1. Notes: The Foundation of Team Communication  

The Notes section is one of the most valuable tools in Zoho CRM. It provides a simple yet powerful way to document all communication, ensuring that every team member knows exactly what’s happening with a lead.

Imagine a situation where one person handles a sales call and another conducts the demo. Without detailed notes, vital information could get lost in translation. By documenting every interaction in the Notes section, the demo specialist can immediately see the client’s needs, preferences, and challenges.

Benefits of using Notes:

• Maintain complete context for every client interaction

• Eliminate the need for time-consuming handover meetings

• Ensure consistent communication across your sales team

With clear, up-to-date notes, your entire team can provide seamless service — no matter who interacts with the client next.

2. Open and Closed Activities: Tracking Progress Made Simple  

Activities help you manage the actions linked to a record — tasks, calls, and meetings.

• Open Activities: These are ongoing or upcoming actions that need attention.

• Closed Activities: These are completed tasks or past interactions that serve as historical data.

You can easily add a new activity by clicking Add New, where you can select a task, meeting, or call.

Examples of each activity:

• Task: “Create monthly sales report” or “Send contract to Bob.”

• Meeting: A scheduled Zoom session or an in-person demo.

• Call: A phone call that can automatically log through integrations like RingCentral.

When you complete a task, simply mark it as Closed — it will automatically move from your Open Activities list to your Closed Activities list. This keeps your workspace clean and your progress visible at all times.

3. Attachments: Keep All Documents in One Place  

In the Attachments section, you can store all relevant files — NDAs, agreements, PDFs, or any other documents related to the lead.

This centralized approach ensures no one wastes time hunting through emails or shared drives. Every file is accessible within the record, making collaboration smoother and documentation more reliable.

4. Products: Link Your Services and Offers  

If your business manages multiple services or products, you can associate them directly with a lead or contact.

This helps your sales team know exactly what each client is interested in and ensures that quotes, proposals, or demos are customized to the right offering.

By connecting your Products module with leads, you’re creating a direct line between your offerings and your client conversations. Note that this isn’t an out-of-the-box feature and will need an addition of a lookup field.

5. Emails: Gain Full Visibility into Communication  

The Emails section is one of the most critical components in Zoho CRM. Once you’ve configured your email integration, every sent and received email related to that record will appear here.

This transparency ensures that no conversation slips through the cracks.

• If a salesperson is away, another team member can review the email thread and continue the conversation without delay.

• Managers can refer back to emails to confirm commitments, review tone, or clarify client expectations.

You can even send an email directly from this section by clicking Compose Email, without leaving the record view.

Tip: Integrating your CRM with your email provider (like Gmail or Outlook) ensures that every message automatically syncs (even those sent outside Zoho), giving your team real-time visibility.

6. Invited Meetings and Campaigns  

The Invited Meetings section displays all the meetings associated with a lead — whether it’s a sales call, a demo, or a follow-up.

Similarly, the Campaigns section shows any marketing campaigns the lead is part of. This helps your team identify which outreach efforts are working best and allows for more personalized engagement.

7. Zoho Sign and Attachments for Agreements  

Using Zoho Sign, you can manage and view all agreements and signed documents related to a lead — directly inside the record.

Whether it’s a contract, quote, or NDA, this integration keeps everything organized and traceable. It’s similar to DocuSign, but fully integrated within the Zoho ecosystem, streamlining your workflow. Note that this isn’t an out-of-the-box solution and will require you to install certain extensions to work.

8. SMS History and ABR Communication Extension  

Here’s where Amazing Business Results (ABR) adds a unique touch.

In many CRMs, the default SMS history only shows outgoing messages, which can make tracking full conversations difficult. ABR solved this by creating a custom extension that works with RingCentral, Twilio, and Zoho Voice.

This enhancement lets you view the entire conversation thread, not just one side. It gives your team a complete picture of client communication — from messages sent to responses received.

This custom integration exemplifies ABR’s mission: improving Zoho CRM’s usability and giving businesses smarter tools for clearer, faster communication.

9. SalesIQ: Track Website Activity  

With Zoho SalesIQ integrated, you can monitor your lead’s website behavior right from their CRM record.

See which pages they visited, how often they returned, and what they interacted with. This data helps your sales team tailor their approach based on the client’s real interests and engagement patterns.

10. The Power of Centralized Data  

The magic of Related Lists lies in data unification.
Instead of searching through spreadsheets, emails, and scattered tools, your team can access everything — notes, documents, emails, and activity logs — all in one record.

This approach doesn’t just save time; it builds accountability, improves collaboration, and gives leadership a clear view of every client’s journey.