Mechanical components manufacturer · Machinery & Manufacturing · CPQ

Configure, price, sell: the CPQ platform

A global manufacturer of highly configurable mechanical components needed six weeks to qualify a request. We redesigned its go-to-market around a self-service digital platform.

Challenge: Highly configurable products, six weeks to qualify a request and deliveries of up to six months.
What we did: Research with agents, distributors and customers; a guided qualification flow and a configurator with automatic quotes.
Result: Qualification from six weeks to three days, +60% features sold per order.

3 days

to qualify a request, instead of 6 weeks

+60%

features sold per order

2 months

to onboard a new agent, instead of 6

The context

A global manufacturer of industrial mechanical components, with a highly configurable range and a new plant capable of mass customisation.

A SAP CPQ (Configure-Price-Quote) extension was already in place but under-used, and the sales network was fragmented: agents, distributors, branches and in-house sellers with very different technical skills.

The problem

Unsustainable lead times: two months for standard products, six for complex ones. Qualifying a customer request alone took six weeks.

Specifications arrived incomplete or wrong, causing rework and delays. The fragmented network made it impossible to standardise selling, and opportunities to sell additional features went untapped.

The NiEW method

From the sales process to the needs of those who sell and buy

01. Business discovery

Mapping of the whole sales process, from first contact to delivery, with sales, agents, distributors, engineering, marketing and IT.

02. Customer research

Interviews with agents, distributors and end customers, the journey from enquiry to configuration and an analysis of friction points.

03. Competitor benchmarking

Analysis of direct competitors’ platforms and of best practices from highly customised sectors, such as automotive parts and building materials.

The solution

A self-service platform that qualifies demand, guides configuration and drastically cuts time-to-quote, keeping technical complexity manageable for non-experts.

Guided qualification: smart questions that narrow more than 5,000 configurations down to 3–5 relevant options.
Visual configurator with 3D preview: technical constraints stay invisible and the price updates with every choice.
Automatic quotes with complete specifications, integrated with the CRM.
Sales knowledge base with a digital catalogue and training materials for new sellers.

The results

Drastically shorter lead times

From six weeks to three days for qualification, from 2–6 months to 3–4 weeks for delivery of the finished product.

Better-quality demand

Complete technical specifications from the first quote, less rework and fewer post-order changes.

More value per order

From 50 to 80 features sold per order on average (+60%), with guided upselling during configuration.

A sales network that scales

New agent onboarding from six to two months and the same sales process across all channels.

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