How NetSuite CPQ Saved 3 Companies Serious Time and Money
Ian McCue, Senior Associate Content Manager
While configure, price, and quote (CPQ) is one of the newest additions to the NetSuite platform, the solution has an extensive track record of saving companies money and improving customer service. At SuiteWorld, two NetSuite CPQ experts shared three of those success stories, each showcasing a different customer, use case, and product feature set.
The CPQ tool eliminates many of the problems that come with manual configurations and quoting for customizable products, NetSuite product managers and longtime Verenia employees Adam Kemp and Matt Lowen explained. With NetSuite CPQ, gathering this information doesn’t require vast spreadsheets, price books, or tribal knowledge — all of which can make it difficult and time-consuming to create accurate quotes and buildable configurations. It also eliminates the potential for incompatible orders and inaccurate quotes that cause delays, customer frustration, and increased costs. Finally, it prevents over-discounting and subsequent margin loss that hurts your bottom line.
NetSuite CPQ auto-applies business logic around compatibilities, pricing, and calculations during the sales transaction. Those user-defined business rules can be based on any information that lives inside of NetSuite, allowing it to satisfy a wide variety of use cases. The solution also has a “guided selling” tool that gives employees a web store-like interface to navigate all the products the business sells.
Filters let them find the exact products their customers need and explore configuration options for those items.
Customer Success Stories with NetSuite CPQ
Depatie Fluid Power
Depatie Fluid Power is a fluid power automation company that’s been around for more than 60 years. It sells hydraulic and pneumatic fittings, hoses and tubing, valves, and more to industrial customers.
Goals: The business wanted a tool that would both help employees build hose assemblies and train new workers on the business’s offerings and customization options. Depatie also sought different functionality and user interfaces for general versus power users.
Implementation: After implementing NetSuite CPQ, Depatie had various configurators that could each dynamically create an assembly, complete with a unique bill of materials. Their first configurator was live within six months, and they added more in the following months.
Results: Quotes that sometimes took weeks to finalize previously could now be generated in minutes with the new CPQ tool. Depatie saw an impressive adoption rate, and new employees got up to speed faster thanks to hands-on experience with the configurators.
“A lot of people don’t like change, but this is actually making it so much easier that they have people that are saying, ‘Hey, I want to use this and I don’t want to do it the old way,’ which is not typically what you see,” Kemp said.
Mobile Communications America
As one of the largest Motorola partners in the United States, Mobile Communications America (MCA) provides voice, video, and data solutions to customers. While the products themselves are not configurable, they’re sold with optional services, warranties, and accessories like earpieces and chargers.
Goals: MCA wanted to simplify its vast catalog of thousands of products for sales reps and make it easier for new sales hires to understand these offerings. It also sought to increase the attach rate for complementary products and services.
Implementation: After just 90 days, MCA employees were using 22 different configurators and the guided selling tool. It later added four more configurators for other business divisions. This was an unusually fast implementation for such a complex project, Kemp noted, but ample resources and a strong commitment from the customer made it possible.
Results: The wireless communications distributor’s quotes and proposals are more consistent because all reps now follow the same process with NetSuite CPQ.
“Everybody’s doing things the same way, the right way, and nothing’s slipping through the cracks,” Kemp said.
Additionally, when an employee pulls up the configurator for a certain model or series, the tool shows the quantity on hand. If they enter a number greater than on-hand inventory, it alerts them that there could be a multiweek lead time so they can inform the customer and suggest alternatives. The software also reduced ramp-up time for new MCA employees because it’s easier to grasp the product catalog.
Trinity Packaging Supply
A wholesale supplier of packaging and shipping supplies to big brands like Target, Coca-Cola, and IKEA, Trinity Packaging Supply sells corrugated boxes, pallets, tape, stretch wrap, and more. Trinity offers more than 80,000 SKUs, but what’s available to a given customer depends on their location.
Goals: Trinity needed a way to consolidate customer requests for different products and come up with a more efficient method for procuring the supplies it resells.
Implementation: The company started with guided selling, which helped employees sift through its large product catalog and see quantity minimums for different vendors. Trinity set up the configurator for non-inventory items so users could input customer-specific requirements. Almost all of this functionality was self-implemented by the business.
Results: Trinity shortened lead times to source new products. When someone inputs a new request into the configurator, it kicks off the procurement workflow so a purchasing agent can find a match. Additionally, employees no longer have to
reference complex price books, and as with the other customers, salespeople don’t need as much training.
Like the sound of these success stories? Find out more about NetSuite CPQ and how it can boost the efficiency of your sales and operations teams.
