I've recently found a problem with my phone provider, integrated with Zoho CRM, where a phone number that starts with 00 instead of + won't work. The problem has no solution: they tell me to replace all 00 with +

I've always preferred using 00 instead of + for international phone numbers for a reason: I import lots of data from Excel, and Excel understands a + sign at the beginning as a formula marker.

How do people manage this kind of problem? How can I perform data imports into CRM with phone numbers starting with a + sign? Thanks.