As the average B2B sales cycle grows longer and longer and reps spending less than 35% of their time actively selling, it’s clear that sales leaders must find ways to shorten the sales cycle and help reps become more productive.
One such way is leveraging a quote-to-cash software, making it easier and quicker to prep quotes and eliminating unnecessary steps for the customer between the quote and payment stages.
What is Quote-to-Cash (Q2C) software?
Quote-to-cash (Q2C) software is pretty much exactly what it sounds like. It’s quoting software used by your sales ops team to build out a custom quote.
The receiving customer can not only accept the quote but pay (either in full, deposit, or in installments) directly from the provided quote as well. So, it saves time and makes the process infinitely smoother on the sales team’s side as well as on the customer’s side.
Why Quote-to-Cash software is critical for sales ops
These days, sales leaders are all about sales operations and how a strategic approach to sales ops can maximize productivity, efficiencies and revenue potential. Quote-to-cash software is
Here’s why:
1. Quote-to-cash software minimizes the potential for human errors
Instead of building a quote from scratch by referencing a spreadsheet or catalog and transcribing the figures to a client-facing document, your sales reps can do all of this right within the platform. Some Q2C solutions like PandaDoc include a built-in approvals process so that no quote can go out with a second pair of eyes on it, adding an additional safety net.
2. The right quote-to-cash system will boost sales productivity while addressing inefficiencies
Your reps will be able to get more quotes out the door in less time because quotes will be easier to build. PandaDoc’s Q2C features include a fully customizable product catalog, content library, quote templates, interactive pricing tables, and in-document Stripe payments for your customers’ peace of mind. And, when reps have to spend less time prepping and tracking quotes (and payments!), they can spend more time selling… which we all know is a good thing.
3. Quote-to-cash gets quotes to your customers faster
Responsiveness and speed are critical in closing deals. The faster you get back to the customer, the less time you leave the door open for a competitor to swoop in and steal the deal.
“Companies using Q2C improve on-time customer delivery rates 11% more effectively.”
4. Faster quotes mean a shorter sales cycle
You’ll instantly (and dramatically) shorten your sales cycle by eliminating the back-and-forth of paperwork and order forms. As soon as a quote hits your customer’s inbox, it can be accepted and paid immediately so that there’s no unnecessary lag time.
5. Create a 1:1 ratio between SQLs and opportunities created
Most sales cycles can see a massive lift in the ratio of ‘Sales Qualified Leads’ (SQLs) to ‘Opportunities Created.’ Depending on your sales process, you can likely create a 1:1 ratio so that every time a sales qualified lead requests a quote, they’re automatically progressed to the Opportunity Created stage since there is now a revenue amount associated with the deal, thanks to in-document transactions.
There are plenty of obvious benefits of using a quote-to-cash software instead of your standard spreadsheet pricing table or product catalog.
