If you're a reseller, quoting isn’t just another step in the sales process. It’s the part that can make or break the deal. Between juggling products from multiple distributors, managing special pricing agreements, and turning around quotes fast, the quoting process is anything but simple.

Unfortunately, most CPQ (Configure, Price, Quote) tools were never designed with resellers in mind. They promise automation and speed but fall apart under the real-world pressures of reseller sales.

Here’s why traditional CPQ platforms miss the mark and here’s what you actually need instead.

Reseller Quoting Is Complex and High Stakes

Resellers operate in a world that’s very different from SaaS companies or direct B2B sellers.

You’re dealing with:

• Real-time pricing across multiple distributors

• Custom terms, bundles, and vendor-specific formats

• RFQs that show up as PDF scans or Excel sheets

• Urgent quote timelines and procurement portal requirements

• Contracts, compliance standards, and audit needs

Miss a line item or deliver a non-compliant quote, and you don’t just lose the deal. You risk vendor penalties or procurement disqualification.

Where Traditional CPQ Tools Fall Short

Let’s break down where common quoting tools break down for resellers:

❌ Salesforce CPQ

Powerful, but built for companies with fixed products and direct pricing models. Resellers need flexible bundling, rapid distributor quoting, and PDF parsing. Salesforce CPQ isn’t built for that. Customization is expensive, and workflows are rigid.

❌ Excel and Word Docs

Still shockingly common. They’re prone to human error, hard to track, and lack compliance safeguards. Sharing them via email? That creates data exposure and version control nightmares.

❌ Generic CPQ Platforms

Great for SaaS or eCommerce quoting but resellers aren’t selling from a static price list. These platforms choke when RFQs span 40 SKUs, 3 vendors, and require documentation in a very specific format.

Real Challenges Resellers Face That CPQ Doesn’t Solve

• Quotes start with PDFs or spreadsheets, not structured data

• Bundles cross multiple vendors, each with their own pricing rules

• Compliance and version control are mission-critical

• Forecasting gets messy if quoting happens outside your CRM

• Output formatting must match procurement or partner requirements

  
  

This isn’t about quoting faster. It’s about quoting accurately, securely, and at scale.

What a Reseller-Ready CPQ Should Actually Do

To serve your customers and win more deals your quoting tool should:

1. Read RFQs and PDFs with AI, not human eyes

2. Pull real-time pricing and availability from your distributors

3. Bundle SKUs across multiple vendors, apply custom terms

4. Enforce approval flows, field locks, and compliance tracking

5. Push quotes directly into your CRM for clean forecasting

6. Generate quote documents in formats partners and buyers expect

The Bottom Line

Traditional CPQ tools were built for simple quoting in simple sales cycles.

But resellers don’t work that way. You’re quoting across distributors, juggling compliance, and responding to real-time requests in formats no legacy CPQ was built to handle.

Quote.ly makes quoting fast, accurate, and built for the complexity of the channel so you can win more business with less risk.