From Spreadsheet Quoting to CPQ
It’s Time to Break Up with Excel.
Excel is a practical tool for getting started with configuration and quoting—familiar, flexible, and functional. But as your product configurations and quoting demands grow, spreadsheets quickly become a bottleneck. Manual work, scattered data, and time-consuming processes slow your team down. It’s time to move to a system designed for manufacturing growth.
Why Spreadsheets Can’t Scale With Your Business
Spreadsheets have served manufacturers well for years, but they were never meant to handle the complexity of modern quoting. As your product offerings grow and customer expectations rise, relying on Excel becomes a risky, time-consuming practice that holds your business back. Here’s why:
Costly Manual Errors
Manual data entry and disconnected sheets lead to quoting mistakes that impact margins and delay orders. Even the most diligent team members are prone to human error when managing hundreds of configurations across multiple sheets.
Time-Consuming Processes
Excel isn’t built for complex product configurations, turning what should be a quick quote into hours of work. Sales teams often spend more time manipulating spreadsheets than engaging with customers.
Disconnected Systems
Excel operates in isolation, forcing teams to manually transfer data instead of working with integrated, real-time systems.
So What’s the Solution?
If you manufacture complex products that require configuration, the only logical next step up from spreadsheets is to implement a CPQ (Configure, Price, Quote) system. CPQ software provides the structure, automation, and scalability necessary to handle modern quoting demands. Here’s why CPQ stands apart:
- Handles Complex Product Configurations: From engineer-to-order to make-to-stock, CPQ can manage even the most intricate configurations without manual intervention.
- Accurate Costing and Pricing: CPQ pulls real-time data directly from your ERP, ensuring accurate pricing, cost estimates, and margins on every quote.
- Dynamic Quote Document Creation: Generate professional, customer-specific quotes with dynamic content in just a few clicks.
- Seamless Order Submission: Automatically transfer finalized quotes into your ERP, so production can begin without delays or errors.
With CPQ, manufacturers gain a streamlined, consistent quoting process that scales with business growth.
CPQ Software Helps You Grow
We help manufacturers move from spreadsheet-based quoting to a modern CPQ (Configure, Price, Quote) system that scales with growth. Our clients have reduced quoting time by 80%, cut manual errors by 90%, and improved their order accuracy—all while giving their teams time to focus on higher-value work.
Low Cost Adds Up
While Excel seems like a low-cost solution, the hidden costs add up quickly.
Lost Sales Opportunities: Slow quoting times lead to missed opportunities, as customers expect quick and accurate quotes.
Frustrated Teams: Sales, engineering, and operations teams become demotivated when bogged down by repetitive tasks.
Inaccurate Costing: Spreadsheet errors often result in underquoting or overquoting, directly impacting profitability.
What Our CPQ Customers Say
“Rework on configured orders is near zero due to the reliability of configured BOMs and ease of making updates to the configurations when ECNs are issued”
“[CPQ] allows our customers to build the product they want and it allows us to offer many different options without confusing the end user”.
“Ease of ordering even the most optioned product”
‘Consistency and efficiency. Configurations are completed quickly.”
“A more professional look to quotes and reduced man hours”
“[CPQ improves] Sales Quote order conversions. More quotes generated=more orders.”
Is CPQ Right for You?
If you’re wondering if CPQ is right for your manufacturing or distribution business, consider this: companies that move away from spreadsheet-based quoting consistently report higher win rates, shorter sales cycles, and greater operational efficiency.
Schedule a call today, and we’ll help you explore whether CPQ could solve your quoting challenges—no hard sell, just valuable insights.