Comparing the Best CRMs 2018: ABLE vs. Zoho CRM

How ABLE Measures Up

In each installment of our “How ABLE Measures Up” series, we compare ABLE to another CRM tool on the market. We evaluate each CRM by system, features, and pricing structure in order to give you a good idea of how it measures up against ABLE, our CRM for accountants.

A quick comparison between ABLE and Zoho CRM appears below, followed by an in-depth, categorical analysis. We hope this will be helpful to you as you seek to find the CRM that is the best fit for your accounting firm!

 

About Zoho CRM

Zoho CRM is the one of the founding products of Zoho, a software company that focuses on creating apps for small- to mid-sized businesses. This CRM presents a wide range of email marketing tools, integration options, comprehensive reporting, and workflow automation features. Zoho CRM offers a free edition, limited to 3 users, along with four paid CRM packages priced in a tiered format.

 

About ABLE

ABLE is a business development solution for CPA firms that simplifies contact and pipeline management. Because CPAs have a limited amount of time to dedicate to tracking business development activities, users can quickly add information regarding contacts and deals, assess the status of their relationships to determine necessary actions, and build their personal brands.

 

Conclusions of the CRM Comparison

Zoho CRM is an efficient system. Its Professional and Enterprise editions are cost-effective on the face, however they don’t boast the power of the Ultimate edition. Integration with other Zoho apps is available but comes at an additional cost. The number of products and integrations available can make pinpointing the proper solution a challenge. While Zoho CRM’s transactional tools, such as automated lead conversion and matching, are impressive, it falls short in the area of relationship maintenance and development.

ABLE’s functionality centers on the theme of ‘doing smart well.’ Its primary focus is developing the top client, referral source, and prospect relationships that grow a CPA firm. Every feature addition and enhancement—all of which are included in every ABLE subscription—builds on that theme. With ABLE, it is possible to complete the bulk of the training in two hours, and ABLE is more cost-effective than Zoho CRM Ultimate, the analogous Zoho option. When it comes to accounting CRMs, ABLE is the ideal fit for CPA firms.

 

In-Depth Zoho CRM Comparison

Read on to learn more about how ABLE and Zoho CRM measure up to one another when it comes to systems, features, and pricing structures.

 

System Comparison

ABLE Zoho CRM System Comparison

 

Feature Comparison

To compare feature sets of the two platforms, we focused on four major components of successful business development: relationship management, internal collaboration, accountability tools, and content delivery.

 

Client Relationship Management

The core functionality of Zoho CRM is lead and contact management, combined with sales pipeline management and purchase control. Zoho CRM allows users to manage customer accounts, including monitoring, sorting, tracking, and forecasting. The system also allows users to make good use of social media, interfacing easily with Twitter and Facebook.

ABLE focuses on facilitating rapport between users and their most important contacts. By nurturing these relationships, ABLE users secure additional ongoing engagements. ABLE’s CRoPs Tiles system ensures the continuous support of its users’ most important clients, referrals, and prospects. CRoPs Tiles guide users in effectively managing their relationships.

 

Internal Collaboration

Both systems offer strong tools for team synergy and collaboration. In both CRMs, teams can stay on top of customer/client relationships and pending deals.

 

Accountability

At an additional charge, Zoho allows integration of their CRM with their Survey app. Users can sync customer surveys with the CRM in order to receive rapid notification of responses and share results with teammates.

With ABLE, everyone in the firm is aware of all pending tasks and deals, as well as who is responsible for them. This establishes a culture of responsibility, which drives action and growth. Additionally, users can assess client loyalty with the Net Promotor Score® Survey, benchmarking their progress, promoting high scores on future proposals, and uncovering any dissatisfaction before the relationship is lost. ABLE’s annual subscription includes this functionality. High NPS scores are useful to marketing teams in both promotions and future proposals. Additionally, the NPS survey helps users to uncover any customer dissatisfaction early on, giving them time to take steps in preserving relationships.

 

Content Delivery

The systems approach content delivery differently, largely due to the core intentions of the software (transactional vs. ongoing engagements).

Zoho CRM’s Document Library stores sales collateral in a central location in order to boost productivity. The purpose of the library is to store simply sales documents/materials to be shared and accessed easily among users.

ABLE’s Thought Leadership enables users to send clients the right piece of content at the right time. Articles are added to ABLE’s Content Library weekly, and users can share their own content or articles if they wish. The articles and summaries are professionally curated, categorized, and tagged for easy access. Users need not integrate in order to leverage Thought Leadership.

 

Pricing

Zoho CRM’s pricing model is complex because the platform offers tiered levels of products and services. The Enterprise product is their most popular tier. Zoho integrates a variety of other apps (such as Zoho Survey, mentioned above) with their CRM, at an additional cost.

ABLE Zoho CRM Price Comparison

 

 

ABLE not only beats out Zoho CRM as the best CRM for accountants, it also measures up well against other available tools. View our full CRM comparison to find out more.

Are you wondering if ABLE is the right CRM for your accounting firm? Schedule a demo today! Our team will show you how ABLE can make a difference in YOUR business.