CPQ Tools for Salesforce: How to Choose an Option That Works for Your Business

CPQ (Configure, Price, Quote) solutions are highly data-intensive by design. They accumulate tons of data that goes beyond the price per item multiplied by quantity. Besides the prices, it is meant to be accommodating to customers as well as sellers to make the quoting process smooth, effective, and easily manageable.

In this article, we answer the question:

Are there specific criteria for selecting a CPQ solution, especially if you’re using Salesforce, and how do you approach them?

In practice, there are three stumbling blocks for businesses aiming to automate the sales quoting process:

✦ Defining the required scope: Going for a dedicated CPQ solution is most justified when businesses aim to automate numerous business rules, decisions, and criteria. It’s important to understand your business needs before making a CPQ investment.

✦ Defining customization flexibility: Can the solution accommodate the given business logic or be customized for effectiveness?

Let’s review them in greater detail.

When selecting a CPQ solution, no matter if you plan to use it with Salesforce or not, there are a few considerations:

When a CPQ system is a standalone product that is intended to integrate with Salesforce, challenges arise. For instance:

Standalone CPQ solutions typically have a different focus compared to native ones. Their main advantage lies in enhancing client collaboration via channels not inherently available in native solutions. In such cases, Salesforce often serves merely as a source of data about products, accounts, and clients.

However, if a CPQ system is built natively on Salesforce, it has direct access to its internal database, meaning all relevant data points for business logic are readily available. Standalone CPQ solutions require integration with your ERP system or Salesforce to access the same data, and configuration of custom fields or structures to transfer business rules.

Most CPQ apps are relatively straightforward and easy-to-use, and don’t support complex pricing models. If your commercial proposals are not simply prices per item multiplied by quantity, cost of materials, labor, and additional services like delivery, ensure the solution supports your desired pricing policies and rules before making a decision.

For instance, if a company has a complex commercial proposal where a single line item contains more than one price multiplied by quantity—such as the cost of materials, labor, and additional services like delivery—all these prices need to be accounted for in some way to calculate the final line price. Not every CPQ solution on the market is capable of this.

Businesses must evaluate whether a CPQ system can integrate additional features or interfaces as needed. For example, if you’re already using Salesforce for sales operations, it is advisable to check which ready-made integration options are available for the CPQ solution of your choice (see the first point).

Additionally, large enterprise-level solutions, such as Salesforce CPQ, can be too complex and have a significant learning curve. On the other hand, there are simpler CPQ options that are easier to understand and adopt and come with better documentation.

The next point is additional features you want to see in the CPQ tool besides quoting. For example, if there’s a CPQ solution that supports visualization, one can configure a printed circuit board by selecting specific components, and see their choices rendered visually on the same screen.

Therefore, the questions arise:

Do you need such functionality? If so, will it integrate with Salesforce effectively?

It’s advised to research the match for your needs beforehand: Salesforce-native CPQ tools are unlikely to support such niche scenarios, or may be limited in customization and integration by the package vendor.

Ease of use matters for a CPQ tool for Salesforce since salespeople are often not technical users. When all sales decisions are fast-paced, it’s critical that deals can be closed fast and cleanly with minimum time spent on navigating product catalogs or entering prices manually.

Third-party CPQ solutions, such as Sculptor CPQ, typically emphasize intuitive interfaces—like putting both the quote and the product catalog on the same screen, or drag-and-drop feature for putting together product bundles and quotes. These factors can significantly enhance the quoting process compared to tools like Salesforce CPQ, which, while robust and an industry standard, can be more complex and less customizable.

Last but not least, there is a price component. They vary considerably—there are free CPQ solutions, some are Salesforce-native and enterprise-level software with a hefty price tag. The price differences are based on the features, which often go beyond the basic configure-price quote process.

Additionally, brand reputation plays a significant role. Many smaller businesses find it easier and more convenient to purchase a bundle of sales products from a single vendor to cover a few needs, such as CRM and CPQ, at once.

Some companies may not need 90% of the features offered by more complex CPQ solutions. However, for some companies, certain critical functionality might be missing in simpler CPQ solutions, forcing them to opt for more expensive options.

Ultimately, choosing a CPQ solution depends on a business’s specifics, and you can use the following questions:

For many businesses, the decision involves balancing Salesforce’s all-in-one convenience against the added flexibility and cost of standalone CPQ solutions.