Being a mid-sized business today means you’re under constant pressure to close deals fast while delivering accurate quotes and an excellent customer experience. Plus, you need to do all that while operating with leaner teams and tighter margins than larger enterprises.

This is where CPQ (configure, price, quote) software can help you.

CPQ is accessible and valuable for growing companies, as it automates key parts of the sales process so that mid-sized businesses can deliver the professional, accurate quotes that your customers expect.

Let’s dive a little deeper!

Understanding the role of CPQ in modern sales operations

CPQ is all about making the sales process smoother for your team. Buyers want everything quickly without sacrificing quality or accuracy.

This is why having an efficient quoting process is so important, as it can prevent lost deals or stalled growth from small inefficiencies that are avoidable (with the right tools).

By automating and smoothing out key steps in sales, including configuring solutions, calculating pricing, and generating professional, accurate quotes, CPQ software modernizes sales operations to be more efficient.

Instead of relying on siloed systems or managing manual spreadsheets, your sales teams can use CPQ software to create accurate, consistent quotes much faster than outdated manual processes.

What is CPQ software?

CPQ stands for configure, price, quote. It’s a sales tool designed to help you generate accurate quotes for complex products or services.

Simply put, CPQ software guides your sales reps through configuring a product or solution, automatically applies pricing rules, and creates a polished proposal or quote in minutes.

Automation is key, as it makes sure prices are accurate while reducing manual work for your sales reps and shortening the time it takes for them to respond to customers. For mid-sized businesses, this means critical time earned back for your teams so they can close more deals.

For a deeper look, check out our detailed article on everything you need to know about CPQ software.

Unique challenges mid-sized businesses face

Even though mid-sized companies have likely outgrown the startup sales processes that are more simple in nature, they don’t always have the resources that larger enterprises have. This means it can be particularly difficult when it comes to quoting and generating proposals.

Here’s why:

  • Manual processes dominate: A lot of mid-sized teams are still relying on spreadsheets or disconnected systems, leading to a plethora of inefficiencies.
  • Inconsistent pricing: If you don’t have centralized control, your pricing can vary from one rep to another—this is a recipe for friction with customers and lost revenue.
  • Limited resources: Smaller sales teams can find it hard to maintain speed and accuracy while juggling all their priorities.
  • Slow turnaround times: When you’re dealing with the constant back-and-forth between departments, your quote approvals and updates are going to be slowed down.
  • Scaling pain points: The goal is to grow your business, and with that comes more complex quoting. If you don’t have a scalable system in place to help support, your team and business are going to struggle, which equates to lost revenue.

All of these challenges directly impact deal velocity, customer experience, and profitability, none of which are worth sacrificing if you can help it.

Take a closer look at how small and mid-size business RevOps leaders can compete with enterprise sales teams here.

What are the benefits of CPQ for mid-sized business?

Now that you know the challenges you’re dealing with as a mid-sized business, let’s dive into what CPQ software can do for you.

Automate repetitive tasks

CPQ tools take away the need to manually select products, calculate pricing, or generate quotes. In just a few clicks, your sales reps will be creating quotes for customers while freeing up time to focus on closing deals and building customer relationships.

This is all thanks to automation. CPQ software uses predefined product rules, pricing logic, and templates to generate quotes based on the unique customer inputs. This means no manual data entry and consistent proposals every time.

Reduce quoting errors

Because we’re human, manual quoting can lead to mistakes. It could be anything from incorrect pricing or incompatible configurations. CPQ fixes this issue by applying pre-approved rules, pricing models, and product logic so that every quote is accurate and compliant with your business.

These kinds of safeguards make sure reps can’t create incorrect product combinations or offer unauthorized discounts since they are built directly into the system. This means protecting funds and brand reputation.

Speed up the quote process

We’ve said it a lot already, but we want to drive the point home: CPQ is all about giving your reps time back. We’re talking about generating quotes in minutes instead of days. Because workflows for discounts and approvals are built into the system, this speeds up internal reviews so that your team can respond to prospects faster and with more professionalism.

CPQ uses automated quote generation and routes quotes through rule-based approval paths. This means no more bottlenecks or back-and-forth that’s usually required between the sales, finance, and legal teams.

Enhance the customer experience

Your buyers want speed and clarity, both of which you can achieve with CPQ software. It allows you to deliver clean, branded quotes that are accurate, personalized, and easy to approve, which will likely leave your customers happy and feeling like they can trust you with their business.

Much of this is thanks to templates, dynamic content blocks, and automated data population for each quote. It helps you meet your customer’s specific needs and branding preferences. This creates a seamless and professional interaction.

Align internal teams

CPQ makes sure everyone works from the same set of rules and data, meaning sales, finance, legal, and product teams can collaborate through a unified quoting process.

This is because the software can centralize product catalogs, pricing structures, approval workflows, and compliance requirements in one system. This means all stakeholders can see what’s going on in real time.

Want a closer look at the benefits of CPQ? Check out our article on CPQ benefits and how it can boost revenue and streamline your operations.

What to look for in CPQ software for mid-sized companies

Because a lot of CPQ systems are built with only enterprise-level companies in mind, not all are going to be right for your needs.

When it comes to choosing the right CPQ software—and implementing it—make sure it’s both powerful and usable. Here are the key components you should look for:

  • Ease of integration: Whatever CPQ software you choose, it needs to integrate with your existing CRM, contract tools, and any other core platforms you use.
  • Customization and flexibility: Look for a software that makes customizing pricing rules, workflows, and quote templates simple.
  • Intuitive interface: Your team shouldn’t need to take an extensive course to understand how to use your software. Make sure its platform is easy and pleasant to navigate.
  • Built-in document capabilities: The best CPQ option will have integrated eSignatures, an extensive template library, and analytics, all of which will help streamline your sales process, as you have everything you need in one place.
  • Support and scalability: The software you choose should offer onboarding and support, particularly as you get started. It should also be ready and able to scale with your business.

PandaDoc CPQ software offers simplicity, power, and speed for mid-sized businesses. Our solution is built to drive efficiency and fuel your growth by making quoting seamless.

While many CPQ options can be difficult to adopt or lack the functionality needed to integrate with your existing tech stack, PandaDoc is user-friendly and offers native integrations with top CRMs like Salesforce and HubSpot.

Still need convincing?

Just ask Popmenu, our client who opted for PandaDoc instead of their outdated proposal toolkit, smoothing out their sales process and getting rid of the headaches.

“PandaDoc is one of the most flexible tools I’ve worked with, and that’s something you can’t take for granted. With other platforms, making simple changes can be slow and frustrating, but the PandaDoc UI is quick, responsive, and reliable. Whether it’s designing templates, tweaking workflows, or handling complex CPQ processes, everything just works.”

– Lewis Kim, Sales Operations Analyst at Popmenu

Smart quoting is the key to scaling sales

It’s time that mid-sized businesses ditch the manual, error-prone quoting processes and opt in to a CPQ system that’s accurate, fast, and consistent.

Ready to see what CPQ can do for your business? Request a free demo today.

Frequently asked questions

CPQ is helpful for any business that offers customizable products or services, uses tiered or variable pricing, or wants to improve their quoting process. It’s great for mid-sized businesses that want to scale efficiently without sacrificing speed or accuracy.

Many industries use CPQ software, including SaaS, manufacturing, healthcare, telecommunications, professional services, and finance. Essentially, any industry that involves sales with custom quotes or complex pricing structures.

Smaller companies typically find that CPQ tools help move their teams faster by simplifying their quoting process. Because CPQ software is intended to be able to scale with your business, it gives startups and small businesses a professional edge early on by building a foundation for scalable and repeatable sales processes.