CRM for efficient sales follow-up — Never miss out on a potential big deal ever again.
Rigorous follow-ups in business demonstrate one's determination to build relationships with your customers. The end result of these successful relationships is, of course, more sales. Simply put, a follow-up is the process of proactively communicating with customers to complete an activity—in this case, a sales rep carries out a set of repeatable steps to build relationships, taking the prospect from the early stage of awareness to the final sale.
Why following up in sales is important
- Never miss out on a potential business opportunity
In any organisation, losing leads (especially hot leads) means the loss of potential business. By not following up with your leads, you will never know if they could become opportunities, or not.Let's use the example of a clothing line. 150 prospects visit the company's website and express interest in multiple designs. While some add clothes and accessories to their carts, others leave the website, perhaps planning on returning later, while some others leave the site altogether. If sales reps fail to follow up with them, many of the leads who hoped to return to the site later may forget, and end up becoming lost leads. - Fulfil your customers' expectations
If you don't regularly interact with your customers, you may never know what they want. This could eventually result in them losing interest in your products and services. In the clothing line example that we used before, following up with their prospects will help the company understand their expectations and direct them to their choice of clothes and accessories. Follow-ups make customers feel special, and helps them decide what they want next. - More opportunities that end in success
When customers feel that they are being heard and their needs are being met, they show more interest in your company's products and services. Not only does this provide a higher chance for opportunities, but with quality follow-ups, there is an increased chance that your prospects eventually make a purchase and become repeat customers.
How to follow up
- Always prioritise the customers' preferences
It is always essential to understand your customers' preferences before you attempt to make a sale. This involves studying their shopping interests, listening to their complaints, conducting customer satisfaction surveys, and more. By understanding what each person is looking for, you can make a sales pitch that speaks directly to their needs. - Get in touch on the same day
Reaching out to your prospects promptly is essential, as it will help them keep you in mind when choosing between multiple providers. For instance, after your first interaction, make sure that you send an email the same day, thanking them for their time and providing them with more details of your company. - Follow up at multiple stages
In a sales process, it is essential for sales reps to follow up with their prospects at different stages of the lead nurturing cycle. To that end, it's helpful for sales teams to create a plan for prompt follow-up to be applied at various stages.In our previous clothing line example, let's say: - After the first interaction, they send an email to their prospects, thanking them for their time and providing a list of their services.
- They then send a follow-up email a week later reminding them of their interest and requesting a time for a call.
- If they do not receive a response, they can send their prospects SMS reminders.
Implementing sales follow up in Zoho CRM
1. Set prompt alerts by creating "Activities" in CRM
In any business, sales reps are usually charged with a variety of tasks, such as field visits, frequent emails, and phone calls. Keeping track of all these tasks—both trivial and significant—and ensuring that they are organized, can prove to be quite challenging.
The Activities module in Zoho CRM helps you with this. It provides you with a clear view of your upcoming tasks, sorted by each customer or opportunity. An activity in Zoho CRM could be a follow-up task, an event, a meeting, or a follow-up call. You can assign an activity to any of your team members and associate them with a specific customer. Once scheduled, CRM alerts you of upcoming activities, and sends prompt reminders before they are due.
2. Prioritise leads for follow up using scoring rules
Often, it's difficult to decide which leads to start with for an active follow-up. Say you have obtained about 100 leads. How do you decide where to begin? You can go in chronological order, but it may be the smartest way to go about it. What if the leads that are likely to convert are at the bottom of the list? You may end up delaying your follow-up and damaging your big deals.
This is why it's important for you to identify the leads that are most likely to convert and reach out to them first. Now, how how can you do that?
Imagine this: you have 10 leads with a score awarded to each of them.
- Lead A is referred to you by an existing customer and is from your city. Since this lead might be more interested than others (referred by an existing customer) and it's easier for you to follow up given the proximity, this lead gets 10 points.
- Lead B, on the other hand, is a cold call from another city. Cold calls do not always offer genuine prospects, and considering this lead is farther away, this lead only gets 5 points.
Based on these points, you would choose Lead A to follow up with first.
These scores can be assigned to your leads by the system automatically. You can design the whole process of automating these scores using "scoring rules" in CRM. Scoring rules help you prioritize the leads that are most likely to convert.
3. Set follow-up triggers using workflow rules
In any business, there are a number of routine tasks that need to be carried out on a highly regular basis, like sending prospects welcome emails. If your sales reps carry out these tasks manually, it could take up a lot of their time, result in errors, and eventually affect their sales process.
In Zoho CRM, companies can use workflow rules to automate these routine tasks. Here are some examples of how you can use them to streamline your follow-ups at different relevant points:
- Automate a "Thank you" email to a prospect after initial contact is established.
- A week after the first follow-up, automate sending a newsletter via email outlining your products and services to remind the prospect of their interest.
- Automate the assignment of follow-up tasks to a sales rep as soon as a prospect is imported in CRM.
4. Zero in on idle leads
Once you are done with one round of follow-up, you should resume your sales process with leads that have converted. You may eventually need to remove leads that don't yield a response from your follow-up flow.
As a result, there may be many leads that do not qualify and remain idle in your Leads module for a long time. Perhaps six months down the line, if you make an attempt at starting a fresh round of follow-ups with these idle leads, you may be able to strike a deal with some of them with a fresh approach.
This way, you don't have to rely on brand new business all the time. However, zeroing in on those older leads manually can be difficult. Don't lose hope! CRM makes it easy with the help of advanced filters.
With advanced filters, you can easily generate a list of leads that have not been actively followed up with within a selected time frame—six months, 2 months, a year, and so on—and you can quickly send them emails, reassign them to a new rep, or apply any other follow-up action.
5. Follow up on the move:
Another great aspect of Zoho CRM is its ability to let you follow up on the move with the mobile application.
You can make your follow-up calls, update tasks, events, calls, and more—all from within the app. In fact, right after you leave your client's premises after a meeting, you can associate notes immediately, instead of waiting to reach the office. You can also make a check-in within CRM as soon as you reach the meeting location. This will help you to record all your in-person appointments.
Access your files securely from anywhere
New to Zoho Recruit?
Zoho Developer Community
New to Zoho LandingPage?
Zoho LandingPage Resources
New to Zoho Survey?
New to Zoho CRM Plus?
Deliver unforgettable customer experiences
New to Zoho CRM Plus?
Deliver unforgettable customer experiences
New to Zoho Marketing Plus?
Everything you need to run your marketing
New to Zoho Marketing Plus?
Everything you need to run your marketing
New to Bigin?
Topic Participants
Anna Sakhi John
Sticky Posts
How to reach the official Zoho Support channels and avoid fake ones.
Dear Customers, Thanks a lot for choosing Zoho! Our applications are built to help achieve your day-to-day business goals. We are committed to engaging with you, to understand and develop solutions that enhance your productivity. We are happy and ready to help you use our services effectively. Understanding and avoiding fake support Just like using popular bank names and financial applications for phishing purposes, using Zoho and claiming to be providing Zoho Support or services with false numbersFunction #35: Close all tasks associated with a lead and create a new task.
Welcome back everyone! Last week, we learnt how to close all tasks of a deal depending upon the deal stage. This week, let's look at a custom function that lets you close all of the tasks associated with a lead while simultaneously creating a new task, like when you need to halt all progress towards a lead while the lead is not available at the moment but create a reminder task. Business scenario: The success of a company, in one way or another, is determined by the leads it gets. Each lead is justZoho CRM Webinar - Redesigning Daily User Experiences with Canvas
<br> Your users across roles use the CRM for day-to-day tasks that are necessary. Whether they perform their tasks on time, the right way, or at all depends on a lot of factors, including User Experience. Many businesses struggle with rigid layouts,Join us at the Canada ZUG Meetup: What’s New in Zoho CRM
Hello Zoho Community! Start your year with fresh insights into Zoho CRM’s latest updates and tools. Whether you're a CRM beginner or a experienced user, this meetup is crafted to help you optimise your processes and leverage new features. Explore practicalCRM Hack #2: Automate sending of birthday greetings to your customers.
Hello everyone! What sets you apart as a sales person is your ability to add that personal touch to your business relationship with your customers. Sending a gift on a special day, or leaving a note wishing them on their birthdays, are small, yet significant actions that show your customers that you care. And these are actions done without any expectations :) You must be engaging with a lot of customers and it is highly unlikely that they all are your friends on Facebook or some social channel,
New to Zoho TeamInbox?
Zoho TeamInbox Resources
Zoho CRM Plus Resources
Zoho Books Resources
Zoho Subscriptions Resources
Zoho Projects Resources
Zoho Sprints Resources
Qntrl Resources
Zoho Creator Resources
Zoho CRM Resources
Design. Discuss. Deliver.
Zoho Show Resources
Get Started. Write Away!
Writer is a powerful online word processor, designed for collaborative work.
Zoho CRM コンテンツ
-
オンラインヘルプ
-
Webセミナー
-
機能活用動画
-
よくある質問
-
Ebook
-
-
Zoho Campaigns
- Zoho サービスのWebセミナー
その他のサービス コンテンツ
Nederlandse Hulpbronnen
ご検討中の方
Recent Topics
Can i connect 2 instagram accounts to 1 brand?
Can i connect 2 instagram accounts to 1 brand? Or Do i need to create 2 brands for that? also under what subscription package will this apply?Zoho Forms - Improved Sub-Forms
Hi Forms team, I'm helping a client move from JotForms to Zoho Forms and I've found another opportunity for improvement. In the below screenshot, JotForm left and Zoho Forms right. The Zoho Forms Sub-Form is quite a poor visually. There is no way to makeWhat's New in Zoho Billing | Q3 2025
Hello everyone, We are excited to share the latest set of updates and enhancements made to Zoho Billing in Q3 2025. From the latest GST updates to multi-level discounting, Zia-powered report summaries, and customizable web forms, these updates are designedHow to Delete Personal Account Linked with My Mobile Number in past or by someone else
How to Delete Account Created with My Mobile Number in past or by someone else This is creating issues in making or sync with my credentials mobile and email address..WhatsApp Business Calling API
Dear Zoho SalesIQ Team, I would like to request a feature that allows users to call WhatsApp numbers directly via Zoho SalesIQ. This integration would enable sending and receiving calls to and from WhatsApp numbers over the internet, without the needDoes Zoho Learn integrate with Zoho Connect,People,Workdrive,Project,Desk?
Can we propose Zoho LEarn as a centralised Knowledge Portal tool that can get synched with the other Zoho products and serve as a central Knowledge repository?Marketer's Space - Going beyond basics: Smarter ecommerce marketing with Zoho Campaigns
Hello Marketers, Welcome back to this week's Marketer's Space. In the last post, we discussed the basics of email marketing and how to get started with email marketing in ecommerce. In this part, we'll dive much deeper into some other advanced featuresConnecting two modules - phone number
Hi, I’d like some guidance on setting up an automation in Zoho CRM that links records between the Leads module and a custom module called Customer_Records whenever the phone numbers match. Here’s what I’m trying to achieve: When a new Lead is createdZoho Marketing Automation 2.0 - Landing Page function not working
Dear Zoho Team, I am working on implementing Zoho Marketing Automation 2.0, and am now looking into the section "Lead Generation". If I open the "Landing Pages" section, I immediately get an Error code: Error: internal error occurred. Can you help meUnable to use Sign "You have entereed some invalid characters"
Unable to use Sign "You have entered some invalid characters" I do not see any invalid characters. The text in "Leave a Note" is plain text which I entered directly into the field. See attached screenshotcannot login from outlook on mobile
Hi there, I tried to set up my email accounts on my iphone using outlook, but it always return email address and password error. Please find the attachment for the screenshot. I am pretty sure that I typed in the correct email address and password and the imap has been enabled from zoho admin account. I can configure the email address on iphone default mail service as well as outlook on pc, the problem only occurs on the outlook app on mobile. I do need to use this app instead of the iphone defaultElevate your CX delivery using CommandCenter 2.0: Simplified builder; seamless orchestration
Most businesses want to create memorable customer experiences—but they often find it hard to keep them smooth, especially as they grow. To achieve a state of flow across their processes, teams often stitch together a series of automations using WorkflowMessages not displayed from personal LinkedIn profile
Hello. I connected both our company profile and my personal profile to Zoho social. I do see all messages from our company page but none from my private page. not even the profile is being added on top to to switch between company or private profile,"Performed changes in the query is not allowed due to following reason" when adding columns or reordering data
I'm trying to make changes to a query but every time i try to save it i get this error message. I'm not touching the data it's flagging. All I've tried to do is reorder a couple of fields and add a new one. Why won't it let me do this? It's a core queryOnboard new users easily with native screen recording in Zoho Projects Plus
Communication involving both visual and audio elements tends to capture more interest among the audience. Whenever we onboard new employees to the organization, the task of engaging them in the induction sessions, and keeping the spark going in theirRequest to Add Support for PDF Templates and More Flexibility in Email Editor
Hi Zoho Campaigns Team, I hope you're doing well. I wanted to share some feedback and request a few improvements in the Email Template feature of Zoho Campaigns. Right now, we can create email templates using the HTML editor, which is helpful. But we’reCan you stop Custom View Cadences from un-enrolling leads?
I'm testing Cadences for lead nurture. I have set un-enroll properties to trigger on email bounce/unsubscribe, and do NOT have a view criteria un-enroll trigger. However, help documents say that emails are automatically un-enrolled from a Cadence whenZoho Desk Android and iOS app update: Agent detail overview
Hello everyone! We’ve introduced agent detail overview on the Zoho Desk Android and iOS app update. With this feature, you can get a complete view of agent’s tickets, response times, logged hours (for both tickets and activities), customer happiness ratingsBlog Widget: Show recent blog posts on my homepage
Hey there I am using the Zoho Sites Blog feature. On my homepage, on the bottom I'd like to have a featured content section where I show some of my blog posts (selected, most recent, filtered by category and so on...). It would be nice to have a blogHow to iterate through excel data using zoho rpa
I wanted to iterate or loop through excel data ( datatable). How can i do thatZoho Commerce
Hi, I have zoho one and use Zoho Books. I am very interested in Zoho Commerce , especially with how all is integrated but have a question. I do not want my store to show prices for customers that are not log in. Is there a way to hide the prices if notMass (Pull back) (Close WOs) (Close APs)
Hi develop team. Just idea because Zoho FSM is great but its too manual. we have a lot of task to do every day and the system needs to have more features to automatic our tasks. I need to close several WOs, APs and Pull Back per day. Please we need massCustomising Zohidesk portal default widgets
Hello, I'm wondering how could I customise the default widgets such as "popular topics", "popular articles" using CSS or to make the tiles at the bottom match the ones that I made in the picture attached. I have made some custom widgets and edited themIf there’s a batch at the end, the ‘mark as inactive’ function doesn’t work.
when my batch has a date to batch end and I "mark as inactive" he batch does not obey the status and reactivates the batch.Seamless multilingual messaging and tone control in Zia IM Composer
Hello everyone! Managing customer conversations across multiple languages can be time-consuming. Using Zia in the Instant Messaging (IM) Composer helps you overcome this by providing tools to translate content, adjust your tone, and refine your messagesAdvanced Deluge help needed with custom function and COQL limits
I have a scheduled function that takes a snapshot of specific metrics and saves them to a custom module. However I'm struggling with the limits of COQL. I attach my full code, but an example of the issues I'm having is that it's erroring with a 'LimitTip of the Week - Conditional Formatting Chart
Conditional formatting allows you to highlight your data series based on a pattern or a trend in your data. This makes it easy for you to identify when your data reaches certain values or when it deviates from the trend. Zoho Analytics allows you toZoho Campaign says "null"
Here is what I did: 1. Created a list in CRM, made a form to fill information in the list. - This is working fine. 2. Created a flow to connect CRM (chose a the list) and want to add an event in Google Calendar. (Calendar is connected). Problem 1 - WhenZoho Learn - AI Translate
Hi Learn team, I had a situation today where I was providing training to a client team and I had written articles into their Zoho Learn to support their learning. I realised that one of the team members was a non-native English speaker and they were strugglingPower of Automation :: Auto-Sync Custom Date Field Between Related Tasks via Blueprint Transition
Hello Everyone, A custom function is a software code that can be used to automate a process and this allows you to automate a notification, call a webhook, or perform logic immediately after a workflow rule is triggered. This feature helps to automateIntroducing auto-upgrade in Zoho LandingPage
Hi everyone, We’re excited to share an upcoming update to help you get the most out of your landing pages — the auto-upgrade option, launching on October 22, 2025. Your landing pages are designed to bring in leads, and we want to make sure you never missWebhook Authentication Key
As Google Ads' lead form extension does not integrate with Zoho CRM at the moment other than Zapier. I want to use the Zoho Flow webhook feature to send leads to Zoho CRM. Meaning creating a flow in Zoho Flow that triggers based on Webhook and then webhookWorkdrive comment links stopped working.
I have marked a PDF file with 95 comments, they have worked for a while. When i clicked on them they brought me to the correct page and showed me the outline that i had drew on the plans. The comments included the page number of the outline, but now itHow to Bulk-Update Sales Orders in CRM
Hi - I need to bulk update existing sales orders with dates from our ERP of when the sales orders were created. I made a date field on the Sales Order module where I want to insert that data. I can't Mass Update because I am not updating the fields toZoho ToDo in Cliq
Our organization utilizes Zoho ToDo in the Zoho Mail Desktop app. Is there a way for these to show up in Cliq Desktop app as well?【Zoho CRM】サンドボックス機能のアップデート：カスタムビューが利用可能になりました。
ユーザーの皆さま、こんにちは。コミュニティチームの中野です。 今回は「Zoho CRM アップデート情報」の中から、サンドボックス機能のアップデートをご紹介します。 目次 1. カスタムビューとは 2. 今回の機能アップデートについて 1. カスタムビューとは カスタムビューは、ユーザーが設定した条件に基づいてデータをフィルタリング・整理し、 重要な情報へ効率的にアクセスできるようにする機能です。 「過去15日間の見込み客」や「受注間近の商談」、「特定の優先度レベルが設定された案件」など 条件を指定してわずか数クリックで設定できます。Changing an agents email address
How do you change an agent's email address? I keep getting a red circle even though I am an admin. And on one of my agents he has two email addresses? How is that possible?Zoho CRM - Potentials Tab
Hi! When I create a Deal (Potentials tab) the header looks like this: After a refresh on the page it looks like this: What should I do so that it is displayed like in the second pic without refresh? Also I have a user that as of recently, cannot see thisUnable to create embed code for resource of workdrive using API
Hello Team, I am trying to create embed code for a resource using workdrive api in powershell, however facing some issues with injecting data in body. Followed Doc: https://workdrive.zoho.com/apidocs/v1/filefoldersharing/shareeveryone Please help, belowFeature Request - Insert URL Links in Folders
I would love to see the ability to create simple URL links with titles in WorkDrive. or perhaps a WorkDrive extension to allow it. Example use case: A team is working on a project and there is project folder in WordDrive. The team uses LucidChart to createNext Page