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How is Zoho Transforming CRM Software with New CRM for Everyone?
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Mar 24, 2025
Join us in this insightful interview with PVK from Zoho at Zoholics 2024, where we explore the transformative impact of Zoho’s "CRM for Everyone" initiative. Learn how sales teams are leveraging CRM tools and how this is evolving to be more inclusive and effective. Discover the vital role of solutions engineering in enhancing customer relationship management and the integration of contract management within CRM. PVK also discusses the importance of sales enablement, customer onboarding, and advocacy in building stronger customer relationships. Get a glimpse into the innovative use of team modules and how they facilitate better collaboration through Zoho's advanced CRM solutions. This is a must-watch for anyone interested in the future of CRM and business growth. #Zoholics2024 #ZohoCRM #CRMforEveryone #SalesEnablement #CustomerRelationship #ContractManagement #SolutionsEngineering #CustomerOnboarding #CustomerAdvocacy #TeamCollaboration #TechInnovation #BusinessGrowth #CRMTools #ZohoInterview #FutureOfCRM #Zoho #ZoholicsUS #Zoholics24
View Video Transcript
0:00
hi I'm Sean hessinger for small business
0:02
Trends reporting from zoholics
0:04
2024 and we're here with pvk head of
0:08
Market strategy for CX group Zoho and
0:12
we're going to talk about CRM for
0:14
everyone which is kind of the big news
0:16
at the event uh really um how does sales
0:20
teams use CRM and how is this changing
0:23
with CRM for every word in other words
0:25
how they use it now and how they going
0:27
to use it so for the sales team itself I
0:30
mean uh let's go back a little in terms
0:32
of CX right um 15 to 20 years ago
0:35
customer experience used to be
0:37
sequential so the customer used to be
0:38
passed down from one team to another and
0:40
was sequential like that now the model
0:42
has evolved to become more collaborative
0:44
and and sort of more parallel in nature
0:46
so there's a primary custodian for the
0:48
customer who who's often the salesperson
0:49
and then there are other um people
0:52
within the company other other teams
0:54
within the company would step in at
0:56
various points in the customer journey
0:57
to add value to the customer right so
0:59
sales essentially has to collaborate
1:00
with a lot of these um internal teams
1:03
and um and essentially manage these
1:05
customer operations activities so right
1:07
now um sales essentially just records
1:10
some of this information but is forced
1:12
to use um these uh the communication
1:15
tools right like um uh email or or chat
1:19
or meetings and things like that to do a
1:22
lot of the coordination involved in
1:23
these
1:24
overlaps that's the fundamental problem
1:26
with it now because a lot of this um
1:29
these these conversations happen outside
1:31
of the CRM away from the rich context um
1:33
that lies inside um the the deliverables
1:36
take longer to to make and
1:38
accountability is hard status updates
1:39
are messy uh and in fact the quality of
1:43
deliverables also tends to be poor at
1:45
some level right and um that's the
1:47
problem statement that we're trying to
1:49
address which is that now that we're
1:51
accepting that this is collaborative
1:53
that multiple teams are involved it's
1:55
timeing to change the way things are
1:57
working right so we're trying to bring
1:59
all of these um the communication and
2:02
coordination activities from the
2:04
communication layer and move it into the
2:06
CRM so then you're able to apply
2:07
processes end to end you're able to
2:09
create visibility end to end you're able
2:11
to fix accountability at any stage end
2:13
to end right and automatically this
2:15
translates into a phenomenal amount of
2:17
value uh in the first order outcomes for
2:19
example something like turnaround time
2:20
for a customer or or reduction in in in
2:23
the time that takes to close a deal or
2:25
um in terms of just the mistakes that
2:27
are involved in uh in communication with
2:29
the customer
2:30
so you're able to uh impact all of these
2:32
within weeks right and then after that
2:35
you're able to um eventually apply uh
2:38
business intelligence to that so you're
2:39
able to say this deal took too long in
2:41
this stage and that's why it didn't
2:43
close you're able to analyze at that
2:45
depth so this is the value that CRM for
2:47
everyone brings it brings everybody in
2:49
the customer Journey onto a single
2:50
platform of record so then they're able
2:53
to uh essentially manage all of their
2:55
operations activities on a single place
2:57
well and that's a great overview but I I
3:00
I was thinking about some of the things
3:01
when I was looking through some of the
3:02
press releases about some of the
3:04
different areas and I was I was
3:06
wondering if we could drill down and
3:07
look at how some of the different teams
3:09
and groups and sections like you were
3:11
talking about might interact so I was
3:13
thinking about something like uh for
3:14
example I solution engineering for
3:16
example I mean how would that How would
3:19
how would that how would they contribute
3:21
to the sale to the customer relationship
3:23
management process sure that's a good
3:25
question um so typically sales teams um
3:27
in B2B are used to the process of
3:30
customers asking for proposal or or an
3:33
RFI or something like that where the
3:35
customer um specifies some uh
3:37
requirements that they need from a
3:38
specific solution or uh they have some
3:40
questions that need to be answered and
3:42
things like that and the sales team
3:43
typically receives these things and
3:44
relays them to uh somebody from
3:46
Solutions engineering team who will then
3:48
work on uh the responses and then send
3:50
them back to the sales team who will
3:51
then relay it back to the customer now
3:53
all in all of this if you notice the
3:55
collaboration between um the sales and
3:58
solution engineering team often Happ
3:59
happens outside of the CRM so as a
4:01
result the salesperson the owners
4:04
becomes um or the salesperson to
4:06
articulate accurately the customer's
4:09
requirement right so the solution
4:11
engineering team only listens to a
4:13
secondhand version of the customer
4:14
requirements because they're only
4:16
listening to the sales articulation of
4:17
it so that's one problem another is uh
4:20
if there's a lot of back and forth on
4:21
question and answer between these two
4:22
teams that happens as a running stream
4:24
of communication on on chat or email or
4:26
something like that and that's
4:27
essentially lost out into the ether
4:29
right um if you need to access it 3
4:31
months down the line you're not going to
4:33
be able to accurately find it and make
4:34
sense of it right so that's another
4:36
problem and uh if employees um change
4:39
you know they change roles or they
4:40
change teams or they leave the
4:41
organization and things like that so
4:43
that level of change management is
4:44
impossible if these desparate systems
4:46
are going to exist so all of this
4:47
essentially impacts the customer um
4:49
customer Journey so uh between the sales
4:52
and the solutions engineering team alone
4:54
if you look at it um there the operation
4:56
I mean the the opportunities to
4:58
collaboration would be uh in developing
5:00
proposals in U in filling out rfis in
5:03
developing personalized demos and uh
5:05
even developing a proof of concept for
5:07
the solution as well right and this
5:08
proof of concept can then serve as the
5:10
basis for the onboarding team to then be
5:12
able to implement the solution uh later
5:14
on much further down in the customer
5:15
Journey so at every stage uh there is
5:18
there is um a certain value that's
5:20
unlocked from this just between sales
5:22
and solutions engineering by
5:23
streamlining activities and things like
5:25
that so that's um um that's the
5:27
fundamental value that that CR for
5:29
everyone brings
5:30
well you know here's another one
5:31
contract management because this is not
5:33
something that you usually think of as
5:35
being related to customer relationship
5:37
management but I guess it is because if
5:39
you're making a sale and then you what
5:43
what did they promise you and what are
5:44
you actually getting could you explain
5:46
to me exactly how that might sure um so
5:49
if you look at um typical contract
5:50
management it you know there's a strong
5:53
uh input from the legal team who owns
5:55
the document per se but the the to the
5:58
customer the salesperson is accountable
6:00
right uh for the document and in some
6:02
cases like like B2B purchases there's a
6:04
finance person involved as well in terms
6:06
of pricing and cost accounting and
6:08
things like that so uh this may turn
6:10
into a triangular collaboration Fiesta
6:13
at some level right and you at at that
6:15
level you're essentially trying to
6:17
manage a a three-way communication thing
6:20
on communication uh platforms and that
6:22
is not sustainable in the long run for
6:24
anybody so um to be able to bring them
6:27
on to a a contract module with in the
6:29
CRM then you're able to track the uh
6:32
generation of a specific contract for a
6:34
specific customer that is based on their
6:37
purchase terms and their requirements
6:39
and things like that right and you're
6:40
able to track this from the point of
6:42
requirements being finalized all the way
6:44
into contract being delivered uh to the
6:46
customer and being signed U and this is
6:48
all uh you able to track all of this
6:50
from within the CRM so if you say uh if
6:52
the customer resists in terms of pricing
6:54
you're able to um essentially pull the
6:56
finance person inside and then just have
6:58
a honest conversation about whether
6:59
something can be done or not right and
7:01
your if if the customer uh requests for
7:03
a specific um privacy legislation to be
7:06
complied with or or something like that
7:08
you're able to pull in somebody from
7:09
compliance or from legal and then be
7:11
able to close the loop on that specific
7:14
contract management process right and
7:16
you're able to do this within the CRM if
7:18
this had to be done outside of the CRM
7:20
only the contract request would sit
7:22
inside the CRM none of these other
7:24
subsequent steps will be inside and if
7:27
it's if if the outcome is is completed
7:30
then you probably have something in the
7:31
CRM that says the outcome has been
7:32
completed but again this entire thing
7:35
would be a black box that nobody would
7:36
have access to right that's the thing
7:38
with you're changing how about sales
7:40
enablement I mean how does that fit into
7:41
the bigger customer relationship
7:43
management picture sure um sales
7:46
enablement is actually a very um uh
7:49
thoughtful use case because um it it
7:51
combines um marketing and sales in a way
7:54
that makes um an impact on both teams so
7:57
um this could be in the form of uh case
8:00
studies that customers may need uh or
8:02
reference customers in terms of
8:04
Advocates uh it could be you know um
8:07
thoughtful content that the sales team
8:09
needs to sell to prospects better it
8:11
could be competitive intelligence uh
8:13
based on incumbent solutions that a
8:15
customer is already evaluating it could
8:17
also be win loss analysis after a deal
8:19
has been completed all of these form
8:21
sales enablement uh activities and if
8:24
the relevant marketers are on the CRM
8:25
then they have access to the entire
8:27
pipeline the sales Pipeline and all of
8:28
the customer cont text that lies right
8:30
there they're also able to um better
8:34
take advantage of um being on the same
8:36
system so you're able to fix
8:37
accountability and and timelines and
8:39
things like that on um deliverables that
8:41
need to be sent to the customer it could
8:43
be a piece of content it could be a
8:44
piece of um uh a comparison document or
8:47
something like that so uh from the
8:49
enablement standpoint it makes even more
8:51
sense to have uh enablement teams on the
8:53
CRM because they are essentially
8:55
enabling sales teams and and I like to
8:57
joke about enablement saying they
8:58
actually have sales teams yeah right so
9:02
it absolutely makes sense for them to be
9:03
on the CM well here are two of my
9:05
favorites because I I'm I'm always
9:07
thinking about the difference between
9:08
sales and what you get after the sales
9:10
completed but when you think about
9:12
onboarding uh customer onboarding and
9:14
customer advocacy and having them
9:16
related to the SE the customer
9:19
relationship management which seems like
9:21
a no-brainer but can you explain how
9:24
that would how that would work sure um
9:26
the onboarding um experience is often
9:29
the one that suffers the most because
9:30
it's the point at which sales there
9:33
there's a handoff between sales and
9:34
other um success and other teams right
9:36
and and that handoff has to be smooth
9:39
and if it's if it's essentially on
9:41
multiple different disparate systems
9:43
that handoff is never going to be smooth
9:45
right and um what has been promised to a
9:48
customer has to be accurately
9:49
communicated internally so that it can
9:52
be then taken forward and essentially
9:54
fulfilled right um so again drawing
9:56
going back to the the sales and
9:58
solutions engineering um example I give
10:01
uh the output of the solutions
10:04
engineering team could also be a proof
10:05
of concept and that has to be uh
10:08
documented and passed on to the
10:09
onboarding team so that they're able to
10:11
then take it and and run with it right
10:12
and uh onboarding could also involve
10:14
training um customers and that's another
10:18
um process that's involved uh that can
10:20
be tracked within the CRM as well and um
10:22
in terms of advocacy that's a whole
10:24
different um uh set of use cases as well
10:26
right anything starting from just
10:28
getting a small code quote a testimonial
10:30
quote from the customer all the way into
10:32
managing uh you know multi- Channel
10:33
engagements this could be a live webinar
10:35
it could be a live event for the
10:36
customer uh it could be a customer
10:38
Advisory Board uh conversation all of
10:40
those can be tracked inside the CRM so
10:42
at one point um for example if you use a
10:44
customer um um and and essentially put
10:48
them in in a customer Advisory Board and
10:49
things like that use their value and
10:51
time uh you you can essentially impose
10:53
like a cooling period so that you don't
10:54
bother them again for the next couple of
10:56
months if you're able to do this on uh I
10:58
mean if you're essentially managing this
10:59
on communication software nobody has a
11:01
clue of that that entire trail of uh
11:03
usage right so that that engagement lies
11:05
outside of the CRM so then uh you're
11:07
going to essentially end up bothering
11:09
the same customer for multiple things
11:10
multiple teams bother them and so on so
11:12
forth so um uh advocacy becomes a lot
11:14
smoother with ti for everyone well
11:17
drilling down a little bit into the
11:18
technical side of this what we heard a
11:19
lot about today was team modules could
11:21
you explain how our team modules used in
11:24
CRM for everyone right okay so in the
11:26
traditional model of CRM um there are
11:28
organiz modules practically every module
11:30
is an organizational module it's created
11:32
by it teams and access to it is rationed
11:35
right um what we're trying to do here is
11:37
to allow modules at the team level so
11:39
that each team is then able to take full
11:41
advantage of the customer context uh but
11:44
is also able to bring additional
11:45
information that's relevant to their
11:47
role and do a mix and match of both and
11:50
and and take that uh value forward right
11:52
that's the first thing so team modules
11:54
are at the team level and they can be
11:57
created by uh somebody from the
11:59
designated member of the team um they uh
12:02
can essentially create data fields they
12:04
can apply processes they can apply
12:06
permission layers and all of this
12:07
without involving it um or or having any
12:10
practical it skills so that's the first
12:13
uh advantage and that helps streamline
12:16
the uh work of a specific team right uh
12:19
to be able to connect one team with
12:21
another is is what we're talking about
12:22
in terms of requester profiles right so
12:24
it allows um a person from an adjacent
12:26
team to to request for a deliverable or
12:29
a service from your team and then be
12:31
able to track the progress of that end
12:33
to end and proactively step in uh and
12:36
offer feedback and guidance based on how
12:37
things are shaping up and things like
12:39
that so um that helps connect multiple
12:41
teams with each other and the work of
12:43
one team with the work of another team
12:45
as well so let me ask you uh just before
12:48
we leave here uh what is there anything
12:51
we missed how else can can teams
12:53
collaborate using uh CRM for everyone
12:56
any big things that you think we miss
12:59
that we should discuss maybe no nothing
13:02
major that we missed but I think um just
13:04
as as a closing remark um the Val
13:06
there's a phenomenal amount of value
13:07
that lies latent inside the organization
13:09
because we're not able to recognize that
13:12
value uh or or we not able to identify
13:15
that value so so what you are not able
13:17
to quantify or not able to take
13:19
advantage of and as a result this value
13:21
is latent so uh if you're able to move
13:23
these conversations from the
13:24
communication layer or the Work
13:25
Management layer into the CRM there's a
13:28
whole different level of value that you
13:30
can unlock almost immediately and then
13:32
of course the downstream outcomes are
13:33
are exponential in that you can apply Ai
13:35
and bi to this and and and um dve second
13:38
order and third order outcomes okay well
13:41
uh this is Sean hessinger reporting for
13:43
small business Trends from zoh holic
13:45
20124 that was pvk uh head of Market
13:48
strategy for CX uh group Zoho and thanks
13:52
for watching thank you for the
13:53
opportunity
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