I already have Salesforce CPQ and it isn’t working. How do I get back on track?
The Salesforce CPQ Journey Series
Salesforce CPQ is a powerful tool. However, implementing it correctly can be timely and costly.
Anyone who’s been a part of a strategic technology project knows there are a number of ways they can go wrong. If you find yourself in that unfortunate position, you’re not alone.
A successful relaunch is critical to trust in your CRM and can seem like a steep mountain to climb. Fortunately, these issues tend to crop up in certain patterns and course correcting just takes know-how and grit.
Here are some of the common issues we’ve seen when implementing Salesforce CPQ and the action you can take to get back on track.
What does ‘gone wrong’ look like?
So, you’ve spent the time to invest and implement Salesforce CPQ. Everyone initially bought into the new process but time has passed and the sales team is grumbling about it. They aren’t pleased with how it went, despite the effort it took to launch. This may look like:
Unforeseen circumstances
Perhaps the business requirements were unclear at the start of the project. Perhaps the definition of success shifted in the middle of the project and threw off the timeline. Either way, the CPQ project plan changed significantly enough from the start to throw off expectations.
Unforeseen errors
Your team is seeing new errors that weren’t caught in testing. They don’t know how to get past them, and they either come to their admin or scrap it and return to their old way of quoting.
Proposals just aren’t right
When reps generate a proposal for their customer, they find that things are missing from the document. Dynamic language that was on old quotes is no longer there, and they’re left scratching their heads. This can be a true issue with the system or perhaps a missed requirement from the discovery phase.
Pricing isn’t up to date
You may hear a sales rep say “Is this our 2020 pricing? This looks like last year’s price.” This can sometimes happen if there wasn’t a plan (or assigned owner) in place for what happens when prices change.
Renewals? Amendments? What does it all mean?
If your users don’t know when to renew, amend, or create an entirely new opportunity and quote, this could be a sign that more training is needed.
Lack of Documentation
CPQ may be working ok in some scenarios, but in other scenarios we have no idea what is happening and there’s no documentation to rely on.
What risks should be addressed in the process?
This won’t be a walk in the park, but success is completely within reach. After all, with so much already invested in the system, failure isn’t an option. There are some key risks you’ll need to mitigate if you want CPQ to eventually be your tried and true method of quoting. Here are what some of those risks may look like:
Increased scrutiny
Leadership is going to be closely monitoring this project to ensure it goes well.
Loss of trust
The sales users may no longer trust the system, and will need help understanding why this happened and how it will be rectified. Their confidence in the system and ability to use it consistently is key to success.
Feeling of a sunk cost
Stakeholders may feel like they’ve spent time and money on something that isn’t quite complete.
So what are the best ways to get back on track?
Spending time understanding what specifically went wrong will help you determine the approach needed to get back on track. To do this, you’ll want to:
Identify themes
Remember the common issues we discussed earlier? Use them to identify what issues your specific system may be facing. It may be just one. Or it may be an unfortunate combination of issues. Whatever you’re facing, start by documenting the issues people have with the system, keep that documentation in one location, and then find themes. You’ll likely find that there are a handful of key issues you can plan to tackle together.
Mitigate & plan for risk
Remember the risks we just outlined? Jot down what those look like for your business. It’s key to be transparent with your sales team and stakeholders so you can level set. Let them know you’re working towards a successful relaunch to make their lives easier and help them understand why things didn’t pan out the first time. With this understanding in place, you’ll be able to move forward together.
Communicate the plan
Once you know the key issues, and the important risks to be aware of, you can make a project plan that supports getting CPQ right this time. Be sure to communicate this with your team and bring them along on this journey. Technology projects can be incredibly difficult, and just because things went wrong once doesn’t mean they have to go wrong again. CPQ can still be the gold standard in quoting for your business. Transparent communication around the plan is key.
Early Testing
Once you’ve started building, bring super users in early to test and incentivize them to do so. This will decrease the risks inherent to introducing new technology to your business. It ensures that what you’ve built meets their actual needs, supports their day-to-day, and doesn’t succumb to the issues seen the first time. Be sure that documentation exists before sending items for testing. It will be so much harder without it in place.
Adoption Plan and Training
Once you launch, the work isn’t over. It’s important to check in on your users. Hold office hours where you train them on the system. Survey them. Make sure you get regular feedback from them so you can continue to enhance the system, support their use of it, and restore their faith in it.
Don’t go at it alone
Project planning is hard. Re-planning a project when it hasn’t gone quite right can be even harder. We’re here to help talk through any challenges you might be facing with CPQ for free.
There’s a reason steep mountain climbs require an experienced guide. If you need CPQ guidance, whether it’s a plan or re-plan, we’re here to help. Contact us to get the ball rolling.
Want to read about how we helped a company overcome their CPQ troubles? Here’s how we helped Devada overcome not one unsuccessful CPQ launch, but two.
Alex K. is a 5x certified Salesforce professional with deep experience helping SaaS organizations launch and re-launch CPQ successfully.
She is a Salesforce Certified Administrator, Advanced Administrator, CPQ Specialist, Platform App Builder, and Sales Cloud Consultant.