CONFIGURE, PRICE, QUOTE FOR DISTRIBUTORS
Configure-price-quote for distributors: your catalogue, your price rules
CPQ stands for configure, price, quote. For most distributors the first letter is the smallest job: you resell catalogued items rather than build products from options. The hard parts are the price, which depends on the customer, and the quote, which starts from a customer request that looks nothing like an order form.
Qotora AI covers those two. It reads the customer’s request, finds each line in your catalogue, applies your own price rules and prepares a quote that a person on your team reviews. It does not configure products. If that is what you need, this page will tell you so.
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What CPQ means when you resell catalogued products
CPQ software was designed around sellers of configurable products, where the quote depends on options that must fit together. A distributor’s version of each letter looks different.
- Configure: for most catalogue items there is nothing to configure, only a specification to match (size, rating, grade, voltage). Some trades do have real options, such as foodservice equipment or packaged HVAC systems.
- Price: this is where distributors spend their effort. Customer tiers, contract prices, quantity breaks, cost-plus rules and margin floors all decide the number.
- Quote: a document with the right lines, units, availability, terms and validity, produced while the customer is still waiting.
If you have been reading about CPQ because quoting is slow and prices are inconsistent, the cause is often in the second and third letters, and a quoting layer on top of your existing catalogue may be enough.
Price and quote, done from your own data
Qotora does not carry a price list of its own. It reads your catalogue and prices from the software you use or from an import, and applies the rules you set.
| Step | Where it comes from |
|---|---|
| Base price | Your catalogue data. |
| Customer tier | The customer record in your system, or a tier your team sets once and Qotora remembers. |
| Discounts and quantity breaks | The rules you define. |
| Margin floor | The floor you set. A line or total below it is flagged before the quote is sent. |
| Adjustments | A person on your team, on the review screen. |
Qotora never invents a price or a margin.
What the customer sends
- 2 – 2-door reach-in fridge, stainless
- 12 – full-size hotel pans, 4 in deep
- 6 – 22 qt food containers with lids
- 1 – 6-burner range, gas (NG)
The quote, ready to check
| Description / part no. | Qty | Unit price | Line total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reach-in refrigerator, 2-door, stainless — RI-2D-SS | 2 | $2,850.00 | $5,700.00 |
| Hotel pan, full size, 4 in deep, stainless — HP-F4-SS | 12 | $21.50 | $258.00 |
| Food container 22 qt with lid, clear — FC-22-CL | 6 | $18.90 | $113.40 |
| Range 36 in, 6 burner, natural gas — RG-36-6-NG | 1 | $3,420.00 | $3,420.00 |
| Total (sample) | $9,491.40 | ||
Illustration with sample products and prices. In your own account, part numbers and prices come from your catalogue and your price rules, and a person on your team reviews the quote before it is sent.
Which fits: a quoting layer or a full CPQ platform
| Your quotes are mostly… | What fits |
|---|---|
| Catalogue items on customer lists that arrive as email, PDF, photo or spreadsheet | Qotora AI. It reads the request and prepares the quote from your catalogue and price rules. |
| Products configured from options, with compatibility rules or engineering input | A configurator-style CPQ platform. Qotora does not configure products. |
| Approved through multi-step discount chains across a large sales organisation | A CPQ platform built for that workflow. Qotora warns on margin floors and a person reviews each quote, but it does not route approvals. |
| Tied to contracts, e-signature and renewals | Contract or proposal software. Qotora prepares the quote, not the contract. |
This is a judgment about fit, not a ranking. Plenty of distributors need only the first row, and starting small is cheap: the first month is US$49.
Getting started
The Counter plan is US$49 for the first month, then US$149 a month, for up to 150 quotes sent per month and unlimited users. Setup is included, with a 7-day money-back guarantee counted from your first quote sent. A typical request takes seconds to under a minute to prepare once your data is connected; long documents take longer, and your team’s review time is on top. Team (US$349 a month, up to 500 quotes sent) and Network (US$799 a month, up to 2,000) cover higher volumes.
Frequently asked questions
What is CPQ software?
CPQ stands for configure, price, quote. It is software that helps a seller choose product options that fit together, calculate the right price and produce a quote. It was designed around configurable products and sales teams.
Does a distributor need CPQ?
It depends on the quotes. If you resell catalogue items and the difficulty is customer-specific pricing and slow, manual quote preparation, a quoting layer on your catalogue may be enough. If you sell configurable systems with compatibility rules, you need a configurator.
Is Qotora AI a CPQ platform?
No. It covers price and quote for catalogue products, starting from the customer’s request. It does not configure products from option rules, route multi-step approvals or manage contracts.
How does it handle tiers and quantity breaks?
It applies the tiers held in your own data and the discounts and quantity breaks set as rules during setup. When a customer qualifies for both a standing discount and a quantity break, the better one applies; they are not added together. A person can adjust a price on the review screen before the quote is sent. Qotora never invents a price or a margin.
Does it replace the pricing in my software?
No. The software you already use stays the source of truth. Qotora reads prices and customer tiers from it and never writes into it.
Does it send quotes automatically?
No. Every quote is reviewed by a person on your team before it is sent. There is no automatic sending.
What does it cost?
US$49 for the first month, then US$149 a month on the Counter plan (up to 150 quotes sent per month, unlimited users). Setup is included, with a 7-day money-back guarantee counted from your first quote sent.