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Do you know about Zoho CRM?

January 13, 2012 by John Dilbeck
Filed under: Business, CRM, Marketing, Zoho 

For the last few months, I’ve been looking for a good CRM system to help me manage customer contacts, sales processes, and all the other tasks related to gathering prospects and converting some of them into paying clients.

I’ve looked at quite a few systems such as SalesForce and InfusionSoft and could not find one that was really a good fit for a solo entrepreneur and/or microbusiness.

I had just about decided to buy a new relational database app and create my own system (which would have taken months), but did not want the diversion from my current business goals. I have a background in developing these types of systems, but then I’d get tied up in all the maintenance and upgrading and just didn’t want to go there.

Yet, at this stage of my business, I could not find an affordable CRM solution that I could grow into as my business expands.

Then, yesterday, I found Zoho CRM and it looks like it may be what I’ve been looking for.

(That is not an affiliate link, but they do have a nice affiliate program. If Zoho CRM turns out to be a good solution for my business, I’ll join their affilate program. But, not until I know it is a good, reliable solution to my sales management needs.)

They offer a free account for up to three users and their paid plans are very affordable: Professional for $12/user/month; and Enterprise for $25/user/month.

About the only thing that the Enterprise Edition offers that the Professional Edition doesn’t (for my particular needs) is autoresponders, and I already have SBI and Aweber for that.

So, if it proves to be useful for helping me manage my sales process, then it will be easily worth $12/user/month. One new client and it would more than pay for itself for a whole year. That’s the kind of ROI I look for.

I don’t know why it took me so long to find Zoho CRM, but I’m happy that I did.

Now, it’s just a matter of putting it to use and seeing how it works for my business.

It has to be comprehensive enough to help me organize everything and to easily see where each prospect is in my marketing funnel, without being so feature-laden that it becomes too complex to use every day.

I’ll let you know in a month or two how it’s going.

If it works for me, it’s going to be a relief. I’m tired of flying by the seat of my pants, and my main goals for this year are to build systems to organize and manage the sales process for myself and my clients.

Act on your dream!

JD

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4 Comments on Do you know about Zoho CRM?

  1. Kee G. on Thu, 9th Feb 2012 9:53 am

    2. I hope that this Zoho system works for you. You’ve made a good decision on having it separated on your tasks. You’ll be more productive with that.

  2. Mina Al Salam on Thu, 8th Mar 2012 4:00 pm

    3. what’s a great post, we have been watching social engine optimization latest news now,the most useful blog i found!!

  3. John Dilbeck on Sun, 18th Mar 2012 2:47 pm

    4. Hi Kee and Mina,

    Thanks for your comments.

    I have not done nearly as much with Zoho CRM as I plan to in the future.

    For the last month, I’ve been sidetracked doing a lot of beta testing for some upgrades to services I use in my business and that has stopped me from doing other things. There just aren’t enough hours in the day to do everything! ;)

    I have spent some time reading Zoho CRM’s documentation, help files, and watching a couple of videos.

    I know that their product does a lot more than I’ll ever need, but I’m still convinced that it is a good choice for even a micro business like mine.

    When I actually put it to the uses I intend, I’ll write a review of my experience with it.

    JD

  4. Aliosha Kasin on Thu, 5th Apr 2012 7:08 pm

    5. Great post John, I didn’t know about the Zoho system until now, will be sure to look into it.

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