PSQuote is a services CPQ built natively on Salesforce that enables services teams to estimate and build quotes based on resource roles, rates, materials, and fixed fee items. It’s easy to setup billing schedules, create SOWs, plan margin, track sales, and automate project & resource setup all from PSQuote.
It helps teams view and compare as-sold vs. as-delivered data giving leaders better data to inform decisions. Users of PSQuote are able to plan resources more effectively and are seeing improvements in Utilization.
Plus PSQuote is flexibly designed with several options to estimate services: Level of Effort (LOE), Bottoms Up, or using Task & Phase. With the powerful offering library allows you to define commonly sold services & packages making it easier for your team to create services quotes for customers.
PSQuote is Enterprise app available on the Salesforce AppExchange.
Whether you call it services estimation or services quoting, its essentially the same thing.
Services quoting is the process of estimating (or scoping) the cost of skilled (professional) labor to deliver a specialized function. Professional services are estimated using resource roles, resource rates and hours at a minimum to build up the quote amount.
Many teams may also include non-labor items in their professional services estimates. Time & materials type contracts include both the expected resource labor as well as any materials (expenses, subscriptions, fixed fee items). Some teams also include phase and task descriptions & estimates in their quotes to set the delivery expectation with customers.
PSQuote is a robust tool for services quoting with many features built-in to make it easy for PS teams to estimate and deliver Quotes for services to prospects and customers.
Anyone who offers professional services and uses the power of the Salesforce platform:
- Sales teams responsible for selling, quoting, and SOW/proposal generation
- Services teams responsible for estimating, SOW/proposals & delivery of professional services
- Resource planning teams responsible for staffing and capacity planning
- Operations teams responsible for setting up projects & order management
- Finance teams responsible for forecasting, margin analysis, and ensuring billing and rev rec variables flow from quote to project
Nope. You just need Salesforce CRM to use PSQuote in your enterprise. It can be configured with or without Salesforce CPQ. It can also be configured with Salesforce RCA (fka Salesforce RLM) Quotes as well.
Yes. Salesforce CPQ is product focused and its difficult to configure Salesforce CPQ to work for services. A services quoting solution like PSQuote is the perfect complement to Salesforce CPQ.
Most services organizations desire the flexibility to build a quote using resource roles, hours, rates, schedules and more. PSQuote is well-suited for scoping services. The offering library acts like a pricebook so its easy for sales teams to create PSQ quotes and link them to the main quote.
Hint: If you’re looking to the future, look at Salesforce Revenue Cloud. We think eventually Salesforce CPQ will go away and be replaced by Salesforce RCA (Revenue Cloud Advanced).
It’s possible to use Salesforce CPQ for services but not without hurdles. Instead, PSQuote is the perfect complement to Salesforce CPQ if you are already using it.
If you sell services, most teams struggle to get services to fit into Salesforce CPQ since Salesforce CPQ was designed for products not of services.
You could correspond “units”= “hours and “cost” = “bill rate” and build this into your pricebook. However limitations quickly pop-up. Inconsistency happens because its hard for AEs to know whether to affect units or the cost when scoping. Its also gets tough if you have lots of roles – do your AEs know which ones to use for which engagements?
Most teams want to scope services with a services CPQ tool like PSQuote. They want the ability to specify roles, rates with the flexibility to discount or choose an off-shore resource or see how modifying the resource mix impacts the overall margin. They want to scope using phases & tasks or Level of Effort (LOE) or a combination of these methods. With PSQuote, there’s greater flexibility to quote services based on how services will be delivered.
Since PSQuote works with Salesforce CPQ, its really a win-win.
PSQuote was designed by a professional services company to have maximum flexibility, because every company sells services differently. PSQuote supports these situations and more:
- Estimating using labor (you specify roles, hours & rates) and materials
- Using configurable rate cards with cost rates and revenue rates for roles, locale, or other attributes.
- Planning based on level of effort–specifying resource requests with schedules (optional)
- Using Salesforce products and pricebooks for services offered
- Defining “offerings” based on commonly sold packages or bundles of services
This post explains the three ways to build quotes in PSQuote and includes a video to see all three ways in action.
That’s the beauty of PSQuote—it’s a native app built on Salesforce. This means we simply install it in your Salesforce environment like you would any other Salesforce app. No need for complex integrations or middleware tools.
Visit our Features page to read about the technical requirements for PSQuote.
The offering library is a central feature in PSQuote. Companies define the range of services and solutions and services that can be provided to its customers in the offering library. It’s easy to define packages and commonly bundled services.
Many customers love the feature since it helps standardize how services are sold but allows the flexibility they need to add/remove scope based on their customers needs.
Here’s a sample service offering: “Mid-size Certinia Implementation”
- 80 hrs Project Manager
- 40 hrs Solution Architect
- 100 hrs Business Analyst
- 100 hrs Developer
When the offering is added to the quote, its easy to add on additional line item for Data Migration if that is needed by the client.
- 80 hrs Data Migration Specialist
Or its easy to add in custom scope for integration needs as well: “PSA to SAP Integration”, “Concur to PSA Integration”
The offering library acts as the common factor that unites Sales & Delivery and it provides a simple and standard way for businesses to scope & build quotes.
Having a well-defined offering library helps you quote faster.
PSQuote is flexible enough that if you need to add in custom scope to any of your quotes, you can do this if your resources and rates are defined.
The best thing an organization can do is take time upfront before or during design to analyze how you define, bundle, and sell services.
Consider the following best practices when creating your offering library:
- What are the most common types of services you provide?
- What does the resource mix and resource demand look like for these projects?
- Have you accounted for all the ways different groups and regions may build estimates currently?
You may need to review recent spreadsheet estimates or quote documentation to see how folks are estimating services now.
PSQuote offers the ability to create Hybrid services quotes mixing together T&M and fixed bid in one quote. The different offerings (quote lines) allow you to build up the cost of the time & materials (T&M) portion as well as the fixed price portion of the estimate. Bonus, you can also specify non-labor materials in the quote and define the fixed fee invoice schedule (billing milestones) as well.
Yes, quotes can be created for T&M, Hybrid and Fixed Bid projects. For fixed bid projects, PSQuote allows you to build up an estimate based on what it will cost for the resources to deliver so that basis of the fixed bid price is accurate. You can define the fixed fee invoice schedule (billing milestones) as well. It also allows you to see what level of effort is required so that the proper terms & assumptions can be put in the Statement of Work (SOW) protecting both your client and your company.
Yes, PSQuote can definitely help you track and monitor your services attach rate. Because all of the quote data is on the Salesforce platform, PSQuote can be configured to support calculating the attach rate since PS Quotes are related to Opportunities in Salesforce. It’s easier to see the percentage of customers that purchase additional services alongside the initial product or services.
Yes! You can have multiple quotes and designate which quote is the primary. This allows you to mock up several options for clients throughout the sales process. Easily refer to an earlier quote or clone a quote to add or reduce the scope.
Yes, this feature was introduced in Summer ’23 release. Easily compare quotes using side-by-side comparison view. See the feature work in the release video — jump to minute 2:05 in the video. This post also describes the Clone Quote feature in detail.
To create a document such as a Statements of Work, Customer Quote, Proposal or other kinds of document, simply use the Document Builder tab from the Quote.
During the PSQuote setup, you define templates and specify what data to pull in from the quote (quote lines, resource mix, costs, schedules, task, phase, etc.)
PSQuote comes with a basic Word Doc Generation feature that doesn’t require 3rd party licensing. However, if you want more polished/formatted document, or other formats like Excel or PPT, then a third party tool like Conga, Docusign, S-Docs or other similar tools would be needed at this time.
Once configured, its easy to generate branded SOWs, proposals, deal sheets and more right from PSQuote. Plus all the generated documents are stored right in PSQuote.
Yes! That’s a benefit of Salesforce. All of the generated documents are stored together with the quote and quote data. This increases visibility and supports streamlined approval processes. It’s easy to find what has been approved and what has been sent prospects and clients.
Yes. PSQuote works well with Agentforce. With Salesforce Flow, Apex or Agentforce AI, you can automate creation of services quotes and more. We’re exploring several use cases (see the next question!)
Stay tuned as we’ll be sharing more soon. Got a niche use case, contact us!
Here are some AI use cases for services quoting:
- Quick PS Quote Creation
- RFP Response/ROM Estimate Generation
- Find/suggest similar quotes
- Pricing Optimization / Guidance
- Summarize Quotes
- Offering Recommendation
- Auto-generating quotes by based on inputs (e.g. meeting transcripts, notes, scoping questionnaires)
- Incorporating diagnostic tool data / usage data / readiness assessments & project risks into quotes (hours, roles, timeline, phases & tasks)
- Copilot / Agent for quote builder/approver
- As Sold vs. As Delivered feedback loop for smarter scoping
Stay tuned as we’ll be refining this as we learn more about AgentForce and Salesforce AI. Got a use case not listed above, contact us!
Yes. Quoting will always require a person to make decisions that affect a professional services estimate. However, where possible, PSQuote is designed with supporting automations to streamline the quoting process / estimation process.
Here’s a few ways PSQuote simplifies the estimation process with automation.
- With Salesforce Flow, Apex or Agentforce AI, you can automate PS Quote creation.
- PSQuote allows you to define commonly sold packages (bundles) so that you can add pre-defined scope with a button click. Then you can quickly modify scope or add custom scope to your quote with a few clicks.
- PSQuote automates the creation of the SOW. The SOW is automatically is generated pulling in all the estimation details from the services quote.
- PSQuote also allows you to predefine schedules and phases/tasks partially automating this part of the estimation process.
- Built in syncs between the CRM & PSA (configured as desired), the process of updating upstream or downstream processes is automated. You dont have to copy/paste and worry if the amount is right.
- Approvals in Salesforce greatly automate the approval process whereby it can be configured to auto-approve below a certain threshold or escalate approvals based on criteria.
PSQuote integrates with / syncs with the following tools & apps:
- Certinia PSA
- Mavenlink (now part of Kantata)
- Docusign (for document generation)
- Conga (for document generation)
- Salesforce CPQ
- Salesforce RCA (aka Revenue Cloud and formerly known as Salesforce RLM)
- and Microsoft Excel (if you want to upload services estimations instead of using PS Quote. Some organizations opt to do this as part of a phased adoption while companies standardize quoting processes.)
If you need to integrate with another technology, contact us. Custom integrations are available upon request as well with popular tools such as Oracle, SAP, Dynamics, Workday and more.
Salesforce introduced Revenue Lifecycle Management (RLM) in Spring 2024 and now its referred to as “Revenue Cloud” or “Revenue Cloud Advanced” (RCA).
PSQuote can sync to Salesforce RCA Quote (Salesforce RLM Quotes) or Salesforce CPQ Quotes.
Yes! PSQuote can sync to Salesforce RCA Quotes (Salesforce RLM Quotes). This is a particularly important feature that PSQuote offers since Salesforce RCA (Revenue Cloud) Quotes will become the preferred way to quote products in Salesforce. If your company offers products and services, PSQuote is the ultimate complement to Salesforce RCA — to bring your estimation processes to perfection.
Salesforce RCA is product focused similar to Salesforce CPQ meaning that a services quoting solution like PSQuote is the perfect complement to Salesforce RCA. Its the best choice for organizations that run their CRM on Salesforce and offer products and professional services. PSQuote gives you a holistic solution on platform for services estimation.
Yes! Our instructional systems design (training) team will provide training to your system admins and end users. We offer quick reference guides, in person training, remote training, step by step videos — we’ll work with you to tailor training to your needs. It’s really so much more than “training”. Our team gives you the foundations to quickly get up and running so your team has the understanding and tools they need day 1.
If you’re comparing services estimation tools, use these 4 easy steps to find the tool thats right for you.
- First – make a list of requirements or critical pain points that you are trying to resolve. Take a look at our Technical Requirements Sheet if you need a quick start guide. Tailor that list based on requirements that are important to your organization.
- Watch the PSQuote feature demo (its at the top of this page). Its a way to see an overview of how PSQuote works.
- Schedule a live demo of the tools your considering. A live demo is the best way for you to see all the latest PSQuote features & ask clarifying questions. Or you can simply treat the session as a consult and discuss the options you’re considering. Our experts are here to advise you and answer key questions to determine if PSQuote is going to be a fit for your business.
- Lastly, review your alternatives to PSQuote using the technical requirement sheet above as a comparison tool.
Alternatives to PSQuote include spreadsheets, Provus, Certinia Services Estimator, Scope Better, Zoma.ai, Workrails (now part of BigTime) and others.
While we think PSQuote is most robust and flexible tool for services quoting on Salesforce, its best to evaluate each tool to understand how each option can meet your organizations requirements.
If comparing tools, take a look at our Product Comparison Technical Requirements Template.
Or you can email us to ask about a free trial: info@psquote.com
Spreadsheets are time-consuming and trap your data in individual files, which gets exacerbated by email and relying on naming conventions for versioning. Most people find this bogs down their process.
PSQuote and other services estimation apps greatly help you configure quotes faster. PSQuote is the fastest option for companies that run on Salesforce to configure quotes for professional services.
By using a native Salesforce app to estimation services, you can configure a services quote in a matter of minutes instead of hours or days. PSQuote allows you to pre-define your service offerings, phases, tasks, billing schedules and more to help you configure quotes faster than if you were copying/pasting and updating another spreadsheet doc.
Not only can you configure quotes faster, but when quoting on Salesforce, it gives real-time access to all the services quotes in the pipeline for leadership to review improving services forecasts and informing capacity demand planning decisions.
One PSQuote client remarked that his sales exec could create a quote, configure a quote and send an SOW to a client in less than 15 minutes.
If you already use Salesforce and you’re trying to achieve a utopian view of your services business, then using a native Salesforce app to quote services is the way to go. PSQuote is a native Salesforce App for Services Quoting. In this blog post, we outline 7 reasons why you should choose a native app like PSQuote.
PSQuote works on its own without a PSA app. PSQuote works with or without PSA making it a great way to future proof your services quoting solution. PSQuote integrates with several of the leading PSA app solutions making it a great choice for services quoting.
PSQuote is licensed on a per user / per month basis. We have two license types and our goal is to make your licensing strategy as efficient as possible, contact us about pricing to discuss tiered pricing and volume pricing (with discounts) or View our plans.
PSQuote integrates with these other great products.
