Tuff Shed built their entire business on the Salesforce + Epicor CPQ solution
“We're able to visually present our products and then quickly manufacture them in a way we've never been able to in the past.”
Tuff Shed creates more than just great sheds. They have been manufacturing sheds, garages, cabin shells, and custom structures since 1981. As they round the corner on completing their one millionth sale, they are transforming their operations with quote to cash. From engineering, to sales, to their channel, all the way to the end buyer - they had to re-invent themselves in order to continue their growth.
The challenges
Tuff Shed’s existing quote to cash solution provided no shelter
Tuff Shed was stuck with a custom developed configurator that could not be easily maintained or leveraged to support their entire design and quote process.
Tuff Shed’s custom solution allowed for product configuration, but lacked a robust rules engine to enforce good practices. Working with data from key systems like Salesforce, their ERP, or CAD platform was out of the question, and to get engineering drawings and estimates to customers took days or weeks.
Manual workflows were hurting sales and production
Tuff Shed’s sales reps were forced to ask the customer every question around customizing their structure. It was a huge time investment that required a lot of back-and-forth communications.
After talking with the customer, the sales person would crudely draw a picture of the customer’s shed on a piece of paper, and give it to manufacturing. Obviously, the poor quality and lack of standands meant the sales person had trouble translating what the customer wanted, into what manufacturing could actually understand and deliver.
The Solution
The Epicor CPQ + Salesforce quote to cash solution
Immediate sales conversations and conversions
Tuff Shed sales reps can now visually show their customers what they’re going to buy and accurately quote it on the spot. A process that once took weeks and required engineering support, can now be done within minutes.
There is no longer a need to weigh down engineering and manufacturing teams to see if a configuration is doable, as a centralized set of rules control the entire experience.
A 3D experience for all buying channels
Tuff Shed uses Epicor CPQ’s 3D product configurator to allow customers to zoom, pan, and even get inside of a shed that they are designing. This allows them to get a feel for exactly the product that they are customizing and to choose the right options.
Engineering and manufacturing gained clarity and speed
There is no longer a need to weigh down engineering and manufacturing teams to see if a configuration is viable. Epicor CPQ CAD automation generates drawings for sales’ estimates, and actual CAD files for engineering’s use.
Epicor CPQ also generates everything Tuff Shed needs to complete the build and installation process. To power the manufacturing line, every team gets their own, clearly documented cut sheet, which has dramatically decreased errors and engineering time; one sheet for the wall building team, one for trim cutting, one for flooring, and one for the roof patterns.
Onsite installers get a packet that includes auto-generated 3D building rendering, parts lists, and blueprints to make sure everything is accounted for and built to customer specifications.
Automating back office operations from quote to payment
Tuff Shed uses Epicor CPQ to generate accurate quotes, sales records, and the documents necessary to build the products. Every line item selected from the configurator is brought into Salesforce.
Once converted into an order, the same configuration stock data, down to every nail and screw, is synced to the ERP. Tax is calculated, pricing, and discount approvals are done automatically – all based on the rules declared in Epicor CPQ Snap.
Tuff Shed boosted their deal close rates by 5% across all channels after introducing omnichannel selling
Every buying channel can self-serve, easily
Tuff Shed uses Epicor CPQ to provide an interactive buying experience, available in Tuff Shed stores, at Home Depots, or from the end-buyer’s couch. All of these different channels use the same configurator to design their modular building, with just slight variations for varying audiences’ needs.
Because of Tuff Shed’s quote to cash automation, end customers can directly run the Tuff Shed shop floor with the configuration choices made during ordering.
How is Tuff Shed leveraging omni-channel selling?
The Inside Sales team: 500 internal sales associates can configure and sell without reservation.
The Distributors: Thousands of Home Depot users can design and quote buildings while customers wait.
Direct to the End Buyer: Tuff Shed hosts 4,000+ unique users per day on their website’s 3D configurator experience, where customers can shop and place orders for themselves.
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