Six months ago Ed Stott, founder and CEO of Stott Marketing decided it was time to migrate his company from PCs over to Macintosh use.  For the past four years, Stott Marketing has been steadily growing, and with this growth, Ed Stott found it necessary to make the change.  However, he faced one major hurdle.  Their current CRM software was not compatible with the Mac Operation System.  Stott scrambled to find a replacement but was dissatisfied with the other options until he found Zoho CRM.

The Business

Stott Marketing Group is a marketing consultancy that specializes in working with small to medium size companies to help them gain visibility and clientele.  As a small marketing consulting firm, Stott Marketing typically tries work with four to five clients at a time in order to deliver maximum attention to each client.  As part of their efforts to deliver optimum quality marketing consulting to clients, Stott Marketing decided that the Macintosh platform better suited both their client’s needs as well as their own.

The Challenge: Implementing CRM after PC to Mac Migration

Stott’s primary concern when searching for a new CRM tool was finding something that was easy to navigate, simple to learn, and customizable.   He began research into a number of online CRM platforms but found that most did not suit his needs.

“I looked at so many other online providers, Salesforce for instance, and it just seemed that they were all difficult to navigate through when in fact CRM should be a tool and a resource rather than a daily challenge.”

Stott’s patience began wearing thin.  As his search continued, Stott stumbled upon a CRM tool that he had previously heard of but had slipped his mind.  He decided to explore Zoho CRM to see if the capabilities met his needs.

Competitive Analysis of CRM Solutions

Stott has fourteen years of experience with CRM so when it came time to choose a tool, he was very particular in finding one that fits his particular needs.  As previously mentioned, the features most paramount to Stott were:

Simple to learn – Stott Marketing cannot afford a steep learning curve causing an extended period of down time because of the high volume of demand from each client.

Easy to Navigate – Stott prefers a simple interface that allows quick input, output, and lookup.

Customization – Stott’s client profiles and daily needs are highly varied and as such he needed a tool that allows for simple CRM customization.

Stott initially turned to Daylite CRM, however he found it “cumbersome.”  Even more frustrating, he experienced major problems in obtaining quality customer service.

“When I was on the trial period with them, I submitted a ticket for a particular problem and they would never get back to me.  Customer service is key for me, and being in marketing consulting, we emphasize creating a great customer experience.”

Implementing Zoho CRM

After the failed attempt with Daylite, Stott turned to Zoho CRM and found it very easy to implement into his company.

“I found Zoho CRM very easy to work with. I could bring in some customized fields to fit my business and change things around.”

After the short period spent learning Zoho CRM, Stott became further convinced that this could be the CRM solution for him.

“I loved the idea of having everything in front of me.  In fact, something as simple as the CRM ‘home’ button just brings everything to life for my workday.  I can see exactly what I have for my daily meetings and tasks, recent contacts that I’ve been communicating with more often, and a whole bunch of other cool features.”

Support at Zoho

One of the major complaints Stott had with his previous CRM trials including that with Daylite was the lack of adequate customer support.  The final benefit that convinced Stott that he had found a winning CRM solution was his support experience with Zoho.

“I found with Zoho that the customer experience both on the product side as well as the technical support side was just great!”

Life After Implementing Zoho CRM

Stott has now been actively using Zoho CRM and it seems that he has found a “keeper.”  He is quickly able to view and navigate through his daily tasks and contacts and freely calls Zoho support anytime he has a question.

Stott is especially happy with the way Zoho CRM keeps him organized.  “Zoho CRM gives me a daily roadmap so I know where I’m going each minute on each day.   I know exactly what I need to think about today, tomorrow, and the rest of the week.  The ‘roadmap’ aspect of Zoho CRM is just great!”

Additionally, Stott was happy to find the easy integration with “Mac Mail” which allows him to use CRM on his Ipad and Iphone as well while still keeping everything centrally organized.

What You Like to Say to Other Customers about CRM Solutions?

“I’m incredibly happy with Zoho CRM and absolutely delighted with their customer service.  When I place a call, I’m quickly talking to a live person which is really important to me.  Zoho CRM is a great product and they are constantly working to improve it further by actively considering customer suggestions.”

To learn more about Stott Marketing, click here.