Your channel partners aren’t just a route to market—they’re your salesforce. But what happens when your quoting process slows them down?
In the world of channel sales, complexity is everywhere. Partners juggle multiple product lines, pricing models, approval processes, and buying cycles—all while trying to close deals with accuracy and speed. If your quote-to-cash process isn’t purpose-built for this environment, you risk frustrating your sales partners, losing control of your brand, and leaving revenue on the table.
It’s time to rethink your approach. And that starts with channel sales in CPQ software.
Let’s say you work with a growing network of channel partners. Each has their own sales teams, customer relationships, and regional nuances. You want them to sell your offerings effectively—but without the risk of inaccurate quotes, outdated pricing, or misconfigured products.
Here’s where things typically break down:
These pain points create friction at every step of the quoting process—not just for your internal team, but for your external channel partners too. And that friction is expensive.
When partners don’t have the right tools, they either flood your team with support requests or go rogue with outdated data. Either way, the outcome is the same: missed opportunities and a degraded customer experience.
These issues don't just affect short-term sales—they hurt long-term partner relationships. When quoting becomes a burden, partners disengage. And when they disengage, revenue stalls.
A Configure, Price, Quote (CPQ) solution tailored for channel sales equips your partners with everything they need to succeed—without losing control of the process.
Here’s how CPQ transforms your channel sales:
Partners access one source of truth—product configurations, price books, and discounting rules—all synced in real time. This ensures every quote is accurate, compliant, and up-to-date.
Rather than relying on spec sheets or guesswork, sales partners are guided step-by-step. Intelligent prompts recommend compatible options, highlight cross-sell opportunities, and ensure adherence to your pricing strategy.
With CPQ, partners can generate quotes instantly using verified data. Integrated approval processes and a seamless quote-to-cash process eliminate delays—so deals close faster, with fewer errors.
Decentralized quoting doesn’t mean a loss of oversight. You maintain full visibility into every quote, track sales team activity, and identify bottlenecks. This boosts forecasting accuracy and improves sales performance.
Here’s what a channel sales process looks like before and after CPQ:
Before CPQ
After CPQ
That’s the transformation when your quoting process is built for a partner ecosystem. CPQ doesn’t just automate—it enables your sales team and sales partners to move faster, sell smarter, and protect your brand.
Today’s B2B landscape demands speed, flexibility, and autonomy—not just for internal teams, but for partners and customers too. That’s where self-service sales channels CPQ enters the picture.
A modern CPQ platform can empower external partners, resellers, and even end customers to create quotes on their own—without needing to contact your sales reps.
Here’s how self-service quoting works:
By enabling self-service quoting, you reduce friction for both buyers and channel partners. You also shorten the quote-to-cash process, increase quoting capacity, and free your internal sales team to focus on higher-value deals.
Whether it’s a distributor managing thousands of SKUs or a partner onboarding new reps, CPQ makes self-service scalable and secure.
Not all CPQ solutions are designed for the realities of partner selling. CPQ stands out by giving your sales partners the ability to succeed—without overloading your internal team or sacrificing brand consistency.
Key capabilities include:
With CPQ, your partners can generate quotes that are compliant and on-brand, quickly. The result? A better customer experience, fewer errors, and increased revenue across every channel sales motion.