In the first installment of this series about small business CRM I described a CRM system as being nothing more than a database. No matter what all the software companies say and no matter how many features or bells and whistles they include, the fact is still the same: you’re putting data into a shared database that can be used to better service your customers, manage your prospects and, in turn, grow your company. Read More
My company has been implementing CRM systems for more than two decades. Sometimes people ask me what’s changed the most over that period of time. For me, the answer is easy: it’s the cloud. Back in the day most software could only be accessed locally or from an internal server. Now, the data is hosted in the cloud. There are lots of benefits to this, not least the ease of use, availability, support and security. But there’s one other enormous benefit of this shift to the cloud that most overlook: access to data. Read More
I write and speak a lot about the economy and although there have been plenty of economic challenges facing small businesses over the past few years the largest – and longest lasting – has been our dire need for people. As I write this there is an unprecedented 11 million open jobs, mostly from smaller companies. Everyone is looking for good talent but, for many reasons, that talent is hard (and sometimes expensive to come by).
So if you’re a small business what do you do when you can’t find enough people? You automate. And if you have a good CRM application like Bigin, you can leverage its automation tools to do the things that people aren’t around to do so you can get more done with your existing workforce. Read More
In my first blog I explained why Bigin is a better and more cost effective option for a small business than Zoho CRM or other mid-level CRM applications on the marketplace. One way to demonstrate this advantage is by digging deeper into an area of primary concern for every client I have: communications and collaboration. Read More
If you’re researching a customer relationship management (CRM) system for your company you’ve probably already run into Bigin, the small business CRM application made by the same people who brought you Zoho CRM. So why would you choose Bigin over Zoho, or any other CRM application? Read More
Did you know that you can view other user’s schedules in the Zoho CRM calendar? Read on to learn how.
Last week we discussed Ask Zia and how to chat with it to get quick answers when you need them. But did you know about Zoho Zia Voice? It’s like Ask Zia for your mobile phone. If you’re on the road often you know the importance of being available for your clients when you’re on the go. Zia Voice makes it easy to handle basic tasks for you! Read More
If you have access to Analytics, you can track your Sales Trends and Sales Follow-up Trends thanks to Zia in Zoho CRM! We previously discussed Zia and Data Enrichment, and now we’re going to take a look at what Zia can do with the automatically collected sales and activity data in your CRM. There are even pre-built dashboards right out of the box, saving you from having to build them on your own. You can even add them to your home page!
Have you ever had to make updates to several records at the same time? If you go into each record separately for every update it will take you a long time! Sure you can import a batch of records all at once, but you’d need to put a spreadsheet together with all those updates first. Fortunately the Zoho CRM Sheet View function will help you save time!
Zoho recently made some changes to the User Interface (UI) of CRM. You might not see the difference yet, as you’ll have the option of switching back and forth between the old and new looks until May 15, 2020. That gives you plenty of time to practice and get used to the new look and feel!
The changes made to the Zoho CRM interface are mostly cosmetic – they are designed to enhance and streamline your experience by simplifying the layout and organization. The Home page and each module page will look the same, the changes are in the records.
