How 99 Calls improved efficiency and client relations through strategic integration

The company

99 Calls is a leading lead generation and marketing company that was founded in 2010 by Fred and Diane Lovine in Bradenton, Florida. The company is dedicated to providing affordable, high-quality lead generation services specifically designed for local contractors.They specialize in various sectors, including painting, plumbing, electrical services, landscaping, HVAC, and pest control, connecting businesses with exclusive live leads. In addition to lead generation, 99 Calls offers a range of online marketing solutions, such as mobile-optimized website development, as well as effective SEO and Google Ads strategies designed to enhance business visibility and attract the right customers.

Their business process

With over a decade of experience, 99 Calls helps clients in roofing, flooring, and handyman services thrive by providing exclusive leads. They empower local contractors across the US and Canada to focus on their core services.

Fred Lovine, president and co-founder of 99 calls and Dipa Gandhi, Director of SEO at 99 calls, shared that they begin with an initial consultation and needs assessment, during which 99 calls engaged with potential clients to understand their business goals, target audience, and specific needs. They gather detailed information on the services offered, territories served, and budget criteria to determine if the potential is a good fit.Following this, a tailored campaign strategy is developed, which includes an SEO-friendly website, optimized Google Business Profile, and depending on the potential's package selection, may include an optimized Local Services Ads (LSA) campaign and/or an optimized Google Ads campaign. In the campaign setup phase, marketing materials such as photos, videos, FAQs, "about us" information, and any other marketing collateral are prepared, along with defining metrics for success, including expected leads and conversion rates. Live leads are delivered to the client in real time, complete with detailed contact information and qualification notes. Once leads are generated, the 99 Calls's team manages the leads through a lead vetting process, determining whether the lead is a qualified lead or not based on the services initially discussed and the service area initially decided on.

An internal review is conducted to analyze campaign results and discuss outcomes and opportunities for future campaigns. Based on this review, the team offers suggestions for optimizations and scaling options for existing or new campaigns.

Finally, ongoing feedback from clients and leads is gathered to refine processes and strategies. By staying up to date on market trends and adjusting campaign strategies accordingly, 99 Calls ensures effectiveness and client satisfaction while supporting businesses in expanding their customer base. Interested businesses are encouraged to visit their website https://99calls.com or reach out directly to learn more.

The challenges

Lovine became familiar with Zoho after exploring various options for their CRM needs. They started with a basic contact manager when their team was small and later considered Salesforce due to his prior experience with it in his previous company. However, concerns about the potential costs led them to Zoho CRM, which appeared to be a capable and more affordable solution.

As the company experienced significant growth, several key challenges emerged with its manual workflows that impacted efficiency and team collaboration. Automating and streamlining workflows, efficiently prioritizing critical tasks, and effective communication among team members and with clients and leads became essential.

Managing the sales pipeline and client onboarding became cumbersome as the number of clients grew. Having to create tasks manually for new leads, closed leads, lost subscribers, and more complicated the onboarding and ongoing process. This made it challenging to ensure new clients, subscribers, and lost clients received adequate attention and resources. The basic reporting mechanisms were insufficient for generating actionable insights necessary for driving business decisions.

Inefficiencies were exacerbated by limited integration between tools, such as email, phone, and invoicing. Using multiple, disconnected tools led to time-consuming manual labor.

"Gmail for emails from our clients to our customer support inbox as well as new leads; for phone calls internally and to our clients and potential clients a VOIP system called Bria was used, and for invoicing FreshBooks was used, and QuickBooks was used for accounting, all which have the potential for errors, and impacting team productivity," Lovine explained the limitations that exist prior to using Zoho CRM.

Additionally, because any customer support specialist assists all of 99 Calls's clients instead of a dedicated account manager, it was more crucial for 99 Calls to maintain top-notch organization through an integrated system.

These challenges motivated 99 Calls to adopt a more organized and integrated approach to meet the growing demands of the business and ensure long-term success.

The solutions

To address the operational challenges faced by 99 Calls, a suite of Zoho tools was strategically implemented, specifically Zoho One, resulting in remarkable enhancements across various facets of their business.

Streamlining Sales: The impact of Automated Workflows in Zoho CRM

A key improvement came with the introduction of automated workflows within Zoho CRM, revolutionizing task management for the team. By creating automatic task assignments triggered by changes in the sales pipeline, the company eradicated the risk of manual errors and reduced manual labor. This automation streamlined task tracking and ensured no critical tasks fell through the cracks, fostering a more efficient sales process. Gandhi utilized the automation features of Zoho CRM, which improved sales tracking by assigning specific tasks to team members at each stage of the sales process. This method streamlined the client onboarding procedure, ensuring a smoother transition for new customers and facilitating the ongoing nurturing of existing clients.

Here is an example of how 99 Calls implemented an automated workflow to optimize lead engagement and conversion.

The process begins when a lead inquires about services, triggering the Demo Stage. On the first day, the system generates and emails a demo, followed by an automated follow-up call. On the second day, another call and a "What to Expect" email are scheduled. Over the next few weeks, at regular intervals, automated follow-ups—including calls, emails, and the demo is resent. If the lead hasn’t converted within a month, a second-month follow-up sequence is initiated, closing the demo and sending a final email.Upon conversion, the Setup Stage automates key onboarding tasks, such as generating a ZohoBooks ID, configuring billing, and integrating the client into the Growth Onboarding system. In the Closed-Billed Stage, the system assigns an account creator and initiates automated follow-ups, including a four-week check-in, a three-month review, and ongoing engagement. By reducing manual effort and improving response times, automation ensures a seamless transition from lead to long-term client.

Boosting Customer Experience with Seamless Zoho CRM-Desk Integration

99 Calls implemented Zoho Desk to manage communications more effectively. Through API integration, all customer support emails received in Gmail were automatically converted into Zoho Desk support tickets. This ensured every client request and inquiry was captured and could be assigned to the appropriate team member, streamlining the customer support process. This seamless system eliminated the risk of accidentally overlooking an email, enabling the team to address client needs promptly and enhance overall customer satisfaction. 

CRM Integration with Zoho Books for improved invoicing

The Zoho Books integration with CRM automated the previously labor-intensive and error-prone invoicing process. By minimizing manual intervention, this integration improved the accuracy of recurring invoices and significantly reduced administrative workload. Additionally, integrating Zoho Desk for managing customer support tickets allowed all support interactions to be efficiently organized and tracked. This ensured that client data and communication histories were consolidated in one centralized, easily accessible location, empowering the support team to deliver faster, more informed resolutions to client inquiries.

Using Zoho Analytics for advanced reporting

Transitioning to Zoho Analytics from CRM reports added depth to the company's data handling capabilities, with sophisticated reporting tools and visually appealing dashboards facilitating real-time monitoring of key performance metrics. This level of visibility fostered a culture of data-driven decision-making, empowering the organization to adapt strategies based on actionable insights.

CRM Integration with Zoho Voice for streamlined phone communication

This integration streamlined phone communication by embedding the phone application directly into Zoho CRM and other Zoho products. This seamless integration significantly reduced the costs associated with phone implementation and ongoing support. The team at 99 Calls can now simply log into Zoho CRM, and the phone system is ready to use without additional software installations. The application’s consistency across devices ensures it functions the same on any computer, enhancing accessibility and convenience. Additionally, all call data is automatically recorded in the CRM, providing a complete communication history that supports more efficient client management.

Benefits and ROI

Through these targeted implementations of Zoho solutions, 99 Calls significantly transformed its operational landscape, resulting in heightened efficiency, improved client satisfaction, and stronger overall performance. Automated workflows in Zoho CRM revolutionized task management, ensuring critical tasks were efficiently tracked and completed while streamlining sales processes and client onboarding.

Currently 99 Calls uses Zoho CRM to manage over 700 active accounts each month, over 40,000 leads, close to 100 potential deals each month, and over 3,000 tasks worked each month.

Zoho Desk's seamless integration with Zoho CRM converted Gmail support emails into organized tickets, eliminating missed inquiries and enhancing customer support responsiveness. 99 Calls processes over 3,000 client support emails and text messages per month through Zoho Desk.

Zoho Books automated invoicing, reducing manual errors and administrative burdens while consolidating client interactions for improved support continuity. Through Zoho Books, 99 Calls sends out over 800 invoices each month and receives over 800 payments each month.

Zoho Analytics provided advanced reporting tools with real-time dashboards, empowering data-driven decision-making and enabling the team to adapt strategies with precision.

Additionally, Zoho Voice integrated phone communication directly into Zoho CRM, reducing implementation costs, simplifying accessibility, and automatically recording call data for comprehensive client management. Through Zoho Voice, 99 Calls handles over 1,200 calls per month.

These implementations significantly boosted efficiency, strengthened client satisfaction, and fostered better collaboration across teams, positioning 99 Calls to focus on delivering exceptional service while achieving sustainable growth.

In conclusion, 99 Calls successfully transformed its operations with Zoho’s comprehensive suite of tools. By addressing their initial pain points, the company now enjoys improved organization, productivity, and client satisfaction, empowering them to concentrate on their core mission of delivering high-quality telecommunications solutions.