What if I hire a CPQ Admin? What should I look for?
The Salesforce CPQ Journey Series
A CPQ administrator is a very valuable resource. It is their responsibility to configure CPQ to match your business processes as well as maintain and adjust CPQ as Salesforce releases new functionality or as your business processes change. Below I outline what it is you should look for when hiring a CPQ Admin.
What should you look for when hiring a CPQ Admin?
A Salesforce Admin.
CPQ is a package that is installed directly into your Salesforce org. The person setting up CPQ in your org will be working in your org’s Setup and with CPQ data to align CPQ with your business processes. This work has to be done manually within Salesforce so it is incredibly important that your CPQ Admin is also a skilled Salesforce Admin.
An understanding of the CPQ platform.
Salesforce CPQ consists of more than 70 new objects, each with a different purpose. A major key to implementing and maintaining CPQ is understanding the CPQ data architecture and how the different pieces of your CPQ setup impact each other.
Experience Configuring Products and Bundles and pricing in CPQ.
The ability to customize products, create product bundles, and have complex product pricing (more than just list price) are major reasons why companies choose to use CPQ. Anyone can create products and enter the prices into Salesforce but it takes an experienced CPQ Admin to set up a complex product catalog and to set up advanced pricing that meets your business requirements.
An understanding of Product Selection.
A CPQ admin should know how to make the process of configuring quotes as easy as possible for the user. When CPQ’s quote line editor is set up in a user-friendly way, sales reps can create quotes quickly for their customers.
Experience with CPQ Quote Templates.
CPQ quote templates are highly customizable which can make for a complex setup. A CPQ admin should be able to create templates that look professional while being easy for customers to understand.
An understanding of Orders, Contracts, Amendments, and Renewals in CPQ.
A CPQ admin should be familiar with how Orders, Contracts, Amendments, and Renewals function in CPQ and they should be able to tailor the out-of-the-box functionality to meet your specific business requirements.
With CPQ, it is important to have a CPQ Admin who knows what they’re doing. Having the Salesforce CPQ Specialist certification is a great indicator that a person is familiar with the different areas of CPQ, but someone with the certification is not all you should look for. Actual experience working with CPQ makes a HUGE difference in how well a person will do as a CPQ Admin. If you can find someone with the skills outlined above and experience with CPQ, they will be a great CPQ Admin.
Grant is a Platform Enablement Lead at Cloud Giants. He joined the team during his last semester in college and has had the opportunity to work closely with many Cloud Giants clients.
Grant is a Salesforce Certified Administrator, CPQ Specialist, Platform App Builder, and Platform App Developer I.