Driving Commercial Performance in Construction with Salesforce CPQ

By addressing these challenges through a unified transformation program, the client had the opportunity to significantly strengthen its commercial operating model.

The transformation would enable:

1. 1. 1. • A consistent, repeatable national sales framework across regions and product lines
         • Rules-driven pricing governance with stronger margin control
         • Faster, more accurate quoting and approval cycles
         • Integrated pipeline visibility and sharper forecasting
         • A modern CPQ platform capable of supporting ongoing evolution and digital growth

This was not simply a technology replacement. It was an opportunity to embed commercial discipline at scale.

Project objectives

To unlock these benefits, the organisation partnered with NRI to deliver a coordinated business and technology program with seven core objectives:

1. Replace the legacy Conga CPQ platform with Salesforce CPQ
Introduce a scalable, flexible quoting engine capable of supporting complex pricing models and product configurations.

2. Implement a unified Sales Effectiveness framework
Standardise opportunity management, customer engagement, pricing governance, and approval pathways across all regions.

3. Embed consistent pricing, approvals, and quoting workflows
Reduce variation, enforce governance, and improve speed and accuracy.

4. Improve sales productivity and operational efficiency
Reduce manual workarounds, accelerate quote turnaround, and enable stronger cross-team collaboration.

5. Strengthen commercial reporting and real-time visibility
Deliver integrated pipeline, project, and performance insights for leadership decision-making.

6. Minimise disruption through a pragmatic reporting strategy
Preserve historical reporting continuity without high-risk legacy migration.

7. Drive structured adoption and long-term capability uplift
Ensure sustained behavioural change through training, enablement, and knowledge transfer.

NRI’s experts worked with the client to deliver a comprehensive transformation centred on Salesforce CPQ and an enterprise-wide Sales Effectiveness framework. Our approach involved:

1. Parallel delivery

Salesforce CPQ was introduced alongside the new Sales Effectiveness model, allowing modernisation without disrupting day-to-day operations. This ensured:

1. 1. 1. • uninterrupted sales execution during transition
         • structured coexistence of legacy and new processes
         • reduced adoption risk
         • early realisation of value as capabilities were progressively released

The result was a controlled evolution of the client’s commercial environment, and not a disruptive system replacement.

2. Agile delivery with strong governance and collaboration

Using a sprint-based delivery model supported by strong governance controls, NRI’s consultants ensured:

1. 1. 1. • Continuous stakeholder engagement
         • Iterative design validation
         • Clear decision pathways for pricing rules, product configuration and approval logic
         • Alignment across sales, pricing, operations and IT

This delivery rhythm allowed the business to shape the solution collaboratively, ensuring strong ownership and fit for purpose outcomes.

3. Pragmatic strategy for historical reporting

Rather than attempting a complex, high-risk full data migration from the legacy Conga CPQ system, our consultants designed a pragmatic historical reporting solution that:

1. 1. 1. • preserved continuity of historical insights
         • reduced implementation risk and cost
         • simplified data management
         • accelerated deployment timelines

This strategy protected reporting integrity without the complexity of migrating outdated or inconsistent legacy data.

4. Standardised pricing, approvals and quoting

The solution embedded consistent commercial governance across all business units and product lines by:

1. 1. 1. • standardising pricing logic and discount structures
         • aligning approval workflows to enterprise governance
         • enforcing consistent quoting processes
         • reducing manual steps and localised variations

This ensured accuracy, speed, and stronger margin control across the national sales organisation.

5. Enterprise deployment of Salesforce CPQ across all major product groups

Salesforce CPQ was configured to support the client’s full product portfolio, incorporating complex configuration rules, pricing structures, product interdependencies, and documentation requirements unique to each line of business.

The platform now supports governed quoting at national scale.

6. Enhanced document automation and customer-facing outputs

Improved document automation ensured quotes and proposals are consistent, accurate, professionally branded, and aligned with enterprise commercial governance.

Manual rework was reduced, leading to more reliable data.

7. Modern sales execution tools embedded within Salesforce

To strengthen frontline sales capability and improve visibility, NRI delivered a suite of structured Sales Effectiveness tools within Salesforce, including:

1. 1. 1. • prospect management to drive disciplined pipeline creation
         • account planning for strategic relationship growth
         • visit planning and call cycles to support field sales productivity
         • project and tender tracking to improve visibility of major opportunities
         • competitor intelligence to inform strategy and commercial decision making

Essentially, Salesforce evolved from a system of record into a system of execution.

8. User adoption, enablement and long-term sustainability

NRI placed strong emphasis on change management and adoption through:

1. 1. 1. • targeted training for sales, commercial, and operations teams
         • support materials and role specific guidance
         • readiness assessments and detailed cutover planning
         • post go live reinforcement and improvement cycles

The focus was behavioural change and not just system deployment.

The transformation has strengthened how the client prices, sells, governs, and forecasts. Commercial performance is now supported by structure, data, and scalable systems.

1. Stronger sales performance through discipline and consistency

The introduction of clear, standardised sales processes has brought a new level of consistency and predictability across regions and business units. Sales teams now operate with:

1. 1. 1. • structured account planning and opportunity management
         • clearer expectations around governance and commercial decision making
         • improved accountability across the sales lifecycle

This has strengthened sales effectiveness, reduced variation in approach, and improved the reliability of sales execution nationwide.

2. Faster commercial decisions and reduced margin risk

With more consistent pricing logic and streamlined approval pathways, the client has significantly reduced delays and errors in commercial decisions. This has led to:

1. 1. 1. • more accurate price setting
         • reduced risk of margin erosion
         • faster response times to customer requests
         • more confidence in frontline decision making

Leadership now benefits from a far more controlled and transparent commercial environment.

3. Greater enterprise-wide visibility

One of the most impactful outcomes has been the improvement in visibility across the sales and project pipeline. Leadership now has integrated visibility across opportunity progression, tender pipelines, activity cadence, win/loss behaviour, competitor signals, and regional performance.

This level of transparency supports more proactive engagement, sharper commercial decisions, and earlier intervention when risks emerge.

4. More consistent customer experience

Customers (regardless of region, product line, or sales channel) now experience a more reliable and consistent journey. Customers benefit from faster quotes, consistent commercial expectations, accurate documentation, and improved continuity of engagement.

5. A scalable sales operating model that supports growth

The new framework supports expansion into new regions and product lines, predictable onboarding of new staff, and future digital initiatives. The business is now better positioned to respond quickly and confidently to changes in customer demand and market dynamics.

6. Internal self-sufficiency and long-term sustainability

Following implementation, NRI provided a structured stabilisation and transition period to strengthen internal capability. This was done through extended hands-on support, detailed knowledge transfer and targeted enablement for commercial, sales, and operational teams.

Built through a collaborative partnership, the new commercial engine positions our client to respond to market shifts with speed and control. NRI remains a strategic partner as the organisation continues to evolve its digital and commercial landscape.