Looking at Zoho CRM Plus?  Time to get Motivated!

If you’ve been putting off buying a subscription to Zoho CRM Plus because it didn’t include Zoho Motivator, you just might be in luck very soon.

In the coming months, the powers that be at Zoho Corporation may be planning to lump the sales gamification app in with its CRMPlus package, which already includes a veritable boatload of apps and features – and, at no extra charge, either.

The cool thing about Zoho Motivator is that, whereas some Zoho apps included with CRMPlus are only good for specific kinds of businesses, Motivator will improve any business that has a sales team.  It broadcasts statistics and goals on a TV monitor (which isn’t included, unfortunately), letting you know who’s in the lead.  Encouraging a little friendly competition never hurt – and, if office morale is in a little slump, you’ll be shocked at how much this little tool helps boost productivity!

Wait – What’s in Zoho CRM Plus?

Currently, CRMPlus includes Zoho CRM, your powerhouse for storing client data, especially where everyone stands in your sales cycle, as well as these apps:

1. Zoho Campaigns – For sending out mass emails, drip marketing campaigns, and tracking open rates.  A great tool for organizing mailing lists and sending targeted content.
2. Zoho SalesIQ – This attaches a chat bubble to your website, so you can easily engage website visitors, or leave an open line of communication for them to ping you instead.  Totally invaluable for any website meant to sell a product or educate.
3. Zoho Social – For your social media blasts.  Social connects to Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Google+, allowing you to blast out your social media posts on a whim, or use the calendar feature to plan ahead and “smart” post scheduler to blast at the best times for your readership.
4. Zoho Support – Perfect for organizations that get a lot of, well, support requests.  Your clients can use a dedicated email address, and an administrator makes sure requests are routed to the most appropriate people on your staff.  Threads can be stored and transferred to a knowledge base that other customers can look at before they write in, too.
5. Zoho Projects – For companies with complicated projects with lots of collaboration and individual tasks, Projects is the go-to.  Administrators can invite team members to different projects, create task lists, and ensure due dates are met.  The “feeds” feature allows team members to comment on each other’s work, which helps collaboration.  Pretty great tool for the job.
6. Zoho Reports – Takes what’s possible with CRM Analytics and expands on them further.  Unlike CRM Analytics reports, Zoho Reports allows for 3rd party integrations and much more detailed reporting.  If custom reports are your game, you’ll enjoy this app.
7. Zoho Survey – Fine tool for customer feedback.  Survey allows for custom surveys, reporting on results, and even integration with Zoho Campaigns for even easier reporting.

So, in other words, you’re already getting a ton of bang for your buck for $69/user/month (or $57/user/month if you pay annually)*. With the addition of Zoho Motivator potentially on the horizon, you’re essentially getting another Zoho app for free.  …And, in my humble opinion, it’s one of the more useful apps, so, again, if you’re one of those folks who put off buying CRMPlus licenses for your team because you thought adding Motivator would be too expensive, well…fret no more! *Prices updated June 2021

Zoho Motivator’s new feature: Scorecard analytics means team building!

One thing that Zoho didn’t have to do but did with Motivator is add scorecard analytics to the mix.  Essentially, the scorecard analytics feature takes the salesperson’s activities and gauges what skills that person is best at – and, by also exposing team members who don’t excel at a particular skill, you can group team members whose skills need some work with team members who excel – according to real sales numbers! – and watch your whole team improve.

Even if you choose not to have team members work together in that fashion, it’s still good to know which people are good at which skills, as you never know when that information will come in handy:

Say you learn two of your team are great at following up with leads, and three others aren’t so great at calling, but they’re great at sending emails (and, you’ve checked metrics and see their emails get a lot of opens).  You now know who to put in the trenches when a business partner of yours shares a big lead list with you.  And, you also know who to utilize for an engaging email campaign!

Now’s the time to motivate your team!

Nothing saps motivation like the heat of summer and the promise of vacation waiting just outside the door…and, conversely, nothing feeds it like the heat of competition and the promise of an awesome prize broadcast right on the office TV monitor.  You can breathe some life back into your team with Zoho Motivator and get a bargain on all your other Zoho apps with CRM Plus.  If you’re not signed up for Zoho CRM yet, give it a try for free here!