Is it possible to create a lead without company name?
My leads show interest on multiple products/services that I sell. How can I add all the products to a single lead?
What happens to my open activities associated with leads that are converted?
After lead conversion I am unable to see the lead details. Whether it is got deleted from the system?
Is it possible to create a lead without company name?
Ans: Yes, you can create a lead without Company name. By default in Zoho CRM, Company Name and Last name are mandatory fields, which is suitable for B2B. But you can customize the product for B2C also. For more details on customizing Zoho CRM for B2C, refer to Zoho CRM for B2C tutorial.
My leads show interest on multiple products/services that I sell. How can I add all the products to a single lead?
Ans: You can add product(s) to a lead from the Lead Details page under the Products related list.
What happens to my open activities associated with leads that are converted?
Ans: After converting a lead to account, contact, and potential, activities related to lead are associated with the contact.
After lead conversion I am unable to see the lead details. Whether it is got deleted from the system?
Ans: After lead conversion the lead status will be changed to Converted hence you cannot see the lead details in List view. You can view the list of converted leads list by selecting the Converted view.
Accounts
What is B2B?
Ans: Business-to-business (B2B) is a business transaction between two or more companies. In B2B scenario the sales cycle involves a complex selling process and multiple purchasing influencers.
Can I set up parent-child relationship between accounts?
Ans: In Zoho CRM you can setup parent-child relationship between various accounts by selecting the required account from Parent Account lookup field. This is very useful for setting up main organization and various departments within an organization.
Contacts
Can I add my personal contacts to Zoho CRM Contacts module?
Ans: By default, there is no restriction to add your personal contacts to your Contacts module. However, you are suggested to keep your personal contacts away from your organization-wide CRM system because your personal contacts are visible to all your co-workers and management. In addition, if your "System Administrator" enable data access permission to your co-workers, everyone can view/edit your private data.
I sell products to individuals. Can I use the Zoho CRM to track my sales?
Ans: Yes, you can customize the Zoho CRM interface for B2C business model. For more details refer: Managing up B2C Process
How to synchronize my contacts in Microsoft Outlook with Zoho CRM?
Ans: You can synchronize your Microsoft Outlook address book with Zoho CRM - Contacts using the Zoho CRM Outlook Edition. For more details refer to the Zoho CRM - Working with Outlook Edition chapter.
I have a contact that works for several companies but he/she has the one email ID and phone number. How to associate this contact with multiple companies?
Ans: Sorry, currently you cannot associate your contact with multiple companies. You can associate a contact with only one company.
How can I view a map for my contact address?
Ans: You can view a map for your contact address by clicking the Locate Map button in the Address Information section. Currently you can best view the contact address information in United States. For other countries there is a limited support.
Potentials
How to create my Open Potentials View?
Ans: Default list view (All Potentials) displays all the potentials under various stages. You can also create Open Potentials view and make it as your default view from the Create / Edit View. Please follow the procedure given below:
Step 1: While creating Open Potentials View, select the criteria with Stage does not contain "Closed".
Step 2: Now set "Open Potentials" view as default view by selecting Set as Default view: check box.
How to change fiscal year information for my company?
Ans: Currently the default fiscal year is configured as January to December. In future updates, we will provide an option to change the fiscal/financial year.
9 Comments
Eric, 316 - days ago
CRM (Zoho or other) does not seem to 'flow' right for me.
For our application, a 'Lead' is a Company Name. However, I can't create a Lead, unless I have a name. So, we enter 'TBD' for name. The next step is to contact the company and get the Lead name. So, up to that point, the 'TBD' work around is fine, but a 'pain'.
Once we qualify the Lead, we are expected to convert the Lead to a Contact. However, then we are forced to create an Account, and optionally a Potential. Why would we create an Account, if there is no Purchase Order or even an RFQ yet? Almost EVERY company would fit those filters, and the DB becomes FULL of Accounts.
Further, why is a Potential created, before there is even discussion about our service, let alone a Needs Analysis or a RFQ?
This seems backwards to me. I want to work within the 'philosophy' of the CRM, but it seems to be too much effort and confusion.
Here is the work flow I would like to see.
1. Lead created with Company name only. 2. Company contacted and Lead identified. 3. Lead contacted and validated. 4. Service introduced. 5. Interest validated. 6. Needs Analysis completed. 7. RFQ 8. Lead converted to Contact. 9. Potential created. 10. RFQ amount entered into Potential.
However, doing it this way, the Pipeline is populated much too late and there are other issues.
Can someone give me the 'high level' thinking that explains why things are designed in the CRM the way they are?
Thanks,
Eric
Tripp, 222 - days ago
Eric, I understand what you are saying. We are a two salesperson shop and if you create an account, and then don't win the business, you have a DB full of accounts that your competitor is servicing. I don't get that. Have you had any luck with your query?
eric@cybloid.com, 179 - days ago
I'm also interested in this... Was there ever any response?
randy_kolchins, 168 - days ago
Still no response? I would like more information as well. Cant we remove the steps that we dont want so that we have for example lead, potential, account? I dont see the difference between account and contact. It seems that they are all contacts just divided differently like filters in an address book for vendors, customers, competitors etc. Can I change Potential to quote? In our workflow it goes lead, quote (potential), sell. I would like to see a simpler layout that I can be sure everyone will use. What shall we do?
amar_try, 168 - days ago
Hi randy_kolchins,
In Zoho CRM, the Accounts tab will be containing all the company information and all the contact information will be available in the Contacts tab. Changing Potential to Quote is not available now. Our technical team will take a note of the feature and will update in our future updates.
Thanks, Adam.
blair_nimmo, 155 - days ago
Zoho CRM seems unnecessarily complicated.
In the CRM systems I have created (using Access), the main tables are:
Persons (name, direct dial telephone number, email address, mobile number etc.)
Sites (address, switchboard telephone number, web site etc.)
Sales Leads (marketing source, value, probability, expected close date, status[enquiry, open-active, open-repeat buyer, closed-bought from us, closed-bought elsewhere, closed-did not buy etc.]
Quotes (if necessary - should be bypassable)
Sales Orders (...)
Invoices (which through templates includes delivery notes, pro forma invoices, certificates of conformance, sales invoices, shipping confirmations etc.)
Purchase Orders (...)
Why the need for Lead/Contact/Potential/Account/etc?
I don't see how this CRM is useable. Is anyone using it successfully?
Yours
Blair Nimmo
Jim Clayman, 41 - days ago
How can I keep all of the information contained in a Lead when I convert it to a Account?
It's quite the hassle to re-enter fields like the mailing address, phone number, etc, when a lead is converted. Not to mention some of the other fields we track (SIC code, company revenues, etc.).
Is there a way to automatically transfter this information over when the lead is converted? This is causing duplicative work.
Barry@delpacifico.net, 39 - days ago
We are trying to set up a simple CRM to track the sales of real estate with a resort outisde of the United States and also a U.S. sales office. This is a a B2C application. Our leads either driveby, come over the net or are referred by US brokers. I would like to track the progress of the sales cylce which can take up to a year.
I'm confused on whether / how to use leads / contacts / accounts / potentials. Anybody have any thoughts or an outside resource ?
What is the functional difference between a contact and a potential in my scenario ?
CRM (Zoho or other) does not seem to 'flow' right for me.
For our application, a 'Lead' is a Company Name. However, I can't create a Lead, unless I have a name. So, we enter 'TBD' for name. The next step is to contact the company and get the Lead name. So, up to that point, the 'TBD' work around is fine, but a 'pain'.
Once we qualify the Lead, we are expected to convert the Lead to a Contact. However, then we are forced to create an Account, and optionally a Potential. Why would we create an Account, if there is no Purchase Order or even an RFQ yet? Almost EVERY company would fit those filters, and the DB becomes FULL of Accounts.
Further, why is a Potential created, before there is even discussion about our service, let alone a Needs Analysis or a RFQ?
This seems backwards to me. I want to work within the 'philosophy' of the CRM, but it seems to be too much effort and confusion.
Here is the work flow I would like to see.
1. Lead created with Company name only.
2. Company contacted and Lead identified.
3. Lead contacted and validated.
4. Service introduced.
5. Interest validated.
6. Needs Analysis completed.
7. RFQ
8. Lead converted to Contact.
9. Potential created.
10. RFQ amount entered into Potential.
However, doing it this way, the Pipeline is populated much too late and there are other issues.
Can someone give me the 'high level' thinking that explains why things are designed in the CRM the way they are?
Thanks,
Eric
Eric, I understand what you are saying. We are a two salesperson shop and if you create an account, and then don't win the business, you have a DB full of accounts that your competitor is servicing. I don't get that. Have you had any luck with your query?
I'm also interested in this... Was there ever any response?
Still no response? I would like more information as well. Cant we remove the steps that we dont want so that we have for example lead, potential, account? I dont see the difference between account and contact. It seems that they are all contacts just divided differently like filters in an address book for vendors, customers, competitors etc. Can I change Potential to quote? In our workflow it goes lead, quote (potential), sell. I would like to see a simpler layout that I can be sure everyone will use. What shall we do?
Hi randy_kolchins,
In Zoho CRM, the Accounts tab will be containing all the company information and all the contact information will be available in the Contacts tab. Changing Potential to Quote is not available now. Our technical team will take a note of the feature and will update in our future updates.
Thanks,
Adam.
Zoho CRM seems unnecessarily complicated.
In the CRM systems I have created (using Access), the main tables are:
Persons (name, direct dial telephone number, email address, mobile number etc.)
Sites (address, switchboard telephone number, web site etc.)
Sales Leads (marketing source, value, probability, expected close date, status[enquiry, open-active, open-repeat buyer, closed-bought from us, closed-bought elsewhere, closed-did not buy etc.]
Quotes (if necessary - should be bypassable)
Sales Orders (...)
Invoices (which through templates includes delivery notes, pro forma invoices, certificates of conformance, sales invoices, shipping confirmations etc.)
Purchase Orders (...)
Why the need for Lead/Contact/Potential/Account/etc?
I don't see how this CRM is useable. Is anyone using it successfully?
Yours
Blair Nimmo
How can I keep all of the information contained in a Lead when I convert it to a Account?
It's quite the hassle to re-enter fields like the mailing address, phone number, etc, when a lead is converted. Not to mention some of the other fields we track (SIC code, company revenues, etc.).
Is there a way to automatically transfter this information over when the lead is converted? This is causing duplicative work.
We are trying to set up a simple CRM to track the sales of real estate with a resort outisde of the United States and also a U.S. sales office. This is a a B2C application. Our leads either driveby, come over the net or are referred by US brokers. I would like to track the progress of the sales cylce which can take up to a year.
I'm confused on whether / how to use leads / contacts / accounts / potentials. Anybody have any thoughts or an outside resource ?
What is the functional difference between a contact and a potential in my scenario ?
checkout marketplace.zoho.com