Automotive company optimizes global sales with Zoho CRM
Use Case
A leading car manufacturer providing connected services like telematics, remote diagnostics, vehicle monitoring, and digital service subscriptions across global markets to its customers to support its digital mobility initiatives optimized its global sales with Zoho CRM. To support their growing operations, they needed a centralized CRM for deal governance and quotation management. The organization manages business operations across multiple countries and requires structured approval workflows to maintain sales governance.
The organization's sales function is divided into multiple business units, each governed by its respective business unit leader. They handle end-to-end sales processes from lead qualification to deal closure, with a strong focus on financial accuracy and process control. The organization's core value proposition is delivering reliable connected mobility solutions while ensuring efficient and compliant sales operations.
When the process broke down, the organization faced too much reliance on manual effort, approval delays, incomplete data, and limited visibility into their process governance. This affected their ability to close deals efficiently and maintain financial visibility across regions.
Requirements
Automatic business unit leader assignment based on department
The organization was divided into multiple business units depending on the tech stack they build and support, each managed by a business unit leader. They needed the CRM to automatically assign an appropriate business unit leader based on the selected primary business unit or department to ensure proper ownership and accountability within the sales process. Since the organization operates in multiple countries and manages deals across different regions, the CRM should automatically use the appropriate currency based on the region chosen in the deal record to ensure accurate financial representation.
Structured deal approval workflow
The organization required approval checkpoints at every stage of the deal lifecycle. The CRM should restrict unauthorized stage movement and ensure approvals are completed before progression. This helps maintain better sales governance and process compliance.
Structured quotation creation in the CRM
The organization required a standardized quotation process within the CRM. The quotation module should include custom fields, approval workflows, and automatic synchronization with deal values. The system should also provide field-level access control to prevent unauthorized changes to rejected quotations and sensitive financial data.
Real-time margin calculations with validation
The organization needed to calculate gross margin and operating margin automatically within the CRM. These calculations should follow predefined business formulas and include validation checks to help ensure financial accuracy and consistency across all quotations and deals.
Integrated communication channels for customer notifications
The organization needed a unified communication process for customer notifications. The CRM should support automated communication for quotations, approvals, and related updates to improve customer communication and ensure timely information sharing.
Solution
Features in use
Automated deal governance and approval management
Zoho CRM was configured to support multi-region sales operations through a combination of layout rules, Client Scripts, and workflow automation. Layout rules are used to display region-specific fields dynamically based on the selected region within the deal record and ensure that users captured only relevant information. Client Scripts then automatically populate the appropriate currency when a region is selected, eliminating manual entry and ensuring accurate financial representation across different country entities. To strengthen sales governance, the organization configured workflow rules to automatically assign a business unit leader based on the selected Primary business unit, and thereby ensure clear ownership and accountability for every deal.
A structured deal governance process was implemented using Zoho CRM's Blueprint feature to control deal progression from qualification through ongoing engagement stages. The deal lifecycle has been mapped into predefined stages, and Blueprint transitions were configured to enforce a standardized sales process.
They applied validation rules in key transitions to ensure mandatory information (deal value, margin details, quotations, and supporting documents) are presented before users can move the deal to the next stage. Approval processes have been configured for critical deal stages that require review from management, while workflow rules automatically trigger approval requests and stakeholder notifications. This implementation ensures controlled deal progression, compliance with approval policies, and improved visibility throughout the sales lifecycle.
Custom quote management and deal synchronization
To support the organization's quotation management requirements, the company opted to use a custom Estimate module created in Zoho CRM instead of the standard Quotes module. Custom fields such as Quote Number, Version Number, Revenue Model, Project Type, Margin Details, and Approval List were configured within the module to capture all information required for quotation preparation and review. A lookup relationship was established between Deals and Estimates, and workflow automation was implemented to automatically populate key details such as currency, deal value, and customer information from the associated Deal record when a new Estimate is created. Lookup filters were configured on the Deal selection field to display only deals that have reached the Ongoing Engagement stage, which ensures that quotations can be created only for approved sales opportunities.
Quotation governance and approval control
To prevent unauthorized changes after a rejection, the company configured record locking in the approval process to automatically lock quotation records when they're rejected. Validation rules were implemented to ensure all mandatory quotation details are completed before a quotation can be submitted for approval, improving data accuracy and consistency. Also, role-based permissions and field-level security were configured to restrict unauthorized modifications to critical quotation data. This configuration established a controlled quotation governance framework, safeguarded sensitive financial information, and ensured compliance with the organization's approval policies.
Automated margin calculation and financial validation
The organization developed real-time margin calculation scripts for gross margin and operating margin based on predefined business formulas. These formulas are analyzed, documented, and automated in Zoho CRM to ensure real-time financial visibility. Automated percentage-based financial calculations have been implemented on the edit page using Client Scripts, which reduces manual effort and the risk of errors. They've ensured consistency in terms of currency and financial values across connected modules via synchronization and validation rules.
Automated customer communication
The company configured an IMAP integration to enable email communication along with approved quotations and ensure that customers receive quotations through their preferred communication channels. They also integrated with WhatsApp to provide a faster and more accessible communication channel for customer notifications. Workflow automations were introduced and demonstrated to automate both email and WhatsApp notifications based on approval actions that decision makers perform in Zoho CRM, which helps streamline communication and reduce manual effort.
Result
The implementation provided enhanced visibility and scalability across the organization, allowing teams to track deals, quotations, and financial metrics in real time, and make more informed business decisions.
*Please note that the solution described here is developed for a real use case of a Zoho customer. All names, identifying details, and screenshots have been anonymized to retain privacy.
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