Virginie Taborowski
Content Specialist
Last updated on
1.10.24
Best Practice
How to create offers for a wide variety of products
5
min
Table of contents
In the manufacturing and supply industry, individually configurable products play a decisive role, with aspects such as Product variants and manufacturing steps must be taken into account. Customers expect individual solutions that are precisely tailored to their needs.
However, this results in a complex offer process that traditionally poses many challenges. In this article, we'll take a look at the drawbacks of manual offer configuration and show how automated product configuration using software solutions for CRM and CPQ with a effective variant management increases efficiency and minimizes errors.
The drawbacks of manually configuring offers
The traditional manual process of configuring offers is time-consuming and full of challenges. Sales representatives must continuously identify the requirements and wishes of customers in order to design the offer accordingly. This constant exchange of information not only takes up valuable time, but can also lead to misunderstandings and ambiguities.
Another disadvantage is that not all sales representatives are familiar with the technical details and feasibility of the products. It is often necessary to ask the product team or developers to clarify the feasibility of the requested solutions. As a result, the offer process is further slowed down and unnecessarily complex.
Manually compiled offers are often created in Word documents or Excel spreadsheets. Although these formats are common, they mean additional administrative effort and an increased risk of errors. Controlling quantities in confusing Excel lists makes the process even more difficult. Misunderstandings and gaps are almost inevitable in this approach.
Automated product configuration
In order to overcome the above disadvantages and increase the efficiency of the offer process, it is particularly recommended for companies in the manufacturing sector to use a digital offer configurator. These revolutionary solutions are changing the way offers are created and enable automated product configuration. Customers enter their individual requirements and preferences into an intuitive and user-friendly system, eliminating the time-consuming exchange of information with sales. Customers can configure their products themselves and receive a detailed offer in real time that exactly meets their needs.
A major advantage of automated product configuration is the consistency of offers. Errors and misunderstandings are avoided through clear and unambiguous data structures. The sales team can rely on the fact that the configured products are technically feasible. This speeds up the offer process, as time-consuming queries are no longer necessary.
Automated product configuration not only saves time when preparing offers, but also saves sales resources. Sales staff can concentrate on more demanding tasks, such as personal advice and support for customers, and are relieved of bureaucratic tasks.
The error-free configuration of the products leads to higher customer satisfaction. Customers get exactly what they want without having to make compromises, which in turn leads to repeat purchases. Optimized order processing can also increase sales. The accelerated quotation process can result in faster order processing and thus an increase in total orders.
Challenges in variant management
The manufacturing and supply industry is known for its varied products. Customers expect tailor-made solutions that meet their specific requirements. However, this results in a variety of product variants, which are often complex and whose implementation is not always guaranteed.
When preparing offers for variable products, companies face various challenges. You must ensure that the technical specifications are feasible and that the product can be configured efficiently. The combination of different materials and functions must be carefully checked to ensure a functional and high-quality product. Furthermore, the definition of the individual categories and the calculation of the price for the configured product are other important aspects that must be considered.
How are complex products integrated into the offer configurator?
Complex products are integrated into the offer configurator through an intelligent data structure and a comprehensive product database. This combines technical specifications, components and variants to enable tailor-made solutions.
An example from medical technology
Whether imaging systems, medical devices or diagnostic instruments — every product in medical technology is highly specialized and requires precise configurations when preparing an offer. The challenge is to seamlessly integrate this complexity into the offer configurator. By integrating medical standards and regulatory requirements, the offer configurator can guarantee an error-free compilation of complex products.
Customers receive tailor-made solutions that not only meet their needs, but also meet all relevant regulations. One example is KNAUER Wissenschaftliche Geräte GmbH, which uses a tailor-made solution based on Ninox. Your resellers and agents can use Sales Navigator to create offers in Ninox that meet a customer's specific needs.
Product configuration with variant management
In the era of Industry 4.0, digital solutions for quotation preparation and product configuration have become indispensable in order to overcome the complexity and challenges of variant management.
Flexible CRM and CPQ applications such as Ninox CRM can be easily adapted to the specific requirements of the manufacturing and supply industry. They make it possible to control the wide range of product variants and make it possible to create offers in a flash using drop-down menus. Customers can customize their products without affecting the feasibility of the solutions. Thanks to a direct connection to the inventory management system (ERP), the availability of the products can be checked and prices can be calculated automatically as soon as the offer is prepared.
With an offer configurator, cumbersome manual processes, such as the use of Excel lists and Word documents, are a thing of the past. Instead, offers can be created with just a few clicks. This gives the sales team more time for intensive customer advice and support, which improves the customer experience and ultimately contributes to the success of companies in the manufacturing and supply industry.
