A recent survey of Salesforce CRM customers found widespread use of manual tools and lack of resources are introducing major risks to revenue, customer satisfaction and compliance, especially since companies are updating thousands of products and dozens of price books each year. According to the research, over 80% of companies experience delays, pricing and configuration errors, and ad hoc approvals. These are just a few of the findings of a survey that Propel, a modern cloud PLM software company, conducted through an online survey and at a Salesforce World Tour event.
The purpose of the Propel survey was to understand how well companies and Salesforce CRM users are rolling out product updates to their sales, marketing and channel partners. Updates to price books, product attributes and CPQ (Configure Price Quote) rules typically occur with new product introductions (NPI), trade promotions and seasonal adjustments.
Key findings from the survey include:
- A vast majority of companies have sub-optimal processes for updating products and prices: While survey respondents rated their processes 3.05 out of 5 stars, only half of them adhered to corporate or regulatory standards. Even worse, almost 90% of companies faced errors and delays in the update process.
- Manual tools are inhibiting effective processes: 34% of survey respondents are using spreadsheets or email to manage changes to products and pricing. Salesforce Data Loader, a tool to upload spreadsheet data into Salesforce, was used by 26% of respondents.
- Surprisingly, only a handful of people are tasked to manage thousands of products: 55% of respondents used 5 people or less to manage an average of 1,688 products and 32 price books in Salesforce. 45% of respondents updated their products and price books at least once a month.
"The research shows that poor pricing practices during new product introductions are bringing significant financial and legal risk to companies across all industries,” said Miguel Tam, VP of Marketing at Propel. “Just a one month delay in approving updates can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Unfortunately almost 90% of companies lack defined processes to control how critical product information, including new features, pricing and configuration rules, are communicated to sales teams and distribution partners."
