Why Custom Quoting Software Creates Faster, More Accurate Quotes

Quoting shouldn’t feel like a roll of the dice. But if you are still dependent on outmoded tools and clunky spreadsheets, that’s exactly what it’ll become. A single mistake could cost you profits and lead you to lose that lucrative sales deal. 

So the question is - how do you get yourself out of this quandary? In today’s fast-paced commercial world, speed and accuracy in quoting are everything. Call them mission-critical elements you need to win business deals to grow and protect your margin. 

So ditch the traditional systems - bid them a much-needed and long overdue adieu. Instead, switch to a system that can keep up with the complexity of modern demands. 

We’re talking about custom quotation software, a scalable and precision-driven solution that can streamline your workflows while generating faster quotes that excel in accuracy every single time. In this blog, we will shed light on how custom quoting software can actually save you from delayed deliveries and lost deals. 

Quoting Bottlenecks That Slow Down Sales

There is no denying that your sales team is doing a stellar job. But even they can easily get bogged down by outdated quoting processes. Without a proper quote management system, the entire task can turn into a tedious, error-prone nightmare - preventing your team from speedily and confidently responding to customer requests. 

Here are common quoting hindrances that can hold your sales team back from achieving their full potential. 

1. Manual Data Entry and Spreadsheets

The issues with Excel or paper-based quoting are not few and far between. These processes are plagued by a high risk of human error along with version control issues. Not to mention, they are extremely time-consuming - so delays and uncertainty are basically part of the process. 

2. Fragmented Data Sources

For quoting to be fast and accurate, elements such as customer information, part specs, pricing rules and approval workflows need to be interconnected. But in manual systems, they either exist separately, or worse, in inboxes. 

Needless to say, inefficiencies follow when you have to jump from one platform to the next. The chances of inconsistencies or outdated information ending up in a quote to your customer become increasingly high too.

3. Pricing Complexity and Customization 

If your business offers highly configurable products or services, the struggle with consistently applying a pricing logic must be glaringly obvious when it comes to manual quoting. Without automation, you will likely find your sales reps applying incorrect discounts. They might also miss add-on costs, which is likely to increase instances of rework and costly under-quoting. 

4. Approval Delays in Larger Teams

Having a large team on-board means having a multi-level quote approval system by default. While it might seem like a necessary check to keep in place, it can easily turn the quoting process into a drag if you don’t have a centralized system. The low real-time visibility can also cost you valuable time and deals. Hence, it makes sense to switch to automated quoting - especially if you add the right features.

Here’s a comparison of the speed, efficiency and accuracy of manual vs quoting software:

How Can Custom Quotation Software Help?

Before we get to that, here’s a brief breakdown on what a custom quote management system is: 

Simply put, it’s a tailored digital solution whose sole purpose is to automate, streamline and optimize the end-to-end quote creation process. This solution is perfect for businesses with complex pricing models, configurable products, or high-volume quoting needs. 

The core advantage of a custom system over off-the-shelf CPQ tools is that it can be exclusively built around your sales objectives, data sources and unique workflows. This makes it more reliable while guaranteeing speed and scalability. 

With custom software, your team doesn’t have to forcefully adapt to rigid platforms or generic templates. Plus, it also ensures your team always has the right tools to generate razor-sharp quotes rapidly irrespective of fluctuating material costs or multi-layered pricing strategies. 

Major components of a typical custom job quoting include: 

• Dynamic pricing rules: From bulk discounts to regional pricing, you can automatically apply any real-time variables without having to make manual adjustments. 
• Product configurators: Pass the power to your customers and sales reps with a built-in product configurator that allows them to choose complex configurations while ensuring compatibility and auto-updating pricing and lead times. 
• Real-time integration: Gain the ability to pull current data from every single source - inventory systems, CRM and ERP – to prevent data duplicates and ensure accurate quote generation. 

How it differs from generic CPQ tools

It’s a perfect alternative to off-the-shelf CPQ software because custom quoting systems can be fully tailored to your business model and capable of supporting non-standard quoting scenarios. Whether you offer layered B2B service packages or made-to-order products, custom quoting tools give you the flexibility, control and competitive speed your business needs to function smoothly - something that generic CPQ just cannot match. 

How Custom Quotation Software Improves Accuracy

If you think revenue loss is the only price you have to pay for inaccurate quotes, think again. Poorly drawn-up quotes can cause real damage, including decreased customer trust, project delays, and costly reworks. 

For a business dealing with custom builds, thousands of SKUs and fluctuating market costs of materials, maintaining consistently accurate quotes manually is next to impossible. But it can be made possible with custom quotation software. Custom systems automate rules, thus eliminating guesswork and imbuing your quotes with standardized accuracy. 

Eliminate human errors

There’s only so much your hard-working sales team can handle. Juggling custom components, configurations and discounts manually can cause errors in pricing, which can be fixed with the built-in logic custom software provides. The scope of skipped fee or forgotten surcharges is entirely eliminated. Instead every quote reflects the correct price and margin targets each time. 

Real-time access to pricing data

Custom quoting tools are designed to effortlessly sync to all your backend systems - be it CRM, ERP or inventory management tools. This ensures every quote has the latest data, which greatly improves accuracy and responsiveness. Stock levels and supplier costs are always up-to-date. 

Centralized customer and product data

Siloed tools and scattered files can be an ordeal to sift through individually. However, a custom manufacturing estimation software centralizes data concerning customer profiles, product specs and quoting history to improve accuracy and consistency across different sales teams. This guarantees that everyone is quoting with the exact same data. No repeats, no errors, no inconsistencies. 

Consistent quote formats and branding

Professionalism is equivalent to creating a lasting good impression. With a custom quoting system, you can improve your business’s reputation with quotes that are correctly formatted and consistently branded while being compliant with the standards your company follows. This offers clients greater clarity while improving your credibility. 

Why Custom Quoting Software Is A Catalyst For The Sales Process

When it comes to winning a sales deal, speed is everything. The faster you deliver a professional and accurate quote, the higher your chances of turning a prospect into a customer. 

In fact, a great quote can be a distinguishing factor that works in your favor when potential clients are evaluating multiple vendors. So use custom software to decrease friction in your quoting workflow, thus allowing your team to cover the distance between inquiry and approval at record speed. 

• Automated approvals and workflow routing: Your entire quoting process can come to a crawl if it’s dependent on long internal approval wait times. Multiple sign-offs in larger teams can slow down the process further. You can increase the speed with custom software’s automated approval logic, which instantly routes quotes to the right stakeholders, thus reducing the chase for signatures. 
• One-click PDF generation and sending: The pain of formatting quotes in Word or Excel is real and easy to escape with a custom quotation system. One click is all it takes to generate branded, professional PDFs that can be directly emailed to clients. This transforms follow-ups into a seamless affair while keeping turnaround time to a minimum. 
• Faster turnaround ensures higher win rates: You know that even a single minute your quote spends on the bench can be seized as an opportunity by your competitor to swoop in and sweep your client off their feet. But if you manage to reduce your quoting time from days to mere hours, the same client can be yours due to your improved response rate. That’s the magic of custom quoting! That’s how it drives sales!
• Better sales forecasting and reporting: Bringing all your sales data under a unified whole, custom quoting software ensures that key sales leads can tap into real-time insights and identify areas for improvement. By offering data concerning pipeline status, quote conversion rates and average deal velocity, custom-built quotation systems, like the ones we offer at Vestra Inet, can help businesses report faster, thus leading to smarter forecasting. 

How To Execute A Smooth Transition From Manual To Custom Quoting Software

The shift from manual to custom quoting software can seem massive, even jarring at first. Your team might hesitate to use it. So if you want to harness its full potential, it is critical to have a structured and deliberate implementation plan in place.

These steps should help you smoothly switch systems without disrupting your sales momentum. 

Step 1: Review Your Quoting Workflows 

A thorough audit will help you track underlying problems in your existing system so your new quoting system can work to solve them. Document everything - from request intake to final approval. Spare no details. Every single manual step and bottleneck is a new opportunity to enhance efficiency. Tap into it. 

Step 2: Identity Specific Customization Requirements

It’s custom quoting software. So you have the free reign to have it your way - or, rather, your business’s way. Ascertain what kind of add-ons you would like. Maybe you have unique pricing rules? Perhaps your business requires multi-currency support?

Don’t hesitate to ask for features such as complex product configurations or quote version tracking. Remember, this is supposed to be a couple of steps above generic CPQ tools so let your customizations be your roadmap to a successful software. 

Step 3: Pick The Right Software Partner

Choosing the wrong software development company is as good as ending up with a generic CPQ tool despite paying a premium. It just serves no one. However, if it’s a successful solution you seek, put your mind and money in a team that has deep experience in quoting automation. 

Like we do at Vestra Inet. Not only do we bring in-depth industrial familiarity and knowledge, we also have a proven track record of developing easily integrated software that connects seamlessly to your existing tech stack. 

Step 4: Test, Integrate and Train

Thorough testing is the only way to know if your integration works. The more you use it in conjunction with your CRM, ERP and inventory systems, the more seamless your quoting workflow will become. Obviously, train your sales team too so they can confidently use the system from Day One onwards. 

Step 5: Monitor KPIs To Refine Your System

To know if your brand new quoting tool is working as well as it should, have a couple of KPIs in place such as approval lags, quote turnaround time and conversion rates. Use the insights you gather to consistently fine-tune your system. While this guarantees long-term ROI, it also gives you the scope to continuously improve the usability of your software. 

Conclusion: Switch To Accurate Quotes & Higher Margins

A slow, manual effort-intensive quoting process isn’t just inefficient, it is a revenue drain. A frustrated sales team that is burdened by slow approvals is more likely to lose sales than one that can have accurate quotes ready in minutes. That’s why it’s critical to invest in custom quotation software. 

With the entire process automated, you can eliminate manual data entry errors, inconsistent pricing and delayed approvals in one go. What you are left with are fast, accurate quotes that are tailored to your business’s unique needs. 

So if you are ready to stop losing your precious time and money on outmoded tools, invest in Vestra Inet’s custom quotation software. We promise to deliver a centralized system that is smarter and more scalable. Contact us to request a demo that shows you the transformative power of our quoting system. 

FAQs

1. Define custom quotation software.

It’s a specifically crafted, tailored digital tool that serves the purpose of automating as well as streamlining your business’s entire quoting process. It’s more scalable, accurate and faster. 

2. How does it improve quoting accuracy over spreadsheets?

Every single entry on a spreadsheet is manual, which considerably increases the chances of errors. Plus, control version issues can lead to the use of outdated information in pricing. Custom quoting eliminates these risks with its in-built pricing and its ability to directly sync with your existing tech stack. 

3. Is custom quoting only for manufacturers or configurable products?

No. Any business that offers custom services or variable pricing can leverage the power of custom quoting to usher in a new era of accuracy. 

4. How long does it take to implement a custom quote system?

It depends on the complexity of the quoting tool and the integrations it needs. If we have to give you a fair idea, expect it to take a few weeks to a few months. 

5. Can it integrate with CRMs and ERPs?

Yes, of course. No matter which ERP or CRM platform you use, a custom quoting software will integrate seamlessly with them. 

Author Bio

Andrey Wool

Helming the operations at Vestra Inet, Andrey has over 20 years of leadership experience in the ERP industry. Having successfully launched 550+ software projects across a diverse set of industries, Andrey continues to transform the way businesses function with pioneering custom software solutions. His in-depth knowledge of sectors such as manufacturing and distribution has helped him curate actionable solutions that eliminate bottlenecks and pave the way for sustainable growth.