Guided selling, product configurators and CPQ: where SmartSelect fits.
These tools address different parts of a sale. Start with the problem you want to solve to identify the scope you need.
Guided selling starts with the buyer’s requirements.
A buyer may understand the application without knowing your catalog. Guided selling organizes the questions that clarify those requirements and point toward a suitable product.
With SmartSelect, manufacturers start with their catalog, website or both to try a first guided selling experience. AI-assisted creation prepares a starting point; the team reviews products, questions and recommendations before publishing and sharing the link.
Configuration makes the selections more specific.
After identifying a product, buyers choose relevant options. Some depend on earlier selections. Other choices can remain open for an advisor when the manufacturer enables that behavior.
The output is a structured request with contact details, requirements, a product, selected options and outstanding questions. This prepares the sales team’s next step.
Quoting remains in your commercial process.
CPQ software can address pricing, approvals and quote generation. SmartSelect focuses on the stage that prepares the proposal: guiding the buyer and qualifying the request.
Complex discount rules, quote approvals or manufacturing bills of materials require a separate evaluation. Your existing CRM, CPQ or ERP can remain responsible for those stages.
To evaluate a solution, follow one inquiry from the initial requirement to the final proposal. Record who confirms compatibility, who establishes the price and who approves the quote. This makes it easier to see where SmartSelect can prepare the work and which steps belong in your other tools.
| Your main difficulty | What to examine |
|---|---|
| Visitors do not know which product to explore | Guided selling and requirement questions |
| Choices must respect availability and dependencies | Configuration and your documented product rules |
| Proposals require complex discounts or approvals | Quoting and pricing capabilities in your sales process |
Choose based on the friction you encounter.
If your team repeatedly collects the same application details before it can advise a buyer, a guided selector is a useful starting point. If the bottleneck comes after the requirements are clear, evaluate the downstream process as well.
Use the Boréal demonstration to see the requirements, recommendation and configuration stages. It is a fictional teaching example, not a customer case study or an engineering validation.