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At the final stage of the sales funnel the buyers have researched and shortlisted the purchase options. This is also the stage where they want to connect with sales the most. All they want is smooth navigation throughout the quoting process. But guess what causes a hitch?

A host of administrative challenges—lengthy proposals, pricing and inventory errors, delayed responses, poor data management, and slow sales cycles—can undermine your company’s competitive edge and ultimately decrease your company’s revenue and profitability.

It’s no wonder why online sales quoting software is becoming a mainstay in the B2B VAR business. The software cuts through time-sucking spreadsheets and offers a modern, reliable solution.

Right from integrating catalogs with top distributors, automating the creation and prospecting to managing data and complex quoting, a quotation management system helps VARs win more deals and boost revenue.

Benefits of Sales Quoting Software

The traditional quoting systems do not align with the new-age business requirements. It’s about time that companies switch over to an efficient quotation management system to meet the buyer’s expectations.

A study found that online sales quoting software cuts sales cycles by 28%, and approval time by 95%. But there are more benefits attached to a quotation management tool for VARs.

Let’s dive right in.

1. Pre-defined Templates Speed Up Quote Creation

Consider a typical quote template. You’ll notice that for every price memo, the template requires the company’s logo, a table, contact details, and payment terms. Imagine the time it would take to create tens or sometimes hundreds of templates a day.

Fig: A Simple Quote Template (Image Source)

To remove bottlenecks, sales quotation software comes with a rich library of pre-defined templates. Businesses can now create new quotes, copy existing quotes, save, edit, print, or export quotes, maintain multiple versions and send quotes right away.

And if there’s a need for custom data, the software offers custom templates. This way sales reps can create quotes on the fly and provide flexible customizations on a client-to-client basis.

2. Simplifies Complex Quoting Process

A clutter-free quoting process is excellent, especially when it’s made simpler by a tool. Thanks to sales quoting software, sales teams get a centralized quoting solution with no room for error.

• Teams see immediate Return on Investment (ROI) as it equips them with actionable financial forecasting to make better-informed decisions.
• Standard integrations with CRM lead to a coherent architecture that moves data seamlessly around the organization.
• Margin and revenue dashboards provide accurate information to authorized persons.
• Back office and customers are protected from incorrect product selections.

A CPQ solution is revolutionary because it removes clutter from the sales process upfront, enabling reps to deliver on buyers’ promises with the perfect arrangement and flow.

3. Shortens the Sales Cycle With Fewer Errors and Reworks

When faulty orders are not detected before delivery or provision, the consumer gets the wrong item or a product or service that does not meet their needs. The expense to the organization immediately rises with any of these faults.

Orders that are halted at the administration stage are frequently delayed, compromising shipment schedules and, in certain cases, service-level agreements. Reworking on the mistakes consumes time and resources and impacts your company’s reputation.

To help prevent these issues, online sales quoting software work within well-defined business rules. These rules specify provisions that apply to discounts and the determination of shipping terms prior to the approval of an estimate.

4. Automates Workflow and Approval Management

Automation has taken the driver’s seat in the sales process to save time. The time that sales reps spend creating a sales proposal, emailing for approvals, editing, and resending the final version. And it gets worse when the approver is absent.

Sales quote software provides a foolproof way of strengthening the workflow management system:

• Faster transactions as the system will automatically select the parameters and send orders for approvals
• Well-defined accountability to each and every salesperson
• Reports on approvals can provide valuable insight in cases of fraud, audits, or compliances.
• Reduced turnaround time with eSignatures, empowering the mobile sales workforce
• You can set up budgets, buying limits, cost centers & approval workflows, enabling operational efficiency

5. On-the-go Cloud-based Solution Drives Accessibility

In an era of scalability, faster speeds, and context-driven interactions between organizations and customers, cloud-based quoting solutions are vital for achieving sales growth.

The cloud-based software solutions can be accessed anytime from anywhere. This makes the quote creation process easy and quick as sales reps do not have to go back to their offices to work on the sales quotations. They can create and modify quotes on the go.

Additionally, as organizations shift to omnichannel selling strategies, cloud-based platforms provide role-based data access restrictions at the partner and role levels, ensuring sensitive data security.

Solve Quote Management Issues With VARStreet Sales Quotation Software

Nowadays, deals don’t close with handshakes. VARStreet understands the need for a change. It takes a simple, scalable, and efficient quoting tool to grab the most difficult opportunities and make revenue out of them. With its cloud-based B2B sales quoting software for VARs, VARStreet solves the exact purpose.

VARStreet’s quotation software is designed to serve businesses of all sizes, from small startups to Fortune 500 giants. Several features contribute to making VARstreet the perfect B2B sales quoting for VARs:

• Aggregated catalog with 45+ IT and office supply distributor connections in the US and Canada.
• 7 million+ products from top manufacturers with real-time pricing and inventory updates
• Free rich product content from Etilize, IceCat, vendors, and distributors
• RFQ Feature to notify assigned sales reps on new leads
• Quotes to purchase order conversion within clicks
• Integrates with DocuSign eSignature solution accelerating agreements and quote turnaround time.
• 24/7 technical service to ensure painless implementation procedure

Essentially, VARStreet’s unparalleled expertise in Business Management solutions coupled with an understanding of buyer-seller dynamics leaves all parties satisfied in the end.

Want to try it firsthand and know how easily can you maximize your sales productivity? Sign up for a free demo today.

The post Sales Quoting Software – An essential tool to increase overall quote efficiency appeared first on VAR Sales Management Blog: News, Tips & Many More By VARStreet.