The halloween CRM admin and sales fails contest

The halloween CRM admin and sales fails contest



This Halloween, we're trading scary sales stories. Keeping with the good ol' Halloween theme, let's discuss the biggest fails we've come across in sales. We're talking the lowest of the lows, the horror of horrors you've come across, or those that you somehow managed to brave and make it to the other side.

For trick or treat, we're ditching the candy this season and offering five gift cards instead. The top five most interesting answers will get the following gift cards. 

$100 BestBuy Gift Card
$50 BestBuy Gift Card
$50 Amazon Gift Card 
$25 BestBuy Gift Card 
$25 Amazon Gift Card 

(All gift cards will be sent before Black Friday. If BestBuy cards do not apply in your region, we will send you an Amazon gift voucher instead)

You can include in your answer (post as a comment below), a few of these points:


 1. Horror: A telling of one of your most bizarre experiences with a potential client. We have all had some pretty bad luck with some deals. Strange, hilarious, or outright nerve-racking, some are just too hard of a nut to crack. Or, just any CRM admin nightmare story of your choosing. 


2. Trick: What you do to work around those tough corners and which Zoho feature has helped get you through it. 

3. Treat: A tip to help peers grow their business, something that you carried from this experience, that has always helped you stay ahead of the game! 

As I clearly can't divulge stories of one of our sales, GDPR and all, for an example here's one I heard from a buddy of mine who'd gotten flooded with deal closures last season.  


"It happened in the initial years of my sales career. I was passionate and opportunistic. I was enjoying converting our vending machines into dollars, and meeting the sales targets. Once, my manager even gave me a congratulatory hug. Which was so rare that I savored the moment too long and he had to push me away after a while.

However, the last quarter that year started slow. I was under pressure to close my targets, not just for the OTE but for that warm, long, and awkward hug too. Anyway, December approached and I was at the 40% mark. This was bad because December sales are always low, thanks to all the merry-making. I was getting desperate and started calling all the warm leads in my bucket, who were gradually drifting to the colder zone. 
​
One gentleman showed interest in meeting me on the 24th of December but was obvious on the call that there would be no order before January. Nevertheless, I decided to meet him in his office and see if there’s a slight chance of making the deal before New Year. I went to his office, we got into a room to discuss his vending machine requirements, but it did not go as I expected. He was too rude, to say the least. He had a grudge against his old supplier and he took it all out on me. Apparently, his previous supplier didn’t provide a good after-sale service when the machine broke down. He was irate and called out the entire salesmanship as an act of fraud. I tried to explain that we have an excellent service and that our clients are very happy, but nothing worked for him. One thing was sure though, he was not happy with his current supplier and wanted to return all the machines. So, there was a definite requirement. I grabbed this opportunity to show him our service. I asked him to take me to one of the broken machines. I took a look, called my engineer over phone, cooked up some Tony Stark stuff, and finally was able to restore the machine to working condition. I could not tell whether the client was impressed, so I took another shot: I offered to take back all the old machines he had and gave a 50% discount on the new ones ordered from us, plus free one-year service. Still, he had a poker face. I can’t do more than this, I thought, and packed my bags. I left my brochure, list of customer references, my business card, and a glimmer of hope in his office. 

​Next morning, while I was lying on my couch watching a re-run of The Office at home, I got this message over an email: “Hello, we had a meeting last night over the vending machines and looks like we can manage the budget for the price offered by you. It is to re-iterate that although you’ve offered free service, we would not appreciate any lag in the response. Also, the delivery should be completed by 31st Decemeber without delay. Merry Christmas!”

A few terms and conditions: 

1. The contest has no geographic restrictions. 

2. Zoho partners are welcome to participate but won't be eligible to win prizes. 

3. Language should be civil and not offend any member of the community. 

    • Sticky Posts

    • The halloween CRM admin and sales fails contest

      This Halloween, we're trading scary sales stories. Keeping with the good ol' Halloween theme, let's discuss the biggest fails we've come across in sales. We're talking the lowest of the lows, the horror of horrors you've come across, or those that you somehow managed to brave and make it to the other side. For trick or treat, we're ditching the candy this season and offering five gift cards instead. The top five most interesting answers will get the following gift cards.  $100 BestBuy Gift Card $50

    • Recent Topics

    • Field Not Updating in FSM Script - Service and Parts module.

      Dear Team, I am reaching out regarding a script I have implemented in Zoho FSM to automate the calculation of the End of Service date based on the End of Sale date in the Service and Parts module. Overview of the script: Fetches the End_of_Sale__C and

    • Zadarma + Zoho CRM Integration – Missed Calls Saved as Contacts Instead of Leads

      Hello everyone, I’m looking for input from anyone with experience using the Zadarma + Zoho CRM integration. Currently, I’m seeing that missed calls are automatically being created as Contacts instead of Leads. From a CRM perspective, this doesn’t make

    • Zoho Books | Product updates | September 2025

      Hello users, We’ve rolled out new features and enhancements in Zoho Books. From PayNow payment method to applying journal credits to invoices and bills in other locations, explore the updates designed to enhance your bookkeeping experience. Integrate

    • How to update Multiple Users field in Quote Module from Deal Module

      Scenario : Deal Module having Multiple User Field (Presales Engineer) which having more than 1 User and through Deluge Script I need to get that Users Details and need to put into Multiple User Field (Presales Engineer) of Quote Module. Note: Both Module

    • Auto-sync field of lookup value

      This feature has been requested many times in the discussion Field of Lookup Announcement and this post aims to track it separately. At the moment the value of a 'field of lookup' is a snapshot but once the parent lookup field is updated the values diverge.

    • Clone a Module??

      I am giong to repurpose the Vendors module but would like to have a separate but very similar module for another group of contacts called Buyers. I have already repurposed Contacts to Sellers. Is it possible to clone (make a duplicate) module of Vendors

    • Advance PDF creation from CRM data

      I'm trying to create a PDF export of data in the CRM. My problem is I want a pretty complicated format for the data. I'm trying to export multiple modules worth of data, with nested one-to-many relationships between the modules. Along with that, I want

    • how to disable staff selection Zoho Booking integrated to SalesIQ?

      currently there is only one Consultant in my Zoho Bookings like this I integrate Zoho Bookings into Zoho SalesIQ to create a chatbot. Unfortunately, even though I only have one consultant for a consultation, the user have to pick the consultant. It will

    • How to change the text in WhatsApp Zobot integrated to Zoho Booking?

      I have integrated Zoho Bookings into Zoho SalesIQ, I want to change the text in WhatsApp when creating a booking in Zobot how to change those text?

    • how to differentiate if whatsapp comes from certain landing page?

      I create a Zobot in SalesIQ to create a Whatsapp bot to capture the lead. I have 2 landing pages, one is SEO optimized and the other want is optimized for leads comes from Google Ads. I want to know from which landing page this lead came through WhatsApp

    • YouTube Live #1: AI-powered agreement management with Zia and Zoho Sign

      Hi there! We're excited to announce Zoho Sign’s first YouTube live series, where you can catch the latest updates and interact with our Zoho Sign experts, pose questions, and discover lesser-known features. We're starting off by riding the AI wave in

    • Introducing Profile Summary: Faster Candidate Insights with Zia

      We’re excited to launch Profile Summary, a powerful new feature in Zoho Recruit that transforms how you review candidate profiles. What used to take minutes of resume scanning can now be assessed in seconds—thanks to Zia. A Quick Example Say you’re hiring

    • Updating Subform Record from other Form

      Just wanted to ask how to properly approach this. I have 2 forms and would like to trigger an auto update on the subform once record submitted. block below only updates 1 row for each recordRow in input.AV_System { AssetRecord = Site_Asset_Services[SOR_No

    • when I email a invoice how can i see it was sent and also were i can go to see all emails sent

      when I email a invoice how can i see it was sent and also were i can go to see all emails sent?

    • Problem with Email an invoice with multiple attachments using API

      I have an invoice with 3 attachments. When I send an email manually using the UI, everything works correctly. I receive an email with three attachments. The problem occurs when I try to initiate sending an email using the API. The email comes with only

    • Zoho Books - Hide Convert to Sales Order if it can't be used.

      Hi Books team, I noticed that it is not possible to convert a Quote to a Sales Order when a Quote is not yet marked as accepted. My idea is to not show the Convert to Sales Order button when it is not possible to use it, or show it in a grey inactive

    • How do I bulk archive my projects in ZOHO projects

      Hi, I want to archive 50 Projects in one go. Can you please help me out , How can I do this? Thanks kapil

    • Cross-Data Center Collaboration and / Or allowing users to choose DC

      Dear Zoho Cliq Support Team, We are writing to request a significant enhancement to Zoho Cliq that would greatly benefit our geographically dispersed development team. Current Challenge: Currently, Zoho Cliq automatically routes users to specific data

    • Zoho Flow - Update record in Trackvia

      Hello, I have a Flow that executes correctly but I only want it to execute once when a particular field on a record is updated in TrackVia. I have the trigger filters setup correctly and I want to add an "update record" action at the end of the flow to

    • New Mandatory One-Click Unsubscribe Link Overshadowing Custom Unsubscribe Link

      I was recently informed by Zoho CRM Support that they are now mandated by the large email service providers like Google and Yahoo to provide a one-click unsubscribe option in the header (not the body) of all mass emails. I have a custom unsubscribe link

    • Supervisor Rules - Zoho Desk

      Hi, I have set up a Supervisor Rule in Zoho Desk to send an email alert when a ticket has been on hold for 48 hours. Is there a way to change it so that the alert only sends once and not on an hourly basis? Thank you Laura

    • Send / Send & Close keyboard shortcuts

      Hello! My team is so close to using Zoho Desk with just the keyboard. Keyboard shortcuts really help us to be more efficient -- saving a second or two over thousands of tickets adds up quickly. It seems like the keyboard shortcuts in Desk are only for

    • ERROR CODE :512 - 5.4.4 DNS error:NXDOMAIN.

      Suddenly we cant send mail, we are getting this error for all outbound mail to multiple domains.

    • Is it possible to register webhooks in Zoho CRM using API?

      Hello, I am trying to register a webhook in Zoho CRM programmatically (using the API). Specifically, I want to register a webhook that is fired when new Contacts are created in the CRM. I was able to setup a webhook using the UI, by creating a rule that

    • Calls where the local audio is shared, have echo

      When another user is sharing their screen with audio, I get echo from my own voice. We tested this with multiple users, with different audio setups, and there's no obvious way to fix it. Is this a bug you could look into, or are we missing something?

    • Systematic SPF alignment issues with Zoho subdomains

      Analysis Period: August 19 - September 1, 2025 PROBLEM SUMMARY Multiple Zoho services are causing systematic SPF authentication failures in DMARC reports from major email providers (Google, Microsoft, Zoho). While emails are successfully delivered due

    • No practical examples of how survey data is analyzed

      There are no examples of analysis with analytics of zoho survey data. Only survey meta data is analyzed, such as number of completes, not actual analysis of responses, such as the % in each gender, cross-tabulations of survey responses. One strange characteristic of Zoho analytics is that does not seem aware of how Zoho Survey codes 'multiple response' questions. These are questions where more than one option can be selected from a list. Zoho Survey stores this data as text, separated by commas within

    • Update application by uploading an updated DS file

      Is it possible? I have been working with AI on my desktop improving my application, and I have to keep copy pasting stuff... Would it be possible to import the DS file on top of an existing application to update the app accordingly?

    • Minimise chat when user navigates to new page

      When the user is in an active chat (chatbot) and is provide with an internal link, when they click the link to go to the internal page the chat opens again. This is not a good user experience. They have been sent the link to read what is on the page.

    • How do I fix this? Unable to send message; Reason:554 5.1.8 Email Outgoing Blocked.

      How do I fix this? Unable to send message; Reason:554 5.1.8 Email Outgoing Blocked.

    • Reports: Custom Search Function Fields

      Hi Zoho, Hope you'll add this into your roadmap. Issue: For the past 2yrs our global team been complaining and was brought to our attention recently that it's a time consuming process looking/scrolling down. Use-case: This form is a service report with

    • Zoho Projects app update: Voice notes for Tasks and Bugs module

      Hello everyone! In the latest version(v3.9.37) of the Zoho Projects Android app update, we have introduced voice notes for the Tasks and Bugs module. The voice notes can be added as an attachment or can be transcribed into text. Recording and attaching

    • zurl URL shortener Not working in Zoho social

      zurl URL shortener Not working in while creating a post in Zoho social

    • In the Zoho CRM Module I have TRN Field I should contain 15 digit Number , If it Contain less than 15 digit Then show Alert message on save of the button , If it not contain any number not want to sh

      Hi In the Zoho CRM Module I have TRN Field I should contain 15 digit Number , If it Contain less than 15 digit Then show Alert message on save of the button , If it not contain any number not want to show alert. How We can achive in Zoho CRm Using custom

    • Power of Automation::Streamline log hours to work hours upon task completion.

      Hello Everyone, A Custom Function is a user-written set of code to achieve a specific requirement. Set the required conditions needed as to when to trigger using the Workflow rules (be it Tasks / Project) and associate the custom function to it. Requirement:-

    • Zoho Bookings know-how: A hands-on workshop series

      Hello! We’re conducting a hands-on workshop series to help simplify appointment scheduling for your business with Zoho Bookings. We’ll be covering various functionalities and showing how you can leverage them for your business across five different sessions.

    • Custom report

      Hello Everyone I hope everything is fine. I've tried to To change the layout of the reports, especially the summary page report, and I want to divide summary of each section in the survey but I can't For example: I have a survey containing five different

    • Zoho Journey - ZOHO MARKETING AUTOMATION

      I’ve encountered an issue while working with a journey in Zoho Marketing Automation. After creating the journey, I wanted to edit the "Match Criteria" settings. Unfortunately: The criteria section appears to be locked and not editable. I’m also unable

    • Custom Fields in PDF outputs

      I created a couple of custom fields. e.g Country of Origin and HS Tariff Code. I need these to appear on a clone of a sales order PDF template but on on the standard PDF template. When I select "appear on PDFs' it appears on both but when I don't select

    • How to create a Service Agreement with Quarterly Estimate

      Hello, I'm not sure if this has been asked before so please don't get mad at me for asking. We're an NDIS provider in Australia so we need to draft a Service Agreement for our client. With the recent changes in the NDIS we're now required to also include

    • Next Page