Implementation Challenges
Customers aren’t clear about who is responsible for what.
Not clearly setting expectations and clearly outlining responsibilities can lead to costly misunderstandings when it comes to implementation and cut-over. SalesDoc Architect’s detailed discovery module uses rules and workflow to ensure these questions are answered, setting the stage for a smooth transition from your team to the customer. Answers to these questions flow into the statement of work clearly stating responsibilities.
SalesDoc Architect Automates and Creates Clear Statements of Work
SalesDoc Architect builds and generates various outputs based on the configured solution. Proposal, statement of work and other document content is auto-generated based on the configured equipment and services part numbers. In addition, customer answers to qualification and discovery questions, user inputs and workflow rules can drive document content to include in output documents such as:
- Discovery memos that confirm customer requirements
- Executive summaries that address how the proposed solution addresses the customer’s needs
- Proposals that win more deals
- Statements of Work that clearly set customer expectations
- Implementation documents that define exactly what the implementation team needs to deliver
We underestimate the labor needed and forget to include required products and solutions.
When the right questions aren’t asked up front, items such as a required network assessment or supporting equipment and services can be left off a quote. Without this information, engineering cannot do their job to ensure the quote is properly sourced with the right amount of labor hours and ancillary supporting equipment and services. SalesDoc Architect builds in detailed discovery into every quote with logic that guides users and ensures all the right questions are asked. The answers to the questions automatically flow throughout the quote file to ensure the quote is configured properly.
SalesDoc Architect Automates Solution Configurations
Using rules and workflows, SalesDoc Architect automates complex solution configuration of equipment and services based on each customer’s unique requirements. With SalesDoc Architect, you can:
- Auto-configure products and services based on user inputs
- Auto-calculate peripheral products and labor based on configurations imported from manufacturer or distributor configuration tools
- Override and adjust auto-calculated product and service quantities, and add “write-in” items
- Break out optional-purchase items
- Calculate pricing on configured items using a variety of approaches – including top-down (category-level) and line-item bottom-up pricing based on discount, markup and margin – along with built-in goal seek functions
We have scope creep that costs us money and customer satisfaction.
Scope creep occurs when little changes sneak up on you and snowball, causes projects to take longer to complete, resulting in cost overages, shrinking margins and sometimes a lost customer. Scope creep happens because a customer asks for one more small item or you forget to note something like a service pack not included in software. SalesDoc Architect uses rules and workflows to ensure nothing is left to chance or falls through the cracks. When changes are made in one place of the quote file, those changes flow through to other related areas catching potentially costly changes to the project scope.
We can’t deliver on what was promised.
When it comes time for implementation, you realize your team can’t deliver on what was proposed. Erroneous assumptions may have been made or operations had no visibility to approve what was proposed and scoped. With SalesDoc Architect’s rules and workflows, answers to pre-defined questions can reveal a need for further assessment. Workflow rules can be programmed to require operational approval under certain circumstances that ensure your team delivers on promises made.
SalesDoc Architect uses Workflow to Eliminate Costly Mistakes that Lead to Scope Creep
SalesDoc Architect utilizes Excel formulas to create rules and workflow logic starting at the initial configuration level. Workflows can be programmed to automatically include products and services that are often forgotten. Answers to qualification and discovery questions can drive solution configuration rules and also flow into output documents such as proposals and statements of work. Workflow rules can also be used to require engineer or management approvals based on margin, total sale price, product configuration scenarios, or any variety of conditions.
Pre-programmed workflows minimize the chance of an incomplete or inaccurate proposal going out the door leading to problems and margin erosion down the road.
Read how one company saved $100,000 in margin using SalesDoc Architect workflows.