When your company manufactures pipes, fittings, faucets, filter cartridges, and a host of other plumbing-related products, building quotes can be a nightmare for your sales team.
Checking the availability of each item and the latest price for everything takes a lot of time — time that your prospective customers have to switch to a competitor.
A configure-price-quote system (CPQ) can solve this problem, and streamline many others.
In this article, we will show you how to choose a fitting system for a plumbing equipment manufacturing business.
Key takeaways
- CPQs allow quick creation of quotes of varying complexity, including ones with many custom products or intricate discounts.
- When choosing a CPQ, the most important features for plumbing equipment manufacturers are the ability to quickly generate quotes, streamline product and pricing management, and smooth third-party integrations.
CPQ in a nutshell
The name itself, “configure-price-quote,” tells most of what you need to know about such software.
Configure — check the availability and price of the item, modify existing products (e.g. in the case of custom pipes), and see whether the necessary amount will be available by certain dates to make the quote happen.
Price — get the latest price for each item and adjust it according to any discounts, seasonal changes, etc. This is crucial for avoiding conflicts with customers or causing losses to the company.
Quote — quickly create professional-looking quotes that give the client all the necessary information and entice them to close the deal.
Top CPQ features for plumbing equipment manufacturers
Certain features of a CPQ are especially important for companies that make plumbing equipment. When looking for a configure-price-quote system, focus on these, as they will give you the most value.
Quote builder
This feature allows you to easily create complex quotes by using drag-and-drop objects, pulling data from other systems, or other automation measures.
It makes the work much faster, increasing your chances of winning the deal.
Product management
Offering services like custom fitting manufacturing or cutting pipes to specific sizes helps get ahead of the competition and stay there. However, any nonstandard item is an opportunity for mistakes in documents.
With robust product management as part of your CPQ, you will be able to quickly and accurately include any custom products in a quote. This is valuable to both manufacturers and distributors.
Pricing management
If your company has a complicated system of pricing and discounts, utilizing CPQ software with the ability to handle this complexity is an invaluable feature.
By setting smart rules, taking everything into account, you can make precise and enticing offers for your customers.
For example, in summer, when the demand for PVC pipes, filters, and other pool plumbing equipment soars, you will be able to automatically adjust prices.
Or if you have a customer that you want to motivate to buy more, you can offer a bulk discount that will occur once their order value exceeds a certain number.
Imagine all the customer data accessible in one place, the contact information automatically filled in, and the quote sent directly to everyone who needs to sign off on it.
Additionally, in your work, you are likely to use other software, for example a CRM or an ERP. A CPQ that integrates with them seamlessly — say your team uses HubSpot and Pipedrive for CRM — will increase your productivity by a mile.
CPQ advantages for plumbing equipment manufacturers
CPQs bring value in different ways:
More sales
The main benefit of these systems is increasing the overall profitability of your plumbing equipment business.
It mostly comes from more deals won through faster quote generation, better accuracy, and improved personalization.
While your competitors are still typing in every nut, hose, and bolt, you will have already sent all the details to the customer.
Less time spent on paperwork
Traditionally, generating quotes and managing sales documents involves manual processes, including printing, filling out invoices, and physically storing paperwork.
However, with a CPQ system, plumbing equipment manufacturers can automate and digitize all these tasks.
Moreover, some solutions also include e-signature functionality, allowing everything to be done quickly and in one app.
Easy interdepartmental cooperation
Instead of calling other departments (e.g. warehouse, showroom, etc.) and asking about the pipes and custom shower heads, you can directly include your colleagues on filling in the quote.
This eliminates many interdepartmental conflicts and helps get the work done faster.
PandaDoc — a model solution
PandaDoc offers a versatile and convenient CPQ solution that fits plumbing equipment manufacturers. It’s cloud-based, which allows users to access the system from any location with an internet connection.
It’s strongest suits are:
Integrations
PandaDoc CPQ can exchange information with many other business software: Zapier, Hubspot, Salesforce, Dropbox, etc.
It can be quickly and painlessly added to your existing business processes and workflows, which means you’ll start getting ROI faster.
User-friendly interface
This CPQ software is designed to be understandable even to people who aren’t advanced computer users. Anyone can learn it quickly.
Advanced quotes
You can make multifaceted quotes with numerous custom products and various discounts while using a simple step-by-step process.
Templates
With premade quote templates, you won’t have to write any boilerplate text. Just enter the quote data, pull the contact information from the CRM, and you’re good to go.
Inbuilt payment gateway
Your clients can pay for their order right from the quote you’ve sent.
This makes closing the deal easier and improves customer satisfaction.
PandaDoc offers tons of value for the money and several pricing tiers. Book a demo to see if it’s the right fit for your company.
Disclaimer
PandaDoc is not a law firm, or a substitute for an attorney or law firm. This page is not intended to and does not provide legal advice. Should you have legal questions on the validity of e-signatures or digital signatures and the enforceability thereof, please consult with an attorney or law firm. Use of PandaDoc services are governed by our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
