Large-Scale CPQ/CLM Implementation
CLIENT:
Major Automotive Remarketer
BACKGROUND:
The client operates 60 plus automotive auctions across the U.S. comprised of multiple sales, support, finance, and leadership roles (1100+) nation-wide. The local auction sales team prospect and account manage small to mid-sized auto dealerships for purposes of buying, selling, and servicing used cars at their respective auction locations. Large dealership groups and OEM customers are serviced through a national sales teams leveraging long term contracts for rendering local auction services.
CHALLENGES:
Local auction sales representatives used an excel based solution coupled with email to price and negotiate deals with local auto dealerships. On average, “deal” approval would take 3 days to complete. Quite often, the complex pricing model used was out of date and fraught with errors causing re-work and sales representative/customer frustration.
The national sales team used “paper-based” contracts which created significant inefficiencies tracking contract compliance, rebate management and overall contract oversight.
WHAT I DID:
Lead a Deal and Contract Management program which designed, developed, and implemented a Configure, Price, Quote (CPQ) and Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) solutions to both local and national sales teams involving over 1200 end users. The Apttus Deal Management and CLM software modules were integrated into the existing Salesforce.com platform which provided a real-time, complex pricing engine, deal scoring, and automated workflow approvals. Over 600 paper-based contracts were digitized allow for easy full text search for terms, metadata, and contract clauses. Digital contract creation was enabled and approvals generated using customized workflows.
The program consisted of several work streams including Change Management and Training, Technology Development, and Business Readiness. Over 30 core project team members consisting client personnel, consulting and software vendors, as well as executive leadership were involved.
RESULTS:
- Reduced deal management creation and approval from an average of 3 days to less than an hour
- Enabled cross-selling and bundling of multiple services
- Establish discounting discipline flexibility
- Provided leadership with proactive visibility of deal/contract forecasts regarding volume and profit