As we already know CPQ software usually stands between a CRM / Sales Cloud system and a middleware or ERP system. Because of this CPQ Consultants are often required to know and understand terminology used in sales as well as terms used in other systems that integrate with the CPQ solution. With this in mind we will cover the most popular terms that you could hear in a typical CPQ implementation so that you're on the same page with the salespeople, business analysts, project managers and stakeholders.
- Good: A good is a tangible or intangible item that can be transferred from a seller to a buyer.
- Service: A service is a valuable action or effort performed to satisfy a need or to fulfill a demand which does not involve the transfer of ownership.
- Solution: A solution bundles goods and services (and maybe other solutions) to solve a problem and delivers a positive business outcome that can be measured again a baseline.
- Product: A product is a business offering from a seller. It can be a good, a service or a solution sold or procured.
- Lead: In sales and marketing, a lead is a prospective customer's information collected when the individual or company showed interest in a product you or your company sells. Most of the time the lead is the basis for an account (company/organization record), opportunity and/or contact.
- Opportunity: An opportunity is a lead that could generate a potential sale. The conversion will happen as soon as the lead is qualified. An opportunity is usually associated with a contact and an account.
- Account: An account is a company or an institution that has multiple employees involved in the buying process.
- Contact: A contact is the contact information for a given customer or prospective customer that is recorder in the CRM.
- Proposal: A document that is presented to a contact in response to a request to suggest the best solution and price for a specific problem.
- Quote: A quote is a paper or digital document provided to a contact in response to a price request for a specific product.
- Contract: A contract is a commercial document that legally binds the parties involved to sell the products on agreed quantities, prices and terms.
- Approval: In sales, an approval is the action of official agreement by a superior of a salesperson on a discussed proposal, quote, contract or other info that will be presented to a contact.
- Purchase Order: A purchase order (PO) is a legally bound order-placement commercial document for procuring products that is sent from a buyer to a seller.
- Sales Order: A sales order (SO) is a confirmation of sales. This document is generated after the customer sends a purchase order based on the seller's quote.
- Change Order: A change order is a request to alter the original sales order after it has been processed. The newly generated order will be considered the default order.
- Invoice: An invoice is a document issued by the seller and sent to the buyer along with the products with the goal of receiving payment.
- Price Book: A price book refers to a list of prices that were agreed to be presented to a customer. Most systems allow price books can be defined dependent on partner, region, time of the year or even buyer.
- Bill of Material: A bill of material (BOM) is list of components and their quantity required to build a product.
- e-Signature: An electronic signature is a technology that allows a signer to electronically affix a signature to an electronic document with the same legal standing as a handwritten signature to a paper document.
- Asset: An asset is a product that was bought and shipped to the buyer. It is useful to track what assets each account has as to better serve the customer.
- e-Commerce: eCommerce is the process by which products are bought and sold via the internet utilizing web sites.
- Engineer-To-Order: Engineer To Order (ETO) is a manufacturing process where goods are designed, engineered and built to specifications after the order has already been received.
- Configure-To-Order: Configure To Order (CTO) is a manufacturing process where goods are configured or assembled based on customer requirements.
- Build-To-Stock: Build To Stock (BTS) also known as Made-To-Stock (MTS) is a manufacturing process where goods are built and stocked in anticipation of demand.
- Build-To-Order: Build To Order (BTO) also known as Made-To-Order(MTO) is a manufacturing process where products are built based on orders received but the designs and implied costs are known beforehand.
- Integrated Software: two or more software applications that share data and combine functionality in such a way that it is perceived by the user as a single software product.
I believe that it is very important that all the people involved in a CPQ project adopt and agree on the terminology, as it allows participants to be on the same page when something related to the CPQ implementation is discussed.
--
Do you think there is something missing or incorrect?
Let us know and we'll be happy to update the post with your comments and mention your name.
Comments
Post a Comment