How 24 Hours Group achieved a 70% increase in business efficiency with Zoho CRM

Key results:

• Efficiency increase70%

The company

24 Hours Group is a leader in the U.S. roadside assistance industry. With a workforce of more than 300, including both employees and contractors, 24 Hours Group operates as a conglomerate of several distinct entities.

One of the many services that 24 Hours Group offers is roadside-assistance across several states in the United States. Individuals can call 24 Hours Group's toll-free number to help them in case their vehicles break down.

With over 20 years of experience, 24 Hours Group continuously adapts to new regulations and challenges. Their vision is to become more agile by leveraging cutting-edge technology to optimize processes and drive efficiency. By focusing on incremental improvements, they aim to enhance their adaptability and maintain a competitive edge in the industry.

The challenge

The company faced several key business challenges that necessitated a more advanced CRM system than the one they were using. Operating as a conglomerate, they juggled more than five software solutions across several business units, which made it difficult to streamline operations and achieve a cohesive view of their data. Even further, the lack of integration between these tools led to fragmented information. It became clear that the rapidly evolving nature of their business required a CRM solution that could not only centralize operations but also offer enough flexibility to adapt to their specific and dynamic business needs; a robust, state-of-the-art, customizable system was critical to support their growth and future-proof their operations.

To drive the company's growth and efficiency, the leadership team brought in  technology and management consultant and implementation expert Ruben Gorjian, who now serves as both CMO and CTO for 24 Hours Group. From the moment he stepped in, Gorjian became the catalyst for change, identifying the critical business needs and pain points that were holding the company back. His visionary approach led him to the transformative realization that unifying the majority of the company's systems in a single platform would not only streamline operations but also elevate efficiency and ensure seamless operational continuity. The company chose Zoho because it ticked every single one of their boxes.

The solution

End-to-end process management

The company leverages a highly customized Zoho CRM to deliver an end-to-end solution for their entire roadside assistance business. From capturing leads to managing tow truck vendors and ensuring job completion, the CRM seamlessly handles every aspect of the process. They train their users to use Zoho CRM through Zoho Learn.

24 Hours Group has completely customized their CRM's UI using Canvas, Zoho CRM's built-in drag-and-drop editor, which makes the process of arranging for roadside help for customers much quicker and easier. Widgets built with dynamic scripts guide users through a series of questions that provide the information the company needs to capture, which helps ensure the sales team collects all the details they need in a timely fashion. In this competitive industry, even a five-second improvement in sending a quote, for example, can yield a higher customer satisfaction rate. "Widgets are the most flexible, open system we've found in the Zoho ecosystem that can help us create something for one specific case," Gorjian says.

Capturing leads with seamless integrations

Every day, the company handles tens of thousands of leads that are captured in Zoho CRM. 90% of their requests come in via phone, which is enabled by Zoho CRM's integration with RingCentral and Twilio. Occasionally, some requests come in via email, and are captured in Zoho Desk. Zoho CRM's integration with Zoho Desk captures these tickets automatically so users can deal with them in the CRM system.

Based on the information users enter in certain fields, the system determines whether the lead is a private customer or an insurance company. The workflow changes accordingly, leading to situation-specific questions. In order to schedule an appointment once a lead is qualified, the lead must provide the exact address where they need assistance. In the cases where customers don't know exactly where they are, the highway number and mile markers are sufficient. If the customer is still unclear, the team sends a link via text or email (through RingCentral's API) to request live location sharing. Once the customer agrees, the company immediately receives the live location.

Generating quotes within the system

Simultaneously, a folder link is sent to the customer to upload photos of the vehicle so the team can visually assess the vehicle and situation. Once this entire process is complete—which only takes three to five minutes with Zoho CRM—the user clicks the "request quote" button, which automatically generates a quote that's then sent to the manager for approval. At the same time, a deal is also created, and a timer starts tracking how long the customer is waiting for a quote.

Once the manager receives the system's suggested quote, they can modify it as needed and pass it back to the agent. Once the agent gets the approval from the customer, the system generates an invoice with the specified price, which is sent for signature through Zoho Sign via SMS or email. Once the company receives the signature, the customer is directed to process payment, at which point they receive an invoice.

Effortlessly moving to different stages in the cycle

As soon as the payment is received, another timer starts in the CRM interface to ensure the customer receives quick service. Accordingly, the customer is transferred to the dispatch department, who uses a widget that details all 10,000 of 24 Hours Group's partners to assign a vendor to provide the service. Dispatchers select vendors by setting a radius around the customer's location and identifying a list of vendors within that range.

24 Hours Group sends a message to all partners on that list to request quotes via email or SMS. These vendors are limited to information such as the vehicle type and issue. 24 Hours Group only shares the client's specific details, like their name and location, after comparing quotes and selecting the most qualified vendor in terms of service speed, previous work experience, tier ranking, and more aspects.

Maintaining data security with third-party involvement

As 24 Hours Group prioritizes data security and client privacy, they mask clients' phone numbers when connecting them with vendors. The company remains the point of contact for both the client and the vendor, connecting the two parties without disclosing each one's phone number to the other.

The company takes client privacy even further by connecting to a third-party credit card provider once the job is assigned to the vendor to generate a one-time-use virtual credit card that's approved only for the quoted amount and only that job.

Authenticating job completion

24 Hours Group also monitors the time it takes vendors to perform jobs, from initiation to completion. Once the job is done, the final formalities, such as photographic proof from the vendor—or other documents in the case of insurance companies—are collected and updated in the same record in Zoho CRM. A couple of days later, the company performs a mandatory internal review to double check the payments and the job to ensure nothing has slipped through the cracks.

Making business decisions with CRM's analytics

The entire organization uses dashboards extensively. For example, members of leadership, like owners, managers, and the company president, use a leadership dashboard to review high-level information, such as the number of open jobs, jobs in progress, and daily drop-off rates. Another example is a dashboard for the operational management side, which includes a comprehensive reporting system. There are over 100 customized reports and analytics generated in Zoho CRM, tailored for various users. These reports serve different purposes, such as scrutinizing finances, assessing where more partners are needed, or identifying areas where marketing activities need improvement.

Each department leverages the data collected in unique ways. For instance, the marketing department has access to specific tools within this ecosystem that enable them to monitor and increase traffic from particular states to optimize operations. Every department relies on these dashboards to access relevant data that is shared and displayed in different formats, depending on their needs.

Benefits

Gorjian finds every Zoho solution valuable and believes that Zoho's main strength is its comprehensive business suite, which it provides at a great price position. The security Zoho provides is also a game-changer for 24 Hours Group. Zoho's defined roles and profiles ensure there are no information leaks, which provides an added level of security and higher levels of transparency.

Gorjian believes that every system, good or bad, has a learning curve. Because the language is consistent across the entire ecosystem, Zoho's learning curve is smoother. Deploying Zoho has boosted 24 Hour Group's efficiency by 70%.