How the Right Sales Tools Drive Margin Growth in Manufacturing
Even with advanced sales programs, selling is expensive. Whether you’re a hobbyist selling hand-crafted products or a multinational moving million-dollar machines, the cost of selling is significant. This includes not just production costs, but the expenses associated with people, software, travel, and, most importantly, their time.
Mistakes in the sales process, like lowball pricing, invalid assumptions about customer needs, or pursuing low-probability opportunities, also eat into your margins. Boosting sales margins start with controlling these costs and improving sales efficiency.
A small reduction in sales-related expenses can yield a disproportionately large increase in profitability. For example, a 1% reduction in selling costs can translate into a 4% increase in profit margins.
The right sales tools act as efficiency enablers, reducing errors, accelerating selling cycles, and directly contributing to manufacturing sales margin growth.
How Sales Tools Impact Profit Margins
CPQ: Enforcing Accuracy and Pricing Discipline
Configure Price Quote (CPQ) software is designed to eliminate errors in product configuration and pricing. CPQ ensures that:
- Product, engineering, and pricing rules are automatically applied.
- The customer receives accurate configurations that meet their exact requirements.
- Discounts, promotions, and pricing models are applied consistently.
By bringing the “expert” along for every sales call, CPQ reduces errors and enforces pricing discipline. Learn more about CPQ for margin protection.
For a detailed look at how CPQ impacts the bottom line, see: Impact the profit margin for a given sale.
Guided Selling: Focus on High-Value Opportunities
Sales reps sometimes pursue unlikely deals, wasting time and resources. Guided selling tools prevent this by:
- Qualifying prospects based on financial viability and need.
- Steering reps toward high-percentage opportunities.
- Eliminating wasted effort on prospects that fall outside your success profile.
The result is improved sales profitability through smarter resource allocation.
CRM: Organize Efforts and Maximize Efficiency
A CRM system supports guided selling by helping reps target and organize their sales activities efficiently. With CRM, sales teams can:
- Identify accounts that fit their ideal customer profile.
- Plan their schedule to reduce unnecessary travel.
- Focus time on opportunities with the highest probability of success.
CRM tools ensure that every rep is working smarter, contributing directly to manufacturing sales margin growth. Learn more about CRM as a sales tool.
FAQs
1. How can CPQ help increase profit margins?
CPQ ensures accurate product configurations and consistent pricing, reducing errors that can erode profit margins.
2. What is guided selling, and why does it matter for profitability?
Guided selling qualifies prospects automatically and directs reps toward the most promising opportunities, saving time and reducing wasted effort.
3. How does CRM support margin growth?
CRM organizes sales activities, prioritizes high-value accounts, and reduces unnecessary travel, helping reps maximize productivity.
4. Can sales tools really reduce selling costs significantly?
Yes. Even small reductions in time and errors can lead to measurable increases in profit margins.
5. Are these tools suitable for manufacturing sales?
Absolutely. Manufacturing often involves complex products and pricing structures, making CPQ and CRM tools essential for manufacturing sales margin growth.
