If you work in sales ops, IT, or as a product owner in a B2B company, you’ve probably wrestled with quoting for complex products or bulk orders. It’s tedious, error-prone, and usually involves way too much copy-pasting. This guide is for you: the folks tired of bottlenecks and manual work, who need to wrangle Tacton into actually making life easier. Here’s how to automate quote generation for those massive, multi-variable deals—without losing your mind or spending months on “transformation” projects.
Why Bother Automating Quotes in Tacton?
Let’s be real: quoting for large, configurable deals is where mistakes happen, deals slow down, and customers get frustrated. Automation can:
- Cut down turnaround time (from days to hours, or even minutes)
- Reduce errors and rework
- Free up your skilled staff for actual selling or engineering, not spreadsheet gymnastics
But it’s not a magic fix. Automation only works if your product data and processes are sorted out. Garbage in, garbage out.
Step 1: Get Your House in Order—Data, Models, and Processes
Before you even touch Tacton’s automation features, do this groundwork:
- Clean up product data. If your pricing, configurations, and dependencies are scattered or outdated, you’ll just automate a mess. Fix it first.
- Document your quoting process. Who needs to approve what? What are the exceptions? Write it down—even if it’s ugly.
- Map your product logic. Tacton is strong at configuration rules, but only if you’ve mapped out dependencies, option constraints, and pricing logic clearly.
Pro tip: If no one on your team can explain how a quote is built from start to finish, you’re not ready to automate.
Step 2: Decide What to Automate (and What to Leave Manual)
You don’t have to automate everything. In fact, you shouldn’t.
- Start with the standard cases. Focus on automating the 80% of deals that follow predictable patterns.
- Keep edge cases manual (for now). Custom one-off deals or those needing tricky approvals can stay manual until your system matures.
- Prioritize pain points. Where are the bottlenecks? That’s your starting point.
What to ignore: Don’t waste time automating exceptions or rare configurations out of the gate—you’ll just add complexity and maintenance headaches.
Step 3: Configure Tacton for Automation
Now, into the weeds. Tacton has a lot of features, but for automating quotes for big B2B deals, these matter most:
3.1. Product Configuration Models
- Build out product logic in Tacton’s Configurator. Use constraint-based rules to make sure only valid combinations can be quoted.
- Test like crazy. Run through real-world scenarios—don’t just trust the model.
3.2. Pricing Automation
- Set up price lists and discount logic. Tacton can handle complex pricing, but only if you feed it good data and clear rules.
- Use lookup tables or formulas for volume pricing. If you do lots of bulk deals, make sure your pricing rules scale.
3.3. Quote Document Templates
- Design templates for common deal types. Tacton lets you create branded, dynamic quote docs. Set up variables for customer info, products, pricing, and terms.
- Automate document generation. Once configuration and pricing are set, Tacton can spit out a finished quote with one click.
3.4. Workflow and Approval Automation
- Map out approval flows in Tacton. Who needs to sign off? Automate routing for standard discounts or terms.
- Set up notifications and reminders. Keep deals moving—Tacton can nudge approvers automatically.
Caution: Overcomplicating approval flows is a fast way to kill efficiency. Start simple; you can always add layers later.
Step 4: Integrate With Your Other Systems
Automation is only as good as your weakest link. If quotes get stuck waiting for customer data, pricing updates, or contract terms, you’re back to square one.
- Connect Tacton to your CRM (like Salesforce or Dynamics). This keeps customer data in sync and can trigger quote generation from the CRM.
- Integrate with ERP for product and pricing data. Otherwise, you’ll always be chasing the latest numbers.
- Consider e-signature tools and document storage. If you want end-to-end automation, make sure signed quotes flow back into your systems.
Honest take: Integration projects can spiral. Get the basics working (CRM and ERP sync) before chasing full “quote-to-cash” automation.
Step 5: Test With Real Deals, Not Just Test Data
Don’t trust a demo environment. Pilot your automation with live deals:
- Pick a few real sales teams and deals. Don’t just use the IT sandbox.
- Watch for errors and edge cases. What breaks when you push the system?
- Collect feedback—then fix, tweak, and repeat.
Pro tip: Salespeople are creative. They’ll find ways to break your automation. Listen to their complaints—they’re usually not wrong.
Step 6: Train (and Support) Your Users
If your sales teams or partners don’t trust the system, they’ll go right back to Excel or email.
- Run hands-on training with real examples. Skip the slide decks and walk through actual quotes.
- Make support easy to reach. A simple chat or ticketing system is enough—just don’t make people hunt for help.
- Keep documentation honest and up to date. Include common pitfalls and “what not to do” as well as the happy path.
What doesn’t work: Forcing a new process on users without explaining the why. You’ll get shadow IT and workarounds.
Step 7: Monitor, Measure, and Improve
Automation isn’t set-and-forget. If you ignore it, errors and bad habits creep in.
- Track key metrics. Time to quote, error rates, deal velocity.
- Review rejected or stalled quotes. Why are they getting stuck? Is it a process flaw or a model issue?
- Iterate. Small tweaks beat big overhauls every time.
Pro tip: Schedule a regular check-in (monthly or quarterly) to review what’s working and what needs fixing.
What Works, What Doesn’t, and What to Watch Out For
Works well: - Automating standard, high-volume deals with clear rules. - Reducing manual rework and approval delays. - Generating consistent, professional quote documents.
Doesn’t work so well: - Trying to automate every possible exception and edge case. - Relying on Tacton alone to fix broken data or unclear processes. - Skipping user training and support.
Watch out for: - Over-customizing. The more you tweak, the harder it is to maintain. - Letting integrations lag behind. Data mismatches kill trust in the system. - Ignoring feedback from sales and customer service—they’re your early warning system.
Keep It Simple and Iterate
Automating quote generation in Tacton for big B2B deals isn’t rocket science, but it does take clear thinking, good data, and a willingness to start small. Don’t try to fix everything at once. Get the basics working, listen to your users, and improve as you go. You’ll save time, cut hassle, and actually make Tacton work for you—not the other way around.