Understand HubSpot CPQ

HubSpot CPQ (Configure, Price, Quote) is a set of tools for configuring products and services and creating, managing, and approving quotes. With CPQ, your sales team can build standardized quotes and send them to buyers for review, acceptance, and payment, all within HubSpot. This article covers the tools available in HubSpot CPQ and a common quoting workflow.

If you want to manage the full revenue journey in HubSpot, learn more about managing the end-to-end revenue process.

Developer resources

Learn more about building custom solutions using the Quotes API.

Before you get started

Understand requirements

Learn more about which features require a Revenue Hub seat in the product and services catalog.

HubSpot CPQ tools

Product library

The product library stores the products and services your business sells. Use products to add line items to deals and quotes so buyers understand what they are purchasing.

Products in the library can be configured with different pricing models, including flat-rate, stair-step, and tiered pricing, as well as price books (BETA). This helps sellers use the correct products and pricing during the sales process.

For example, you can set up the product library in the following ways:

• Use tiered pricing for subscriptions, and apply different regional price books for regional sales teams.
• Configure implementation services at a flat rate alongside usage-based support packages billed on a recurring schedule.

Quotes

Create branded quotes in the quote editor. Add your own information or use AI to populate modules based on deal, line item, and your own input.

• AI-generated quotes: generate quotes using HubSpot's AI, based on deal and line item information.

• Branding: customize the quote appearance, including fonts, colors, layout, and styling.

• Templates: create and edit quote templates for sellers to use to help standardize quotes for buyers. Set a layout, pre-filled modules including the cover letter, line items, terms, payment options, and acceptance method. Use custom-coded modules to customize template appearance, content, and logic. 

• Quote editor: update your quote using customizable modules on a single-page editor, including the ability to add custom cover letters, executive summaries, and terms.

• Line item editor: use the line item editor to add, edit, or remove line items from your product library to your quote. Line items will automatically populate on the quote from an associated deal. Set discounts and billing terms, and use line items in reporting and workflows.

• Attachments: add attachments, and include them in the signing envelope. Buyers can review attachments during the quote acceptance process.

• Closing agent (BETA): turn on the closing agent (BETA) on quotes. Buyers can ask the agent about the quote and it can answer questions based on the quote, its attachments, and additional documents uploaded to your settings.

• Acceptance: choose how to accept your quote from print and sign, e-sign, or click to accept (accept without signature). Add countersigners from your organization as part of the acceptance process.

• Billing and payments: adjust payment terms and use invoices and subscriptions to manage ongoing payments. Accept payments online using HubSpot payments or Stripe. You can also integrate accounting platforms, such as QuickBooks, to sync payment information to HubSpot.
• Engagement tracking: track quote views, downloads, and prints of quotes, and related activities via the quote activity log.

Quote approvals

Ensure standardization by using quote approvals and rules. Set approval workflows to trigger approvals from HubSpot users:

• Standard approvals: allow quotes to be approved by any, or all approvers.
• Advanced approvals: use customized approval workflows, based on quote properties. Set rules based on quote information such as discounts, amounts, term lengths, and more, and set the order of approvers for the approval process.
• Approval notifications and tracking: get notified if you're an approver and view approval activity in the quote activity log.

Use quote rules to display warnings when users build quotes or prevent them from publishing quotes until rule requirements are met.

HubSpot CPQ use case

View an example use case of HubSpot CPQ below.

Deal and quote management for sales teams

Growing sales organizations face inefficiency and friction, introduced by manual quoting and complex approval processes. This often leads to delays in closing deals, inconsistencies in pricing, and a lack of clear visibility into sales performance.

Pain points

• Time-consuming quote creation: sales representatives spend time manually configuring quotes, especially with varied product offerings and tiered pricing, often leading to errors.

• Bottlenecks in approvals: getting necessary approvals for discounts or specific terms involves multiple manual steps, resulting in delays.

• Fragmented systems: relying on disconnected tools for quoting, CRM, and billing can lead to data silos, inconsistent reporting, and additional training burdens for revenue operations teams.

• Limited visibility: sales managers lack real-time insight into the status of quotes, buyer engagement, and overall deal progress, making it difficult to accurately forecast revenue and coach their teams.

How HubSpot's CPQ tool can help

• AI quote creation: sales representatives can generate draft quotes using AI, automatically populating line items, and personalizing content like cover letters and executive summaries based on deal information. They can use the single-page editor to customize complex pricing models, such as tiered pricing.

• Approval workflows: use standard or advanced approvals, including logic-based rules for discounts or terms. Sales teams receive insights into what triggers an approval, with notifications to approvers.

• Buyer experience: buyers can digitally sign quotes and select billing and payment methods directly within the quote interface.

• Tracking and reporting: sellers can track buyer engagement with quotes, including views, downloads, and prints, and receive notifications about these activities. This data is integrated into the sales workspace, offering insights for sales managers to monitor performance, analyze revenue activity, and create forecasts. Revenue operations teams have centralized control over templates and pricing rules.