What is the Difference Between Salesforce CRM and CPQ?

Salesforce is an industry leader in two areas of business software solutions; Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Configure Price Quote (CPQ). CRM and CPQ are quite relevant and functional in the management of sales processes but they are different in function. In this article, the author tries to provide an understanding of the differentiation between Salesforce CRM and CPQ solutions while elucidating the former’s main and enhanced characteristics and functions, further exposing the latter’s upper, mid, and lower forms.

Understanding Salesforce CRM

Salesforce CRM stands as an effective software solution which is designed to help businesses in the management of various interactions as well as relationships with consumers and potential consumers. It provides a place for eliminating paperwork and maintaining the records of the various Customer details, data of the communication made, and the details of the purchases made by them. The goals of using Salesforce CRM include the improvement of the sales force and customer relationship, selling, and business operation.

Key Features of Salesforce CRM:

• Lead Management: Salesforce CRM helps in managing the leads and assist in generating and following leads in the sales cycle while encompassing lead scoring that helps in identifying better prospects.

• Workflow Automation: Users can arrange different business processes in an integrated manner with the help of bots for various tasks related to clients’ support, marketing, and onboarding, for instance.
• Email Integration: Integration of the email client allows users to email send and receive from the CRM while tracking emails in a single platform.

• Customer Support and Service: There are tools that enable proper tracking of tickets and warrants of the customers, their service requests, and service cases for efficiency in the line of customer support.

• Marketing Automation: It helps Salesforce to deliver powerful marketing automation to build, send, and monitor marketing exchanges to maximize a lead’s interest.
• Customization: By means of codeless solutions, users are also able to adapt the organisation’s Salesforce CRM to its particular needs by adding fields, objects, and workflows.

• Mobile Access: Salesforce Remote Client include the following; Mobile applications, Customers can access CRM data, Edit records and stay connected from a distance.
• Integration: It has endless connection features with other apps where Salesforce interacts with other business apps using data connections.

• Artificial Intelligence (AI): AI part termed as Salesforce Einstein provides suggestion and prognostications for accurate decision making.

• Security and Compliance: In addition, information security and focus on compliance with functions such as role-based access control, data encryption, and data protection acts.

• Community Building: Some people and organizations can facilitate the fruitful cooperation and self-service support by introducing the Web sites for customers, partners or co-workers.

• AppExchange: Third, Salesforce’s AppExchange provides a plethora of third-party applications and the ability to integrate outside of CRM.

• Real-time Collaboration: Salesforce Chatter is a real-time collaboration tool integrated within the salesforce CRM that provides members an easy way to share information and work in a team.

• Forecasting: Salesforce CRM contains tools for sales forecasting depending on earlier sales and sales revenue along with present tendencies.
• Multi-Language and Multi-Currency Support: Organizations that may be involved in business throughout various areas can incorporate one or more languages as well as different currencies into the interface.

Exploring Salesforce CPQ

Salesforce CPQ, or Configure, Price, Quote, is a sub-solution of the larger Salesforce platform that is dedicated purely to the process of providing proper, customer-specific quotations with efficiency. Most helpful for organizations offering intricate goods or services, CPQ helps to standardize quoting to achieve correct pricing.

Key Features of Salesforce CPQ:

• Guided Selling: Offers solved selling method to help sales agents and their clients to choose the right products, as well as configurations that they might deem appropriate because of certain factors such as status, personal liking and more.
• Approval Workflow: Flexible approvals guarantee compliance with organizational regulations in factors such as pricing before quotes and configurations get to the clients.
• Renewals and Subscription Management: Makes easy subscription based services and contract renewal procedures for customers as well as for sales force.

• Document Generation: Saves time of producing professional documents including quotes, proposals, terms and conditions with fixed pricing and product specifications.
• E-commerce Integration: Working with e-commerce platforms enables one to configure them and purchase online while being assured of right prices and formations.

• Analytics and Reporting: Enables users to gain a quote performance, identify pricing tactics and measure the sales representatives’ effectiveness using analytics and reports.

• Discount Approval: Solutions for the efficient control of discounts usage for the purpose of precise approval in compliance with the set guidelines.

• Guided Contract Negotiation: Aids users in the negotiation on contract terms in a win-win manner.
• Inventory Management: Connects to inventory systems to reflect real-time availability or even provide an allocation in a quote.

• Multi-Currency Support: Special geared towards the management of quotes and pricing in different currencies that come with the operation of an international business.

• Integration with CRM: The opportunity to integrate with Salesforce CRM which provides a single customer database and all pertinent information about the customer.

• AI-Powered Pricing Optimization: A few of the CPQ solutions provide the use of an AI to manage the invoicing strategies depending on the market and consumer conduct.
• Scalability: Built in such a way that it will allow the addition of more products, pricing rules and number of users to fit the business growth.

• Mobile Access: Allows the sales representatives to use functionality of CPQ from their smart mobile devices while on the move and managing their quotes.

The major differences between Salesforce CRM and CPQ.

• Purpose: Here, Salesforce CRM is all about the management of the customer relations while CPQ is about generating correct quotes and prices.

• Functionality: The purpose of CRM is actually somewhat broader for sales, marketing and customer service while that of CPQ is more specific for the quoting and pricing.

• User Base: CRM is used for the sales, marketing and customer support departments while CPQ is most commonly used by the sales personnel for quoting.

• Integration: CRM supports and works with all other Salesforce products as an overall business management system while CPQ is compatible with CRM to enhance the customers’ management.

Conclusion

Overall, Salesforce CRM and CPQ are two different tools applied in the sales and customers’ management. While the CRM is aimed at the management of customer relationships, the CPQ, in its turn, is oriented to correct quoting and pricing. Implementation of both solutions enhances the abilities of firms in developing a strong sales approach.
Here at Nlineaxis, being a Salesforce CRM Consulting Partner, we become instrumental in integrating these tools and CPQ services to take the best out of it for the business to handle its sales and customers.