Let’s take a look at how a leading North-American wood manufacturer and distributor revolutionized its pricing data and processes, uniting its numerous manufacturing facilities and distribution centers and aligning its prices company-wide.
When Pricefx began working with the company, it was clear that their existing tech stack was not giving them enough insight into the price-setting behavior of regional offices, nor how different product types and customer groups were being addressed. Although they understood the importance of pricing, without the necessary software, they weren’t able to access data or benchmark key customers and products fast enough.
The company was relying on Excel for all its pricing calculations, which proved to be less than ideal, as vital pricing information was being stored offline and in personal email threads. And what useful data they held wasn’t in a readily-digestible format.
Sales reps were unable to make fast and informed pricing decisions as they had no visibility into (or guidance around) target and suggested sales prices. Decisions were frequently competitor- rather than value-led. Quotes could take days to generate, which negatively impacted win rates. And even at the most junior level, reps simply weren’t tapping into pricing data when quoting. (It’s no wonder senior management was unable to maximize margins or optimize prices.) The team needed greater inputs to enable better quoting as well as a broader set of data points to assist them in challenging subjective instincts and opinions.
To make things worse, the lack of pricing transparency had resulted in some individuals taking ownership of the company’s pricing processes, leading to “tribal knowledge” within each market. Should any of these now-crucial individuals leave the company, their knowledge would leave with them and the company would be left lacking.
It was clear that the company needed a streamlined quoting process that leveraged advanced analytics and frequent price updates while boosting price-setting efficiency. They knew it was time to invest in a real CPQ player and platform.
Pricefx provided the manufacturer with a centralized hub that could be easily managed, maintained, and accessed, and would serve as their single source of truth for pricing. The solution included Pricefx’s PriceAnalyzer, PriceBuilder, PriceOptimizer and QuoteConfigurator.
Once Pricefx had migrated the company’s pricing data and processes over to the cloud, the company’s six-month implementation period began.
All regions, customers, and products were analyzed in granular detail.
Adoption on the client side was enthusiastic and resulted in them designing and leading their own three-day training ‘roadshow’ (a virtual event, due to COVID-19), where the regional sellers were brought on board with the new system and shown the ropes. It provided training in pricing methods and strategies, the latest developments in the field, and the scope of the Pricefx implementation, as well as one-to-one training in the software. It also covered forward planning, customized dashboards, visualization tools, and some of the more advanced Pricefx features.
Over the next few weeks, the team checked in regularly to ensure everyone was comfortable using the software and that it was functioning as expected. These consistent check-ins, combined with the valuable feedback loop and support from the Pricefx team, ensured a seamless rollout.
What was a vast (and somewhat wild) network of individual sales reps spread across multiple regions, had become one unified pricing team.
Pricefx now serves as the central pricing hub to which the entire Sales team has access, enabling company-wide transparency and total visibility of workflows. Everything is tracked, streamlined, and accounted for. As a result, back-and-forths between customers, Sales reps, and approvers have become a thing of the past.
Customized dashboards have brought the company’s data to life, enabling Sales reps to negotiate with renewed confidence and effectiveness. Instant access to valuable insights has supercharged their strategic decision-making and having critical data at their fingertips helps them justify and defend quotes. Each Sales rep can check the Quote Pipeline in Pricefx for an instant overview of their quotes, workload, and performance beyond the day to day and plan more effectively.
Another big win for the Sales team has been the automation of quoting. Sellers can now create accurate quotes in just a few clicks and email them directly to customers from within Pricefx, eliminating unnecessary phone calls and verbal commitments.
The noticeable boost in morale among sellers is evident in their financial performance.