Everything You Need to Know About Hiring an Authorized CRM Implementation Partner
Zoho Authorized Partners have the experience to implement Zoho Products.
Are you looking to adopt a customer relationship management software (CRM) but are intimidated by the onboarding process, or are worried you’ll go over-budget? Do you wish there was a “CRM life coach” to swoop in and make your life easier? It turns out, there are professionals dedicating to doing exactly that, and they’re known as authorized partners. In this article, we’ll cover everything you need to know about hiring an authorized partner to guide you through the CRM adoption process: what is an authorized partner, what are the benefits of hiring one, and which CRM is the best solution to run your company?
Let’s get started!
What is a CRM?
First and foremost, let’s define what a CRM is and why it’s important for businesses. A CRM is a technology that manages all aspects of a business—running marketing campaigns, identifying sales opportunities, recording service issues, storing customer and prospect contact information—and centralizes them in one location.
Some of the benefits of adopting a CRM include:
• Improved customer service and customer satisfaction
• Better retention of customers
• Improved analytics and reporting
• Increase in sales and new leads
• Greater efficiency in day-to-day operations
• Improved team collaboration
As one can imagine, adopting and deploying a CRM can take months, even years. Often, the learning curve is steep, and the implementation requires time and effort from all teams of the business. Thankfully, there are authorized partners to help streamline this process.
What is an authorized partner?
In the business world, an authorized partner refers to an organization that acts as a certified reseller and service provider that is authorized by the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) to service, sell, support, and maintain their products.
An authorized partner can play a crucial role in the adoption process of a CRM. Authorized partners help customers implement new solutions, integrate the software, and customize the CRM based on their unique needs.
Do I need to hire an authorized partner?
If you identify with one or more of the following scenarios, you likely need an authorized partner to assist with adopting a new CRM:
• I want to adopt a CRM for my small business but am worried I’ll go over-budget.
• I want to adopt a CRM but I don’t have enough resources to monitor it 24/7.
• I want to adopt a CRM but my teams have no technical knowledge of the software, and I’m worried it will be too technical.
• I want to adopt a CRM but I’m concerned about data migration from the old system.
• I want to adopt a CRM but my team just doesn’t have the time.
What are the benefits of hiring an authorized partner for my CRM implementation?
In today’s digital world, managing the customer relationship is complex. This process is made easier by adopting a CRM, but the adoption does not happen overnight. You can save time, resources, and costs associated with transitioning to a CRM by hiring a team to help. Here are some of the key benefits of adopting an authorized partner to assist in CRM implementation:
• In-depth evaluation of company needs. An authorized partner is armed with extensive knowledge of the CRM they are reselling. With this information, and an understanding of your company, they can determine exactly what the business needs, and how to address those needs with the CRM.
• Recommendations and prototyping for optimal outcome. One of the best parts of hiring an authorized partner for your CRM adoption is that they can provide suggestions about which model of a CRM best suits your company, and test and re-test those recommendations until you reach the best possible scenario.
• Custom configuration, integration, and development to suit your needs. No CRM offers a “one size fits all” solution. Most CRMs are flexible, and come with a variety of integration options and add-ons to accommodate for all types of businesses. An authorized partner will help you get the most out of the CRM by customizing elements like layouts, buttons, and custom buttons to fit your needs.
• Quick implementation. With experts guiding you through the CRM adoption process, you can rest assured the system will be up and running in full force within just a few months.
• Clean data migration. Whether a business previously used a CRM or not, chances are there are a ton of data that require migration from one platform to the other. For many, this can be a big source of stress. Thankfully, authorized partners have this process down to an exact science, and know how to transfer information safely and securely.
• Automation of tasks and communications. By applying automations where possible, your authorized partner will help teams meet deadlines, and save on productions costs and resources.
• Strict security measures. Your precious, confidential data stays secure with robust and tested security measures.
• Ongoing support and training to ensure smooth processes. A big piece of authorized partners’ responsibility includes educating users on the product, and providing long-term support throughout all stages of deployment. You can expect training for any updates or new features added to the CRM.
Why is Zoho CRM the best choice for running my company?
There are thousands of CRMs on the market. Choosing the best CRM for a business can be a challenge. Zoho CRM has been a market leader for small and medium sized businesses for over a decade, and is used by more than 150,000 companies worldwide. The platform manages sales, marketing, and support in a single system, building excellent customer relationships with unique features like marketing automation, sales pipeline automation, analytics, an inbuilt AI sales assistant, and more. Zoho offers a wide variety of CRMs to support all types of users and businesses, including small business CRM, non-profit CRM, and CRM for sales leaders.
5 Zoho CRM Prominent Features
Here are 5 of Zoho CRM’s most prominent features, and what they enable users to accomplish:
1. Sales Pipeline Management
Lead management – Identify, capture, and score leads, and follow up with detailed contact information.
Deal management – Keep track of each lead from start to finish, segment leads based on their current stage in the pipeline, and get metrics on the probability of closing a deal.
Contact management – Organize and keep track of all communication with business contacts (including social media interactions,) and get real-time insights to help improve your strategy.
Workflow automation – Manual work is a thing of the past. Zoho CRM allows users to save time, money, and resources by automating many of the tasks associated with tracking a contact as they move through the sales pipeline.
2. Process Management
Sales process builder – Bring offline sales processes into the CRM and ensure the entire sales team is on the same page with this tool.
Processing rules – Zoho CRM allows you to set up customized rules, like discounts or lead assignments, to accommodate for real-life sales processes.
Review process – Get good, clean data in the CRM to help streamline the lead tracking process.
3. Communication and Networking
Email – Get everything done – including all email communication to clients and prospects – right from Zoho CRM. The platform offers email insights and the ability to associate emails to CRM records.
Telephony – No, this is not a typo. Telephony is a feature within Zoho CRM that allows users to make, schedule, and save phone calls all from within the system.
Social media – Do you ever wonder what people are saying about your brand online? (If you don’t, you definitely should be…) Zoho CRM allows users to track and capture new leads from social media that aren’t already in the CRM.
Customer portals – Increase your chances of converting a prospect by providing a portal through which they can view products and make purchasing decisions.
4. Business Intelligence and Reporting
Reports – Get insights into real-time metrics like marketing campaigns, activity reports, sales trends, and internal team performance with Zoho CRM.
Analytical components – In Zoho CRM you can create dashboards and track KPIs to stay on top of company goals.
Capabilities – Use the in-depth analytics provided by the CRM to help make smart, data-backed decisions.
5. Remote and Mobile Accessibility
Conduct sales presentations and meetings from anywhere – If your teams work remotely, like most of the world does right now, Zoho CRM has you covered. Users can conduct presentations, host meetings, and organize webinars all from within the platform.
Collaborate with the team from a distance – The CRM allows users to conduct meetings of up to 50 people with crystal-clear video and sound quality. Stay connected, wherever you are.
Sales analytics on-the-go – Track important metrics like KPIs, lead generation, and sales performance across teams from wherever you do your work.
Zoho CRM Mobile Edition – With the mobile edition, you can stay better informed, react to changes, and stay connected with customers and team members from across the globe.
Why Hiring a Zoho Authorized Partner Is Your Best Bet
Zoho CRM is a great choice for any small or medium sized business looking to scale up and centralize marketing and sales efforts. Here are just a few of the services offered by Zoho authorized partners like PaintedRobot:
• Zoho-certified consulting and needs assessment
• Testing, prototyping, and implementation of the CRM
• CRM integration and assistance with migration of data from existing applications (business emails, contacts, content, lead information, prospect scoring, etc.)
• Ongoing support and expert training
• System updates and maintenance
• Additional licensing and services
If adopting a CRM is a dream for your company, but limited people-power and a low budget is holding you back, your best bet is to hire a Zoho authorized partner like PaintedRobot. From start to finish, we take care of your needs, and ensure a seamless, cost-effective solution that promises fast results.
Please read more on the Zoho CRM product, and to learn more about working with PaintedRobot, get in touch with the team today.
For more information on some of the Zoho products that PaintedRobot can help with, check out our Zoho Blog Category
