Quoting with spreadsheets is not only slow and inefficient but could actually be losing you money. In this article, we look at the main issues with manual quotations, and how a dedicated quoting platform could stop the loss and increase your sales efficiency.
1. Time-Consuming
Time is money when it comes to quotes, and quickly delivering quotes to your customers on request can make it easier for your team to win a deal. Unfortunately, generating quotes with spreadsheets is time-consuming because it requires extensive manual effort from start to finish. According to QuoteWerks, spreadsheets take 27% longer than software to configure – this can significantly eat into your sales resources and reduce the time available to your team to actually close deals.
2. Prone To Error
As much as we’d like to believe that our spreadsheet models are robust and immune to error, the truth is that there is always a risk of human error when dealing with spreadsheet-based quotes. From incorrect formulae and typos to simply overlooking details or putting in the wrong information, errors can quickly mount up and cost your business time and money to resolve. The larger the spreadsheet and the more complex your price structure, the more likely errors are to occur. This can impact your business as it creates a negative impression on your customers about the efficiency of your business (even if they face the same issues internally themselves!)
3. Struggles With Complex Quotes
Very few businesses offer completely standardised pricing. In most cases, there are multi-levels of prices and fees, each with a range of personalisation options. This can make it difficult and time-consuming to create complex and non-standard quotes using spreadsheets, with a higher risk of error and inaccurate pricing. Ultimately, spreadsheet formulas are limited when it comes to handling personalised and complex quotes that involve multiple components, products, discounts, and payment plans. To create accurate quotes for complex projects in a timely manner, automated quoting software has the capabilities to handle your requirements more quickly and accurately, with just a few clicks of your mouse.
4. No Tracking Ability
Spreadsheets do not have inbuilt real-time tracking abilities, so all changes must be made and recorded manually, without a clear audit trail of revisions and updates. This can make customer communication more complicated and error-prone, making it harder to measure progress in your business or identify areas where improvements can be made. A business quoting software platform will avoid this issue by providing comprehensive tracking abilities across a range of key metrics, allowing you to more easily monitor customer behaviour, provide responsive service, and make informed business decisions about where to allocate sales resources.
What Next?
To find out more about the disadvantages of spreadsheets and how our customisable CPQ solution can save you time and money while increasing your sales revenues, please get in touch to arrange a free consultation.
