“It all started with Jim Cramer.”
For those of you unfamiliar with Jim Cramer, he is a popular American television personality, former hedge fund manager, and host of CNBC’s Mad Money.
As Indigenous Corporate Training Inc. (ICT) founder and CEO Bob Joseph tells the story, “Years ago, I was watching Mad Money and he was pushing Sales Force’s CRM solution. I knew we were at the point in our company growth where we needed a good CRM solution and one that could accommodate our growth. So, from Cramer’s recommendation we began our customer relationship management with Sales Force.”
Soon however, Joseph realized that Cramer’s recommendation was not suitable for ICT…
The Business
ICT is a global training company committed to working collaboratively with regional, national, and international clients to provide a broad range of performance improvement training services geared specifically at helping individuals and organizations to work effectively with Indigenous Peoples.
Based out of Vancouver, BC, and started in 2002, ICT goes to great lengths to help the Canadian government work with indigenous peoples to improve all aspects of operation.
The Challenge: Switching from Salesforce to a More Affordable, Simpler CRM Solution
Per Cramer’s recommendation, Joseph decided to incorporate Salesforce into ICT as their CRM solution. However, five months into implementation, he found that Salesforce was creating a huge cost and time burden for the amount of use and functionality they were receiving.
“At that point, we were like a ‘Mom and Pop’ shop, and the cost of Salesforce was exorbitant for us and the complexity was causing us to waste too much time.”
Joseph knew he had two options: either stick with Salesforce, go through the pains of learning how to use it, and simply eat the cost hoping that in the end the monetary and time investment would be worth it, or try a lower cost, easier to learn CRM solution without sacrificing any of the functionality.
Joseph decided it was time for ICT to make a change.
Competitive Analysis of CRM Solutions
ICT looked at several CRM solutions before finally selecting Zoho CRM.
“We looked at several CRM solutions including Sales Force and Trigger. When we found Zoho, we noticed the reviews were stellar, it had all of the functionality we needed and more, and it was free to sign up!”
Joseph had some definite “must haves” when searching for a CRM replacement.
“I knew that Salesforce was costing me way too much money, but I also knew I needed a full-featured CRM that could easily and quickly track customers through the entire sales process including ongoing customer support.”
Soon after signing up for Zoho CRM, Joseph realized that he had found a solution for ICT.
“Zoho had all of the functionality of Sales Force at a fraction of the cost. We signed on for free, started working with it, and realized that this is the solution for us.”
Implementing Zoho CRM
Prior to implementing CRM, ICT had several databases, calendars, and other data that was not shared.
“Data sharing was a huge problem for us! My business partner and I would make phone calls, then later in the day would get together for coffee and realize we’d called some of the same people. When we started with Salesforce, this problem disappeared but now we were spending several extra hours having to navigate through complicated windows. We eliminated one problem, but started another!”
However, when Joseph switched ICT over to Zoho CRM, both problems were alleviated.
Joseph found learning Zoho CRM very simple and intuitive and was able to have his entire database migrated over within a day. After just a few days, Joseph felt incredibly comfortable navigating through Zoho CRM and using the majority of its features.
“It was just so intuitive and easy. Now we were saving a ton of time while working together collaboratively, and the results showed immediately! We were able to connect with noticeably more customers while delivering an improved service experience.”
“We actually use Zoho Projects to manage projects and connect that to CRM to have one cohesive dashboard. It’s very easy for us now to navigate between customers and projects.
Life After Implementing Zoho CRM
As ICT became comfortable with Zoho CRM, they discovered some features that they hadn’t previously been familiar with but ended up being “real timesavers.”
“Zoho CRM really helped us with its data deduplication feature which in Salesforce costs several hundred dollars but Zoho provides for free. Google app integration has also been huge. We integrate Zoho Campaigns, CRM, and incorporate it with some of our Google apps to make one cohesive solution.”
Joseph has also found a lot of value in the Zoho CRM social media integration.
“We definitely use the Facebook, Linkedin, and Twitter integration a lot and it has proven to be a valuable tool for us.”
What You Like to Say to Other Customers about CRM Solutions?
“I would say get Zoho right away! It integrates so easily with everything, makes life so much easier, and is easy to learn. It has all the tools that every other CRM solution has, but at a fraction of the price and is so much easier to learn.”
To learn more about Indigenous Corporate Training Inc, click here.
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