A common technique in Configure Price Quote systems is to automatically add something to the Shopping Cart once a ‘parent system’ is loaded by the user. Unless the Manufacturer mandates the addition it can easily be removed or displaced. Question is: if the software, hardware or service is not mandatory why add it in the first place? Common answers:
1. It’s recommended by the Manufacturer or Channel Partner.
2. You’re probably going to add it anyway.
3. People are forgetful.
The real answer though is: it delivers significant improvement in ‘pitch rate’ and this ultimately leads to an improvement in ‘attach rate’. Pitch being what is quoted, Attach being what is sold. channelcentral has seen up to 100% increases in pitch rates with Auto Add. Yes it’s a blunt instrument but hey.
Friend or foe? It’s about making the recommendations relevant and appropriate. If you are trying to attach a $2,000 service to a $500 System Unit it will most likely end in ‘serial deselection’ by users and a few complaints to boot. If you are adding several items to the Shopping Cart the user will be confused and abandon.
Get it right and you’ll see numbers improve, get it wrong and utilization could suffer. Better still analyse deselections and what products are commonly used to displace the auto-add. Continuous improvement. Make it easy to remove but make it as easy to add an alternative product (use Top Recommended Options or Product Sub-Filters to help the user).
How long does it take you to notice something new in iQuote?
It is a big tool with a lot of features, and some users will go through the same process to quote each time. It therefore, might not always be obvious when a new feature has gone live or a new document has been added to the resources section.
We have built a solution! A Notification system has been introduced to make all Users aware of when we have got something new to talk about. A green bell icon can be seen in the top right-hand corner of your screen. When there is a new notification to read, a number of unread alerts will be shown. Clicking on this will open up the Notifications panel for Users to be able to read and/or dismiss alerts:
If alerts are not dismissed they will remain in the panel for future reference. By clicking on a notification, it will display a pop-up, possibly with further information.
We are looking forward to utilising this feature and keeping Users informed. If you have any queries or feedback about Notifications, then please do let us know using the Support link within the iQuote tool.
The latest update to iQuote has been released. Working closely with our user base, we took onboard feedback to make it easier to load quotes into the HPE NGQ system. As such there are now two new ways to get the required information out of iQuote:
Copy to Clipboard
Export My Quote
When iQuote Users next login to the tool and create a quotation they can either click “Copy to Clipboard” and select “NGQ Format” in the modal dialogue or click “Export” and select “Excel (NGQ)”.
We hope that this new functionality will be a welcome addition and well utilised by our Users.
Engage and Grow is an increasingly popular Sales Program for Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s Channel. For years, the points rewarded as part of the Program have been recognised from iQuote sales.
With the Worldwide popularity of iQuote and the Engage and Grow Sales Program, it was felt that better visibility of the points available to the Sales Rep was needed when producing a quotation.
As such, a modification has been made in iQuote to allow users to see their Engage & Grow points when navigating through the Configure, Price, Quote Software. A breakdown of points will also be shown in a summary modal dialogue within the basket.
This visibility should serve to make the Sales Program more successful and increase the opportunity for reward to HPE Partners.
Next time you login to iQuote you will notice that the tile (Top Value in EMEA and Intelligent Buy in Australia) is now in the top left-hand corner of your screen. Upon clicking on the tile, a familiar user interface will appear instead of a pop-up, showing just the Top Value/Intelligent Buy bundles:
Users can select their bundle and add it to their basket where the price will be shown and the offer highlighted. Not only can users save with SMB Offers but they can also apply HPE Financial Services for flexible payments!
Note: This is a Europe wide (Top Value) and Australia (Intelligent Buy) promotion in iQuote Universal onlyat this stage.
Representatives from the Global IT Channel gathered in Las Vegas last week for the HPE Discover and Global Partner Summit events. As always it was an incredibly busy week as the industry’s elite networked and strategized!
channelcentral, a regular sponsor of the event and developers of the iQuote Configure, Price, Quote Software used by Distribution Worldwide, had something new to show this year. As delegates made their way through the transformation zone they were presented with an absolute game-changing service for their industry. The service is called boost! and attendees of this year’s event were fortunate to be amongst the very first to have a preview.
boost! is a Data Service that drives attach sales and shapes customer demand to improve your customers’ eCommerce experience. Imagine a typical webstore where you’re offered an additional product that has nothing to do with what you’re ordering, or even if it does, how do you know it is compatible? Then imagine a webstore with boost! offered as a Web Service and a pre-selected set of compatible options that are known to work together with the pre-installed features of the base product, across multiple categories. Enabling faster, high-confidence decision-making for technical products.
It’s more exciting than it perhaps sounds. boost! is fixing a known weakness in eCommerce that organizations have been unable to resolve. Using artificial intelligence, boost! will transform the way your customers’ can buy technical products from you, freeing up your pre-sales team to hunt down those big deals!
The feedback from delegates at HPE Discover and Global Partner Summit was unbelievable. Every delegate that was fortunate enough to have a demonstration wanted it in their webstore. Rack Simply, are a Partner based in the US, and are the first in the World to have boost! live in their webstore. Here’s what they had to say:
“boost! drastically improved the customer experience for Rack Simply. Before boost!, users were lost in endless accessory options that converted poorly. boost! and the team at channelcentral only recommend the most popular and likely attach options that transitioned Rack Simply from a website, to a seamless configure-price-quote experience.”Dan Mitchell, President, Rack Simply
channelcentral has spotted a gap in the online buying process of technical products: “It is essential that online stores do everything possible to keep customers captive on their own site during the complete buying process. Sites that use boost! can eliminate a common problem associated with selling more complex IT products; the temptation to click away to check compatibility and capacity. Instead, customers can select from options with confidence and visualize slot and bay usage.” Greg Starks, CSO, channelcentral.net
After feedback at the events last week, channelcentral is excited to get to work on transforming the eCommerce sites of everyone it spoke to. For those that missed out and are wanting to learn more about what boost! can do for your eCommerce sales, please get in touch.
Today sees the launch of two exciting new pricing initiatives in iQuote Universal for some HPE EMEA Users. Designed to support the SMB Market with the very best offers:
SMB Offers
SMB Offers in iQuote Universal can be accessed from the Home Screen. A new tile has been introduced to show selected servers and options for a special price when purchased together:
Users can select their bundle and add it to their basket where the price will be shown and the offer highlighted. Not only can users save with SMB Offers but they can also apply HPE Financial Services for flexible payments!
Note: This is a Europe wide promotion in iQuote Universal only at this stage.
Indicative Buy Price
Universal users will be notified of the new Indicative Buy Price feature when they next login. To access these prices, users will need to follow the link to the Partner Ready Portal to login and confirm they are an HPE Partner.
Once authenticated, users will be passed back to iQuote and have access to better pricing on select SKUs. Users will be able to view the estimated reseller prices and the saving made.
Note: This is a pilot promotion in iQuote Universal for the UK and Germany only at this stage.
Login to iQuote Universal today and realise the HPE savings that can be made!
A new and exciting feature has just been added to iQuote for Hewlett Packard Enterprise users. It is called the Competitive Selector and is designed for iQuote users to be able to compare like for like quotes. Let’s look at an example:
A customer tells their Account Manager that they have been quoted a DELL XXXX, and asks what HPE has to offer. The Account manager can go into iQuote and open up the Competitive Selector. Using the filters such as system type, form factor and product, iQuote can run an intelligent query to browse similar HPE products. The Account Manager will then be given a list of recommended HPE systems.
If users are looking to compare recommended products, there is an enhanced feature of the Competitive Selector called Key Selling Points. By hovering over the Key Selling Points button (visible when data is available) in Recommended HPE Systems, users will be presented with a list of the best features to aid with decision making:
It has never been easier to find and quote the right HPE solution. Login to iQuote today and see how much more HPE business you can win by using the Competitive Selector! Launch it from the Homepage:
iQuote is a Configure, Price, Quote tool developed for Hewlett Packard Enterprise by www.channelcentral.net
We are delighted to announce a new product category in iQuote 2 for all accessories and services. This category has been introduced in iQuote 2 for both Hewlett Packard Enterprise and HP Inc.
What does this mean for the user? If you are using the new iQuote 2, it means you can now enhance your quotes to build a complete solution for your customers, increase your attach rates and in turn your revenue potential!
What accessories can you expect to find?
From additional memory, cables, batteries, and USB devices through to laptop bags and monitors, there are plenty of accessories to choose from.
The accessories feature is now live in iQuote 2 for users to start enhancing their quotes. Login to iQuote 2 today and start building your quotes.
iQuote is Configure, Price, Quote Software developed by channelcentral.net for Hewlett Packard Enterprise and HP Inc.
Friend or foe? It’s about making the recommendations relevant and appropriate. If you are trying to attach a $2,000 service to a $500 System Unit it will most likely end in ‘serial deselection’ by users and a few complaints to boot. If you are adding several items to the Shopping Cart the user will be confused and abandon.
This visibility should serve to make the Sales Program more successful and increase the opportunity for reward to HPE Partners.
Users can select their bundle and add it to their basket where the price will be shown and the offer highlighted. Not only can users save with SMB Offers but they can also apply HPE Financial Services for flexible payments!
channelcentral Blog 