Automate quote-to-cash for a competitive edge

From the moment a customer takes an interest in your product or service, they form an impression that is long-lasting. But how can you turn that into brand loyalty? Short answer — create an engaging and efficient customer experience from consideration all the way to purchase, or quote-to-cash. This is an end-to-end sales automation process that is proving to be a major value-add for enterprises when it comes to improving customer experience. Here it is in four steps.

Make personalisation easy. Empowered by social networks and digital devices, customers are increasingly dictating what they want, and when and where they want it. There’s no doubt that personalisation in purchasing has become king, such as Amazon’s suggestions of products consumers might like to buy based on purchasing history.

Similar technology is now available to sales agents to provide faster quotes and proposals. What used to take days can now be done in minutes by syncing e-commerce with a configured, price quote solution that enables full catalogue synchronisation and complex product offerings in a simplified manner. Customers can select the combinations that match their needs, and receive recommendations for other products.

Be responsive to needs. How many times have you had questions about a product but there was no-one around to help you? It’s an extremely frustrating situation, and one in which the customer satisfaction goes down the drain. Automating processes will cut down cycle times drastically and allow you to be more responsive to customers’ needs. Fast quotes are the path to smarter, more effective selling by helping you shorten sales cycles, eliminate deal erosion and accelerate revenue. Automating quoting can decrease your approval cycle times by 75%, and by tying your quotes to contracts, you can cut contract cycle times in half.

Make renewals painless. Gartner has found that 80% of a company’s revenue will come from 20% of existing customers. Renewals are paramount to revenue, so customer satisfaction should be a core priority for all companies. Focus on positive experiences that drive and create return customers, which in turn will drive ongoing relationships. Having streamlined quoting and contract processes, as well as clear visibility of deal terms, will help make renewals more painless. Satisfied customers can receive a quote, electronically sign, and be renewed within a day.

Simplify billing and order management. One of the most overlooked aspects of the customer life cycle is invoicing, which has typically been relegated to the back-end machinations of ERP systems. This is ill-advised since invoices are often the last touch point that customers have with your business. Wouldn’t it make more sense to have invoice information managed with all the rest of your customer information?

Simplify billing management by integrating it into to your entire quote-to-cash process. As customers update their orders, or change terms and conditions in their contract, the invoice will automatically contain all the latest and most accurate information.

Aniqa Tariq is the Sydney-based Managing Director of Bluewolf Australia and New Zealand, an IBM company. Tariq has more than 15 years of global business experience with roles in forecasting, new product development, business development, IT, sales and marketing.

Image courtesy of Joe the Goat Farmer under CC