Sales managers and self-employed people in particular know this: it’s all about networking! Gathering contacts and gaining new customers rough them is essential. Mark Prévoteau knows this well. Through his work as a learning expert, facilitator, and consultant, targeting business professionals is at the heart of his work. Drawing on his years of expertise, he advises companies on digital training, teaches how to smartly and efficiently design training courses, and moderates corporate events of all kinds, both offline and online. So, if there’s anyone who speaks the language of entrepreneurs, it’s him.

He already advises more than 20 customers from various business areas on all aspects relating to junior staff and their progress – and at the same time expands his network through the multiplication factor generated by his seminars. And the most important thing? Maintaining these contacts, of course. “To do this professionally and efficiently, I needed a CRM as part of my business strategy,” says Mark. So off we go into the sea of possibilities.

India, USA, Germany and many more. As a global company, Zoho offers an extensive portfolio of certified partners worldwide. So, choosing is no problem – but the right service provider
who really understands your needs will still have to be found first. Mark Prévoteau went in search of specialists for this in the BNI entrepreneurial tool. And lo and behold: after only a short time he came across codafish.

“A web service provider that is also a certified Zoho partner – codafish won me over at first sight. It was clear to me at the initiation meeting that I wanted to work on this project with the team, as it was not only a good fit on a human level, but also on a project level: I wanted to have an agency where I could speak directly with the developer about what I wanted and
needed. –Mark Prévoteau –

This expectation is exactly the same as codafish’s approach. As a digital agency, it is our mission to set up applications according to the individual requirements of our customers.These were also defined with Mark at the beginning of the project phase.

Yes, the statement about it being a breeze… the team of codafish briefly laughed hysterically about it during the conception of the project plan. “It all went a little helter-skelter,” Mark laughs as he recalls the start. The reason for this was the recording of a podcast in which he presented himself and his venture. And of course, you can’t do that without offering potential new customers a website where they can get information, book consultations as well as seminars and be won over as leads.

“The project’s biggest challenge? The time“
– Mark Prévoteau –

Time really was of the essence. Challenge accepted; challenge completed. For  codafish, leaving the customer high and dry is out of the question. So, we rolled up our sleeves and got to work.

“We were all really pressed for time,” says Mark Prévoteau, but I immediately noticed how the whole team pitched in to help me. The predetermined structure flipped
around as a result, but that was clear to all of us. codafish made it all possible. The To Dos and project phases were in some cases discussed late in the evening or during weekend appointments, as our schedules simply did not allow it any other way. I even remember talking to Timo on the phone while I was on vacation skiing, right on the slopes. “Always ready” is just the right term for the collaboration, rapid service coordination was no problem, as it happened with Zoho Cliq. The result? A Zoho system set up for the podcast date!

Ready for takeoff. After the project was completed, we were able to breathe a sigh of relief. But that’s when the exciting part began for Mark – working with Zoho One! He is fascinated by what this tool can do, but was also glad to have codafish on his side when setting up the system.

“Timo took care of the basic framework and introduced me to the tools. Thank goodness, because I was overwhelmed at the beginning. I’ve tested other marketing tools in the past that were super complicated. So Zoho is the best solution for me, because it’s not so database-heavy and relatively intuitive,” Mark explains.

For him, the initial focus was on the Zoho CRM, Zoho Marketing Automation and Zoho TrainerCentral tools. Thanks to CRM, his customer and contact database is fully set up and connected to his website via Marketing Automation: 

codafish has integrated a newsletter service on markpre.de for this purpose, and built in lead management with an added goodie. This provides users with a free download upon registration. Naturally, the implementation of Zoho PageSense was also a key element for optimally tracking the activities on the website.

Lucky for Mark and all the companies that specialize in consulting: With Zoho TrainerCentral, Zoho launched a powerful new tool in the summer of 2022. This online training and consulting platform allows for appointment bookings, live sessions, and course uploads. A must-have for pré – even if all partners, including codafish, first had to familiarize themselves with the new module.

 “TrainerCentral was new territory for me, as it was for codafish. But we made a conscious decision to implement it and dived in together, testing out functionalities and exchanging ideas with Zoho Support.” Following the initial settling-in period, Mark is giving the first sessions on TrainerCentral and is excited to see how it turns out!

As stressful as it was, Mark would make the switch to Zoho time and time again. “I know already that Zoho CRM and Marketing Automation are a great fit for me. I have a similar first impression of Zoho TrainerCentral, and I’m looking forward to trialing it with customers,” says Mark, summing up the implementation. Zoho Books is already in use as well, but only on the sidelines at first. In general, the automated processes work well, which is why he will continue to use Books in the future and is already curious which of the many modules he will use.

Always on board: codafish.

Time pressure, restructuring, budget changes – throw the project challenge at us, we can handle it! This is because we at codafish find a solution for every problem and are there to advise you from minute 1 – from structure and project planning to implementation and training: we go the Zoho way with you hand in hand and set up the applications individually according to your requirements.