Zoho CRM: Automate using Custom Functions - An Introduction
Hi folks!
With every growing business, the next step is what matters. Zoho CRM manages your business; makes it easy. But say you want a little more ease in CRM, you want a tad more flexibility in a framework. For example, Let' s assume that a user needs to create invoice copies of purchase orders to make accounting easier. However, this option is normally unavailable in your CRM account. So how do you do it? Your solution: Custom Functions!
What are Custom Functions?
- Custom functions in Zoho CRM are pluggable workarounds that let you accomplish a task that is not doable out-of-the-box.
- They are powered by Deluge. So essentially all custom functions are written in Deluge. An intuitive drag and drop interface lets you set up your custom functions in no time.
- They facilitate workarounds within CRM and, between CRM and other products.
#Supported Zoho CRM Editions - Enterprise and Ultimate.
Why Custom Functions?
- Custom functions provides immense flexibility and empowers you to explore alternative ways of solving a CRM problem.
- They also eliminate the need to wait for a feature to be built into the product. You have more control on what you want to get done. After all, requirements differ from business to business.
How it works?
Without further ado, let me just give you a quick overview on what custom functions in Zoho CRM is all about.
Sample scenarios where you'd want to use Custom Functions:
- Automatically update the address information of a contact based on the address information of the parent account.
- Apply a discount to a particular customer if the revenue generated by the customer exceeds a certain limit.
- Mark a deal as 'lost' if the status of the deal is not "Closed (Won)" after the closing date is passed.
- After successful negotiation, create follow-up activities that you and your team need to do.
- Create a project in Zoho Projects (preferably) or any third-party application when the potential is won and closed in CRM. And also, access the link from an Account or Potential record to monitor the project!
As you can imagine, the scope for custom functions is huge. So we, at Zoho CRM are excited to bring you a series that will start with simple custom functions that help solve a few basic problems and then gradually progress to advanced functions that will work some magic into your CRM.
We'll be dishing out such custom functions every forthcoming week to aid you in managing your customer relations better. Rather than spend time coming up with a code to customize your CRM, you can now simply use these custom functions with tweaks required. Let's get you started.
How to get started?
Hop on to our documentation linked here for the detailed steps and the ways in which you can add custom functions.
https://www.zoho.com/crm/help/automation/custom-functions.html#Set_Up_Customfunction
So, here we go folks! We are all set to create awesome custom functions that will make your CRM proactive and efficient. We'll share a custom function every Tuesday in this section of our community. To stay notified as and when new posts and comments are made, make sure you follow this forum. We look forward to having a lot of conversations with you all around building simple, yet powerful custom functions as we go! Catch you next Tuesday!
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Zoho CRM Functions 53: Automatically name your Deals during lead conversion.
Welcome back everyone! Last week's function was about automatically updating the recent Event date in the Accounts module. This week, it's going to be about automatically giving a custom Deal name whenever a lead is converted. Business scenario Deals are the most important records in CRM. After successful prospecting, the sales cycle is followed by deal creation, follow-up, and its subsequent closure. Being a critical function of your sales cycle, it's good to follow certain best practices. One suchUser Tips: Auto-Create Opportunity/Deal upon Quote Save (PART 1)
Problem: We use quotes which convert to sales orders but Users / Sales Reps do not create opportunities / deals and go straight to creating a quote. This leads to poor reporting. Implementing this solution improves reporting and makes it easier for users.Custom Function : Automatically send the Quote to the related contact
Scenario: Automatically send the Quote to the related contact. We create Quotes for customers regularly and when we want to send the quote to the customer, we have to send it manually. We can automate this, using Custom Functions. Based on a criteria, you can trigger a workflow rule and the custom function associated to the rule and automatically send the quote to customer through an email. Please note that the quote will be sent as an inline email content and not as a PDF attachment. Please followFunction #50: Schedule Calls to records
Welcome back everyone! Last week's function was about changing ownership of multiple records concurrently. This week, it's going to be about scheduling calls for records in various modules. Business scenario Calls are an integral part of most sales routines.. Sales, Management, Support, all the branches of the business structure would work in cohesion only through calls. You could say they are akin to engine oil, which is required by the engine to make all of it's components function perfectly. CRMFunction #37: Create a Purchase Order from a Quote
Welcome back everyone! Last week, we learnt how to calculate the total number of activities for a lead and further take note of the activity count for particular dates. For instance, from the period of Demo to Negotiation. This week, let's look at a function that lets you create a Purchase Order instantly from a Quote. Business scenario: In any form of business, one of the most important things to do is to document the transactions. Naturally, negotiation, signing an agreement, placing an order,
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