As a one-woman, low-margin business, owner and baker in chief Claire Humphreys, did not think it would be within her budget to invest in a
CRM. Added to that, her orders are always bespoke; so surely she would need to build a CRM from scratch?
It seemed an insurmountable challenge. Or at least it was, before she found JCM Business Solutions…
I had a dream…
Claire first approached JCM when she woke in the middle of the night with the awful feeling she had forgotten an order. That, fortunately, turned out not to be the case; but it could easily have been. Claire had been using a number of systems for her orders, including a paper diary, online diary, and Microsoft Word, as well as free online tools for invoicing and social media posting.
Alongside these free options that came with limited functionality, she was paying for Squarespace for her newsletter sends.
The fact that these different systems didn’t ‘talk’ to one another was starting to become an issue, and a costly one at that.
An incredible CRM with extensive functionality at a mere £30 per month, the small business version of Zoho seemed a very compelling alternative to the myriad of systems Claire was using. She downloaded the free trial, which
quickly made up her decision to invest.
Claire’s never looked back.
She’s integrated her bank account into the Zoho bookkeeping app, Zoho Books.
Set up the GPS app so that she can track mileage for her customer visits.
She uses Zoho to publish her social media, and to note her expenses.
She’s even linked the system to her email which means that every e-mail received or sent can be documented against the appropriate customer in Zoho CRM, with any new enquiry dropped into the Leads section where it awaits
her qualification.
As Claire explains,
“I realised very early on that I could easily tailor the system to my needs. I really love that you can personalise it – for example re-naming tabs to terms that work for you, and in my case, changing the colour to pink!”
“The apps work amazingly on my phone. I’ve integrated Zoho Sales IQ (their online chat) into my website. Whenever I get an enquiry, an alert pings on my phone.”
“I can really see that Zoho will be with me for the long term, allowing me to seamlessly integrate new products ranges as and when I launch them. The workflows I’ve put in place reflect my approach to quality, which gives me the certainty that same quality will be clear to any staff I take on in the future.”
The best part?
Whilst she’s still only at the very start of her Zoho journey, Claire has already put in place robust processes which present the perfect foundation for her future business growth.
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