In Zoho CRM, you can create deals by:

• Entering data in the deal details form: You can manually fill in the Deal details gathered from various external sources.
• Importing deals from external sources : You can gather data through various sources and import the CSV and XLS files into Zoho CRM.
• Converting lead to deal : On lead conversion, contacts, accounts and deals can be created.

To understand the list of Zoho defined standard fields for Deals, click here .

 Create Deals Individually

You can create deals individually by:

• Filling in the details in the deal creation form.
• Cloning the deal with a few changes from the existing deal details

To create deals individually

1. In the Deals module, click New Deal.
2. In the Create Deal page, enter the deal details.
3. Click Save.

To clone deal

1. In the Deals tab, click a particular deal that is to be cloned.
2. In the Deal Details page, click More icon > Clone.
3. In the Clone Deal page, modify the required details.
4. Click Save.

 Switch between Deals views

The Deals module offers two types of views - List view and Stage view. While the list view displays all the deals one after the other in the order you have sorted them, the Stage view categorizes the deals based on the Deal Stage.

 List View

The Deals list view displays the deals one after the other in rows and columns. The list view is helpful when you wish to see the maximum details of your deals at one glace. For example, you wish to see the deals, the deal owner, amount, closing date, stage, lead source etc you can customize the list view columns and view all the deals and their details in a single page, one after after the other.

 Stage view

The Stage view is helpful when you specifically want to see view deals categorized by their stages. A single glance at the Stage view will tell you which deals are in the Closed Won stage, how many in the Closed Lost stage, Negotiation/Review stage and so on and so forth. This view is also applicable when you customize the Deal Stages.

The deals under each stage presents the following pieces of information:

• Deal Name
• Deal Amount
• Account
• Closing date
• Deal owner (on mouse-hover)
• Open activity associated with the deal

Clicking on the deal will take you to the Deals details page.

 Work with the Deals Details page

Once you have created a deal, you can view the details of the deal in the record's details page. The details page of a deal presents information related to the deal - for example, accounts and contacts related to the deal, activities, notes, events, emails and so on - in a single location.

To view thelaccounts details page

1. Click the Deals module.
2. Click the desired deal from the Deals list view.
3. You will see the details page of the deal.

Here is a quick-tour of the Deal's details page:

1. Switch between the Info and Timeline views.

• Info - Displays related lists and links assoicated the the deal
• Timeline - Displays a history of actions performed on the deal's details page (in the last six months).

• Edit - Allows you to edit the record.
• More icon - Displays further options that you can perform for the account.
• Business card view: View top 5 fields related to the account. You can customize the business card view  a deal.
• Related Lists Section- Navigate to the desired related list from this section. You can add a new related list as well as add new entries to an exisiting related list from this section.
  
  
• Quick stage-update section - Update the Stage and Closing date of a deal quickly using the quick stage-update section.
• View related information such as Next Action and Contact details.

 Associate Deals with Other Records

You can create a 360-degrees view of the deal to display all the associated details, such as open activities, history of the completed activities, contacts, products, sales stage history, attachments, and notes.

In the Deal Details page, you can update the following:

• Sales Stage History: To view the history of the sales stage
• Competitors: To associate competitors
• Attachments: To attach documents
• Notes: To add notes
• Open Activities: To create tasks and events
• Closed Activities: To display the completed tasks and events
• Products: To add products
• Quotes: To create quote for the deals
• Sales Orders: To create sales orders for the deal
• Contact Roles : To select contacts associated
• Emails: To send emails to the primary contact of deal
• Cases: To create cases

 Associate Competitors with Deal

Most companies prefer to purchase products after analyzing different vendors. If you are working within a highly competitive market, where your competitors are directly competing with you in being awarded the deal, it is always better to know their strengths and weaknesses well in advance so that you can propose your offering in a better way.

This feature enables you to add the competitor's strengths and weaknesses.

To associate competitors with deals

1. Click the Deals tab.
2. In the Deals Home page, select the required deal.
3. In the Deal Details page, the competitor details, if any, are displayed.
   • Click Competitor Name , Website , Strengths , or Weaknesses links to sort the display order of the records.
   • Click the relevant Edit or Del link to modify or delete the record respectively.
4. Click New and do the following:
   • Enter the Competitor Name.
   • Enter the competitor's Website.
   • Enter the Strengths and Weaknesses in the respective text boxes.
5. Click Save.

 Map Contact Roles

While prospecting, you may need to contact different people (contacts) to finalize the sales deal. It is always better to know the contact's role in your prospecting organization, so that you always have the correct discussion with the right person. For example, explaining about product price and discounts is always better with the Financial Manager, whereas explaining product features is better with the Product Manager. This kind of approach helps you to negotiate with the prospecting organization in a better way and minimize the sales lead-time.

To map contact roles

1. Click the Deals tab.
2. In the Deals Home page, select the required deal.
3. In the Deals Details page, the contact details, if any, are displayed under Contact Roles section.
   • Click Contact Name , Phone , Email , or Role Name links to sort the display order of the records.
   • Click the relevant Remove link to delete the record.
     
4. Click Add Contact Role.
5. In the Contact Roles Mapping page, for each contact select the role from the Contact Role drop-down list.
6. Select the check box(es) of the contacts that you want to add.
   To associate all the contacts , select the select all check box.
   
7. Click Save.

 Customize Contact Roles

While prospecting, there is a need to contact different people (contacts) to close the sales deal. Contact Roles helps in knowing the role of the contact in the prospecting organization and then having the correct discussion with the right person. For instance, explaining details about the product price and discounts is always better with the Financial Manager where as product features should be discussed with the Product Manager.

By default, some of the contact roles such as, Decision Maker, Product Management, Purchasing and other roles are available. However, the contact roles can be customized according to specific business processes.

Availability

To customize contact roles values

1. Log in to Zoho CRM with Administrator privileges.
2. Click Settings > Setup > Customization > Fields > Deals > Contact Roles.
3. In the Edit Contact Roles page, do the following:
   • Click Add Role or Delete Role links, if needed.
     
   • Modify the existing roles from the Contact Role text box.
4. Click Save after updating the contact roles.

 Set up Big Deal Alert

You can use the Big-deal Alert to notify your management or colleagues about a chance of being awarded a big deal that you would like to share with them. Sometimes, executive board members may be interested in knowing all of the Big-deal information well in advance. You can send the Big-deal alert as an e-mail notification to all the Zoho CRM users or to the selected users and colleagues not registered as Zoho CRM users. By default, there is a Big Deal Alert in Zoho CRM that you can modify and use.

To configure big deal alert

1. Click Settings > Setup > Automation > Workflow Rules.
2. In the Workflow Rules page, select Deals from the List of Rules drop-down list.
3. Click Big Deal Rule from the list of rules.
4. In the Rule Details page, the default criteria is " Amount >= 1000 and the probability = 100 ".
5. Click Edit to modify the Rule Details.
6. Under Actions > Instant Actions the Related Alerts, Tasks and Field Updates are listed.
   You can change them as per your requirements.
7. Click Save.

 Configure Sales Stage Picklist

To add or modify pick list value

1. Click Setup > Customization > Fields > Deals.
2. From the list of deal fields, click the Edit link corresponding to the Stage field.
3. Modify the existing details, and then click Save.