The selection of a CPQ tool is a very important decision for every company that needs to be approached thoroughly. Nevertheless even when the best CPQ tool for your company, your industry and your users is selected it doesn’t mean the implementation of the tool will be a success. What makes or breaks the success of any CPQ tool is “User Acceptance”.

Here are two short definitions of “Acceptance” based on thefreedictionary.com :

  • the act of taking or receiving something offered
  • favorable receptions

Since CPQ touches so many different business process areas this acceptance is a tall order.
The next question is: “How do I know if the users accept the CPQ tool?” I suggest two ways to measure user acceptance. They are both critical and you need to pay close attention to them if you want to realize the expected CPQ tool benefits.

Acceptance of stakeholders BEFORE the CPQ project starts
Beside the Project Sponsor typical stakeholders are Product Management, Product Engineering, Sales, Sales Ops, Marketing and IT.
Some questions you should ask yourself to ensure the key stakeholders (at least the team leads of all stakeholders mentioned above) support your CPQ project

  • What does change, for which team with the CPQ project?
  • Which teams have potentially conflicting interests?
  • Do all stakeholders have the same understanding of the project deliverables and how success of this project will be measured?

Note: Ensure also that your Key external stakeholders are on board BEFORE the CPQ project starts. Share your project plans with them and consider their feedback thoroughly.

Don’t be fooled by the simplicity of these questions. Follow up on them thoroughly otherwise you run the risk of a long, costly project that might frustrate the stakeholders before the CPQ solution is even available to anyone.

Acceptance of stakeholders AFTER the CPQ project ends

Beside the Sales Team (and that includes all company sales teams like Field Sales, Inside Sales etc.) there are the following external stakeholders: Channel Partners and End-Users. Do these stakeholders actually use your new CPQ tool?
How do you measure if these stakeholders use your new CPQ tool? (Examples beyond measuring CPQ user registrations): Faster Turn-around-time for quotes, less quotes with errors, increased number of quotes created via CPQ tool etc.). Do some stakeholders still use older tools?
Do your regular Sales Surveys show a measurable difference? (Example: Sales Team spends less time on administrative tasks etc.)
Does anecdotal feedback from your Top Sales Teams, Top Channel Partners and your most important customers confirm that the CPQ tool provides them measurable benefits?

At the end of a CPQ project you want to have realized the key benefits (e.g. increased revenue, increased margins, eliminated quote/opportunity/contract errors and close more deals). This will only happen when you work with your internal and external stakeholders and provide them an incentive and adequate support to use the new CPQ tool.