and “Don’ts” will provide you with a comprehensive roadmap for success in your CPQ journey.

Deliver one fluid sales motion with a CPQ for Microsoft Dynamics 365 for sales

All business application managers aim to create one fluid sales motion that simplifies the buying and selling experience. Avoid the scenario where sales representatives are juggling various disconnected tools that hinder their ability to close deals efficiently. Engage in open conversations with your sales team to understand their specific needs and ensure that the chosen tech solutions are seamlessly integrated and scalable, capable of handling complex deals without causing frustration.

Moreover, the value of sales professionals’ time cannot be underestimated. Lengthy manual tasks and convoluted sales processes waste valuable time and hinder efficiency and productivity. To enhance your sales team’s quoting speed and accuracy, consider implementing CPQ software. CPQ technology streamlines administrative tasks, empowering sales representatives with greater autonomy and flexibility. With its suite of integrated tools, CPQ adapts to your unique requirements, offering a solution that simplifies your sales processes and enhances productivity and effectiveness.

When choosing technology solutions for your sales team, keep the above recommendations at the forefront of your decision-making process to simplify vendor selection. Following these do’s and don’ts increases the likelihood of a successful implementation while fostering maximum adoption among your sales team. 

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AUSTIN, Texas — September 19, 2023 — DealHub, CPQ, CLM, Billing, and Digital DealRoom solutions, today announced the availability of DealHub CPQ in the Microsoft Azure Marketplace, an online store providing applications and services for use on Azure. DealHub customers can now take advantage of the productive and trusted Azure cloud platform, with streamlined deployment and management.

By using DealHub CPQ, businesses improve sales productivity and performance, and reduce sales friction, as they move quickly from creating quotes to closing deals. With one seamless revenue motion organizations streamline their quote-to-revenue process, issue proposals, close deals, manage contracts, and automate their subscriptions and billing in one unified platform.

“DealHub’s availability in the Microsoft Azure marketplace marks another important step in our growing partnership with Microsoft” says Eyal Elbahary, DealHub’s CEO and Co-founder. “Together with Microsoft we are working to help customers transform their businesses, and we’re delivering impactful, human-centered solutions to the market every day. DealHub CPQ transforms the way organizations close deals, as it delivers a compelling sales experience that provides a competitive advantage to Microsoft users.”

“Through Microsoft Azure Marketplace, customers around the world can easily find, buy, and deploy partner solutions they can trust, all certified and optimized to run on Azure,” said Jake Zborowski, General Manager, Microsoft Azure Platform at Microsoft Corp. “We’re happy to welcome the DealHub solution to the growing Azure Marketplace ecosystem.”

The Azure Marketplace is an online market for buying and selling cloud solutions certified to run on Azure. The Azure Marketplace helps connect companies seeking innovative, cloud-based solutions with partners who have developed solutions that are ready to use. DealHub’s unified solution goes beyond legacy CPQ to include full integration with CRM systems, offering Contract Lifecycle Management, Subscription Management, Billing and a unique customer experience.

Interested in hearing more? Schedule a demo with our team of experts.

The post DealHub.io now available in the Microsoft Azure marketplace appeared first on DealHub.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 is a powerful CRM platform to manage leads and customer relationships. What it lacks, however, is the ability to manage the sales process from end to end, to send accurate, branded, professional quotes and sales proposals, and report on the buyer interaction with those quotes.

Fortunately, CPQ software for Microsoft Dynamics, enables sales teams to configure complex pricing easily and respond to buyer requests for quotes quickly, two factors that heavily impact the customer experience and the likelihood of a sale.

Benefits of CPQ for Microsoft Dynamics 365

Add to that the benefit of visibility into every quote, and you can see how CPQ (Configure-Price-Quote) software takes your CRM from standard to spectacular.

Then there’s the increase in productivity. Automating sales quotes and proposal generation frees sales reps to spend more time talking to potential customers. Less time spent on administrative tasks means more opportunities to increase revenue.

Learn more: What is CPQ?

Choosing the right CPQ for Microsoft Dynamics 365

CPQ is commonly ranked as one of the most critical technologies to support CRM. But, how do you choose the right CPQ for Microsoft Dynamics that integrates seamlessly to create a rich user experience that will elevate your sales process and maximize your sales team’s productivity?

1. Aligned with native Microsoft Dynamics user experience

In 2018, Microsoft made some nice user experience improvements to MS Dynamics 365, including enhancements to forms and dashboards, and improving the visual hierarchy. The best CPQ will sync with the native MS Dynamics user experience, making it easy for your sales reps to generate pricing, quotes, and proposals from within the platform, using a single sign-on. This single sign-on capability turns the CPQ into another feature within your CRM, so reps don’t have to leave the platform to use a separate tool, greatly increasing user adoption and ease of use.

2. Easy to use

Sales reps face many challenges when working with buyers. They must be up-to-date on products and pricing, trained in using sales software, and savvy in their communications with buyers. They must understand their company’s sales methods and policies. And, they need to be prepared to share the right content with buyers at the right time in their buying journey. All of this can be accomplished with a CPQ that incorporates guided selling using a sales playbook.

A CPQ that is easy to use and includes features such as sales playbooks and pre-configured rules for pricing and discounting will increase adoption of the software and decrease new hire onboarding time. You and your sales team will benefit from a CPQ which requires minimal training time to bring sales reps up-to-speed and helps them close deals easily.

3. Robust yet agile

A productivity-enhancing CPQ will include features that streamline the sales process, yet be agile and customizable to your organization’s needs. Look for a CPQ that allows you to customize your product catalog and configuration rules and easily change pricing and discounting. CPQ offers the time-saving benefit of branded templates, but look for a CPQ that can generate customized documents as well.

Flexible features aren’t the only benefit of CPQ. In Dynamics, salespeople can quickly view their funnel. A CPQ takes it a step further and enables your reps to view the current stage of the quotes in their pipeline and determine the most recent action taken on each quote. Visibility into the funnel stages and status of each quote allows you to identify bottlenecks and empowers agile decision-making on each deal.

4. Easy to implement and administer

A CPQ that is quick and easy to set-up and configure, and one that doesn’t require a developer to write custom code, will help you achieve a positive ROI faster. Seamless integration with MS Dynamics CRM is a must.

A CPQ streamlines the sales process and reduces administrative tasks. If you cannot update pricing, configure new discounting rules, and add new products easily, it is not the right CPQ for you. Look for a CPQ that provides ongoing support beyond initial set up so you have help should issues arise or when you need additional customization of the software. Partner with a CPQ vendor that is easy to work with and makes customer support a top priority.

5. Supports complex pricing models

For companies that need to configure complex pricing and quotes, such as those in the services, finance, manufacturing and telecommunications industries, CPQ picks up where MS Dynamics falls short. The best CPQ for your organization will support complex pricing options including subscriptions, leases, add-ons, and bundled pricing. Features tailored to configuring complex pricing enable a faster and more accurate quote-to-contract process.

6. Localization

If your organization works across borders, having a CPQ that can adapt quotes to different regions is critical. Localization can adapt quotes to the local language and seamlessly translate prices into the local currency so sales representatives and customers don’t have to worry about currency conversion misunderstandings. Localized CPQ can also adjust to take into account different rules, regulations, and legal frameworks so that regional compliance is built right into every quote and proposal.

7.  Automated approval workflows

Getting timely approvals used to be a process. With CPQ, the entire process gets automated and integrates right into Microsoft Dynamics CRM. This can slash approval times from days down to minutes! When automation enters the sales arena, manual approvals also become a thing of the past, which removes the likelihood of human error. CPQ, when integrated with MS Dynamics, guarantees consistency and responsiveness on every deal with pre-approved workflows. 

Guess what also happens when approvals speed up? The entire sales cycle shortens, so sales representatives can rest easy knowing they’ll get deals greenlit faster. 

8. Data synchronization

Imagine having Microsoft Dynamics, your finance apps, and all of your other business systems centralized. A system that pulls everything together would remove data silos, reduce manual data entry, and have all your updates in one place. CPQ makes it possible to sync up data in real-time so that a sales team’s quotes and proposals reflect the latest data, product information, pricing, and applicable discounts.

With all data timely and centralized, sales representatives avoid copy-paste errors. They no longer need to jump between platforms or juggle different spreadsheets either. CPQ not only ensures data flows seamlessly – it also unifies the customer experience. This unification ensures everyone (across teams and departments) has the same accurate, synchronized data for smoother communication and seamless customer interactions.

9. Analytics and intelligence

Visibility into the sales process, at each stage of the buyer’s journey, yields valuable data about how customers respond to quotes and proposals, what communication with buyers is most effective, what prices and discounts have the best close rate and other intelligence that can inform your sales process, policies, and pricing. Actionable data leads to better sales strategies that empower your team to be more successful.

10. Scalable for growth

As your business grows, you need CPQ software that will grow with your company. A vendor dedicated to CPQ will be able to support you as your business grows. Continual improvements and updates, taking into account customers’ needs for enhanced functionality, ensures that the CPQ software will grow with you. Choose a CPQ vendor that is committed to supporting your long-term business growth.

CPQ fulfills Microsoft’s sales vision

This quote from Alysa Taylor, Corporate VP, Azure + Industry at Microsoft, resonates with us at DealHub.io and our mission to offer a new breed of CPQ to our customers.

DealHub is purpose-built to break down the silos between marketing and sales, customer and sales rep, manager and sales team. Our CPQ for Microsoft Dynamics aligns with the platform, not only in functionality but in our vision for the value that a CPQ offers for today’s companies and their customers. The unique value that DealHub.io brings to Microsoft Dynamics users is the new approach to CPQ which focuses on ease-of-use and a better buyer experience. DealHub has evolved CPQ to a point where every Price Quote can now be sent out in a personalized DealRoom, making it easier for the buyer to have all the sales collateral they need centralized in one place.

Learn more about DealHub CPQ integration with Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Sales
and how to streamline quoting and accelerate your sales process in this video:

The post The 10 essential CPQ features for Microsoft Dynamics users appeared first on DealHub.

Moderator MSDynamics 365 MVP, Rick McCutcheon, was joined by DealHub expert panelist Eyal Orgil, CRO and Co-founder, and Omer Fuchs, VP Strategic Alliances.

Here are the nuts and bolts of that riveting discussion. 

CPQ (Configure, Price, Quote) solutions are considered the latest must-have sales optimization tools. They not only empower organizations to send out accurate proposals quickly and easily but also provide valuable data for revenue forecasting to help navigate the sales process. 

Why CPQ?

CPQs provide a solution for some great challenges in B2B sales- generating accurate price quotes, quickly sending out proposals, and keeping the sales process short and efficient.

An Agile CPQ has a sales-first approach, focusing on organizations’ sales processes from the sales team’s perspective. Typically in the world of CPQ, guided selling is used to help sales professionals navigate product catalogs in the price book. The Agile CPQ has taken an innovative approach to this, by creating a dynamic playbook, modeled around the way sales organizations and professionals actually work when managing deals and making sales. 

This logical guided process has laid the foundation for its intuitive and easy-to-use design, empowering leaders to connect their teams and processes, execute deals, and create predictable pipelines more effectively than ever before.

This is most evident in the areas of:

• Operational Efficiency – CPQ reduces administrative tasks and allows business application people to continuously adapt to changing business needs through the low-code environment 
• Revenue Growth – A single revenue achievement strategy
• Compliance and Control – Centralizes authority and legal compliance across geographic territories
• Customer Experience – Digital DealRoom creates an innovative buyer experience by giving the ability to share content and track engagement behaviors to better understand the customers digital body language

An important thing that’s often overlooked is keeping sales people in mind when integrating sales tools. As obvious as it may seem, organizations don’t always consider the people who are actually using specific solutions. If a tool is not used, it’s a failed solution.

Working closely with the sales team in the configuration stage ensures a high adoption rate. When the sales team fully adopts the tool, that’s when you know your chosen solution is the right one.

What Can a CPQ Do? 

CPQs serve the sellers, but carry benefits for buyers, by transforming the customer journey to one that’s fast, frictionless, and user-friendly. A lean and quick sales process is an advantage for both sides of the purchase interaction, and an agile CPQ has all the capabilities to redefine B2B sales. 

Additional benefits include:

1. Response Time

In today’s fast-paced environment, response time is critical to the success of a deal. Being faster than the competition is important. Just as important, however, is accuracy. Quotes need to be accurate, current and based on customer needs.    

2.  Pricing Accuracy

Pricing is often the most challenging aspect of B2B sales. Errors in pricing have a costly exponential effect. Whether it’s a hundred-dollar cable or a $20K component that was missed, sending out error-riddled quotes damages business. A CPQ alleviates this main pain point effectively by ensuring 100% quote accuracy.

3. Sales & Legal Compliance

Sales and legal compliance are paramount to any business deal. CPQ solutions ensure no rogue discounting and contractual misalignment in an organization by placing legal guardrails to protect pricing, clauses, and contractual obligations. This doesn’t take away the freedoms of sales professionals but it does ensure that there are no compliance shortfalls caused by careless or unwitting mistakes.

4. Pipeline Accuracy

No organization can afford to have salespeople sending out quotes without departmental or organizational awareness. This is not only irresponsible but dangerous to business prosperity. Accuracy in the pipeline is critical and should be highly detailed within the CRM, so sales professionals can easily follow and track it.

5. Standardization

Having standardized brand assets across all forms of communication – from logos to documentation formats – provides a professional and consistent look and feel. CPQ streamlines the standardization process, by speeding efficiencies and reducing the workload for all parties involved while feeding back into the customer experience. All of these aspects work together to promote business health. 

6. Renewals & Expansions

In software companies and in other industries, salespeople invest a lot of time trying to create renewals for customers. In fact, renewals can be done in minutes via automation tools. Using automation reduces the workload and the time required to manage the deal-making process.

CPQ Transforming Business

CPQs are designed for organizations looking to streamline the deal-making process, automate approval workflows, and gain control of sales processes as they scale. Transforming the way organizations do business, DealHub’s Agile CPQ offers Dynamics 365 users a unified platform that increases the scope of an organization’s offering, enables sales teams to thrive by simplifying the quoting process, and ensures a smooth adoption with guided selling while gaining more control over sales operations.

Partnership for Success

With a quick time-to-value and proven ROI, DealHub’s Agile CPQ is a significant digital transformation enabler giving organizations a competitive advantage in the ever-evolving sales landscape.

To watch the full expert panel, How Agile CPQ & CLM Differentiate Your Dynamics 365 Practice click here

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Without being equipped with the right tools and processes, your sales team will find it difficult to do their jobs effectively and drive revenue. For example, if your sellers are using tools that don’t connect with each other, or spend too much time performing manual administrative tasks, they’ll have difficulty closing deals efficiently and dedicating proper attention to their customers. 

The cost of sales friction is high. Reps often lose out on deals if they’re not executed in a timely manner. You may also face high turnover rates due to employee unhappiness and frustration. This unhappiness and frustration can stem from feeling ill-equipped to sell because they lack the proper tools and technology to excel in their position. 

Through years of working with clients who must contend with the high complexity of B2B sales, we’ve discovered that one of the earliest and biggest pain points is the price-quoting process.

Improving that process will not only make it easier for your sellers to sell, but will also provide your customers with a better buying experience. In this article, we reveal three ways Microsoft Dynamics CRM users can improve the quoting process so sales reps can deliver a better digital selling experience.

Establish trust and credibility by sending accurate quotes quickly

By sending accurate quotes quickly, you develop trust with buyers and can improve your organization’s credibility. CPQ technology enables sales teams to send accurate quotes promptly and efficiently. Sales leaders can quickly plug in product data, configure pricing rules and strategies, and reps can start quoting. Instead of taking hours or days, by integrating CPQ with your Microsoft Dynamics CRM, sales teams will be able to send error-free quotes within minutes. In addition, sales reps can get quote generation right the first time, without any need for further iterations.

Just as it is aggravating for buyers to wait for an accurate price quote, it’s just as aggravating and disheartening for sales reps who find it difficult to create accurate price quotes in a short amount of time due to complex calculations that slow them down. It’s even more frustrating when their credibility becomes tarnished when these quotes are sent containing errors and inaccuracies. 

With a modern CPQ, sales reps will be able to send quotes quickly to customers, establish credibility, reduce mistakes and wasted time spent on lengthy administrative tasks. You can eliminate complicated calculations that can lead to costly errors when changing quantities or applying discounts, and ensure reps are following pricing guidelines with automated approval workflows. 

CPQ technology that integrates seamlessly with your Microsoft Dynamics CRM means all deal data is automatically synced with your CRM, making it easy for sales teams to create quotes, even for complex deals that have evolving products, configurations, and pricing. 

Free up your reps to focus on delivering value

Imagine this scenario: your sales reps are jumping between multiple tools that don’t work well together, they’re getting caught up in manual tasks, and they often need to repeat work due to errors or inaccuracies. All of these obstacles are taking them away from their most important role: selling. 

Resolving these issues eliminates manual tasks, administrative oversight load on sales leaders, and busywork for sales reps. By automating lengthy and error-prone tasks, sales teams can spend more time actively selling, understanding customers’ needs, and strategically communicating. Thereby allowing reps to focus on delivering value to your customers.

Here’s an example of how CPQ automation can free your reps from complicated administrative tasks so they can focus on the needs of the customers. A situation may arise where a buyer would like to see several quotes for different pricing, quantities, and products so they can make the smartest buying decision. With a powerful CPQ, you can quickly create several quote iterations (what we call “multi-dimensional pricing”). This provides your buyers with a view of different quotes and pricing for different product packages to help them make the best buying decisions for their needs. 

Deliver timely, relevant and personalized quotes

You should provide accurate and personalized information to your buyer right when they want it. With a best-in-class CPQ you can deliver quotes within minutes of a sales call, or better yet, during the call itself. 

If you don’t offer buyers the information and deal data in the appropriate amount of time, you could be frustrating and losing them to your competition. With a digital sales room, sales reps can easily provide a personalized and branded experience that is up-to-date with deal information, which can potentially change during contract negotiations or approvals. This digital sales room, where buyers and sellers can collaborate in a central location, provides them with a single source of truth. Sales teams can quickly move deals along with integrated e-sign capabilities to further optimize and streamline the buyer experience. 

Deliver one fluid sales motion with DealHub CPQ and Microsoft Dynamics CRM

Digitizing your sales process in 2022 is mission-critical. Sales executives must adapt a digital mindset in order to match clients’ evolving buying habits and enable a frictionless sales process. By implementing and adopting CPQ technology that integrates with your Microsoft Dynamics CRM, your organization can do exactly that. 

DealHub’s CPQ enables sales teams to quickly and efficiently create accurate quotes and proposals in a matter of minutes. With best-in-class CPQ technology, you can eliminate costly errors and ensure sales reps can focus on selling and delivering value to your customers. 

Connect DealHub’s CPQ + Microsoft Dynamics CRM for a smooth and efficient quoting process

Discover how

The post 3 Ways to Drive B2B Sales with Microsoft Dynamics CRM appeared first on DealHub.

As this digital shift continues to take over every industry, organizations must constantly ask themselves whether they’re doing enough to keep up with the times and stay ahead of the competition. As history shows us, companies that thrive – or continue to thrive – are those that continually adapt to the needs of their buyers, and are also able to anticipate the needs of tomorrow.

At the same time, B2B companies must also be mindful of the evolving needs of their own sales organization, and occasionally seek out new ways to improve, optimize and accelerate the digital selling process.

As a sales, revenue, or operations leader, one of your primary roles is to remove friction from the sales process so sellers can sell more easily, and so customers are more likely to do business with you.

To help you do that, we present to you our four key pillars for successful digital selling.

1. Enabling sellers to quote accurately and quickly

Many B2B sales teams underestimate the impact of speed on their ability to close deals. When a sales rep takes hours or even days to provide a comprehensive price quote or proposal, they lose valuable momentum with their customers.

As the saying goes, time is money. So how can you reduce the amount of time required to send sales quotes and proposals?

According to our 2021 Benchmark Report for Revenue Leaders:

• 84% of SMBs that use a CPQ are able to send a quote within 30 minutes, compared to only 57% of those that don’t.
• 95% of SMBs that use a CPQ are able to send a proposal within one hour, compared to only 56% of those that don’t
• 90% of enterprises that use a CPQ are able to send a proposal within one hour, compared to only 43% of those that don’t.

Adopting CPQ software is not only one of the most powerful ways to accelerate the digital selling process, but it’s also the most effective way to ensure the accuracy of quotes and proposals.

A best-in-class CPQ will have a built-in sales playbook that guides sellers, via an intuitive series of questions, to make the most strategic pricing decisions. With the help of preconfigured pricing rules, automated discount-approval workflows, and real-time syncing with your CRM, they can avoid making costly errors and easily adhere to established sales strategy.

In addition to empowering your sales team, a CPQ enables your sellers to provide customers with accurate price quotes in a fraction of the time it takes your competitors to do so – earning the trust of your buyers, establishing credibility, and increasing their likelihood of making a purchase.

Sendoso found that by adopting DealHub solutions, they’ve been able to create accurate sales proposals in less than 10 minutes, reduce quoting and contract errors by 95%, and increase average deal size by 15%.

2. Delivering right-time experiences

Whether buying a pair of shoes online or purchasing new software for their company, people have become accustomed to seamless, highly personalized, and low-friction buying processes. However, B2B companies have generally not managed to match the intuitive buying experiences provided by B2C companies like Amazon, Expedia, and Uber.

So how can you provide them with a smooth, effortless buying experience that improves the odds of closing the deal? By ensuring they’re always encountering the most relevant information at the most relevant point in their journey – what we call right-time experiences.

Choosing the right technology cements your ability to accomplish this, and it starts with CPQ software. A modern CPQ tool will ensure that your product catalog is always up to date, that you can instantly deliver information to customers in their preferred format, and that you can easily make quote adjustments to respond to customer needs in real-time. 

How else can you deliver right-time experiences during the digital selling process?

• By providing highly relevant sales and marketing collateral at the appropriate stage of the sales process
• By establishing a single source of truth for evolving deal information (like products, pricing, quantities, and discounts)
• By sharing and collaborating on sales documents in one central place

This kind of personalized and engaging experience is made possible by a digital sales room proposal that can be automatically generated by your CPQ. This DealRoom reflects the current status of your deal at any given time. It’s a place where both buyers and sellers can check in for the most up-to-date information and deal status.

3. Enabling cross-team collaboration

The more complex a deal, the more stakeholders tend to be involved. According to Gartner, B2B deals involve an average of 11 stakeholders – and that’s just on the buyer’s side. This typically includes representatives from the C-suite, Finance, Legal, and of course, the department making the purchase.

The involvement of multiple stakeholders is a major friction point for many sales organizations, and multiple sign-offs and delays have the potential to stall deals, sometimes indefinitely. When it comes to cross-team collaboration, here are some of the common impediments to closing deals:

• Complications arising from quoting errors or inaccuracies
• Negotiations around terms and conditions
• Issues related to discount approvals
• Unnecessary back-and-forth communications
• The need to modify quotes, proposals, and contracts

Greater alignment and communication between stakeholders will remove a great deal of friction and make it easier for your sales team to sell. But how can you make that happen?

For one, you can bring buyers and sellers together within a collaborative digital workspace – a DealRoom – so they can collaborate around deals and documents, and do so based on the most accurate and up-to-date information. With real-time notifications about buyer engagement, sellers can also stay on top of each deal, prioritize opportunities, and strategize how best to follow up and move each deal forward

Internally, automatic syncing between your CPQ and CRM will provide a single place for everyone in your organization to keep track of deals and customers, manage subscriptions, and plan for renewals, upsells, and cross-sells. And automated approval workflows will accelerate internal collaboration and make it easier to get deals signed off. What would normally take days of back-and-forth can be accomplished automatically, and potentially within minutes.

4. Leveraging actionable insights

Most businesses understand the potential value of customer, sales and revenue data. The challenge is how to actually manage and leverage this data in order to sell more effectively and achieve greater revenue.

In most cases, they are impeded by one of two things:

1. Difficulty collecting data across the customer journey – which often results from a lack of proper tools, or using tools that don’t communicate with one another
2. Not knowing how to interpret the data or how to use it in an effective, measurable way

If you’re not using data to assess and improve your digital selling process, or feel you could be doing a better job of it, here’s what you need to know…

Capturing actionable insights and using them to optimize your sales strategy can be the difference-maker when it comes to meeting sales quota, hitting revenue targets, and edging out the competition.

Case in point: with DealHub’s CPQ platform, you can easily configure, implement and test multiple pricing strategies, with no additional coding required. The outcome? Insights that enable you to continually refine your pricing and digital sales strategy – and potentially achieve massive revenue impact.

In addition, managing buyer/seller interaction within a digital DealRoom provides you with real-time buyer intent data that act as “digital body language”. For example: when a buyer shares an incoming DealRoom proposal with their own organization, you can detect who else is on their buying committee, how engaged they are, and what content they’re engaging with. This way you can discover potential bottlenecks and identify opportunities for other stakeholders to get involved or provide guidance.

Turn digital selling into a competitive advantage

Countless factors and decisions contribute to a successful sales strategy. But by understanding these four pillars and implementing smart tools and processes in service of them, you can:

• Increase the success rate of quotes and proposals – by enabling greater speed and accuracy
• Make it easier for buyers to buy from you – with the injection of right-time experiences
• Boost sales productivity and close deals faster – through greater collaboration with teams and stakeholders
• Improve the seller experience and optimize revenue achievement – with actionable insights

Ready to create one fluid sales motion?
Check out our new integration with Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Sales

The post 4 Key Pillars for Successful Digital Selling appeared first on DealHub.

Steve Clayton

Twitter | LinkedIn | Instagram

Starting his career at Microsoft as a technical pre-sales engineer, Steve took it upon himself to blog about the story of Microsoft from inside. After a few years and thousands of posts, he was invited to move from London to Seattle and join the communications team to tell his stories in an official capacity. As Chief Storyteller and General Manager of the Innovation, Culture and Stories team, Steve is responsible for communicating Microsoft’s culture and innovation through storytelling. In this recent article from PR Daily, Steve offers five tips to ramp up your storytelling.

Alysa Taylor

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As Corporate Vice President of Business Applications & Global Industry, Alysa is leading the product marketing teams that are accelerating digital transformation and customers’ and partners’ success via the adoption of Microsoft Business Applications. In her recent talk at Microsoft Inspire, Alysa highlighted the change that is happening across all industries and that a modern approach is necessary for companies to stay relevant. In fact, 91% of business leaders see digital transformation as a way of sparking innovation and finding efficiencies. 64% say they have less than 4 years to complete a Digital Transformation or they may go out of business. 

Joel Lindstrom

Twitter | LinkedIn

As a principal architect at Hitachi Solutions and 12 time Microsoft MVP, Joel has lead hundreds of successful Dynamics 365 deployments. He is one of the founders of CRM Audio a network of podcasts about Dynamics 365, and along with fellow MVPs George Doubinski, Shawn Tabor, Scott Sewell, and productivity expert Matthew C. Anderson, “cover everything from roundtable discussions of all things CRM.” Joel is also co-creator of CRM Tip of the Day where he together with George Doubinski, Derik Bormann, Jerry Weinstock, and Leon Tribe, offer daily advice for navigating the platform.

Murray Fife

Twitter | LinkedIn

The author of over 50 books and guides on Microsoft Technologies, Murray is a global black belt for Dynamics 365, supporting national sales of the Dynamics 365 platform and evangelizing all of the Microsoft technologies. In his blog A Tinkerers Notebook, Murray takes you on a journey of practical insight, tips, and experiments in Microsoft Dynamics 365. Whether you are a newbie or veteran Dynamics user, make sure you follow Murray to maximize the potential of your workflow. 

Rob Rowe

LinkedIn

Using his experience in customer success and executing go-to-market strategy, Rob empowers Sales and Business Development teams to reach customers who are on their digital transformation path with Microsoft Dynamics 365. Want to learn how companies are utilizing MSD 365 in their daily operations? Follow Rob to read customer stories and discover strategies that you can implement in your organization. 

Elisabeth Michaud

Twitter | LinkedIn

As Sr. Product Marketing Manager, Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Sales, Elisabeth is a great source of updates and new offerings, and how the product is continually evolving to meet the demands of today’s digital customer. Her recent post on the Sales Insights application highlights the latest AI and Relationship selling capabilities that can dramatically impact sales and business outcomes. 

Jason Cosman

Twitter | LinkedIn | Blog

Jason has been voted a Microsoft Dynamics MVP for CRM and is extremely passionate about the platform. His blog Cosmans’ Dynamics 365 Blog and social media feeds offer tons of practical advice on using the platform in various scenarios.

Anantha Ramachandran

Twitter | LinkedIn

If you want to better understand how Microsoft Dynamics 365 helps organizations align Sales and Marketing, make sure you check in with Anantha Ramachandran. Anantha posts numerous case studies of companies from many industries who are seeing tangible results in their Sales and Marketing efforts.

Donna Edwards

Twitter | LinkedIn | Blog

Donna has been working with Dynamics 365 business applications since the beginning with CRM version 1.2. Her blog is chock full of expert tips, articles, and interviews that help readers get a firm grasp of the platform. She also shares business logic that helps users make the most of their experience with Dynamics 365. Donna is a Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP), Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT), and a decade-long recipient of the Microsoft Business Applications MVP.

Andrew Bibby

Twitter | LinkedIn | Blog

Playing a central role in the Dynamics 365 CRM UK user group, Andrew is part of a dedicated team of volunteers that facilitate all-day and evening events focusing on the CRM side of Dynamics 365. These events cover just about every aspect of the platform including technical sessions, the Dynamics 365 roadmap, demonstrations of new functionality, customer and vendor showcases, change management, user adoption advice, and more.  Andrew is also a Microsoft Business Applications MVP and posts tons of helpful insight on his channels.

Satish Thomas

Twitter | LinkedIn

As Group Program Manager at Microsoft, Satish is the Head of Product for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Insights. He is part of the founding team and responsible for the overall strategy and vision, engineering roadmap, customer/partner requirements, and business results. Follow his feed if you want to learn how Dynamics 365 Customer Insights can help you increase your sales and improve your business outcomes.

Mark Smith

Twitter | LinkedIn | Blog

Better known as nz365guy, Microsoft Dynamics 365 MVP, Evangelist and Certified Trainer, Mark Smith has extensive knowledge of the platform and uses his understanding of business and software applications to demonstrate how technology can assist in digitally transforming organizations. As host of the Microsoft Business Applications Podcast, Mark offers weekly interviews, tips, and advice.

Anne Stanton

Twitter | LinkedIn | Blog

As “The CRM Lady,” Anne is on the front line helping businesses stay ahead of the technology curve. She has experience working with Microsoft Dynamics CRM since 2004, and her blog and feed offer insights on Microsoft Dynamics 365 straight from the field. This includes tips on Customer Engagement, project management, field services, customer service, sales, platform and more.

Steve Mordue

Twitter | LinkedIn | Blog

As a Microsoft Business Applications MVP, Steve nurtures his following by talking “the Good the Bad and the Ugly of business applications” in his podcast “Steve Reads his Blog.” Steve helps those who are too busy, or too lazy, to actually read his blog, which is a cornucopia of insight on how Microsoft Business Applications helps solve business problems. Since he can be found at many Microsoft events, make sure to follow his feed to learn where he will be, and maybe pick his brain.

Jukka Niiranen

Twitter | LinkedIn | Blog

Jukka actively shares the latest Dynamics 365 news, tips and insights on his Surviving CRM blog and social media profiles. He believes that the most important feature of Dynamics 365 is its user community, Working as Product Lead for Microsoft Business Application at Elisa, Jukka started working with Dynamics CRM in 2005. After managing a development team for global CRM system roll-outs and learning the ins & outs of the Dynamics CRM, Jukka joined a Microsoft partner organization to assume a senior CRM consulting role. In over 15 years Jukka has developed skills for viewing the related information systems through the eyes of the end-user and is focused on delivering solutions with high usability to ensure user adoption.

Who I have missed from this list? I would love to surface the key-thinkers that are helping to evolve the Microsoft Business Applications space, this evolution is taking-off and we can expect some exciting announcements soon.

Tag yourself to stay on the pulse and know who else is shaping Microsoft Business Applications innovation.

The post Microsoft Business Applications Influencers to Follow appeared first on DealHub.