Improving customer experience for SMBs with digital quotes and estimates

A lot of the benefits of quoting tools show up on the sales side-quoting tools consolidate information, increase revenue, and reduce time spent on redundant tasks. But don’t underestimate the impact quoting and estimating tools have on customer experience.

More than anyone else, people at small-to-midsized business (SMBs) know the importance of customer relationships. Good selling is about connecting with customers and providing them the kind of experience that they can’t get anywhere else.

SMBs excel at this, as their size and customer base let them devote more time and attention to fulfilling customer needs. Quoting tools can take this attentiveness to the next level.

Get quotes to customers quickly

If you’ve ever asked someone to hurry up, you’ve probably heard the phrase “you can have it done fast, or you can have it done well.” The thing is, a lot of clients and customers want both; research shows customers list speed of service as one of the most impactful factors on their experience with a company.

This is especially true for speed of quote or estimate generation. An estimate is just that: it’s an estimation of cost of the product or service you’re offering. Time might not be listed on the price sheet, but it’s implicitly understood by customers that if you’re slow to get them a quote or estimate, you might be slow to get them their product or service.

Quoting tools can generate detailed quotes with complex pricing in minutes or less, letting your SMB provide the kind of speedy service that customers will remember and revisit.

Tailor your quotes to customers

Personalization is the name of the game in small business sales. Because of their size, SMBs are more able to flex their products and services to customer needs, which means there is more of an expectation for customized experiences, especially as more and more industries move to digital spaces, post-pandemic.

Luckily, digital tools like QuoteCX make it easy for sales reps and sales teams to provide personalized experiences through tailored quotes. By configuring products and services based on a customer’s specific requirements, quoting tools ensure that the customer receives exactly what they need on the first quote, the first time.

Not only does this make your business look good, but it also helps your customers feel like you understand their needs and that your service is worth their investment.

Grant transparency in selling

Sales has a poor reputation in terms of honesty and transparency. This is part of why customers seek smaller businesses out in the first place: statistics show that 68 percent of Americans have confidence in SMBs to serve them well, while only 14 percent trust enterprises to do the same-that’s almost five times the perceived trustworthiness.

But trust is hard-won and easily lost, which makes it all the more important for sales reps to be open and honest about pricing. A good digital quoting tool will let you show your customer every step of the process: how the listed prices are calculated, what discounts are applied, and what options or customizations are included. This kind of transparency might result in customers choosing a less immediately profitable deal, but honesty closes deals faster and more often and, most importantly, brings customers back the next time.

If customers can see the logic behind pricing using a tool like QuoteCX, they are more likely to feel like the pricing is fair and that they are being treated equitably. They’re more likely to trust-and we could all use a little more trust.

Originally published at https://scalefluidly.com.