Deliver sales automation and profits with personalized selling
The emergence of cloud and digital technologies is transforming how manufacturers and their customers interact. Over the coming months, we’ll be blogging about some of the groundbreaking ways that Microsoft and partner technologies are enhancing the customer experience and driving growth. Today’s blog post features PROS, a Microsoft partner helping manufacturers fundamentally improve their sales process and increase profits with advanced analytics built on Microsoft Cloud technology.
Today, the overall sales experience if the most important factor in a decision to buy.[i] In manufacturing, buyers want the same modern, fast, frictionless experience in B2B transactions that they have as consumers. In a world where globalization, disruptive competition, and increasing costs make it difficult to grow profitably, competing on product offerings is no longer enough. Delivering an exceptional sales experience within manufacturing is now crucial to standing out and winning business.
Manufacturers must modernize their sales process to keep up
Unfortunately, creating an exceptional sales experience has not traditionally been a core focus for manufacturers, and outdated processes are holding firms back. Today, accurate and fast quotes often make the difference between winning and losing: 50% of buyers choose the vendor that responds first.[ii]
In addition to accelerating their time-to-quote, manufacturers must also modernize their approach to pricing. The traditional method of pricing on experience and intuition does little to maximize margin or revenue. Instead, leading firms must deploy a scalable pricing strategy based on analytics capabilities, ensuring the right price is provided to each customer.
A modern sales process also involves catering to customers’ preferences. Today, that means enabling a frictionless, omnichannel experience so customers can buy however and whenever they choose. Companies with robust omnichannel strategies retain, on average, 89% of their customers—compared to 33% for companies with weak omnichannel engagement.[iii] Modern omnichannel strategies include self-service options like personalized ecommerce experiences, which let customers engage on their own terms.
Optimize your sales process with an analytics-driven CPQ solution
Digital transformation makes modernizing your sales process easy and cost-effective. Using PROS Smart CPQ, a solution built on Microsoft Cloud technology, manufactures create exceptional customer experiences that translate into higher margin and revenue. PROS Smart CPQ is the only configure, price, quote application that provides dynamic pricing science technology to sales teams, enabling automation and increased profits-per-sale. By simplifying and automating the quote process, PROS Smart CPQ enables sales teams to instantly create personalized solutions with winning prices for each customer. The unique combination of configuration and quoting capabilities with dynamic pricing science means the solution delivers value above and beyond a standard CPQ offering.
Give employees the tools to deliver personalized recommendations, easily configure products, and ultimately win deals
Today, sellers spend about 24% of their time generating leads[iv]. When they do identify a lead, the next step is to determine which products align with their customers’ needs. What if sellers had a tool that provided leads in real time, along with specific product recommendations? PROS cognitive analytics capabilities, empower sellers to easily find hidden opportunities in their account base and take immediate action. Each automatically-generated opportunity also includes supporting evidence, enabling a seller to understand why an opportunity came up. If it looks promising, a seller can add the information to their CRM with a single click, as Smart CPQ integrates with Microsoft Dynamics 365 and all other CRM systems. The efficiency gains are tremendous.
Once a seller determines and configures the best product model for the customer, pricing is easy. The solution calculates the optimal price for that customer, and that product, at that time, using micro-segmentation. With this optimal pricing process, manufacturers get a fast, accurate, quote that is in line with their customer’s needs. This dynamic pricing science technology is unique to PROS, and enables firms to win more often by being first to the table with the right price.
In addition to providing employees with the tools to win deals, Smart CPQ also revolutionizes the customer experience.
Deliver an exceptional customer experience
Smart CPQ empowers manufacturers to create a compelling self-service ecommerce solution that enhances the customer experience and expands the addressable market.
More and more, customers want a self-service experience where they research and explore at their own pace. PROS Smart CPQ enables customers to engage with products online, and empowers them with self-service tools. Customers also see personalized product recommendations, tailoring the online experience and providing helpful guidance while minimizing frustrating and irrelevant offers. Once they are ready to order, customers easily purchase products online or via a sales representative to make sure they will not encounter any channel conflicts. Regardless of how they choose to purchase, customers receive the same price and product offerings, ensuring a unified, frictionless experience.
Try it today
PROS Smart CPQ, built on Microsoft Cloud technology, empowers companies to deliver sales automation through personalized selling. Try the PROS Smart CPQ solution for yourself on Microsoft AppSource today.
[i] https://www.cebglobal.com/blogs/5-customer-buying-trends-all-sales-professionals-should-know/
[ii] https://blog.hubspot.com/sales/average-lead-response-time-sales-data#sm.0000b8wf5q35off3yu41wha299kpg
[iii] http://www.v12data.com/blog/25-amazing-omnichannel-statistics-every-marketer-should-know/
[iv] https://blog.hubspot.com/sales/average-lead-response-time-sales-data#sm.0000b8wf5q35off3yu41wha299kpg
