Launching CPQ for Zoho CRM! An in-built solution for bespoke quote management

Launching CPQ for Zoho CRM! An in-built solution for bespoke quote management

Hello everyone, 

We are thrilled to announce the public release of CPQ (Configure, Price, Quote) for Zoho CRM, which is a fundamental block in sales management.
NOTE: CPQ was a public early access feature from March 2023 — January 2024.
Since February 2024, this is a public feature.

What is CPQ?

CPQ stands for Configure, Price, Quote. In simple words, CPQ is a software application designed to enable sales teams to create bespoke, accurate quotes for their customers, efficiently and quickly. CPQ is especially valuable when you have multiple product lines or service categories which involve dynamic pricing.

Why CPQ?

One of the biggest challenges sales teams face while navigating a sales process is the awfully long sales cycles for a specific deal. Now there could be many reasons for this length— the high value of the products could genuinely need that time. Or there are several stakeholders in the decision-making process, so that could consume a good amount of time. In such cases, having done their best, sales teams probably have to wait. But if the delays are attributed to delays or inefficiency with internal processes, then it is completely in the organization's control to identify and improve those systems.

Quote management is one such area where there could be undue delays due to which the sales process can take longer, or at times be unsuccessful. When you spend a lot of time and energy nurturing leads and converting them to opportunities, you need to ensure that when you reach a negotiation stage, the relevant quotes are also accurately drafted in a timely manner and sent for review, to close the deal promptly. Delays or inefficiency here could potentially cost you the entire deal.

Depending on the organization's processes, product lines, and pricing models, this stage can be very challenging and even complicated for some sales teams.

Consider cases of products sold along with specific accessories for free. Or the case of annual discounts and special offers. Every time a salesperson drafts a quote, they need to check the latest applicable offers, discounts, product combinations, and create an accurate quote for the customer, who is by the way still waiting for the quote after their deal was confirmed. In this process, manual error, red tape in processes, and lack of knowledge transfer within sales teams regarding updated prices and products could lead to serious delays in sales quotes and also make them inaccurate. As a result, the customers get frustrated, and this in turn prolongs your sales cycle.
In order to help this scenario, you need an effective CPQ engine, in other words, a solution called Configure, Price, Quote, in order to help you with bespoke quote management.

We are happy to announce the public release our own in-built CPQ system for CRM. With CPQ's line item automation, you can create timely, accurate quotes effectively. You can also upsell and cross sell with automated product suggestions in the CPQ engine and have all these data and possibilities inside your CRM system, contextually

Following are the rich feature sets of CPQ for Zoho CRM.

  • Configure the auto-addition of associated products in a quote upon the selection of a primary product.
    You can also mark a product as free while doing so.
  • Invoke product suggestions to a sales rep while creating a quote for effective upsell/cross-sell.
  • Apply direct or volume based list price/discounts on product line items automatically using price rules. 
  • Auto-update the quantity and price of secondary/associated products based on primary product.
  • Build your own interactive product recommendation system using Guided Selling.
  • Apply CPQ rules for any custom module or sub-form within a module. In case you are maintaining your quotes in a different module called Estimates, or you also want to apply CPQ for Invoices, you can do so.
Let's understand the capabilities of CPQ for Zoho CRM with the example of Zylker Watch Associates, an organization that sells a range of wall clocks, wrist watches and smart watches.

Product Configurator and Price Rules:

Here is a quick simple example to understand how price rules and product configurator can be applied for Zylker's scenarios.
— When a customer purchases a specific kind of expensive wall clock, a wristwatch set is offered for free.
— Besides, a year-end discount rule based on the purchase date will also apply a 20% discount on the list price of the wall clock.



Learn more>> How CPQ works

Dynamic quantity update for automated line items.

When multiple products are sold together, regardless of whether the secondary products are for free or come with a price tag, you need to define how many units of the secondary product need to go with the primary product.
 
In the case of Zylker Watches, consider the same scenario where a wristwatch set is offered for free upon the purchase of a wall clock. Now what if in a single order, 5 wall clocks are placed? Then, according to this plan, five sets of wrist watches should be added for free.

So the free product's quantity should "dynamically" change in the quote, based on the primary product's quantity. In this case, the formula to calculate the same would be, "Primary product's quantity * 1".

 
This is also possible in CPQ. You can also specify an absolute number or a dynamic value in the rule.


Building CPQ rules for custom modules and subforms

CPQ's product configurations and price rules can also be created for custom modules and custom subforms. Assume that Zylker Watch Associates is maintaining their quotes in a custom module called Estimates. Also, consider that in a different scenario, their price quotes are structured to include Primary Product items as the first sub-form and the Accessories as the second sub-form.

With CPQ's extended support for custom modules and sub-forms, they can now dictate automated product addition, suggestion, and price calculations on both these sub-forms in this custom module called Estimates.

Guided Selling

With CPQ's Guided Selling, you can create your own tailored and interactive product recommendations based on the unique needs and preferences of each customer, thereby enabling sales people to choose the most relevant products for them and create accurate, tailor-made quotes instantly.

In the case of Zylker Watch Associates, let's say a customer Leota is on the phone with a sales rep and is looking for a wristwatch for herself. Leota is quizzing the sales rep on the watches available, however the sales rep finds it difficult to narrow down to the particular product that would suit Leota's preferences. In this case, let's see how Guided Selling effectively helps the sales rep with recommendations based on the customer's preferences. Note that you can build this recommendation system yourself for your organization with CPQ's Guided Selling. 


 
So with CPQ's automated product addition, suggestion, price calculation, dynamic quantity update, guided selling setup, and flexibility to apply all these configurations to any custom module or custom subform, makes your quote management process greatly efficient and in turn accelerates your sales cycle and processes.

Roadmap:

We are constantly working on building the CPQ capability in Zoho CRM in order to maximize your experience. Here are a couple of key improvements that are on our roadmap for CPQ.
  1. Sandbox support — You will be able to setup product configurations and price rules in Sandbox before deploying them to the production environment.
    Tentative ETA:  End of Q2-2024
  2. You will also be able to build Guided Selling for custom modules aside from Quotes.  
    Tentative ETA: Q3-2024
To learn more, visit the following documents on CPQ: 


    • Recent Topics

    • Reporting Tags

      We've been using reporting tags for years (before itemizing was available) and now we are finding reporting these tags are impossible to track. Reports have changed in the customization and our columns of reporting tags no longer show up. We do not use

    • Consumption based inventory

      I am currently using Zoho Books for my hospitality business, which includes lodging and restaurant services. We purchase many items in bulk for storage and consumption as needed. I'd like these items to be recorded as inventory when purchased and categorized

    • Smarter Access Control: Role-Based Access vs. Responsibility-Based Profiles

      Every business has roles, responsibilities, and workflows. While roles help define structure, responsibilities within those roles are rarely the same. As your team grows, some members need access to only a specific set of features. Others require visibility

    • Partner with HDFC And Sbi Bank.

      Hdfc and sbi both are very popular bank if zoho books become partner with this banks then many of the zoho books users will benefit premium features of partnered banks.

    • API in E-Invoice/GST portal

      Hi, Do I have to change the api in gst/e-invoice portal as I use zoho e books for my e-invoicing. If yes, please confirm the process.

    • Member role in zoho meeting

      does a user with member role can see other users in the organization

    • How to post more than 4 Images on Instagram?

      Hi I read several articles to the topic od how to post more than 4 images on instagram, but i can't figure out how it works. I can't find the content editor and i installesd the z share extension for google chrome. Could someone please help me? Than

    • Clone Recurring Expenses

      Our bookkeeping practices make extensive use of the "clone" feature for bills, expenses, invoices, etc. This cuts down significantly on both the amount of typing that needs to be done manually and, more importantly, the mental overhead of choosing the

    • Zoho Books - How to Invoke a Custom Function in Schedulers

      We have multiple schedulers that send emails to customers in batches. Currently, we are maintaining the same code across several schedulers. Is it possible to use a custom function inside a scheduler script? If yes, how can we invoke the custom function

    • Special characters (like â, â, æ) breaking when input in a field (encoding issue)

      Hey everyone, We are currently dealing with a probably encoding issue when we populate a field (mostly but not exclusively, 'Last Name' for Leads and Contracts). If the user manually inputs special characters (like ä, â, á etc.) from Scandinavian languages,

    • Set Custom Icon for Custom Modules in new Zoho CRM UI

    • Notes badge as a quick action in the list view

      Hello all, We are introducing the Notes badge in the list view of all modules as a quick action you can perform for each record, in addition to the existing Activity badge. With this enhancement, users will have quick visibility into the notes associated

    • Is Zoho Live Chat compatible with WordPress CMS?

      Hello, I have a website called www.jjrlab.com and I'm interested in using Zoho Chat on it. Does it support WordPress CMS? Thanks.

    • Introducing spam detection for webforms: An additional layer of protection to keep your Zoho CRM clean and secure

      Greetings all, One of the most highly anticipated feature launches—Spam Detection in webforms—has finally arrived! Webforms are a vital tool for record generation, but they're also vulnerable to submissions from unauthenticated or malicious sources, which

    • Bring your CRM and Desk app inside SalesIQ with widgets

      Have you ever been confused and frustrated with multiple open tabs and switching back and forth from SalesIQ to other apps to perform your business-specific operations? How effective would it be to have all the required tools and data of the apps you

    • Speak Your Customers' Language: SalesIQ's chatbots now support 30 languages 🤖

      We're unveiling some major upgrades to our chatbot that are set to revolutionize your experience! Now SalesIQ support 30 languages for both Zobot and Answer bot. By speaking your customers' language, you can enhance engagement, improve customer satisfaction,

    • Repeat Column merge in ZOHO writer columns doesn't allow to set max columns per row

      I'm using ZOHO writer to merge data from a ZOHO CRM subform and I want it to make a table. We're using Insert Table for Column Repeat, because this is what we need. (Name of column (Teamname) and underneath that a list of names of teammembers). It works

    • Persisting email signals to contact timeline?

      Hello there. Regarding the email signals that are logged when a contact opens an email, am I correct that these signals are not logged to a contact's timeline? Ideally, I would like to have this context available for future follow-ups, if the contact

    • Trouble with using Apostrophe in Name of Customers and Vendors

      We have had an ongoing issue with how the system recognizes an apostrophe in the name of customers and vendors. The search will not return any results for a name that includes the mark; ie one of our vendors names is "L'Heritage" and when entering the

    • Really want the field "Company" in the activities module!

      Hi team! Something we are really missing is able to see the field Company when working in the activities module. We have a lot of tasks and need to see what company it's related to. It's really annoying to not be able to see it.🙈 Thx!

    • Upcoming update to Google Drive integration in Zoho Creator

      Hello everyone, We're writing to inform you about an upcoming update to how Zoho Creator integrates with Google Drive. In Zoho Creator, during actions like importing files to create an app or attaching files to fields, you can choose files directly from

    • Managing Scheduled Replies

      Communication is most effective when the intended message reaches the right person at the right time. However, this can be challenging when communication occurs across different time zones. By scheduling replies, businesses can ensure that responses reach

    • Show price book list price

      When using price books, once you add products to the price book in the Products related list you can display the Unit price which is the default list price; however, there is no option to show the price book list price. To see the price book list price

    • Allow Attaching Quartz Recordings to Existing Zoho Support Tickets

      Hi Zoho Team, We would like to request an enhancement to how Zoho Quartz recordings integrate with Zoho Support tickets. Current Behavior: At the moment, each Quartz recording automatically creates a new support ticket. However, in many real-world scenarios:

    • Can I hide empty Contact fields from view?

      Some contacts have a lot of empty fields, others are mostly filled. Is there a way I can hide/show empty fields without changing the actual Layout? I would like to de-clutter my view, and also be able to add information later as I am able. I would be

    • Manage user roles and profiles from the Bigin app (iOS and macOS)

      Hello everyone! We're happy to announce that you can manage user roles and profiles from the Bigin mobile app. The Users & Controls section has three subsections: Users, Profiles, and Roles. Users Employees who belong to your Bigin organization are called

    • Support Bots and Automations in External Channels

      Hello Zoho Cliq Team, How are you? We actively use Zoho Cliq for collaboration, including with our external developers. For this purpose, external channels are a key tool since they work seamlessly within the same interface as all of our other channels

    • Form to PDF template

      I am looking to create a Form and when information is inputted, it will merge it into a PDF template we already have. There could be multiple lines in the form and each line inputs information into a new page of a PDF template.

    • Please verify my account

      Hi, We have just launched our website and received media coverage in our country. Hundreds of users are signing up for our platform every day. We would like to send them a welcome email, but we are unable to do so because our ZeptoMail account has not

    • Subject character limit increase

      We have an occasional user case where subject lines exceed 500 characters which is the ZeptoMail imposed limit. While I understand long subject lines are not "best practice", these are particular notification emails with specific information for client

    • Account blocked

      Yesterday I got my Zeptomail account blocked due to too many hard bounces. My account is used exclusively for sending transactional emails (eg. your order has been shipped, a form has been filled, etc) and the sudden blocking impacted hundreds of websites

    • Nested notebooks

      Dear Sir/Madam, I would like to know if it is possible to nest notebooks. It would be very helpful when there are too many, as it would improve organization. Thank you for your response. Best regards.

    • Cannot see correct DNS config for mail after moving domain to another provider

      I have moved my domain from one provider to another and after that zoho mail stopped working (expected). Problem is, zoho mail admin panel still shows (10 hours after move) that all records are correct while I haven't changed anything in my domain DNS

    • Proactive Alert for Existing Open Tickets per Contact / Account

      Hello Zoho Desk Team, Greetings, and hope you’re doing well. We would like to submit a feature request aimed at improving agent awareness and efficiency when handling tickets in Zoho Desk. Use case When an agent opens a ticket (new or existing), it is

    • Ticket resolution field - can you add links, video, and images?

      Seems like the ticket resolution fields is just a text field. Any plans to add the ability to add links, images...the same functionality in the problem description box? I would like to send the customer a link to a KB article, a link to our Wiki, embed

    • Ticket Resolution - Add rich formatting, screenshots and attachments

      The resolution field only allows plain text at the moment. Many of our resolutions involve posting screenshots as evidence, it would be great for us to be able to have rich text formatting, be able to paste screenshots and add attachments in the solution

    • Kaizen #140 - Integrating Blog feed scraping service into Zoho CRM Dashboard

      Howdy Tech Wizards! Welcome to a fresh week of kaizen. This week, we will look at how to create a dashboard widget that displays the most recent blog post of your preferred products/services, updated daily at a specific time. We will leverage the potential

    • Convert Lead Automation Trigger

      Currently, there is only a convert lead action available in workflow rules and blueprints. Also, there is a Convert Lead button available but it doesn't trigger any automations. Once the lead is converted to a Contact/Account the dataset that can be fetched

    • I'm getting this error when I try to link an email to a deal inside the Zohomail Zoho CRM extension.

      When I click "Yes, associate," the system displays an "Oops!! Something went wrong" error message. I have attached a screenshot of the issue for reference.

    • Zoho Sheet - Desktop App or Offline

      Since Zoho Docs is now available as a desktop app and offline, when is a realistic ETA for Sheet to have the same functionality?I am surprised this was not laucned at the same time as Docs.

    • Next Page