Custom Functions in Zoho CRM allow you to extend the functionality of the CRM by adding your own custom code. This can include things like custom calculations, validations, or automation workflows. Custom functions are written in Deluge, an easy-to-use programming language specific to Zoho, and can be triggered by events like record creation or update.

When you create a new Custom Function, you will need to provide a name for the function and then enter the Deluge code that you want to use. Here is an example of a Custom Function you may find useful, as it rolls up the total revenue from all Potentials (Deals) to the associated Account, whenever a Deal is closed successfully.

The Deluge code behind this function is shown below: Once you have created the Deluge code, you can test the function by clicking on the Save and Execute button. If the function is working properly, you will be able to see the results of the function in the Execute Script pop-up.

Once you have created and tested a custom function, you can add it to a workflow rule by clicking on the Add Function button in the Workflow Rules page. When you add a Function to a Workflow Rule, the Function will be executed whenever the Workflow Rule is triggered. Below is the Workflow Rule I have set up to action the above Custom Function. The Action(s) can be instant or scheduled.

Custom Functions can be a powerful tool for automating tasks and adding new features to Zoho CRM. By using Custom Functions, you can customize the CRM to meet your specific needs and improve your productivity.

Get in touch if you'd like to apply automated functions and workflows to your Zoho CRM!

Workflows can replace many manual tasks, saving time, effort and ensuring data integrity. Let us take an example of; Updating the Account status when a Deal is progressed in Zoho CRM, as this can provide several benefits, such as:

1. Improved visibility: Updating the Account status can provide better visibility into the overall status of the customer account. This can help sales reps understand the customer's current status, preferences, and needs, and make informed decisions accordingly.
2. Streamlined communication: When the Account status is updated, all stakeholders involved in the account, such as sales reps, managers, and support staff, can be informed of the change. This can help streamline communication and ensure that everyone is on the same page.
3. Better forecasting: With the Account status updated, sales reps can better forecast their sales pipeline, identify potential roadblocks or issues, and plan accordingly. This can help improve sales performance and achieve sales targets.
4. Improved customer experience: By updating the Account status, sales reps can better understand the customer's needs and preferences, and offer personalized solutions accordingly. This can help improve the customer experience, build trust, and strengthen the customer relationship.

Overall, updating the Account status when a Deal is progressed in Zoho CRM can help sales teams work more efficiently, improve communication, and ultimately drive more sales.

So, how do we do this? Well, recently, Zoho CRM enabled workflows to update across different modules, which is exactly what is needed, as in this example, we have both the Deals module and the Accounts module in play. So, let's take the above scenario a step further and define the requirement, which is to Update the Account status to 'Customer', when any related Deal is Closed and Won. The logic and the Workflow I am going to use is illustrated below:

The Rule will be executed 'when' the Deal is Closed and Won, which means the Probability will be 100% and the 'condition' is to include all deals with an Instant Field Update Action! The exact action is illustrated in the next image:

I don't have to rely on someone manually updating an Account status, whenever a Deal is successfully closed! The Workflow will then be enabled as shown below:

This is a simple example of a Workflow, but be assured that complex requirements can also be met, so get in touch if you wish to automate repetitive manual tasks and reduce administrative bottlenecks.

You may already be familiar with 'Zia', Zoho's own artificial intelligence solution, that is your intelligent companion within the Zoho ecosystem! Zia works hard to fetch the information you want, take notes as you dictate, predict the outcome of sales activities, detect anomalies, automate mundane tasks, and more! So, whilst there is a lot of excitement about BARD and CHATGPT, please leverage Zia as she is already integrated with Zoho CRM and ready to help you!

So, where do BARD or CHATGPT fit in? Well, this is a fast moving technology and we are all learning, with numerous use-cases being put to the test, so at a high level, I decided to ask the AI tools directly and this is what each had to say about themselves in a CRM system!

How Bard Can Help in a CRM

Introduction:

Customer relationship management (CRM) is a software application that helps businesses manage their interactions with customers and prospects. CRM systems typically include features such as contact management, sales tracking, and customer support.

Bard is a large language model chatbot developed by Google AI. Bard can be used to automate tasks in a CRM system, such as:

• Answering customer questions
• Updating customer records
• Scheduling appointments
• Sending emails

Use Case:

A company that sells software licenses might use Bard to automate the following tasks:

• When a customer calls to inquire about a license, Bard can answer their questions about the product and its features.
• When a customer requests a quote, Bard can generate a quote and send it to the customer.
• When a customer orders a license, Bard can update the customer's record in the CRM system and send them a confirmation email.
• When a customer has a question about their license, Bard can answer their question and provide them with support.

Benefits:

Using Bard in a CRM system can provide a number of benefits, including:

• Increased efficiency: Bard can automate tasks that would otherwise be done by humans, freeing up employees to focus on more important work.
• Improved customer service: Bard can answer customer questions and provide support 24/7, without having to rely on human employees.
• Increased sales: By automating tasks such as quoting and ordering, Bard can help businesses close more deals.
• Reduced costs: By automating tasks, Bard can help businesses reduce the cost of customer service.

Conclusion:

Bard is a powerful tool that can be used to automate tasks in a CRM system. By using Bard, businesses can increase efficiency, improve customer service, increase sales, and reduce costs.

CHATGPT enhances CRM capability

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is a vital aspect of business management, especially in today's era of digital transformation. With the increasing number of customer interactions across various channels, businesses require intelligent and efficient tools to manage their customer data effectively. This is where ChatGPT can play a significant role in enhancing CRM capabilities.

ChatGPT is a large language model that uses machine learning to understand human language and generate responses that mimic human conversation. This technology can help businesses automate several CRM processes and improve customer experiences by providing faster and more accurate responses.

One use-case of ChatGPT in CRM is customer support. With ChatGPT's natural language processing capabilities, it can understand customer queries and provide relevant solutions without the need for human intervention. For example, a customer may have a question regarding their account balance, and ChatGPT can provide the answer instantly by accessing the relevant information from the CRM system. This can save businesses significant time and resources and improve customer satisfaction.

Another use-case of ChatGPT in CRM is lead generation. ChatGPT can be integrated into a website's chatbot to engage with website visitors and collect relevant customer data. For example, a business may use ChatGPT to ask visitors questions about their interests, preferences, and pain points, which can be used to build a customer profile and improve marketing efforts.

Moreover, ChatGPT can assist in automating tasks like appointment scheduling, order tracking, and product recommendations. ChatGPT can access customer data from the CRM system and use it to provide personalized recommendations and offers, improving customer loyalty and engagement.

In conclusion, ChatGPT can play a significant role in enhancing CRM capabilities and improving customer experiences. By automating tasks, providing quick and accurate responses, and collecting relevant customer data, businesses can improve their CRM processes and build long-lasting customer relationships. With the advancements in AI and machine learning, we can expect to see more exciting use-cases of ChatGPT in CRM and other business applications in the future.

Integrating with a CRM

Wow...pretty good I thought, so I pushed ahead and asked each one on how to integrate with a CRM and this time I picked CHATGPT as the winner, with the following answer:

Integrating ChatGPT in a CRM system requires some technical expertise and knowledge of machine learning concepts. However, the process can be broken down into the following steps:

1. Choose a ChatGPT API provider: Several providers offer ChatGPT APIs, including OpenAI, Hugging Face, and Google Cloud AI. Select the one that best suits your business needs.
2. Train the ChatGPT model: To integrate ChatGPT in a CRM system, you need to train the model to understand your business domain and the kind of customer queries it will receive. This requires a dataset of relevant customer interactions, which can be used to fine-tune the ChatGPT model.
3. Create a Chatbot: Once the model is trained, you can create a chatbot that uses the ChatGPT API to understand customer queries and provide relevant responses. This can be done using various chatbot development platforms like Dialogflow, Botpress, or Rasa.
4. Integrate with the CRM system: The final step is to integrate the Chatbot with the CRM system. This requires connecting the chatbot to the CRM's APIs and databases to access customer data and provide personalized responses.

Overall, integrating ChatGPT in a CRM system requires a deep understanding of both machine learning and CRM concepts. However, there are several resources available online, including tutorials and documentation, that can guide you through the process. Additionally, several third-party vendors offer pre-trained ChatGPT models and chatbot development platforms, which can simplify the integration process.

BARD provided some useful feedback as well, which CHAPGPT omitted, and I have included that below:

There are a few ways to integrate Bard with a CRM. One way is to use the Bard API. The Bard API allows you to send Bard requests and receive Bard responses. You can use the Bard API to automate tasks such as generating quotes, scheduling appointments, and sending emails.

Another way to integrate Bard with a CRM is to use a third-party service. There are a number of third-party services that integrate Bard with CRM systems. These services typically provide a user interface that allows you to connect Bard to your CRM system and automate tasks.

In conclusion, we all know that AI is going to change the way we work, so if you have a use-case you'd like to discuss, get in touch and we will learn together!

Have you ever wanted powerful easy-to-build dashboards and business intelligence, beyond what is available in Goldmine?

Introducing Zoho Analytics, a self-service BI and data analytics software that lets you analyze your data, create stunning data visualizations, and discover hidden insights in minutes.

But first, as a Goldmine user, you know that all your data is in various SQL tables on your local Server, so how do we synchronize this with Zoho Analytics? In this blog post, we will discuss the benefits of using Zoho Databridge with your local Goldmine SQL database.

Zoho Databridge is a powerful tool that enables businesses to connect and synchronize data from various sources to Zoho Analytics. One of the most popular ways to use Zoho Databridge is with a local SQL database.

Benefits of using Zoho Databridge with a local SQL database:

1. Data synchronization: Zoho Databridge enables you to synchronize data between your local SQL database and Zoho Analytics. This means that you can ensure that your Analytics data is always up-to-date and accurate.
2. Data consistency: By using Zoho Databridge, you can ensure that data consistency is maintained between your local SQL database and Zoho Analytics. This is particularly important if you have multiple databases and need to ensure that data is consistent across all of them.
3. Time savings: Zoho Databridge can save you a significant amount of time by automating the process of data synchronization. This means that you don't have to manually update your Analytics data, which can be a time-consuming task.

The following images illustrate how the Zoho Databridge would work, once installed and connected with a local SQL database:

Conclusion:

Using Zoho Databridge with your local Goldmine SQL database is an excellent way to ensure that your Analytics data is accurate and up-to-date. By automating the synchronization process, you can save time and ensure that data consistency is maintained across multiple databases. Get in touch if you want us to help you leverage your valuable database from Goldmine, into Zoho Analytics, and indeed across 50+ Apps in the Zoho ecosystem!

The Real Estate industry is ripe for innovative disruption and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) technologies are playing an important role in empowering both Developers and Brokers, to enhance the 'Customer Buying Journey'! Implementation of such an end-to-end technological solution, will also make you stand out as a professionally managed organisation, besides improving your internal efficiencies.

Having implemented CRM for Real Estate (Brokers and Developers) across the United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates and India, there are clearly diverse requirements, but in this article, I aim to cover some of the high level processes that are common to all, and can be achieved with minimum configuration.

Inventory Listing & Management

For every Real Estate Broker or Developer, it is important to list and manage your Inventory in a secure platform (not spreadsheets!) that can be shared and published for online access via a website or landing page. Your property inventory can be listed by Project Category (Commercial, Residential etc.) Project Site, Property Type, Area and other useful details, separately curated both for internal usage as well as for external consumption. It is important that Listings have a single source of truth and is managed only in one platform with seamless integration to websites. This will ensure there is no possibility of duplication or data inconsistencies.

This will also facilitate the ability to quickly search the Listings for current status, as illustrated below:

Sales and Marketing Activities

It is important that all Activities from Calls to Viewings and follow ups are scheduled and completed in your CRM. Based on a closed Activities we can then trigger a workflow to automatically update the Pipeline and schedule the next logical step.

Email/SMS Templates can be created to promote Project Sites overall, as well as offer promotions on specific Property Units. Any such Campaign needs to be sent to a qualified list which can be easily generated based on Closed Activities (Viewings, Calls, etc.) linking Leads/Contacts to specific Project Sites and Units.

All activities will be visible by Lead, Project Site and individual Units.

Social Media engagement can play an important role in profiling and qualifying Leads and we illustrate below how this might look, with integration with Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram!

Document Management

There are various Forms and Documents that will need to be sent to a Contact during their journey from a Lead to a Customer and the CRM should have all of these set up and ready to be sent, either manually or through an automated workflow. In all cases, they should be personalised using Merge Fields and where feasible, integration with digital signatures can facilitate online legal progression. Also, these Forms and Documents should be created in various templates (SMS, Email, Letter) with internal approvals if required, so the appropriate outreach can be initiated.

Post-Sales Management

The customer journey does not stop with a successful sale and it is important to provide an equally professional experience for client liaison, on-boarding, snagging lists, warranty and maintenance services. This is where your CRM will facilitate collaboration between various departments, ensuring knowledge is transferred seamlessly and issues are resolved methodically.

Integrations

It is important to choose a CRM that enables a single sign-on from a single vendor to achieve as much as possible without 3rd party integration. Where there are gaps, please ensure that commercial off the shelf (COTs) integrations are available, preferably with native and bi-directional API usage. We work with well proven solutions for sending SMS, making/recording Calls, sending Email/Social Media Campaigns, geo-Tagging and other integrations that work directly from your CRM.

Portals

Nowadays, it is essential that your CRM supports the use of Portals, so that part of your database can be published for external access and updates. There are many use cases where external users, from Customers, to Brokers, and Contractors, may find it useful to view your database of properties, assigned tasks etc. and update it where relevant.

For more details, please email ravi@mercerlal.com and I will gladly share my experience with CRM solutions for the Real Estate market.

There is a big change in Zoho Campaigns (basically a new version!) and even though the migration to the new version is fairly straightforward, there is a significant difference in its functionality.

Introducing Topic Management

Topic Management is mandatory for all organisations using Zoho Campaigns, and support for the existing system will stop September 20, 2022, so best crack on with it, and here are a few important points and links to help you along.

What is Topic Management?

Thus far, Zoho Campaigns have been displaying your mailing lists to Subscribers, which to be honest, has limited their joining preferences. The ability to create 'Topics' will enable your Subscribers to select subjects and areas of interest (Topics) that are relevant to them. This in turn should reduce your Opt-outs, as Subscribers have greater control on what they receive and will not quite feel the need to unsubscribe completely.

How does it work?

There are two hierarchy types to choose from, depending on your business model:

BRAND-TOPIC -> If you offer one main product/service and want to send out newsletters, promotions and updates to represent your Brand, then this is one to select.

BRAND-PRODUCT-TOPIC -> If you have multiple products/services and want to send out campaigns specific to each, then select this option to manage your Topics.

Both options work with all three forms of email marketing; permission-based, consent-based or GDPR compliant.

Each and every Contact needs to be associated with a Topic(s), so read the link below and get assigning!

Associating a Contact

What about my existing Lists?

It is important to understand the differences between your existing Lists and the new Topics, which I have highlighted below.

Here is a useful link for you to get to grips with Topic Management, and please contact me if you need help setting this up, integrating with Zoho CRM, or indeed, outsourcing it completely.

Topic Management - An Overview

We are excited to announce our integration between two well-respected world-class solutions, Zoho CRM and Constant Contact.

Quick introductions before we get into the functionality provided.

Constant Contact is a purpose-built Campaign Management platform and is very popular for Email Marketing, with the ability to share posts to FaceBook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn.

Zoho CRM is one of the 50+ Apps in the Zoho ecosystem and provides modules to manage Leads, Contacts, Deals, Invoices, Cases etc. with workflows to automate your Sales, Marketing, Support and other operations.

Both products are from different Vendors, both are cloud based and can be subscribed to, with trial versions being offered below:

Constant Contact Trial
Zoho CRM Trial

We have successfully developed and implemented a bi-directional integration between Constant Contact and Zoho CRM with the following feature set:

List management

1. Creating a List

Constant Contact has multiple Lists, each of which can have subscribed Contacts. Our integration enables these Lists and subscribed Contacts to be created from within Zoho CRM! Simply specify a Custom View in the Leads or Contacts module, map the fields required (First Name, Last Name, Email Address, Account Name etc.) and hit the ‘Create List’ button – refresh your Constant Contact page and you will see the Custom View as a List with subscribed Contacts!

All steps are illustrated below starting with a custom view called Internal Team in Zoho CRM with four contacts and the new Create List button:

Give the List a meaningful name that you can relate to, select a View (All Contacts/Leads or a Custom View), and map the required fields from Zoho CRM to Constant Contact, which will be automatically saved:

You can then see the List in Constant Contact along with the subscribed contacts:

2. Updating a List

Any contacts added to (or removed from) the same Zoho CRM custom view will be automatically added (or removed from) to the associated Constant Contact List based on a time interval specified in our scheduler. Your mapped fields have been saved so you can be assured of data consistency as the same information will be uploaded! You can of course choose to update immediately by clicking the ‘Update CC List Now’ button for that Campaign (from our new Constant Contact List module in Zoho CRM – please see Pt 4 below).

3. Managing an existing List(s)

You may already be using Constant Contact and consequently have existing Lists with subscribed Contacts. In the Settings button of our integration, you will have the ability to import these Lists from Constant Contact to Zoho CRM, and create the Subscribers in either the Leads or Contacts Module.

4. Constant Contact Lists

We have provided a new module in Zoho CRM called Constant Contact Lists, which clearly shows all your Lists and can be filtered and sorted, as illustrated below. Clicking on a List will take you into the Details and show you the associated Leads or Contacts.

Campaign Management

1. Get New Campaign

In the Zoho CRM Campaign module you will find a new button ‘Get New Campaign’ which when clicked will download summary information of your Constant Contact Campaigns. There is also an automated scheduler that will do this for you based on a specific time interval.

This provides a list view of only those Constant Contact Campaigns initiated through Zoho CRM. Drill down into each Campaign Summary, where there are two Tabs for Details and Report .

The Details Tab will give you an overview of the Campaign as shown below:

The Report Tab will show you the Constant Contact analytics with Open Rates, Clicks, Bounces, Did Not Open etc. all from within Zoho CRM, so users don’t have to toggle between the two applications!

2. Update Subscriber Status

With any Constant Contact Campaign, the engagement refreshes over time and therefore there is a need to update the subscriber status, so you have the latest analytics in Zoho CRM. The CC Subscriber Status button will enable you to update at your convenience, or you can leave it to our scheduler to automatically fetch and update your CRM.

The above integration has been well tested and we are presently onboarding customers individually, so we can cater for any specific change requests.

Please email me on ravi@mercerlal.com or call/message on +44 7747599294 to get this integration working for you.

Do your key employees need to grow arms and legs to help scale the business?
Are your productive employees losing the will to work from performing mundane, repetitive tasks?
Would you like to improve your employee to revenue ratio?

These questions are fundamental to the growth of your business, and we offer a service that will help! The following facts underpin the need:

Long-standing facts:
There are limited resources in the UK, finding new staff takes time, the good ones are taken and employment overheads are high!

Modern-day facts:
Remote working is here to stay, automation is vital, and data is the new currency!

UK-India facts:
The UK and India have enjoyed traditional bi-lateral ties, and with Covid and US-China trade wars necessitating a need for supply chain diversification, there is literally Billions being invested into making India world class!

What does this mean for your business?
Every business no matter its size, sector, age, county or town is currently facing unprecedented challenges and we are here to help by offering 'Managed Resources' - a service that enables you to outsource, without employment overheads, and without compromising on quality of deliverables.

Consider this service as your bridge to India, offering a huge population of highly skilled resources that will work remotely for you, full time or part time, which can be ramped up or throttled down to meet your changing needs! The word 'Managed' in our service is key, as every engagement benefits from an entire team, including a quality manager and a project manager, even if you need just one resource.

We can provide everything from data entry operators, bookkeeping staff, researchers, digital marketing experts, support agents, software developers, IT engineers and more.

With our background in technology, having understood your processes, we can improve efficiencies by leveraging automation, algorithms and artificial intelligence.

Try us out, no task is too small and we will deliver a sample proof of concept for your consideration. Email me on ravi@mercerlal.com and lets work together to make your business more resilient.

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