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Why would you want multiple sales pipelines in Zoho CRM?

Published on: December 17, 2024Category: Certified Zoho Consultants, Uncategorized, Zoho CRM, Zoho CRM Plus, Zoho One, Zoho Partners

Introduction

Zoho CRM is a versatile platform, offering businesses the ability to customize and tailor their customer relationship management processes to fit unique needs. Whether you’re managing leads, closing deals, or optimizing workflows, Zoho CRM allows you to adapt to your specific business requirements, ensuring your sales strategy aligns perfectly with your goals.

At the heart of any CRM system is the sales pipeline. A sales pipeline is a representation of the stages a potential customer goes through, from initial contact to closing a deal. It helps sales teams monitor opportunities at various stages, ensuring that nothing falls through the cracks. A well-structured pipeline gives clarity to the sales process, making it easier to forecast revenue and measure performance.

While many businesses operate with a single sales pipeline, some companies learn that having multiple pipelines can enhance and simplify their sales process. This is particularly true for organizations that sell multiple products, operate across various regions, or have distinct sales strategies for different types of customers. With multiple pipelines in Zoho CRM, you can create customized pathways for each sales scenario, ensuring that every product, service, or market gets the attention it deserves. This level of customization leads to better-organized teams, more accurate reporting, and a more focused approach to closing deals. This article is meant to help you understand the use cases for multiple sales pipelines in Zoho CRM.

Benefits of Multiple Pipelines in Zoho CRM

Tailored Sales Processes for Different Products or Services

Each product or service a business offers can have its own unique sales journey, requiring different stages and approaches. Multiple pipelines in Zoho CRM allow you to customize the sales process for each offering, ensuring that every product or service follows a path that aligns with its specific sales requirements. This customization improves focus, enabling sales teams to manage opportunities more effectively by adhering to a tailored process.

Better Sales Team Organization

Multiple pipelines also help in segmenting sales teams based on their areas of expertise. Different teams often handle distinct types of deals, such as those based on customer type or product category. By organizing teams around specific pipelines, you can streamline workflows and ensure that each team is working on deals that align with their skills and focus. This improves efficiency and ensures a more strategic approach to managing sales.

Customized Stages for Each Sales Pipeline

Businesses that operate in various markets or regions often require different sales processes. Multiple pipelines enable you to create unique stages for each sales scenario, allowing each process to reflect the specific steps needed. This ensures that every pipeline is optimized for its corresponding business model, leading to more efficient deal management and a smoother overall sales operation.

More Accurate Reporting and Forecasting

With multiple pipelines, businesses can improve the accuracy of their reporting and forecasting. Instead of having all deals funneled into one generic pipeline, you can track performance based on individual pipelines, offering a more granular view of sales activity. Zoho CRM’s reporting tools allow you to generate pipeline-specific reports, giving you deeper insights into performance metrics, progress, and revenue forecasts for each area of the business.

Use Cases for Multiple Pipelines

Case 1: Different Sales Processes for Different Product Lines

When a business offers multiple product lines or services, each may require a distinct sales approach. For instance, a company selling both software solutions and hardware products will have different sales processes for each. Software sales may involve detailed demos, subscription models, and ongoing support, whereas hardware sales could focus more on logistics, installation, and one-time purchases. By creating separate pipelines for each product line, sales teams can follow processes tailored to the specific needs of each offering. This ensures that every deal progresses through the most relevant stages, improving efficiency and increasing the likelihood of closing deals.

Case 2: Handling Inbound vs. Outbound Sales

Inbound and outbound sales typically follow different paths and require distinct strategies. Inbound sales often involve nurturing leads who have expressed interest, while outbound sales require proactive outreach and follow-ups. By separating these processes into different pipelines, businesses can optimize their workflows for each approach. Sales teams working on inbound leads can focus on guiding prospects through the pipeline stages tailored for nurturing, while outbound teams can track the progress of their outreach efforts, ensuring that both types of sales activities are managed efficiently and effectively.

Case 3: Managing Sales Across Different Regions

For multinational companies, sales processes can vary greatly by region or country due to differences in market conditions, regulations, and customer preferences. A sales strategy that works in one region may not be as effective in another. Creating separate pipelines for different regions allows businesses to adjust their sales stages to accommodate local nuances, making it easier to manage deals and provide region-specific reporting. With region-specific pipelines, companies can ensure that each market’s unique challenges and opportunities are addressed, leading to a more streamlined and effective global sales operation.

Case 4: Separate Pipelines for New Business and Renewals

New business development and customer renewals are fundamentally different processes. New customers often require more education, trust-building, and negotiation, while renewals tend to focus on maintaining relationships and ensuring satisfaction with the product or service. By creating distinct pipelines for new business and renewals, companies can ensure that each process is managed in a way that maximizes efficiency and success. This separation allows sales teams to apply different strategies and follow-up actions for new and existing customers, ensuring that both areas receive the attention they need.

Case 5: Using Pipelines for Post-Sales Processes

Pipelines aren’t limited to sales alone—they can also be used to manage post-sale activities such as delivery, customer onboarding, or project implementation. By extending the use of pipelines beyond the initial sale, businesses can track the progress of important customer-related tasks after the deal is closed. For instance, a pipeline can be created to manage delivery schedules or monitor the stages of customer onboarding, ensuring that each client’s post-sale experience is handled with care. This approach allows companies to maintain high levels of service, improve customer satisfaction, and strengthen long-term relationships.

Implementing Multiple Pipelines in Zoho CRM

How to Set Up Multiple Pipelines in Zoho CRM

Setting up multiple pipelines in Zoho CRM is a straightforward process, allowing you to customize your sales workflows to fit various business needs. Here’s a step-by-step guide:

Access Your Pipeline Settings:
- In Zoho CRM, navigate to the “Setup” icon in the top-right corner.
- Under the “Customization” section, click on “Pipelines.”
Create a New Pipeline:
- Click the “+ New Pipeline” button.
- Give your new pipeline a descriptive name that reflects the product, service, or team it will be assigned to.
Define Your Pipeline Stages:
- Once the pipeline is created, you can click “Add Stages”. Each stage represents a key step in the sales process, from lead qualification to negotiation to closing.
- You can add or remove stages to align with your unique sales process.
  1. If you need to rename a stage you can access your stages via “Stage-Probability Mapping” in the Deals module. Simply navigate to Setup > Modules and Fields and click the three dots (…) next to the Deals module in the list of modules. From there you can select “Stage-Probability Mapping” where you’ll have full access to all of the stage editing available in Zoho CRM including renaming stages.
Set the Order of Stages:
- After adding stages, arrange them in the order your deals typically progress. You can simply drag and drop stages to customize the flow.
Save Your Pipeline:
- After setting up your stages, click “Save” to apply the new pipeline.
- Once you’ve added your pipeline you’ll note that there is a new field in Deals called “Pipeline” that defines which pipeline a given record is in.
  1. You can change the pipeline for a given record by clicking “Edit” in the upper right corner of the Deal detail page and selecting the pipeline of your choice for that record. You can not switch pipelines in the details screen, you have to make this change from the edit screen.

Conclusion

Incorporating multiple pipelines into Zoho CRM offers several key benefits, including the ability to tailor sales processes for different products, better organize sales teams, customize stages for various business models, and improve both reporting and forecasting. By aligning pipelines with specific sales strategies, companies can enhance focus and efficiency across all aspects of their sales operations.

If you’re looking to maximize your sales effectiveness, it’s worth exploring how multiple pipelines can work for your business. Whether you’re managing different product lines, handling inbound versus outbound sales, or working across various regions, Zoho CRM’s multiple pipelines provide the flexibility needed to optimize your approach.

Ultimately, using multiple pipelines allows for a more tailored and efficient sales process. It gives your sales team the tools they need to manage deals more effectively, track progress accurately, and achieve better results, making it an invaluable feature for businesses of all types and sizes.

How to Create a Sales Pipeline with Zoho CRM

Published on: October 26, 2024Category: Zoho CRM, Zoho CRMLast Updated: November 6, 2024 Comments: 0

How to Create a Sales Pipeline with Zoho CRM

All business leaders have at one time or another felt the pain of missed opportunity. The difference between maximizing potential and letting some of them get away is in the details. Zoho CRM, a powerful tool for businesses of all sizes, can help you create a sales pipeline that ensures no potential opportunity falls through the cracks. In this guide, we’ll walk you through how to build and customize a sales pipeline using Zoho CRM.

Understanding the Sales Pipeline

Before diving into the practical steps, it’s essential to understand what a sales pipeline is and why it’s critical for managing your sales process. A sales pipeline is a visual representation of where prospects are in the sales process, from lead generation to closing a deal.

The power of a well-defined sales pipeline cannot be overstated. It allows you to track prospects, forecast revenue, and allocate resources effectively. Typically, sales pipelines consist of stages such as:

Lead Generation: The initial stage where leads are captured.
Qualification: Determining whether a lead is a good fit for your product or service.
Proposal: Presenting an offer to the lead.
Negotiation: Finalizing the terms of the deal.
Closing: Sealing the deal and converting the prospect into a customer.

One of the key advantages of Zoho CRM is the ability to customize the pipeline to suit your business’s unique needs. Different companies have different sales processes, and your CRM should reflect that. At ZBrains, we help businesses tailor their sales pipeline to their specific workflows, whether they need multiple sales pipelines or specific customization.

Customizing the Sales Pipeline

Customization is the heart of making Zoho CRM work for your business. From customizing lead data capture, to a strong, tailored dashboard within Zoho CRM that provides you with real-time insights into your sales process, a properly customized pipeline ensures that nothing is missed. Below are the key steps to set up and customize your sales pipeline:

Setting Up Pipeline Stages

Assess Business Requirements: Begin by identifying your unique sales stages. For some businesses, this might mean only three or four stages, while others might have many more.
Define Stages: Clearly define each stage based on the steps your sales reps typically follow to convert a lead to a customer.
Customize Stages in Zoho CRM:
1. Within Zoho CRM navigate to Setup > Customization > Module and Fields
2. Hover over the three dots (…) next to the Deals module and select Stage-Probability Mapping.
3. From here, you can add, modify, or remove stages to match your sales process.
4. As you create stages be sure to attribute a probability and a contract category. These settings help the system know if a deal is open or won and what revenue percentage to use in sales forecasting.
5. You can also drag and drop stages to ensure they are represented in the proper order.

Custom Fields and Modules

In many cases, you’ll need to collect specific information about your leads and deals that standard CRM setups don’t cover. Zoho CRM allows for extensive customization through custom fields and modules.

Identify Necessary Data: Determine which key data points your team needs to track to ensure effective sales management.
Create Custom Fields: Zoho CRM makes it easy to create custom fields that capture this information.
1. Within Zoho CRM navigate to Setup > Customization > Module and Fields
2. Select the module within which you’d like to add or modify fields.
3. Select the layout within which you’d like to modify fields
  1. Generally modules only have one “Standard” layout but if your CRM has been in service for some time other admins may have added other layouts.
Modify Existing Modules: In addition to adding fields, you can also modify existing modules or create new ones if your business requires more complex tracking.

Mapping Your Sales Process

Once you’ve customized your pipeline and modules, it’s time to map out your entire sales process:

Analyze Your Sales Process: Break your sales process into actionable steps. This is the foundation of an effective pipeline.
Establish Workflows: Use Zoho CRM’s automation features to create workflows. These workflows will help automate repetitive tasks, such as sending follow-up emails or assigning leads to sales reps.
1. Within Zoho CRM navigate to Setup > Automation > Workflow Rules
2. Click Create New Rule
  1. Select the module your rule will operate within and give your rule a name.
  2. Select a trigger for your rule (Creation, Editing, Date/Time, etc).
  3. Set the criteria for your rule.
  4. Select an action that your rule will trigger (Email Notification, Create a Task, Assign a New Owner, etc)
  5. Test your rule
Integration: One of the most powerful features of Zoho CRM is its ability to integrate with other apps, such as email marketing platforms, invoicing systems, or customer service tools. This ensures seamless data flow across different business functions.

Sales Pipeline Management Automation

Once your pipeline is built, automation becomes key in managing it effectively. Zoho CRM offers several features to help you automate and optimize your sales process.

Lead Generation and Capture

Zoho CRM simplifies the process of capturing leads from multiple channels and automatically assigning them to sales reps based on predefined criteria. This ensures that no lead goes unassigned or ignored.

Lead Scoring

To help prioritize which leads to focus on, Zoho CRM allows for lead scoring based on various factors such as interaction with your brand or fit with your target customer profile. This helps your sales reps focus their efforts on leads most likely to convert.

Sales Activity Tracking

Tracking sales activities is essential for accountability and performance evaluation. Zoho CRM’s logging capabilities make it easy to track calls, meetings, and emails. The system keeps a record of all interactions, so your team stays aligned and you can easily monitor progress.

Sales Rep Performance

With all activities logged, Zoho CRM provides reports and insights into individual and team performance. This allows you to track key metrics and make data-driven decisions to improve your overall sales strategy.

Forecasting and Deal Closure

With your sales pipeline in place, Zoho CRM gives you the tools to track deal progress and create sales forecasts based on real-time data. You’ll know where each deal stands and can predict future revenue more accurately.

Zoho CRM also fosters better communication and collaboration among team members, so everyone is on the same page when it comes to deal management and customer relationships.

Conclusion

Building an effective sales pipeline is crucial for growing your business and streamlining your sales process. With Zoho CRM’s robust customization options, workflow automation, and reporting features, you can create a tailored sales pipeline that reflects your business’s unique processes. At ZBrains, we specialize in helping businesses unlock the full potential of Zoho CRM through custom solutions that enhance productivity and drive results.

Whether you’re starting from scratch or looking to optimize your current setup, Zoho CRM has the tools to help you succeed.

Migrating from Hubspot to Zoho with help of ZBrains

When to Use Zoho CRM for Sending Emails vs. Zoho Campaigns

Published on: October 13, 2024Category: Zoho Campaigns, Zoho Campaigns, Zoho CRM, Zoho CRMLast Updated: November 6, 2024 Comments: 0

For people working in sales and marketing, email is the water we swim in. Email communication is an essential component of nearly any business’s marketing and customer engagement strategy. Among the dizzying array of tools available to help with the challenges of email communication, Zoho provides two robust options—Zoho CRM and Zoho Campaigns. Each of these options cater to different aspects of email communication. While both platforms are designed to help you reach your audience effectively, understanding when to use each will improve the impact of your communication efforts. In this article, we’ll explore the key differences between Zoho CRM and Zoho Campaigns, and provide guidance on when to use each tool.

Understanding Zoho CRM for Email Communication

Zoho CRM Overview

Zoho CRM is a customer relationship management tool designed to help businesses manage one to one interactions with customers and prospects. You can send emails directly from the CRM, allowing sales and customer service teams to communicate quickly with leads and customers. Zoho CRM integrates email communication with customer records, creating a comprehensive view of each contact’s email history.

When to Use Zoho CRM

One-on-One Communication: Zoho CRM is ideal for personalized, one-on-one email interactions. If you’re a sales representative nurturing a prospect or a customer service rep responding to an inquiry, Zoho CRM enables you to send personal emails directly from the contact’s profile. This ensures that all communication is tracked and accessible in one place, making it easier to manage ongoing relationships
Small-Scale Personalized Campaigns: If you need to send emails to a small group of contacts or specific segments, Zoho CRM can handle this effectively. The ability to send a number of emails at once, directly from the CRM, coupled with features like templates, merge tags, and automated workflows, allows sales teams to consistently communicate with groups of customers. This is especially useful for sending timely follow-up emails in bulk, scheduling meetings, or sharing custom offers merging in personalized details from the customer record. You can create a segment of leads who have expressed interest in a particular product and send them a personalized email. Zoho CRM’s email capabilities are well-suited for these targeted, smaller-scale campaigns.

Understanding Zoho Campaigns for Email Marketing

Zoho Campaigns Overview

Zoho Campaigns is a dedicated email marketing platform designed for creating, managing, and analyzing large-scale email campaigns. It provides tools for designing professional emails, segmenting audiences, automating email sequences, and tracking campaign performance. Zoho Campaigns is built to handle high-volume email sends and offers features that ensure compliance with email marketing regulations.

When to Use Zoho Campaigns

Large-Scale Email Campaigns: Zoho Campaigns excels at managing mass email marketing efforts. If you need to send newsletters, promotional emails, or announcements to thousands of recipients at once, this is the tool to use. Zoho Campaigns allows you to design visually appealing emails using its drag-and-drop editor and offers a range of templates to suit different needs. Additionally, you can schedule campaigns to be sent at optimal times, ensuring maximum engagement.
Advanced Email Marketing Features: For marketers who require advanced features, Zoho Campaigns offers a suite of tools that go beyond basic email sending. You can set up A/B testing to determine the most effective subject lines, email content, or call-to-action buttons. Automation features allow you to create drip campaigns, trigger emails based on specific actions or behaviors, and set up autoresponders. Zoho Campaigns also provides detailed analytics, enabling you to track open rates, click-through rates, and overall campaign performance.
Compliance and Deliverability: Zoho Campaigns includes built-in features to help you comply with email marketing regulations such as GDPR and CAN-SPAM. It offers tools for managing subscription preferences, handling opt-outs, and ensuring that your emails are delivered to recipients’ inboxes. The platform also provides insights into bounce rates, spam reports, and other metrics that can affect deliverability, allowing you to take corrective action if needed.

Key Differences Between Zoho CRM and Zoho Campaigns

1. Purpose and Focus

– Zoho CRM: Primarily designed for managing customer relationships, Zoho CRM is focused on individual interactions with leads and customers. Its email features are integrated with contact management, making it ideal for personalized communication.

– Zoho Campaigns: Zoho Campaigns is a specialized email marketing tool built for designing and executing large-scale campaigns. Its focus is on mass communication, offering advanced features for campaign management and analysis.

2. Email Volume and Scale

– Zoho CRM: Best suited for low to moderate email volumes, especially when emails are part of a broader customer relationship management strategy. It’s perfect for sending emails to small groups or specific segments.

– Zoho Campaigns: Designed to handle high-volume email sends, Zoho Campaigns is ideal for businesses that need to reach large audiences with their email marketing efforts. The platform is optimized for sending thousands of emails at once.

3. Customization and Personalization

– Zoho CRM: While Zoho CRM offers some customization options, such as templates and merge tags, its email capabilities are more focused on personalization at the individual level. This is beneficial when you need to tailor messages to specific contacts based on their history and interactions.

– Zoho Campaigns: Zoho Campaigns provides more extensive customization options, allowing you to design visually appealing emails with advanced formatting, images, and dynamic content. The platform also supports extensive personalization, enabling you to send targeted emails to specific segments of your audience based on various criteria.

4. Integration and Automation

– Zoho CRM: Integration with other Zoho apps and third-party tools is a key strength of Zoho CRM. It allows for seamless data flow between your CRM and other platforms, including Zoho Campaigns, Zoho Analytics, and external email services. Automation features in Zoho CRM are primarily focused on sales workflows, lead nurturing, and customer engagement.

– Zoho Campaigns: While Zoho Campaigns integrates with Zoho CRM and other Zoho apps, its automation capabilities are more focused on email marketing. You can set up complex email sequences, trigger emails based on specific actions, and automate responses to subscriber behavior, or even create a follow up task in CRM based on customer interaction with a campaign email.

Use cases for Zoho CRM vs. Zoho Campaigns: Scenarios and Examples

1. Nurturing Leads and Managing Sales Pipelines

When managing leads and sales pipelines, Zoho CRM is the preferred tool. For example, if a sales representative is nurturing a prospect who has shown interest in a specific product, they can send personalized emails directly from Zoho CRM. These emails can be tracked, and follow-ups can be scheduled based on the recipient’s engagement. The CRM’s integration with other sales tools ensures that all interactions are recorded, helping the sales team move leads through the pipeline efficiently.

2. Launching a New Product or Service

If you’re launching a new product or service and want to reach a large audience, Zoho Campaigns is the better choice. You can create a visually engaging email campaign, segment your audience based on their interests or previous purchases, and send the campaign to thousands of recipients simultaneously. Zoho Campaigns also allows you to analyze the performance of the campaign, track which recipients opened the email, clicked on links, or took specific actions, and adjust future campaigns accordingly.

3. Conducting Customer Satisfaction Surveys

For customer satisfaction surveys, the choice between Zoho CRM and Zoho Campaigns depends on the scale. If you’re conducting a survey with a small, targeted group of customers, Zoho CRM’s email features may suffice. However, for large-scale surveys where you need to send emails to a broad audience and analyze the results comprehensively, Zoho Campaigns offers more advanced tools and better reporting capabilities.

4. Sending Regular Newsletters

Zoho Campaigns is the ideal platform for sending regular newsletters to your subscribers. You can design newsletters that are visually appealing, include multiple sections, and feature dynamic content tailored to different segments of your audience. The platform’s scheduling and automation features ensure that your newsletters are sent at the best times, and the analytics tools help you measure their impact and effectiveness.

5. Managing Event Invitations and Registrations

For managing event invitations and registrations, both Zoho CRM and Zoho Campaigns can be used, again, depending on the scale of the list. For small events, Zoho CRM allows you to send personalized invitations and track RSVPs directly within the CRM. For larger events, Zoho Campaigns can be used to send invitations to a wide audience, manage registrations, and follow up with attendees through automated email sequences.

Conclusion

Choosing between Zoho CRM and Zoho Campaigns depends on your specific needs and the scale of your email communication efforts. Zoho CRM is best for personalized, one-on-one communication, small-scale campaigns, and managing sales and customer relationships. On the other hand, Zoho Campaigns excels at handling large-scale email marketing campaigns, offering advanced features for designing, automating, and analyzing email campaigns at scale.

By understanding the strengths of each platform and selecting the right tool for the right job, businesses can improve their email marketing strategy and personal customer engagement.

And remember, they integrate with one another so it’s not a “either/or” situation, it’s a “both/and”. You can use Zoho Campaigns to warm up your audience and then feed hot leads to Zoho CRM for a more personal touch as you usher them through your sales pipeline.

How to Set Up a Custom Zoho CRM Integration

Published on: October 7, 2024Category: Zoho CRM, Zoho CRMLast Updated: November 6, 2024 Comments: 0

Custom Zoho CRM integrations with other apps and services give new meaning to the term “empowerment” by allowing organizations to streamline operations and maximize the value of their technology solutions.

Integration requirements can vary widely and may include business applications for marketing, collaboration, telephony, messaging, customer support, finance, events, social media, storage, live chat, and more.

What is a Custom Zoho CRM Integration?

In simplest terms, a Custom Zoho CRM Integration is a project that results in Zoho CRM being able to fluidly communicate with other applications and vice-versa. The integration lets you take advantage of the best features of both software applications and eliminates any need for duplicated data entry or processes.

If there is no pre-existing integration tool available for the software you want to integrate with Zoho CRM, or the tool doesn’t handle the modules or datasets you want to sync, custom integration is the answer.

What are the benefits of Custom Zoho CRM Integrations?

Zoho CRM is designed to address the primary needs of companies across countless industries including education, finance, insurance, life sciences, non-profits, real estate, software, technology, and start-ups. With such a wide scope, it’s not possible to meet the needs of all customers.

By integrating with other tools in your workflow, or building custom applications that expand the basic Zoho CRM functionality, you can maximize the value of Zoho CRM for your business.

Why would I want to pursue a Custom Zoho CRM Integration?

The Zoho suite of products can do just about anything, but in some cases, companies need to continue using legacy software for business purposes.

Zoho recognized this when building its product and created several ways to integrate its CRM with other applications, including built-in integrations, the Zoho Flow migration tool, and other pre-built integration engines like Zapier.

Common applications to integrate with Zoho CRM include:

Google Workspace
PandaDoc
Microsoft 365
RingCentral
Twilio
Knowlarity
SMS-Magic
BurstSMS
Klenty
GoToWebinar
GoToMeeting
Eventbrite
Zoom
Quickbooks
Zero
Saasu
Proposify
QuoteWerks
iQuoteXpress
DocuSign
Adobe Sign
Leadfeeder
Address Locator
Google Ads
MailChimp
ActiveCampaign
Facebook Ad Manager
Dropbox
Google Drive
Box
Google Sheets
Slack
Kanban Board
Mail Parser
Front
Idle Deal Alert
Lead Queue
Get Response
Pie Sync
Zapier
SurveyMonkey
Chatbot

Don’t see yours on that list? Don’t worry. Using ZBrains’ expertise, experience, and integration tools, practically any third-party legacy software or system can be integrated with Zoho CRM.

Preparing for Your Custom Zoho CRM Integration

Identify pain points

Why do you need a custom integration? What functionality are you missing that you’d like to build? Understanding these “requirements” is essential to determining the integration tools and processes best suited to achieving the outcome you’re investing in.

Define business needs

Determine your scope, defining which modules or data needs to be synced, the sync direction, and the sync interval (Is it enough to sync once per day in batches, or do you need immediate sync every time data is undated?).

This information is necessary to determine which type and how many API calls will be needed (REST APIs, Bulk APIs, Notification APIs, and Query APIs). The number and type of API calls needed directly impacts the project budget.

Define goals and objectives

Set and define goals and the objectives needed to reach them regarding the integration timeline and budget.

Steps To Setting Up a Custom Zoho CRM Integration

Set up and enable basic CRM features, including organizational details, user roles and profiles, data security, and data visibility rules
Customize fields and modules, creating a detailed mapping plan for the two applications
Establish workflow automation processes, including email notifications, field updates, record creation, actions defined through functions, and webhooks.
Decide on an integration method, including Zoho Flow, built-in CRM integrations, or another pre-built integration engine such as Zapier.
Execute the integration
Troubleshoot any problems encountered
Test to confirm accurate migration and syncing
Refine and optimize, an ongoing process post-integration

How ZBrains Can Help with Custom Zoho CRM Integration

Zbrains is a top Zoho Premium Partner for business solutions. Since 2012, we’ve built end-to-end solutions to transform organizations through technology.

Advantages of working with ZBrains

Expertise/experience

Simply stated, our experience and expertise save our clients time and money. We provide consulting, training, customization, development, and other services related to the Zoho suite of apps. Our clients include organizations of all sizes in practically all industries, although we primarily serve companies in field services, construction, manufacturing, distribution, technology, and SaaS.

Tailored solutions

Zbrains is not your “normal” Zoho consulting shop. We offer tailored solutions.

AgilitySync is our proprietary ETL (extract-transform-load) platform for connecting Zoho apps to third-party ERP apps, connecting Zoho CRM, Finance, and Creator to programs like QuickBooks and Sage 100 ERP, among others.

Conclusion

Organizations don’t have to forego the benefits of Zoho CRM because they aren’t ready to let go of their other systems. Custom Zoho CRM integrations with other apps and services allow you to streamline operations and maximize the value of your technology solutions.

Ready to explore a custom Zoho CRM integration? Reach out to Zbrains, a trusted partner, to understand what will be the fastest, most reliable, and most economical way to integrate your third-party application with Zoho CRM.

At ZBrains, we understand what it takes to get your system up and running, and we know how to save you time and money. Contact our team for guidance and support.

How to Integrate Your Email with Zoho CRM

Published on: October 1, 2024Category: Zoho CRM, Zoho CRMLast Updated: November 6, 2024 Comments: 0

Zoho CRM is sales force automation software for enhanced productivity that lets you generate and manage leads, see your pipeline, manage account details, engage with contacts, automate routine tasks, and route leads automatically, all from a single location. Powerful forecasting and analytics tools let you spend your time negotiating opportunities rather than trying to calculate where they may lie.

Imagine getting immediate alerts when customers and prospects respond to emails, enabling your sales team to reply instantly, add follow-ups, and take notes, all from one integrated location.

By integrating your email with Zoho CRM, incoming and outgoing emails are automatically associated with customer records, saving time and ensuring important details aren’t missed.

What Are the Benefits of Integrating Email With Zoho CRM?

1. Streamlined communication

Even though the CRM is a salesperson’s primary tool, most communication with customers and prospects happens through email. Without email integration, a lot of time is wasted switching between CRM and email to read incoming, send follow-ups, and update details.

2. Improved tracking/management of emails

Zoho CRM confirms when your email was delivered, if it has been opened, and when it was read. Advanced filters identify leads who don’t respond within a certain period – and, conversely, those who are responsive and ready to close – so you can plan follow-ups strategically. Through individual scheduling or a one-time automated workflow setup, personalized follow-up emails can be scheduled to send at the most beneficial time.

3. Higher productivity

Regardless of which email client you integrate with Zoho CRM, incoming messages will be organized according to the CRM pipeline, helping you stay on top of high-value deals. Through individual scheduling or a one-time automated workflow setup, personalized follow-up emails can be scheduled to send at the most beneficial time.

4. Better management of customer relationships

Built-in analytics provide deeper insights into customer accounts. View customer activity, associated contacts, pending deals, ongoing projects, and more from a single location. Communicating with multiple decision-makers is much easier when you take advantage of Zoho CRM’s parent-child feature to set them up as separate accounts under the same parent.

Steps to Integrating Your Email With Zoho CRM

Define business email requirements

Zoho CRM can integrate email through API (Gmail), exchange (Outlook), or other service providers through IMAP and POP protocols. In this article, we will outline the process for IMAP and POP protocols.

The IMAP email protocol allows email activity to remain in sync across multiple devices (computers, laptops, mobile phones, and tablets). Emails stay on the email server rather than downloading onto a device.

The POP3 email protocol downloads emails from the server to a specific device. Unless configured to “keep messages in the server,” downloaded emails are automatically deleted after downloading. If your business email requires POP#, Zoho CRM will sync and display the emails in the Zoho SalesInBox.

2. Check compatibility with your business email provider

Zoho CRM is compatible with popular business email clients – including Outlook, Gmail, and Yahoo – in addition to Zoho Mail. If you use a different email client, check with your provider regarding its compatibility with Zoho CRM. As noted above, Zoho CRM can accommodate any email client that uses the IMAP or POP3 protocol.

3. Access email settings in Zoho CRM

In Zoho CRM, navigate to Setup > Channels > Email > Email Configuration. Then, under the Email tab, click “Get Started” and select Popular Email Service.
Under Choose the Protocol to Configure, select either IMAP Integration or POP Integration. Click Configure.
Enter the email account’s Display Name, Email Address, and Password. Click Configure.
In the Import Filter popup, click Import. (This can be skipped and done later.)
Under Email Sharing Settings, choose the desired sharing permission level from the drop-down list.
In the More From Address, the Default Address field should display the email account’s display name that you entered above.
Click Add Email Address to enter more “From” email addresses, if needed.
IMAP users only – Under Folder Mapping, select the folders from your custom mailbox to map with the appropriate folder in the Zoho SalesInbox.
Click Server Details to view the incoming and outgoing server settings. These are automatically populated by selecting one of the popular IMAP integrations.
Under Email Sharing, select Private, Public, or Custom record sharing as required.
Click Update

4. Validate the email account

Adding A Signature In Zoho CRM (and Other Customizations)

How to add a signature

In Zoho CRM, navigate to Setup > Channels > Email > Email Configuration. Then, under the Compose tab, you’ll find the Email Signature section.
Name your signature and assign the email address associated with your signature. If you’ve set up other organization emails or from addresses you can associate signatures with these addresses in this section as well.
Click Save. Now that you have configured an email signature, it will automatically insert into the body of any email sent from Zoho CRM.

How to create an email template

Navigate to Setup > Customization > Templates > Email.
Click + New Template.
Select the module for which the email template is being created (Zoho CRM) from the drop-down list and click Next to be taken to the Template Gallery page.
You then have the option to create an email template from scratch, choose a predesigned template, or insert HTML code.
To create an email template from scratch, choose the Blank template from the Template Gallery. Drag and drop required components from the All Components section onto the template and customize as needed. Set the Name and Subject of the template and Save the template to the appropriate folder. Thereafter you can customize the template using the template builder.
To choose a predesigned template, view those included in the Template Gallery. Select any available template and customize using the drag-and-drop template editor.
To insert HTML code, navigate to Setup > Customization > Template. In the Template Gallery, select the link titled Insert HTML code/Plain text. Click on the HTML icon, paste your HTML code, and click Insert. Then click Save.

How to create autoresponders

You can set a maximum of 3 autoresponders and a maximum of 5 follow-ups per autoresponder.

Click the Leads/Contacts tab. On the Leads/Contacts Home page, select Actions > Autoresponders. On the Autoresponders page, select Create Autoresponder.
On the New Autoresponder page, enter the autoresponder’s Name. Select the owner of the record from the Assigned To list. (By default, this field will display the name of the user creating the autoresponder unless you change it.) Select Custom View to choose the autoresponder recipient list.
Select a Folder for the autoresponder, then select whether the folder is Static or Dynamic. (Static folders are for autoresponders where the follow-up happens on a fixed date; for Dynamic folders, the follow-up happens on predefined intervals you set.)
You can add follow-ups at this time if needed. After selecting the email template for the follow-up, you will be prompted to enter the From and Reply-To email addresses from the drop-down list.
Click Save.

How to create email workflows

If you have IMAP configuration enabled in your account, you can set up workflow rules for incoming emails. There are three parts to the process:

Rule execution – When the rules should be executed for incoming and outgoing emails, such as Received, Unreplied, and Opened and Unreplied for incoming emails and Sent, Bounced, Opened, Clicked, Opened and Unreplied, and Unreplied for outgoing emails.
Specify condition – Once you’ve defined when to execute, you need to specify the condition(s) that should be met for the rule to execute. Conditions can be set for a specific email field (attachment name, CC, sender, sent to, has attachment, and subject) or a module (leads, contacts, unknown, or custom). For example, you could set a condition that if the email has an attachment that contains the word “Proposal” in its file name, then execute the rule.
Specify the immediate action – Once conditions are met, you must specify the action. These can include task, create record, webhook, function, or notify.

The step-by-step process is as follows:

Go to Setup > Automation > Workflow Rules. Click Create Rule.
On the Create New Rule page, select the Email module from the drop-down list, enter the rule name and description, and click Next.
Under When do you want to execute the rule?, select Incoming email or Outgoing email from the drop-down list. Click Next.
Under Would you like to set conditions for email fields?, select Yes or No. (If you choose Yes, specify the field names you want to set conditions for.)
Under Apply this rule to, choose a module.
Under Which do you want to apply this rule to?, select All or Specify the conditions. Click Next.
Under Instant actions, select an action. Click Save.

How ZBrains Can Help with Zoho CRM Email Setup

Zoho software can do almost anything. But to do that, it has to be configured for your needs. As outlined above, it’s possible to configure your Zoho CRM email integration independently. But if you’d rather not take that on, or you need troubleshooting help while doing it yourself, call Zbrains.

Zbrains is a full-service Certified Zoho Consultant and offers numerous integrations. We can plan and manage the entire process for you, including field and screen customization, permission settings, workflow automation setup, converting data from your former email system, training your team, providing support, and more.

Conclusion

With most customer and prospect communication coming through email, you don’t want to miss the many advantages of integrating your email with Zoho CRM.

Regardless of which email client you integrate, Zoho CRM organizes incoming messages according to the CRM pipeline, helping you stay on top of high-value deals, and provides you with analytics that can help build more effective and profitable relationships with customers and prospects.

When you’re ready to begin integrating your email with Zoho CRM, consider whether you want to do it yourself or have Zbrains complete the process. Either way, we invite you to contact our team for guidance and support.

Zoho CRM Integration: Benefits and Process

Published on: August 23, 2023Category: Zoho CRMLast Updated: December 6, 2023 Comments: 0

With more than 80 percent of the SMB market share, QuickBooks is by far the world’s most popular accounting software. Businesses use QuickBooks to track income and expenses, pay bills, send invoices, and produce files and reports for their accountants. Integrating Quickbooks with Zoho CRM takes account management capabilities even further, automating repetitive data entry processes and enabling more agile interactions with customers.

Simplify Sales and Order Process: QuickBooks Integration with Zoho CRM

Integrating QuickBooks with Zoho CRM saves businesses a lot of time by eliminating the need for duplicated, manual data entry. Integration helps to lessen errors in the sales and order process and eliminate data conflicts by synchronizing contacts, quotes, products, vendors, sales orders, invoices, and other data fields.zoho crm

Following integration, the salesperson can enter the order in CRM and the software manipulates the record type as the order is processed, filled, and invoiced. Once the order has been filled and invoiced, the software syncs the information back to the original system.

The process of integrating QuickBooks differs depending on whether you use QuickBooks Online or QuickBooks Desktop. Here’s an overview of the integration process for each.

QuickBooks Online <> Zoho CRM Integration

For QuickBooks Online, there are two integration alternatives – using Zoho’s integration platform, Zoho Flow, or using a service provider to allow custom syncs.

Zoho Flow is Zoho’s DIY tool for connecting cloud applications and automating complex business workflows without needing to write any code. The platform works with over 400 business applications (including QuickBooks Online) and offers over 500 ready-to-use integrations. Its drag-and-drop integration builder can also accommodate a degree of custom integration. If you need deeper integration or run into problems using Zoho Flow, reach out to us at ZBrains.

Companies that need custom synchronizations or don’t feel comfortable undertaking such an important task on their own should work with an experienced service provider like ZBrains. We’ve done hundreds of QuickBooks Online <> Zoho CRM integrations.

Modules That Can Be Synced

Essential modules that can be synced in a QuickBooks <> Zoho CRM integration include:

QuickBooks Customers with Zoho CRM Accounts
QuickBooks Customers with Zoho CRM Contacts
QuickBooks Items with Zoho CRM Products
QuickBooks Vendors with Zoho CRM Vendors

Transactional modules that can be synced include:

QuickBooks Invoices with Zoho CRM Invoices
QuickBooks Sales Orders with Zoho CRM Sales Orders
QuickBooks Estimates with Zoho CRM Quotes
QuickBooks Purchase Orders with Zoho CRM Purchase Orders

Other modules that can be synced include but are not limited to:

QuickBooks Jobs <> Zoho Deals
QuickBooks Payments <> Zoho Payments

Major Steps in the Integration Process

All integrations include at least seven major steps, starting with the discovery phase and continuing through ongoing support post-integration.

Discovery

Before any work begins, there should be one or more planning sessions to develop the information needed to create integration specifications. These specifications will be followed in field mapping, deploying the integration, and establishing the appropriate settings.

Systems backup

Next, test environments and data backups of both QuickBooks and Zoho CRM should be created before the integration deploys.

Deployment and Testing

The deployment process, which includes integration planning, data cleanup, and field mapping, is typically completed in less than one day. That includes time spent meeting with the deployment engineers, creating test records, and verifying data.

This process typically incorporates screen-sharing sessions and involves the use of a tool such as ZBrains AgilitySync.

Sync and migrate data between systems

Data from Zoho CRM to QuickBooks or QuickBooks to Zoho CRM can be migrated from as far back as 2012. This is a labor-intensive process that normally adds 2-4 weeks to the integration timeline.

Ongoing support

However your integration is undertaken, you will need ongoing support for tasks such as mapping and settings changes, bug fixes, and answers to any questions you may have along the way.

Efficient QuickBooks Desktop Integration: Expert Guidance

Since QuickBooks Desktop is locally hosted, integrations are more complicated and there is no ready-made integration option.

You will need to use a service provider who can help you decide whether integrating directly to Zoho CRM or migrating first to Zoho Books is the best option for you. ZBrains has extensive experience working with companies on their QuickBooks Desktop integrations, with or without a Zoho Books migration.

Conclusion

Any business can reap the benefits of a QuickBooks <> Zoho CRM integration, from saving time and eliminating data conflicts, to strengthening the sales cycle and enhancing the overall customer experience. ZBrains provides total deployment assistance for QuickBooks <> Zoho CRM integrations, including standard and custom field mappings, data migration, conditional syncing, and more.

Reach out today for more information.

Zoho Inventory Pricing: Create Bundles for Maximum Sales

Published on: July 5, 2023Category: Zoho CRMLast Updated: May 8, 2024 Comments: 0

Grouping products together creates a number of benefits, such as making it easier to organize your items and increasing your selling power by enabling you to create retail product bundles with attractive pricing.

If you’re new to Zoho Inventory, let’s take a closer look at some of the sales and marketing advantages of bundling products, as well as how to do so in Zoho.

The Advantages of Zoho Inventory Pricing Bundling for Sales

When you bundle products, you can increase your revenue and stay ahead of your competitors by packaging two or more products together at an attractive price. Further, inventory bundling makes it possible to:

Increase your sales margin by cross-selling products. Bundling helps introduce customers to products that are compatible with each other, potentially increasing your customers’ spend at checkout.

Keep your dead stock moving. Stock that’s not selling can weigh heavily on your business. With bundling, you can move slow-selling products more quickly by grouping them with other, more desirable items.

Encourage your customer to buy more. If you incentivize higher spending with free shipping, for example, inventory bundling can help your customers reach your minimum order threshold.

Promote new products effortlessly. When you bundle a new or obscure product with an already popular item, it’s more likely to gain a presence in your shop.

Accelerate the fulfillment process. The bigger the customer’s shopping cart, the easier it is to fulfill and ship the order than if they ordered the same items across several individual purchases. With Inventory Bundles, you can package, ship, and track one single commodity, speeding up the order fulfillment process.

How to Create Zoho Inventory Bundles

Within Zoho Inventory Pricing, Inventory Bundles are created within Composite Items or Sales Transactions. To take advantage of Bundles, you’ll need to have the Composite Items feature enabled within Zoho. Do this by navigating to Settings > Preferences > Items, and then click the ‘Enable Composite Items’ checkbox. Now, Composite Items will be accessible within the Items module.

Now, you’ll have two options for bundling in Zoho:

Bundling Items from Composite Items

Open Zoho CRM
Go to the Composite Items module under Items from the left sidebar
Open the Composite Item for which you want to create a unique bundle
Click the Create Bundle button

From here, you’ll need to specify the Bundling#, Bundling Date, Quantity to Bundle, and the warehouse within which you’d like to create the Bundle for this Composite Item.

Finally, if you’ve enabled serial or batch number tracking for your Composite Item, you can use the screen pictured below to enter the serial or batch numbers for the bundle quantity.

During this process, any items or services that are associated with the Composite Item will be auto-populated (you can also add, change, or remove items, as needed). Once your bundle is saved, the necessary adjustments will be made to your Zoho Inventory.

If needed, you can also view past Bundle activity by visiting the Bundling History section and clicking the number associated with an individual Bundle.

Creating Bundles from Sales Transactions

If you find yourself in a situation where the quantity in demand for one or more of your Composite Items is greater than the quantity you have available, you’ll want to use the Bundle option within sales orders or invoices to generate the quantity required.

Here’s how to do it:

Go to the Sales Orders or Invoices module under Sales from the left sidebar of Zoho Inventory
Create a new sales order or invoice and add a Composite Item
Specify the number of Composite Items ordered by your customer (note that the quantity ordered will need to exceed the available quality shown to trigger the Bundle option to appear)

4. Click the Bundle option, and the required quantity of Composite Items that need to be bundled will be calculated automatically

Creating Zoho Inventory Pricing Bundles in Zoho CRM gives you the flexibility needed to customize Composite Items for individual customers—for example, to add extra products or services to sweeten the deal for a single buyer.

However, we also recognize that managing Zoho Inventory Pricing can be tricky. If you have questions about working with Composite Items or Bundles in Zoho, get in touch with the expert team at ZBrains for assistance.

Zoho CRM Plus: The Ultimate Unified Experience Solution

Published on: May 5, 2023Category: Zoho CRM PlusLast Updated: July 1, 2024 Comments: 0

Zoho CRM Plus is a unified customer experience platform that helps you deliver an exceptional experience to every customer across all stages of their lifecycle and convert them into brand advocates.

The CRM Plus platform includes 9 powerful services in a single interface. Few other platforms, if any, provide such much high-value functionality across so many software apps at such a competitive price.

Zoho CRM: Sales automation and complete pipeline management
Zoho SalesIQ: Live chat and visitor tracking
Zoho Desk: Help desk
Zoho Projects: Project management
Zoho Campaigns: Email marketing
Zoho Analytics: Unified insights across teams
Zoho SalesInbox: Exclusive sales emails
Zoho Social: Social media marketing
Zoho Survey: Customer surveys

Empowering Business Growth: The Versatile Zoho Suite

Zoho CRM Plus is pre-integrated, providing access to shared customer data and a unified experience from a single console. Its simple onboarding mechanism has users up and running in the cloud from day one.

Zoho CRM

Highly rated on just about every customer review site, Zoho CRM offers powerful enterprise-level functionality that is highly configurable and easily customized to support faster onboarding, multiple pipelines, and reporting. As an added bonus, it is loaded with functionality that enables reps to prioritize tasks and stay organized, resulting in better throughput for businesses with larger pipelines.

Zoho SalesInBox

Zoho SalesInBox enables reps to prioritize communications by segmenting emails between active deals, regular contacts, and internal communications. It integrates with all leading email clients (Outlook, Gmail, Yahoo, and more) and synchronizes with email campaigns.

Zoho SalesIQ

Zoho SalesIQ is an all-in-one live chat and analytics platform. Its digital engagement tools let marketing, sales, and support teams communicate with site visitors at every stage of the customer lifecycle. Users can also easily build chatbots and personalized message routing.

Zoho Desk

Zoho Desk is a full-featured help desk application that simplifies customer service operations, improves agent productivity, and delivers quality, lasting customer experiences.

Zoho Projects

Projects is Zoho’s cloud-based project management software, used for comprehensive project planning, efficient work tracking, and effective collaboration between teams. The functionality of Zoho Projects compares favorably with Asana, Trello, Smartsheet, Jira Cloud, Monday, and similar systems.

Zoho Campaigns

Zoho Campaigns provides the toolkit teams need to create email designs that elicit responses, customize messages, deliver emails to inboxes, connect with new customers, and trigger automated workflows.

Zoho Social

With Zoho Social, your teams can schedule unlimited posts, monitor what matters, and create custom analytical reports.

Zoho Survey

Zoho Survey turns survey creation into both a science and an art. With over 25 question types, features like skip logic and piping, customizable themes, and more, the perfect survey is just keystrokes away. The SSL-protected surveys can be shared instantly via email and social media.

Zoho Analytics

Zoho Analytics delivers powerful functionality paired with point-and-click simplicity. Users are able to generate insightful reports without needing to write SQL queries, although this capability remains available. It also features Zia, an AI-based voice assistant that provides sales teams with insights that make them more productive.

Customizing Zoho CRM Plus for Optimized Business Processes

Flexible Customization Options: Zoho CRM Plus provides businesses with extensive customization options to tailor the CRM software according to their specific requirements. Users may customize fields, layouts, modules, and workflows to their particular business processes. This flexibility allows businesses to create a CRM solution that reflects their workflows and captures the information they deem essential.

Customizable Sales Processes: Zoho CRM Plus enables businesses to define and customize their sales processes based on their unique sales methodologies. Sales stages, deal closure criteria, and sales forecasting can be customized to match the organization’s specific requirements. This customization ensures that the CRM system aligns with the company’s sales strategies and enhances sales team efficiency.

Personalized Dashboards and Reports: With Zoho CRM Plus, users can create personalized dashboards and reports to gain insights into their sales, marketing, and customer service activities. The CRM suite offers a drag-and-drop interface, allowing users to design customized visualizations that display key performance indicators and metrics relevant to their business. This customization empowers users to monitor and track the data that matters most to them, facilitating data-driven decision-making.

Workflow Automation: Zoho CRM Plus offers robust workflow automation capabilities that allow businesses to automate repetitive tasks and streamline their processes. Users can define custom workflows to automate lead assignment, task creation, email notifications, and more. By automating routine activities, businesses can save time, reduce manual errors, and ensure consistent and efficient operations.

Integration and Extensions: Zoho CRM Plus supports integration with various third-party applications and extensions, enabling businesses to further customize and extend the functionality of their CRM system. Through integrations, businesses can connect Zoho CRM Plus with other tools they use, such as marketing automation platforms, accounting software, or e-commerce platforms. This integration capability allows for a seamless flow of data and streamlines cross-platform operations.

API and Developer Tools: Zoho CRM Plus provides APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) and developer tools that allow businesses to develop custom integrations, extensions, or applications on top of the CRM suite. This customization capability enables businesses with specific requirements or unique workflows to extend the functionality of Zoho CRM Plus according to their needs.

Mobile Customization: Zoho CRM Plus offers mobile apps that can be customized to reflect the branding and specific requirements of a business. Users can tailor the mobile app’s interface, layout, and functionalities to match their business processes and ensure a consistent user experience across devices. This customization empowers mobile users to access and manage customer data while on the go.

By leveraging the customization capabilities of Zoho CRM Plus, businesses can create a CRM solution that aligns with their unique workflows, captures relevant data, and enhances overall productivity and efficiency. The flexibility to adapt and customize the CRM system allows organizations to optimize their sales, marketing, and customer service processes, leading to improved customer satisfaction and business growth.

What is the Difference Between Zoho ONE and Zoho CRM Plus?

The difference between Zoho CRM Plus and Zoho ONE is that CRM Plus unifies customer-facing teams to improve customer experience, while ONE enables businesses to operate lead to cash on one singular platform, consolidating vendors and software silos while streamlining your business operations.

Zoho CRM Plus includes the 9 essential enterprise-level applications to unify your sales, support, and marketing teams, providing a 360-degree view across all touchpoints for a consistent experience at every stage of the customer journey.
Zoho ONE, with more than 45 web applications, is an enterprise-level, all-in-one suite for running your entire organization. From sales, support, and marketing through finance, HR, recruitment, and more, Zoho ONE provides everything companies need to grow their business.

Should I Purchase Zoho CRM Plus or Zoho ONE?

The CRM Plus bundle is the obvious choice for companies that want to save money by only licensing customer-facing teams. Zoho CRM Plus is usually the best fit for companies that only want the functionality offered by its 9 applications. Although priced higher per user license, only customer-facing teams must be licensed.

Zoho ONE, on the other hand, is priced lower per license than Zoho CRM Plus, but all employees must be licensed.

Important note: While it is more expensive per user, Zoho does have a separate pricing model for those that want access to all the Zoho ONE apps but do not want to license every user in their organization.

The Zoho ONE bundle is ideal for companies that need all employees to use the software. It’s also cost-effective for those who will ultimately pay less to license all employees (at the lower rate) than only those who are users (at the higher rate).

Regardless of the Zoho CRM chosen, either bundle provides substantial savings compared to licensing the included apps separately.

Conclusion

Still not sure what to purchase? Don’t worry. Talk to the experts at ZBrains who have worked with businesses similar to yours to help them migrate from their legacy systems. We can help you identify the apps that you should use to achieve your goals and prepare a cost-benefit analysis to gauge the best fit.

Reach out today for more information.

Building Zoho Dashboards for Sales: Your Ultimate Guide by ZBrains

Published on: March 17, 2023Category: Zoho CRM, Zoho CRMLast Updated: May 8, 2024 Comments: 0

Zoho CRM is a user-friendly and robust customer relationship management software suitable for businesses of any scale. It helps companies effectively manage customer interactions, automate sales processes, and monitor performance. With the help of Zoho dashboards, businesses can quickly get insights into their sales pipeline, identify bottlenecks, and make data-driven decisions to improve their sales performance.

But one of the best features of Zoho CRM is its ability to create powerful, visually appealing sales dashboards. A well-designed dashboard can help you get an accurate picture of your business’s performance at a glance. With the right data, your dashboards can identify key trends, highlight opportunities, and help you make informed decisions.

Optimizing Sales Performance with Zoho CRM and Analytics

Zoho CRM simplifies sales, marketing, and customer service by utilizing a unified data source for all activities. This approach enables businesses to easily track essential metrics such as sales volume, order fulfillment rate, and revenue per customer. With the help of Zoho dashboards, businesses can efficiently monitor the performance of individual employees or teams by comparing their metrics against those of others within the organization. This valuable information empowers businesses to make data-driven decisions and optimize their sales process for better results.

Zoho Analytics, on the other hand, can use multiple data sources from across the organization to provide an even more comprehensive view of your sales performance. For example, you can track customer lifetime value (CLV) and customer acquisition cost (CAC), as well as average order size, frequency of purchase, and other metrics. Users can also embed these into the Zoho CRM homepage to quickly overview their business performance in real-time.

Zoho CRM provides a variety of views tailored to meet the needs of individual sales reps, managers, and executives. These views offer insights into essential key performance indicators (KPIs) that businesses should monitor. With the help of Zoho dashboards, businesses can effortlessly keep track of these KPIs, optimize their sales process, and maximize their revenue. Let’s explore the specific KPIs you should monitor for each role within your organization.

Individual Sales Reps

To effectively monitor individual sales reps responsible for identifying prospects, closing deals, and driving growth, track their performance on specific metrics such as:

Number of Leads: The number of leads created or assigned in a given time frame.
Number of Meetings: The total number of meetings booked with new prospects.
Number of Meetings Completed: The number of scheduled meetings that successfully occurred.
Show Rate: The number of meetings that were attended vs. the number of meetings that were scheduled.
Opportunities Created: The number of opportunities created in a given time frame.
Lead Conversion Rate: The percentage of total leads that have been converted into customers.
Total Pipeline Value: The total dollar value of all opportunities in the sales pipeline.
Total Pipeline Growth: The change in the pipeline value over time.
Total Deals Closed: The number of deals closed in a given time frame.
Dollar Amount Closed: The total dollar amount of all deals closed in a given time frame.
Win Rate: The percentage of total deals that are closed successfully.
Lead-to-Win Rate: The number of leads it takes to close a deal.
Leads/Opportunities/Accounts With Activity: The number of leads that have had activity (calls, emails, meetings) in a given time frame.
Activity Levels: The average number of activities performed by each sales rep (on an individual activity basis) in a given time frame.

Sales Managers

Sales managers should be responsible for the sales metrics of the team, as they oversee the sales team and ensure each rep achieves their goals.

Rep Metrics: Sales rep performance data such as lead conversion rate, win rate, and dollar amount closed.
Team Metrics: Team-level performance data such as total pipeline value, average deal size, and overall close rate.
Cohort Analysis: The ability to compare sales performance among different groups of reps (e.g., by location or product
Metrics by Geography/Territory: The total number of deals, pipeline value, and revenue based on geographic region.
Metrics by Product: The total number of deals, pipeline value, and revenue based on the product or service being sold.
Metrics by Lead Source: The total number of deals, pipeline value, and revenue based on the lead source.
Revenue by Person: The total dollar amount closed by each sales rep in a given time frame.
Forecasted Revenue: The estimated revenue to be earned in the next quarter or year, based on pipeline value and rep metrics.

Executive Leadership

Executives can use Zoho dashboards to ensure the company is on track to reach its goals, and that all departments are working together efficiently.

Lead-to-Win Rate: The rate at which leads are converted into customers shows executives how efficient the sales process is.
Pipeline Value: The total dollar value of all opportunities in the sales pipeline helps executives track progress toward their goals.
Net New Customers: The number of new customers acquired in a given time frame.
Revenue Trends: Year-over-year revenue trends show executives if the company is on track to meet its goals.
Customer Lifetime Value (CLV): The total value of all transactions with existing customers helps executives understand customer loyalty and profitability.
Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC): The cost of acquiring each new customer is a critical metric that shows executives how efficient their sales process is.
Churn Rate: The rate at which customers are lost can indicate customer satisfaction and potential areas of improvement.
Sales Efficiency: The overall efficiency of the sales team demonstrates how much time and effort is being spent on each sale.

How to Build an Effective Sales Dashboard in Zoho CRM

Whatever metrics you intend to track, here are a few of our top suggestions for monitoring them within your Zoho CRM sales dashboard.

Choose two critical metrics for each role in your organization. Assign each person a leading KPI and a trailing KPI based on importance.
Make sure your system can easily gather the necessary data for the KPIs by setting up automation, automating your reporting, or defining custom fields. You can accomplish this by establishing automation, automating your reporting, or defining custom fields.
Create a weekly version of each KPI, grouped by person, and also for the entire company/department. This will help you get a better understanding of each person’s performance and let you easily compare it with the team as a whole.
Make sure to verify the data and the report’s accuracy, especially if you plan to tie them to performance reports or incentives.
Add a trend (and perhaps a forecast), if you have enough data to do so.
Hold a weekly-to-daily meeting to review the KPIs. Hold people responsible for their performance by having a discussion and tracking progress over time.
Set quotas and targets for each KPI. Target is generally 20% above quota, and quota is the desired outcome for each metric.
Create a contest or incentives around your target(s) to motivate your team.

Finally, try not to change the KPIs too much, or too quickly, unless everyone agrees that doing so is appropriate. Determining the “right” KPIs and optimal quota for your organization might take some time, but it’s still best to be as consistent as possible.

Need help creating your ideal Zoho sales dashboard? ZBrains’ expert team is standing by for any sales tracking or measurement questions you may have. Reach out today for more information.

A Woman Connecting Facebook Lead Ads to Zoho CRM

Connect Facebook Lead Ads to Zoho CRM: Integration Guide

Published on: September 22, 2022Category: Zoho Analytics, Zoho Campaigns, Zoho CRM, Zoho MarketingHubLast Updated: October 21, 2024 Comments: 0

In today’s digital age, harnessing the power of social media platforms is crucial for businesses to expand their reach and engage with potential customers. Facebook, being one of the most popular social media platforms, offers an effective advertising solution called Facebook Lead Ads. These ads allow businesses to capture valuable lead information directly from their Facebook ads. However, to effectively manage and utilize these leads, integrating Facebook Lead Ads with a robust customer relationship management (CRM) system like Zoho CRM is essential. This integration guide aims to provide a comprehensive walkthrough, empowering businesses to seamlessly connect their Facebook Lead Ads to Zoho CRM and optimize their lead generation and customer management processes.

Lead generation is a critical aspect of any business strategy. The Facebook Lead Ads program—which involves capturing prospective customers’ information via social media—can be a user-friendly option for identifying and capturing new leads.

But for lead generation to be effective, it must be followed up with plenty of nurturing and analysis so that you can reach the best prospects who are most likely to convert into customers or clients. Integrating your Facebook Lead campaigns into your Zoho CRM allows you to keep all of your lead generation efforts in one place, while also facilitating lead nurture in real-time.

To take advantage of these benefits, however, you’ll need to connect your Facebook Lead Ads to Zoho CRM. Here’s how to do it:

How can Facebook Lead Ads help in generating new leads effectively?

Facebook Lead Ads can be an easy way to generate new leads, as it allows you to run your marketing message within a venue you know your prospective customers frequent. Reaching people where they already are—in this case, Facebook—minimizes friction and increases the likelihood of your ads being seen.

Within Facebook, when prospects tap on one of your ads, a form pops up that’s already prepopulated with their Facebook contact information. All it takes is a few taps for them to get the information they need, while you generate a new lead for your business.

Why Zoho CRM Partners Well with Facebook Lead Ads

By syncing your Zoho CRM account with your Facebook Ad Leads account, new leads can be automatically integrated into your CRM. As a result, you won’t have to manually export leads from your Facebook lead campaigns for import into your CRM. Instead, every time you get a new lead, it can be automatically saved to your Zoho CRM database, along with extra information such as the source of the lead.

Additional Benefits of Zoho CRM Integration

Turning Conversations into Opportunities

Not only does Zoho CRM let you follow up on your Facebook leads, but it also lets you add leads from your listening streams, even if you’re not running an ad campaign.

You can add these leads from the Social Tab manually, or set up triggers to automatically add leads from interactions that happen on your Facebook page. You can then assign these leads to your sales reps with specific rules, tasks, and reminders.

Bringing Facebook and CRM Conversations Together

When a contact has been added to your Zoho CRM, you can go to your Social Tab and access their information, history, and activities. In addition, you can see their recent social interactions with your business so that you can respond appropriately to their social posts and comments.

Engaging with Your Audience Live

Using the Social Tab in your Zoho CRM, you can easily create new social media posts or reply to comments and messages in real-time. Rather than switching between Facebook and Zoho CRM, you can keep your audience engaged from within a single platform.

Tracking Conversations About Your Brand

By setting up listening streams that monitor when a prospect or competitor messages you or mentions you, you can manage your Facebook conversations in real-time. SalesSignals gives you real-time Facebook notifications via Zoho CRM.

How to Connect Facebook Lead Ads to Zoho CRM

To connect your Facebook Lead Ads with your Zoho CRM account, you’ll need to use one of the Facebook Ad management extensions found within Zoho CRM’s marketplace.

Step #1: Install Facebook Advert Manager

To begin, you can either navigate to the Zoho Marketplace and install the Facebook Advert Manager extension, or you can log in to your Zoho CRM account and install it from there. Once the extension has been added to your CRM, take the following steps:

Go to Setup > Marketplace > All
Search for Facebook Adverts Manager
Click Install Now

In the following screen, agree to the terms of service and click Install Now.

Select the users for whom you want to install the extension, and then click Confirm. Then, click Authorize on the following screen:

Finally, in the pop-up that appears, specify the username and password of your Facebook account, and click Continue.

Step #2: Import Your Facebook Ads

Once you’ve installed and authorized the Facebook Advert Manager Extension, you can start importing your ad data into Zoho CRM. When you first set up the extension, you’ll need to perform a complete import of your data.

Within Zoho CRM, select the Facebook Advert Manager tab
On the Facebook Advert Manager page, click Import
This will import all the ads and ad sets that are associated with your Facebook account into Zoho CRM

Once this step is complete, you’ll be able to view and manage all of your ad campaigns from this tab itself. This will take some time, however, depending on the amount of ad data you have to import.

Additionally, if you’ve made changes in Facebook and want them to be reflected in Zoho, you may need to manually update your ads on the Facebook Advert Manager page. To update the details of a particular ad, select the required Advert ID and click Import Advert. The current status of the selected ad will be updated.

To import new ads from Facebook, click the Import button at the top right-hand corner of the window. This will not only import new ads from Facebook, but will update all of your existing ads as well.

Once you’ve successfully connected your Facebook Lead Ads account to Zoho CRM, you can take advantage of Zoho marketing campaign tools to easily nurture and convert the new leads you generate—as well as analyze your new data to create stronger campaigns.

FAQs: Integrating Facebook Lead Ads with Zoho CRM

What is the benefit of integrating Facebook Lead Ads with Zoho CRM?

Integrating Facebook Lead Ads with Zoho CRM offers several advantages. It automatically transfers lead data from Facebook to your CRM, streamlining your lead-generation efforts. Additionally, you can follow up on leads, engage with your audience in real time, and track conversations about your brand, all from within the Zoho CRM platform.

Do I need technical expertise to connect Facebook Lead Ads to Zoho CRM?

You can use extensive technical knowledge. Zoho CRM’s user-friendly interface and the Facebook Advert Manager extension make the integration process straightforward. Just follow the step-by-step guide in the article to connect your accounts seamlessly.

Can I import existing Facebook ads into Zoho CRM after integration?

You can import your existing Facebook ads and ad sets into Zoho CRM using the Facebook Advert Manager extension. Once connected, you can completely import your ad data into the CRM.

How long does it take to import my Facebook ad data into Zoho CRM?

The time it takes to import your Facebook ad data into Zoho CRM may vary depending on the amount of data you have. For larger datasets, the import process might take longer. However, once the initial import is complete, you can easily manage and update your ads in real time.

Can Zoho CRM help me nurture leads beyond Facebook campaigns?

Absolutely! Zoho CRM’s comprehensive lead management features allow you to nurture leads from various sources, including interactions on your Facebook page and other listening streams. You can set up triggers to automatically add leads and assign them to sales reps, facilitating lead nurturing and follow-up.

How does Zoho CRM’s Social Tab help with engagement on Facebook?

The Social Tab in Zoho CRM enables you to interact with your audience on Facebook without leaving the CRM platform. You can create and schedule new social media posts, respond to comments and messages, and monitor real-time conversations. This keeps your engagement efficient and centralized.

Can Zoho CRM provide real-time notifications for Facebook interactions?

Yes, Zoho CRM’s SalesSignals feature provides real-time notifications for Facebook interactions. This means you can stay informed about prospect messages or mentions as they happen, allowing you to respond promptly and take advantage of opportunities.

Is Zoho CRM suitable for businesses of all sizes?

Yes, Zoho CRM is suitable for organizations of all sizes, from small startups to major corporations. Its scalable features and customizable options make it a versatile CRM solution for businesses looking to optimize lead generation, customer management, and sales processes.

Can I analyze the performance of my Facebook Lead Ads within Zoho CRM?

Yes, Zoho CRM offers robust reporting and analytics tools that allow you to track the performance of your Facebook Lead Ads campaigns. You can gain valuable insights into lead generation, conversion rates, and campaign effectiveness to make data-driven decisions and improve your marketing strategies.

Are there additional costs for integrating Facebook Lead Ads with Zoho CRM?

The Facebook Advert Manager extension is available in the Zoho Marketplace, and its installation is generally accessible.

However, depending on your usage and specific requirements, additional costs may be associated with Zoho CRM’s premium features or higher-tier plans. Remember, by integrating Facebook Lead Ads with Zoho CRM, you can enhance your lead generation efforts, improve lead nurture, and manage your customer relationships more efficiently, leading to better business growth and success.

Have further questions about connecting Facebook Lead Ads to Zoho CRM? Need help maximizing the value of the data you generate from these campaigns? Get in touch with our team of Zoho specialists for customized assistance.

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Tag : zoho crm

Introduction

Benefits of Multiple Pipelines in Zoho CRM

Tailored Sales Processes for Different Products or Services

Better Sales Team Organization

Customized Stages for Each Sales Pipeline

More Accurate Reporting and Forecasting

Use Cases for Multiple Pipelines

Case 1: Different Sales Processes for Different Product Lines

Case 2: Handling Inbound vs. Outbound Sales

Case 3: Managing Sales Across Different Regions

Case 4: Separate Pipelines for New Business and Renewals

Case 5: Using Pipelines for Post-Sales Processes

Implementing Multiple Pipelines in Zoho CRM

How to Set Up Multiple Pipelines in Zoho CRM

Access Your Pipeline Settings:

Create a New Pipeline:

Define Your Pipeline Stages:

Set the Order of Stages:

Save Your Pipeline:

Conclusion

How to Create a Sales Pipeline with Zoho CRM

Understanding the Sales Pipeline

Customizing the Sales Pipeline

Setting Up Pipeline Stages

Custom Fields and Modules

Mapping Your Sales Process

Sales Pipeline Management Automation

Lead Generation and Capture

Lead Scoring

Sales Activity Tracking

Sales Rep Performance

Forecasting and Deal Closure

Conclusion

Understanding Zoho CRM for Email Communication

Zoho CRM Overview

When to Use Zoho CRM

Understanding Zoho Campaigns for Email Marketing

Zoho Campaigns Overview

When to Use Zoho Campaigns

Key Differences Between Zoho CRM and Zoho Campaigns

1. Purpose and Focus

2. Email Volume and Scale

3. Customization and Personalization

4. Integration and Automation

Use cases for Zoho CRM vs. Zoho Campaigns: Scenarios and Examples

1. Nurturing Leads and Managing Sales Pipelines

2. Launching a New Product or Service

3. Conducting Customer Satisfaction Surveys

4. Sending Regular Newsletters

5. Managing Event Invitations and Registrations

Conclusion

What is a Custom Zoho CRM Integration?

What are the benefits of Custom Zoho CRM Integrations?

Why would I want to pursue a Custom Zoho CRM Integration?

Common applications to integrate with Zoho CRM include:

Preparing for Your Custom Zoho CRM Integration

Steps To Setting Up a Custom Zoho CRM Integration

How ZBrains Can Help with Custom Zoho CRM Integration

Advantages of working with ZBrains

Expertise/experience

Tailored solutions

Conclusion

What Are the Benefits of Integrating Email With Zoho CRM?

1. Streamlined communication

2. Improved tracking/management of emails

3. Higher productivity

4. Better management of customer relationships

Steps to Integrating Your Email With Zoho CRM

Define business email requirements

Zoho CRM can integrate email through API (Gmail), exchange (Outlook), or other service providers through IMAP and POP protocols. In this article, we will outline the process for IMAP and POP protocols.

2. Check compatibility with your business email provider

3. Access email settings in Zoho CRM

Adding A Signature In Zoho CRM (and Other Customizations)

How to add a signature

How to create an email template

How to create autoresponders

How to create email workflows

How ZBrains Can Help with Zoho CRM Email Setup

Conclusion