What is Adaptive Quoting in Sales?

Adaptive quoting is a feature of modern CPQ (configure, price, quote) software that adjusts price estimates and proposal components in real time according to customer requirements, market conditions, and product configurations. It’s used for customizable products like enterprise software, automobiles, and complex machinery.

Features of an adaptive quoting software include:

• Guided selling
• Real-time pricing adjustments
• Customizable pricing rules and logic
• No-code or low-code implementation
• Collaborative quote creation and approval processes
• Customer data integration (via CRM) for personalized quoting
• Multi-currency and multi-language support for global sales teams

With an adaptive system, the quoting process might be carried out via a sales rep (like in B2B sales) or through an online customer portal (e.g., when you’re customizing a new car on a manufacturer’s site). Either way, it dynamically updates the quote as you make changes. And it only allows changes to be made if they fall within your pricing and product rules.

Synonyms

• Agile CPQ
• Flexible quoting

The Importance of Adaptability in Quoting

For companies with a simple, one-dimensional offer (think: a Netflix subscription, clothing brand, or basic SaaS product), the customer can make decisions on their own. And the price is right in front of them, making it easy.

But in complex sales scenarios that require customization and negotiation, adaptability is crucial for success. 86% of B2B customers say they expect personalization in the buying experience. And the average B2B purchase involves 11 stakeholders.

Not to mention, quoting is one of the most error-prone processes when done manually. So if you’re selling a solution with multiple pricing and product variables (think: an ERP system or jet engine parts), a bare-bones system won’t cut it. It won’t even come close.

Beyond that, your buyers are used to working with interactive applications. A huge part of aligning sales with the way customers buy is being able to present your right offer through a clean interface that only requires a few clicks to scroll through and accept. Spreadsheets don’t offer that. 

Benefits of Adaptive Quoting

With an adaptive quoting software, you’ll:

• Eliminate manual errors
• Respond to leads sooner
• Increased agility in pricing decisions
• Increase your sales velocity and win rate
• Have an easier time meeting each customer’s unique expectations
• Create a better buying experience for your customers, leading to increased loyalty and retention
• Get a better understanding your customers, how they feel about your products, and what they’re looking for price-wise (through data)

It also facilitates a smooth handoff between the quoting and contracting processes. With a tool like DealHub CPQ (which has contract management software built in), quotes turn into contracts instantly, and you can move straight into negotiations.

And modern CPQ gives your team the power to push out volume. According to data from SoftClouds, salespeople using CPQ can send prospects and customers 49% more quotes, proposals, RFP responses, and contracts.

How Adaptive Quoting Enhances Customer Experience in the CPQ Workflow

Customers want the buying experience to be as frictionless as possible. Nobody wants to buy from a company that makes it impossible to do so. The CPQ workflow is complex, though — multiple departments and layers of approval are involved, which creates delays and miscommunication risks.

With adaptive quoting software, you can:

Respond to customers instantly

If you have an online configurator your customers can use, they can see their quote generated in real-time, as they update product and pricing options. If a rep guides the process, all they have to do is open the software and select the items.

Deliver quotes in the same breath

The system automatically shares a PDF or application-based quote with your customer after you’ve created it. All they need to do is click it to see its contents, and they can accept or get back to you with changes.

Make your quotes easy to read

Spreadsheets and Google Docs are clunky and unprofessional. Plus, they might not open properly on your prospect’s device (especially on mobile). Rather than formatting your quotes yourself and making things harder for customers, adaptive quoting software makes your quotes look good on any device.

Present better solutions

If you’re selling complex products, you can’t expect your customers to know exactly what they’re getting themselves into. Your reps aren’t just trying to make a commission — they’re there to be trusted advisors who make sure every customer gets something that will improve their lives.

A personalized customer experience in today’s world means making the shift to solution selling. You have to go off-script, actively listen to your customers’ needs, tailor a solution to them, and present it in such a way that it speaks to their specific problem.

Guided selling helps you do just that — it takes all the solutions you offer and suggests only those relevant to your customer’s unique challenges. As you move through the process, you can talk your customer through the options, what they entail, and what’s best for them.

Include images for better visualization

In industries like B2B manufacturing, where product specs and customization options are in the hundreds (if not thousands), part of delivering accurate quotes is showing stakeholders exactly what they’re buying. Modern CPQ software with visual configuration capabilities will translate those images to your quote or sales proposal.

Cut out unnecessary steps

Admin tasks make everyone wait longer. And buyers hate waiting.

Your sales team can use adaptive CPQ software to streamline just about every quote-related task:

• Click-through and drag-and-drop interfaces to build configurations and quotes
• Product and pricing selection, with only viable options presented
• Automated approval routing based on predefined company roles
• Slack integration to approve quotes and proposals in one click
• Instant data sync between CPQ and CRM/ERP

Operational efficiency on your end translates to significantly less waiting time on your customers’. So, you can manage a higher volume of deals at once, move them through the pipeline faster, and give them an overall less stressful experience.

Eliminate errors

Customers also can’t stand when they have to send back quotes or proposals because of inaccuracies. It might even call your credibility into question. CPQ calculates the accurate pricing in seconds, so they don’t have to worry being over or undercharged.

Provide real-time updates

With an adaptive system, your sales reps and leaders always know where each deal stands in the pipeline. And for your customers, they know exactly what they need to do to move the deal forward. As soon as someone selects an item, needs to approve something before moving forward, or changes an element during negotiation, they get notified.

How Agile CPQ Software Enables Adaptive Quoting

Within CPQ, several features come together to make adaptive quoting not only possible, but efficient and effective.

• Dynamic pricing algorithms automatically update pricing based on real-time data.
• Real-time pricing updates let customers see how changes to their product specs affect the final price.
• Guided selling tools suggest the most relevant products and services for each customer’s needs
• A rules-based engine applies your pricing rules and approved product configurations.
• Automated approval workflows route complex quotes to the right internal team memebrs, trigger notifications, and let them review and approve from anywhere.
• No-code or low-code flexibility gives your sales org the power to increase IT resources as it scales.
• CRM and ERP integration facilitate the instant handoff between product, pricing, and customer data.
• Billing and subscription management integration turn quotes into invoices, charge customers, and account for them to unify the entire quote-to-revenue process.

Leveraging Adaptive Quoting for Customized Sales Proposals

If you’re going to write a sales proposal, you’re going to need to involve several departments and teams throughout your organization to pull together the right information. Adaptive quoting makes it so such a collaborative effort isn’t as difficult.

1. Create your standard rules.

First, you need to establish your company’s standard pricing rules and product contingencies. For highly configurable products, there might be dozens of layers.

You’ll need to consider things like:

• Discounts
• Bundles
• Promotions
• Volume pricing tiers
• Dynamic pricing based on customer data and history
• Allowed, forbidden, and required product combinations and exceptions

These go into your CPQ’s backend. It uses them to make sure the sales rep can’t choose options that aren’t allowed.

Note: For engineer-to-order products, enterprise software, and other complicated items, you might have special pricing agreements and 1-of-1 customization to consider. If this is you, select a CPQ that’s extensible and leave room for those customizations.

2. Templatize your proposal.

Although each is personalized, you’ll have quite a few elements that are always the same. Create a template.

• Branding
• Pre-written sections
• Attachments and explanatory materials
• Product images and videos
• Rules and contingencies described
• Interactive elements for your buyer to choose (e.g., options, acceptance/signature boxes)

These should be editable, so you can add customer-specific messaging. And they should be accessible to your product team, deal desk, and legal team, so they can have input.

3. Automate your approval process.

Don’t manually route approvals. It wastes everyone’s time. In your proposal software, you can easily delegate approvals to the right people. Choose multiple levels, if needed (but avoid unnecessary levels).

• Sales rep
• Sales manager
• Product manager
• Deal desk representative
• Legal team member

Once approved, automatically trigger an email to your prospect with a downloadable PDF or interactive quote within your software app’s interface.

4. Integrate your pricing, product, and customer data.

ERP integration will ensure that your product and pricing data are always up-to-date. So, when you’re creating a proposal, you’ll have the most recent information at your fingertips. This will also eliminate errors in calculating prices and avoid any confusion for both parties.

CRM integration guarantees each activity is reflected on the customer’s account and in the sales pipeline. And it auto-populates the proposal with their info (name, business, address).

5. Use a digital sales room for negotiations.

A digital sales room (like DealHub’s DealRoom) is a secure online platform where both parties can negotiate and finalize terms. When you use the DealRoom microsite, you, your deal desk team, and your prospect or customer can comment on, approve, decline, and make edits to the proposal in real-time.

It adapts to your customer’s local language if you’re selling internationally. And you can even use the integrated chat feature to collaborate.

When it’s ready, you can finalize and execute the contract using its e-signature tools. And every step of the way, your team gets buyer engagement analytics to help you prepare for a buyer persona’s possible objections, needs, and level of product knowledge.

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