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: 


    Nederlandse Hulpbronnen


      • Recent Topics

      • Need a feature which can validate PAN from Income Tax Portal

        Hello Zoho, We need a feature which can help us validate PAN which is being entered in AR/AP Profiles to check if it is valid and display the name as per Income Tax so as to get rid of incorrect PAN into the systems. Please do the needful Thanks

      • PAN - Aadhar Link Status

        Can Zohobooks also get latest PAN-Aadhar Linking Status from Income Tax Portal ?

      • Canvas translation

        We want to offer our CRM system to our users in English and Dutch. However, it seems that text in our deal Canvas isn't available for translation through the translation file. The same applies to the field tooltips. They don't appear in the translation

      • Are Cadences visible to anyone with Cadence permission?

        When setting up a new Cadence is it possible to restrict its use to a specific user? How can I prevent users from making modifications to existing Cadences?

      • Show my cost or profit while creating estimate

        Hi, While creating estimate it becomes very important to know exact profit or purchased price of the products at one side just for our reference so we can decide whether we can offer better disc or not .

      • Issue on Upload API and href image URL

        Here is my Full API Code , URL : URL: https://desk.zoho.com/api/v1/uploads/659563000000193003/content Headers* Authorization: 'Zoho-oauthtoken 1000.ed5ce2836bf5ba9b946f5ec9************88e73ff4883a3e9c58ffeb7870' orgId: 7586***** RESPONSE{ "errorCode":

      • Issue when downloading a Mail Merged Zoho Writer Document as .docx

        Hi, We are using within Zoho CRM mailmerge to create documents. This results in a Zoho Writer document. When we try to download as a Microsoft Docx file we get following error: "Word experienced an error trying to open the file. Try these suggestions.

      • 【Zoho CRM】ケイデンス機能のアップデート

        ユーザーの皆さま、こんにちは。コミュニティチームの中野です。 今回は「Zoho CRM アップデート情報」の中から、ケイデンス機能のアップデートをご紹介します。 ケイデンス機能の2つの強化されたことで、適用と解除のタイミングをより柔軟に管理できるようになり、 よりタイムリーで的確なコミュニケーションが実現できるようになりました。 目次： 1. ケイデンスの再開／最初からのやり直し 2. ケイデンスからのデータ解除タイミングの設定 1. ケイデンスの再開／最初からのやり直し 手動削除、完了、または適用解除条件が満たされた場合など、以前に適用解除されたデータをケイデンスに再適用できるようになりました。

      • Anyone get the OpenAI API to work in Zoho Meeting?

        Has anyone been able to get the OpenAI API to work in generating meeting summaries? I have been trying, but I get an error that says "OpenAI key notes request rate exceeded. Please try again later or upgrade your open AI account." I contacted Zoho support

      • Push Notifications Customization

        There is no way to customize the notifications we get. I would like to be able to get notifications based on if they are assigned directly to me, my team, my department, or perhaps tickets that match a specific criteria (a contact or account is a VIP

      • Announcing Early Access to the next generation of Zoho Desk UI

        Customer service is one of the categories where efficiency and quality of service have to run in parallel, and your team's experience with their helpdesk goes a long way ensuring these aspects are uncompromised. Introducing DOT Design for Zoho Desk -

      • Editing the record in report

        I have a use-case as below- User creates a assessment record by filling some fields. User assigns that record to portal user by using Assigned To dropdown (Assigned To is Users field in form with choices as customers). I have set the record owner of form

      • Can we have Bills of Material Module ?

        Can we have Bills of Material Module ?

      • Main Ticket Page Customization

        We do not love the ticket list page (right after clicking Tickets menu item) would like options to customize it.

      • Agent Collision Missing from Mobile App

        Please add Agent Collision capabilities to the mobile app.

      • Zia Sentiment and Functionality on Mobile

        Please add Zia sentiment and generative responses to the mobile app. It would be nice to see the ticket sentiment and generate a response back to a user using Zia on my iPhone

      • View Account Attachments on iOS

        Please allow us to view account attachments on the mobile iOS app!

      • How do I run a PnL by Sales Person?

        I am trying to run a PnL by sales person but am not seeing the option do so. All I need to know (per salesperson) is revenue, cost of goods, gross profit.

      • View Contracts and Support Plans on Mobile

        We would like to be able to see contracts and support plans from the mobile app on iOS!

      • App like Miro

        Hi all, is there a way to have a interactive whiteboard like in Miro? We want to visualize our processes and workflows in an easy way.

      • Loan repayment Entry

        While receiving loan, i does following steps in My Zoho books. 1. Create "Loan & Advance " Account as Parent Account under Long Term Liabilities. 2. Create another account For Example "Mr. ABC's Loan as Child account under the parent account. Now: In

      • Quotes module send email reverted back into 2022??

        Our Zoho CRM PLUS quotes, sales orders, invoice modules is showing us an email composer from 2022. We cannot send emails and its been a real pain. I tried clicking the new version over there but it doesnt seem to do anything. Any help is welcome. th

      • Workflow Condition - how do check that a date / time value is in the past?

        Hello, I'm got a workflow that runs a function when records reach their 'Effective Date / Time', but sometimes records are created after the 'Effective Date / Time' so I have another workflow that checks for records which needs to be processed immediately.

      • Pre filling SignForm field values by URL field alias's in Zoho Sign

        Hi, Does anyone know if it's possible to pre fill the field values of the SignForm by using field alias's like you can in Zoho forms? To be more specific, I want to be able to change the SignForm URL to include some information like this: Before : https://sign.zoho.eu/signform?form_link=234b4d535f495623920c288fc8538cb9e6db03bbfd44499b63f3e5c48daf78f44bc47f333e2f5072cc1ee74b7332fe18b25c93fab10cb6243278d49c67eacbf30bbe5b6e1cc8c6b2#/

      • How to Split Payout in Zoho Books (Without Using Journal?)

        Hi, I'm trying to properly record payouts in Zoho Books. The issue is that each payout is a combination of sales and expenses (fees). When I try to categorise the payout transaction from the Banking tab, I can only split the transaction using income-type

      • Payment Schedule

        Please add the ability to create a payment schedule. The other options, like retainer invoices or two invoices, do not work for the customer.  We invoice a client and need to be able to show them everything they owe in one invoice, and when each payment

      • Which pricing system do you think would work best for us?

        Imagine we’re selling strictly wholesale. We’d rather not publish unit prices; instead, we quote customers case-by-case. To spur larger orders, we’re considering a transparent discount ladder—say: $0 – $999: 0 % $1,000 – $1,999: 5 % $2,000 – $4,999: 10

      • Pushing to Shipstation from Zoho

        I know there are four triggers in Flow for integration with Shiptation when something happens in Shipstation. What options do I have, if any, for pushing data TO Shipstation from Zoho?

      • Integration with ShipStation

         Any plans to integrate flow with Ship station? My scenario: When a sales order is fully picked order details get pushed to Ship station so shipping label can be created.  Ideally then tracking number would be pushed back to order.  Thanks

      • Can't Remove Payment Gateway

        I am getting the error "Settings cannot be cleared as some of the transactions are still in progress." when trying to remove the PayGate payment gateway which I was unable to get working. I am now using paystack and I want to remove Paygate.

      • Sync specific Zoho Inventory Warehouses to Zoho Commerce

        As said in the title, we would want to only sync stock from one warehouse of Zoho Inventory to the Zoho Commerce item stock. We have a 2 warehouses in different countries and the way that Zoho Commerce works (It takes stock from ALL WAREHOUSES EVERYWHERE

      • Weekly Tips : Automatically clean clutter with Junk cleanup interval

        If you regularly receive many unwanted or spam emails, your Spam folder can quickly fill up and start taking up valuable storage space in your Zoho Mail account. Instead of manually clearing it every few days, you might find it helpful to enable automatic

      • Any solution for getting portal users list in deluge or in widget

        Hi Team, Has anyone able to find the solution to get portal users list in deluge or in zoho creator widgets? Thanks, Payal

      • The Grid is here!

        Hey Zoho Forms Community! 👋 We’re thrilled to announce the launch of a feature that’s been on your wishlist for a while: Grids What is Grids? Grids let you place form fields side by side in multiple columns to create a more concise and organized form

      • GraphQL in new Send Webhooks feature

        Hello, is it possible to use GraphQL apis in the new Send Webhooks feature?

      • # 2 Why do we need a billing system when accounting covers billing?

        In today's evolving financial tech stack, businesses use a mix of tools to manage their day-to-day operations, from invoicing to full-fledged accounting. While accounting platforms typically come with built-in invoicing features, specialized billing systems

      • How to insert an Excel/Zoho Sheet table in a chat?

        Hello, is there a way to paste an excel/zoho sheet table to a conversation without loosing table lines. I tried to paste a piece of a table and all the columns and rows were gone. How to easily paste a table without a need of sending a file? Katarzy

      • Mass Update Application Status

        How to update application statuses of Multiple Applications at once? Is that possible? If not then why please consider adding it It can save hours of manual work Thats the only Option I see

      • Free webinar: Streamlining customer service paperwork with the Zoho Sign extension for Zoho Desk

        Hi there! Wondering how to bridge the gap between digitized customer service and business paperwork? Attend our free webinar to learn how you can do this by connecting Zoho Sign, our digital signature app, with Zoho Desk, our online customer service help

      • Mail Search Not Working

        Hello, Mail search is not working at all. I've tried Chrome and Mozilla. I can try and search for an exact term, or even an email that is 1st in my email list. All search does is sit and spin, or it comes up with no results. I've also tried it on my android

      • Next Page