I once observed a VP of a very large corporation build from scratch, in Excel, a “sophisticated” tool that would allow remote users to enter data in a centrally located Excel file. It was full of gizmo’s like macros and sophisticated formulas. In total effort, over several months, he spent about 6 weeks building and refining it. It was his idea, his solution to a problem, his pet, his raison d’etre.
Now, we can assume that this VP’s salary is comparable to other VPs’ in the org – 6 figures. So let’s assume he spent at least 120 hours building this Excel tool (which he did) and roughly calculate his cost to said large corporation. Almost $10,000.
That’s right.
What’s with that?
Which brings us to my point. I see so many sales people who use ACT! struggling to build quotes in Excel or Word. Don’t get me wrong. I love Excel to the point of being certified. However, there are many excellent quoting software programs out there that integrate with CRM programs seamlessly.
Some are affordable, sophisticated and really wonderful (and some, not so much). Two that serve the SMB market are QuikQuote and QuoteWerks. Of the two, we think QuoteWerks is far superior. QuoteWerks has all the bells,whistles and fireworks you’d want in a quoting package, including the “configurator” – a step-by-step quote building workflow based on your products. It’s quick, easy to use, decreases your response time and is likely to have a direct impact on performance.
Let’s do the math shall we?