After undergoing an exhaustive search of CRM applications, Deborah Morelli, Account Executive for Interbank Mortgage Company landed on one CRM tool that has changed her life and she’s vowed to take it wherever she goes.
Business:
On a daily basis, Deborah Morelli, Account Executive for Interbank Mortgage Company, must manage 40 to 50 accounts with mortgage brokers across 20 states while also looking through 200 to 2000 different leads.
The Challenge:
Morelli used to manage all her accounts through Outlook. It was a mess. She forgot people’s names, couldn’t discern key contacts within a group, and she forgot to return phone calls.
“Keeping track of them within Outlook just doesn’t work for me,” said Morelli. “I found myself disorganized, losing business, not servicing my clients very well, and I was just desperate.”
Competitive analysis of CRM:
Morelli wanted to be more organized so she started to do some research on CRM. She wanted an application to look nice, be configurable to the way she wanted to work, and be interactive.
“If I put information in to tell it to talk to me, I want it to talk to me,” said Morelli.
Night after night she pulled up her iPhone and researched different CRM applications. When she saw one she liked she gave it a try. Sometimes she would sign up for the 30 day trial and after she realized she didn’t like it she would cancel the subscription.
Morelli would discover a variety of reasons for the CRM application to disappoint her. Either it didn’t do what it said it would do, was ugly, or it didn’t let her make many changes.
Morelli looked at somewhere between 35-50 different CRM applications. She was frustrated by all of them until she discovered Zoho. What she liked that about Zoho was the lack of limitations. It could work for anyone in any industry.
“The criteria you can set up, it’s unlimited. It’s all within your imagination actually,” Morelli said. “I feel this is my little buddy here. Without it there’s no me.”
With all her research, Morelli set a limit of $125 per month she would spend on a CRM application. That wasn’t a problem when it came to Zoho.
“The price point for Zoho is amazing,” she said.
Unique use case of Zoho CRM:
Every day Morelli’s in her office looking at 40-50 accounts and 200-2000 leads in Zoho. She needs to know who’s active, who’s inactive, and who she needs to call. Then she has to know if there are any leads. Which ones are the good leads and which ones are the dead ones.
From her first initial setup five years ago, which took her only 20 minutes, Zoho has become a standard part of her workflow as she’s in the application every single day. One extra feature Morelli likes is the ability to have links within Zoho that let her pop into other sites without having to leave Zoho.
As Morelli did most of her CRM research on an iPhone, she is also dependent on using her CRM via her iPhone.
“I can be on my iPhone and open Zoho and it’s just as good as the one I have on my desktop,” said Morelli. “A lot of these CRMs it’s one or the other.”
Zoho goes where I go
Morelli is an unabashed Zoholic saying, “I’m not able to function without it.”
“If I change jobs I’ve decided I’m going to have Zoho a part of my life forever. Because life is business and business is life,” said Morelli who will soon be adding personal to do items as well to Zoho. “Everyone needs some type of CRM.”
“By keeping up with your CRM you’re helping your clients make money and then you make money,” she said.
For those still not sure, Morelli advised you not frustrate yourself and waste your time trying to manage your business through Outlook.
“Outlook doesn’t work for me anymore. I don’t know who it works for. It’s outdated,” she said.
Instead Morelli suggests you try Zoho for one month and you’ll see improvement in your business life which will lead to your personal life.
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