Many companies use Configure Price Quote (CPQ) software to inject speed and accuracy into their sales engine. While they’re useful to transition pricing from spreadsheets into something more manageable, they often can’t handle complex pricing calculations fast.
Price management software that interfaces with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance delivers speed and accuracy for your pricing.
Ways to improve promotion pricing in Microsoft Dynamics 365
So how does price management software help you supercharge your pricing in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance?
Takes the pressure off your sales team
The right price management software can make it much easier for your sales team to look up product prices, available discounts, and up-sell opportunities.
Price management software helps your sales team access accurate, real-time pricing during sales negotiations without fear of inaccuracies or a negative impact on margins.
Stops your sales team from wasting time constructing the right quote
Time is a huge factor in every sale and your sales team will waste it if they have to seek approval to close a deal with a customer.
With price management software, pre-approved discounts, rebates, and free goods are instantly available to the sales team to select as they’re negotiating with the customer.
Helps you handle complexity easily
Accurate quotes are a challenge when the product pricing and other data is out of date. Price management software with an in-memory pricing engine is able to update pricing as it happens, applying discounts almost instantly as the right combinations of products are selected.
While CPQ software can quickly become outdated as your business grows and you require more complex agreements to stay competitive.
Handles growth in the number of products you sell
Similar to the point above, when the amount of products you sell grows with your business, many CPQ software solutions are not able to cope. While this is great for the health of your company, it makes life difficult for your sales team who have to remember prices and details for a bigger range of products.
Price management software attributes the right price to a new customer that’s added, when a new product is added or when new terms are agreed to. What you get is a scalable, efficient, accurate, and single source of pricing and price management for your business.
Various Pricing Options in Microsoft Dynamics 365
Depending on the needs of your business, there are three common ways to enter the pricing of a particular item in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance.
- Storing the purchase price on the item master. By going to the Purchase tab page of the Released product form, you or your staff can specify the purchase price and purchase unit. This works well if (a) items are mostly being purchased by one main vendor, which is identified on the item master and (b) both the vendor(s) and customer are using the same currency. On the flip side, it doesn’t work so well when there are several vendors or more than one currency is involved.
- Setting up purchase price type trade agreement journals. It’s straightforward for the trade agreements journals in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance to set the purchase price based on the following variables: vendor, vendor group, currency, and seasonal prices. There are obvious upsides to this approach if your business is dealing with a range of vendors or vendor groups, two or more currencies, or if it is selling something such as fruit or winter clothing. The downside is that, compared to just storing the purchase price on the item master, you or your staff will have spent substantial time on original setups and the maintenance of data.
- Setting up purchase agreements and creating release orders. If you are entering into a longer-term agreement with a vendor, a purchase agreement will allow you to specify the price as well as quantitative commitments. Or, to put it more plainly, to create a contract that Party X will buy a product from Party Y in a certain quantity or amount for a mutually agreed period of time in return for a discount of Z percent. Both the pro and con of this approach is that you have a legally binding contract, which will be difficult to alter if the circumstances of either party change. But, presuming no unforeseen events occur, set terms simplify everything and allow users to spin off release purchase orders with the tap of a button.
How Flintech can help in promotional pricing strategy
For the past decade, Flintech partner Flintfox has evolved its pricing engine and Revenue Management functionality for Microsoft Dynamics 365. It now offers millisecond response times to complex price requests.
Flintech can help you implement a Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Flintfox solution for your promotional pricing strategy.
Final takeaway
In a world of Big Data and frictionless communication where buyers and sellers have something approaching complete and instantaneous knowledge of all market prices, pricing has never been more important. In fact, it’s no exaggeration to say that any business that doesn’t select the right price management software and make good use of it risks a very uncertain future. Find out how you can boost your promotional pricing strategy with Flintech. Book a free consultation with us today to find out more.
