No matter what industry you’re in, selling has never been harder. Buyers demand personalization at scale, competitors race to undercut you, and sales cycles stall under the weight of complexity. The result? Deals die on the vine, margins erode, and your growth strategy stalls.
And yet, too many sales teams are still stuck in the past: bogged down by spreadsheets, manual workflows, siloed systems, and outdated processes that choke sales velocity and erode margins.
That’s where Configure Price Quote (CPQ) software comes in. Far from a “nice to have,” CPQ has become a mission-critical sales accelerator for companies that want to compete, and win, in today’s unforgiving market. By automating complexity, enforcing accuracy, and speeding up time-to-quote, CPQ turns the most painful sales challenges into opportunities for growth and profitability.
Here are the five biggest B2B sales roadblocks today’s businesses face and how CPQ removes them.
Challenge 1: Delayed Quotes = Lost Deals
Long quote cycles caused by manual processes, disconnected tools, and complex product catalogs lead to frustrated customers, reduced win rates, and lost revenue.
CPQ speeds up sales cycles by automating the quoting process. PROS Smart CPQ integrates seamlessly with existing systems like CRM and ERP, providing a unified and guided selling experience for sales teams across your business units and geographies. Sales reps can easily configure products, apply the correct pricing, and generate professional quotes in minutes instead of days. By removing administrative bottlenecks and streamlining workflows, CPQ allows sales professionals to focus on building strong customer relationships rather than losing time on repetitive tasks. No more bottlenecks. No more lost opportunities.
Challenge 2: Inaccurate Proposals = Broken Trust
Manual quoting processes often result in critical errors, such as outdated pricing, incorrect configurations, or invalid product bundles. These mistakes can cause customer dissatisfaction and lost deals, all while eroding margins with unanticipated discounts.
CPQ makes errors a thing of the past. The software helps ensure product and pricing precision by pulling up-to-date catalog information directly from the system, along with the latest market-relevant prices. It validates configurations and enforces pricing rules automatically. This not only improves quote accuracy but also ensures compliance with organizational pricing policies. By offering sales reps access to real-time, reliable product and pricing data, CPQ enhances credibility and helps close deals faster.
Challenge 3: Complexity = Sales Stalls
Across industries, products and services are becoming more complex. Whether it’s multi-layered solutions, bundles, subscriptions, or highly customized offerings, sales reps can struggle to configure these products correctly. Deals slow down while technical experts are pulled in, frustrating customers in the process.
CPQ simplifies complex product configuration. Using a powerful configuration logic, a constraints-based engine, and guided selling workflows, PROS Smart CPQ makes it easy to handle dependencies, ensure compatibility, and even create intricate bundles for all go-to-market channels. Sales teams can confidently configure custom products without constantly consulting technical experts, enabling faster, more accurate quotes and a more streamlined path from configuration to order.
Challenge 4: Contract Chaos = Margin Erosion
Long-term deals often involve negotiated pricing, custom terms, and multi-year commitments. Relying on outdated tools like spreadsheets makes it difficult to track pricing changes, manage renewals, or ensure compliance over time. Visibility suffers, compliance slips, and margin leakage becomes inevitable.
CPQ centralizes sales and pricing data and automates renewals. By unifying sales and pricing data and automating renewals, price updates, and long-term agreement amendments, CPQ provides better visibility and governance, reducing the risk of revenue leakage or margin erosion. It ensures consistency and profitability throughout the deal lifecycle, while saving time and effort for the sales team.
Challenge 5: Sales and Pricing Silos = Missed Opportunities
When sales and pricing teams operate in silos with disconnected tools, approvals drag, pricing lacks discipline, and the organization can’t respond quickly to shifting markets. Meanwhile, competitors swoop in with better, faster offers.
CPQ enhances visibility. CPQ bridges the gap between sales and pricing teams by offering shared visibility into pricing strategies, deal structures, and approval workflows. This alignment accelerates decision-making, reduces delays, and increases deal outcomes. Teams can work collaboratively to create strategic sales proposals that meet both customer needs and business goals.
Turning Obstacles Into Growth
The B2B sales landscape is increasingly complex, but it doesn’t have to be chaotic. By implementing PROS Smart CPQ, sales teams can transform their processes to align with modern customer expectations. Faster quotes, fewer errors, and streamlined workflows don’t just enhance efficiency; they improve customer satisfaction and ultimately drive profitable growth.
The benefits speak for themselves. With CPQ technology like PROS Smart CPQ, businesses can achieve1:
- 20% increase in win rate
- 5% increase in revenue
- 2% increase in margin
- 20% increase in lifetime value
If you’re ready to solve the challenges holding back your sales operations, CPQ is your answer.
Start exploring how PROS CPQ can elevate your sales processes and set your business up for lasting success.
Sources
1Gartner Maturity Model for Quote-to-Cash Technology, Feb 2019, Mark Lewis
Frequently Asked Questions
CPQ (Configure Price Quote) software streamlines the sales process by automating product configuration, pricing, and quoting to help businesses close deals faster and more accurately.
CPQ addresses slow quote cycles, pricing errors, complex product configurations, contract mismanagement, and misalignment between sales and pricing teams.
While widely used in manufacturing, CPQ drives value across industries like software, energy, distribution, and services — anywhere sales complexity slows growth.
Yes. By enforcing pricing discipline, reducing errors, and automating approvals, CPQ helps protect margins while accelerating deal velocity.
CPQ unifies both teams in a shared platform, enabling visibility into deal structures, approvals, and pricing strategies, which reduces delays and inconsistencies.
Companies using CPQ often see up to a 20% increase in win rates, 5% revenue growth, and a 2% margin improvement.
Modern CPQ solutions, like PROS Smart CPQ, integrate seamlessly with CRM and ERP platforms, making adoption fast and scalable across geographies.
