Zoho – Day three – Zoho CRM

Our 2nd full day of sessions was focused on Zoho CRM and was jammed so full of information that I can only share a small portion of what was covered.

“CRM is everything you know, about everyone you know . . .and what you  are planning to do about it.  – Peter Coy

Peter’s comment perfectly captures both the simplicity and the importance of customer relationship management.

Peter Coy

To serve your customers you need current, actionable information about them. It needs to be organized and accessible. And you need to take action on it. Sometimes those last bits are the hardest tasks for companies to engage in.

Our day started with a great review of the Zoho CRM data migration. We hear from customers every week who are unhappy with their current system. They want an easier – and less costly – solution to manage their data effectively. There are database conversion experts who can help (we use Softskills – you might want to contact them) – but if you are thinking of managing the conversion in-house, here are 10 tips on how to do it successfully.

1. Attachments can often be migrated, but they could eat up storage space. Consider the age and relevance of attachments before you consider migrating them.
2. If you exported your data, make sure you verify it. Did all the data export? Some databases only export record you specifically request so it’s easy to miss something.
3. Cleanse unwanted data and clean duplicates before migration. It’s a lot more work to merge or delete duplicates once imported.
4. Migration order is important. The migration wizards lists the modules in the order in which they should be imported. If you don’t follow the correct order, records will become disconnected.
5. You can import or migrate users before you have enabled their corresponding user accounts. They will be added in deactivated status; just activate them when you’re ready.
6. Make sure field types match.
7. The date formation your CVS file is important. Check date format in the import file and select corresponding format in the migration wizard. Tip: CSV files don’t save date formatting and will revert to text upon closing the file. Change the date and keep the spreadsheet open before import.
8. Required fields must have corresponding data. If a required field is empty, the entire record will be skipped. Defer creating required fields when creating custom fields prior to import and then update the required attribute after migration.
9. Make sure that custom fields are created before you start your import. If not, you’ll need to back out of the migration wizard, create the field, and then start over. Tip: Click the next button to save the mapping if you need to exit the screen. The mapping will be retained when you return to finish the migration.
10. Always double check to make sure everything is in order.

Salesforce, ACT!, Highrise, Netsuite, Goldmine, and MS Dynamics top the list of Zoho CRM conversions. The common theme among them is that they aren’t simple, affordable, cloud solutions – and that’s what business want and users expect.

This week is shaping up to be a phenomenal experience. I’m learning so much and meeting great people.

Frances Williams, Australia

Now if I could only recover from jet lag and get more than five hours sleep.

#zohoexperts #zappindia