Agency setup programme

From pitch to retainer, agencies scale with Zoho One.

Leads, pitches, proposals, projects with time tracking and recurring billing: one end-to-end system that carries you from first contact to retainer renewal.

  • Pitches and retainers in one pipeline instead of across five tools
  • Proposals in minutes, not days, costed and send-ready
  • Client reporting at the click of a button from real project and time data
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Transformations

What we changed for real businesses.

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Case study·Germany

Lead Generation

A German lead-generation platform had web leads, bookings and CRM deals running in separate worlds.

Pain
  • Web leads landed in mailboxes and got lost in day-to-day work
  • Bookings appointments without an automatically linked deal
  • Every sales rep invented their own approach
  • No reliable numbers on where conversions actually came from
Gain
  • Every lead becomes a structured deal immediately
  • Standardised process from inquiry to closure
  • Deluge scripts performant, maintainable and documented
  • Marketing ROI clear per source and funnel stage
Project Duration ~2 months
Built with
Zoho CRMZoho FlowZoho Analytics
Case study·Germany

Consulting

A German management consultancy wanted to run on a fully integrated Zoho One platform from day one.

Pain
  • Multiple logins for every app in the daily workflow
  • Project billing required manual Excel mapping
  • DATEV handover ran on email attachments and follow-ups
  • Historical projects sat unlinked outside the CRM
Gain
  • One password unlocks the whole Zoho One ecosystem
  • Timelogs in Projects flow automatically into invoices in Books
  • Receipts move via auto-BCC to the tax advisor with no detour
  • Excel timelog mapping imports the legacy project history into CRM
Project Duration ~7 months
Built with
Zoho OneMicrosoft AzureZoho CRMZoho ProjectsZoho BooksDATEV
Case study·Germany

Reputation Management

A German reputation- and review-management provider needed a fast, fully automated path from website inquiry to customer review.

Pain
  • Website leads were keyed into the CRM manually, or not at all
  • Quotes were built as PDFs, slow to send, slow to answer
  • Prices had to be calculated by hand for every service combination
  • Post-payment review reminders simply got forgotten
Gain
  • Website API auto-creates every lead as a deal with campaign source
  • Email estimate is dispatched the moment the stage hits ANGEBOT
  • Dynamic prices compute from product × service unit
  • Automated sequence: pre-payment reminder → invoice → review reminder
Project Duration ~5 months
Built with
Zoho CRMZoho BooksAPI Integration
The problem

Full order book and still no overview?

At agencies the process usually breaks between new business, delivery and billing. The workload isn't the problem, it's that everything runs by hand and across too many channels.

  • Leads & pitches scattered

    Enquiries sit in inboxes, spreadsheets and notes that don't talk to each other. Nobody knows where each pitch stands.

  • Proposals take forever

    Every proposal is rebuilt from scratch, services and prices copied by hand. Days instead of hours before it goes out.

  • Retainers & reporting by hand

    Scope creep eats margins, hours land late in the system, and every monthly report is pieced together from several sources.

The solution

One system for the entire agency process

From lead to reporting, every mandate follows the same flow. New business, campaign and billing work off the same status, and nothing gets lost between the tools.

A creative marketing team reviewing a campaign mood board and printouts on a studio wall

Leads and pitches in one pipeline

Every enquiry lands in the CRM automatically and moves through a clear pitch pipeline. From first contact to won mandate, the team sees where everything stands at a glance.

Lead capturePitch pipelineZoho CRM
A marketer at a desk with printed creative materials and colour swatches

Proposals in one click, not a text editor

A proposal generator with your service packages and rates produces a send-ready proposal in minutes, consistent, costed and free of copy-paste.

Proposal generatorService cataloguePDF in 1 click
A marketing team presenting a campaign to a client in a bright agency meeting room

Projects, hours and reporting in one place

Retainers and campaigns run in Zoho Projects with time tracking, billing recurs in Books, and client reporting builds itself from the real data.

Zoho ProjectsTime trackingAuto reporting
Zoho · configured for marketing agencies

Your Zoho apps, tailored to the agency process.

No off-the-shelf CRM. We configure every app around your agency workflow: from lead and pitch to recurring billing and reporting.

Zoho CRM Search… + Add
Enquiry2
PERF
Google Ads Wöhrl
€ 24.000
BRND
Rebranding Lindemann
€ 32.500
Pitch1
PERF
Social-Funnel Kraftwerk
€ 28.900
Won1
BRND
Markenkampagne Vossberg
€ 64.000
Zoho CRM

CRM · Pitch Pipeline

Every enquiry as a deal: performance or brand, proposal value, stage and next step.

  • Pipeline by pitch stage
  • Performance & brand separated
  • Proposals in minutes
Zoho Books Search… + New
InvoiceClientDateAmountStatus
RE-2025-041Wöhrl GmbH12.05.2025€ 6.000 Paid
RE-2025-047Kraftwerk AG19.05.2025€ 9.500 Open
AZ-2025-012Vossberg Media02.06.2025€ 32.000 Deposit
RET-2025-06Lindemann & Co.03.06.2025€ 4.500 Draft
Zoho Books

Invoices & Retainers

Project invoices, deposits and recurring retainers in one place.

  • Retainers billed automatically
  • Deposit & final invoice
  • Open items in view
WorkDrive · Sign Search… + Upload
Clients›Vossberg Media›Campaign
Brief_BrandCampaign.pdf 12.05 approved
Retainer-Contract.pdf 14.05 awaiting signature
MediaPlan.xlsx 18.05 final
MonthlyReport_May.pdf — draft
WorkDrive · Sign

Briefs & Contracts

Briefs, assets and retainer contracts right on the client, including e-signature.

  • Everything filed on the client
  • E-signature built in
  • Versions & access
Zoho Projects Search… + Add
Brief & kickoff Mon
Concept & media plan Tue–Wed
Production & assets Thu
Launch & reporting Fri
Zoho Projects

Campaign planning

From brief to launch: every task scheduled and assigned.

  • Scheduled campaign steps
  • Team assignment
  • Progress live
Program & workflow

How we roll out Zoho One in your agency

We think our way into your workflow and see ourselves as a long-term development partner. Here are the four phases.

  1. AnalysisWe review your workflow from new business through the campaign to the invoice and find your biggest time sinks.
  2. ConceptWe design your processes in Zoho One and plan the Zoho architecture (business process mapping).
  3. ImplementationSetup, configuration, the automations and migration of your client, project and retainer data.
  4. SupportTraining for your team, fine-tuning and ongoing support, so the system becomes a fixed part of your everyday work.
Plus AI

More speed with AI, without extra effort.

AI takes over repetitive manual work; decisions and customer contact stay with your team.

  • Leads are scored by hand.
    Lead scoring

    Enquiries arrive pre-sorted in the pitch pipeline

    Incoming leads are read, scored for fit with Zoho Zia and routed to the right account with a priority. Your team sees at once which pitch is worth it, without sorting by hand.

  • Every pitch is written by hand.
    Pitch drafting

    Briefs and proposals draft themselves first

    From service packages and rates, the AI suggests a pitch and proposal draft in your agency's tone. Your team reviews, sharpens and signs off instead of starting from scratch.

  • Reports are pieced together by hand.
    Report summarisation

    Campaign reports and threads condensed in seconds

    Long data exports and email threads are summarised into key takeaways and next steps automatically. Client reporting comes prepared instead of being pieced together from several sources.

Contact

Ready to handle more mandates with the same team?

Let's find out in a free Zoho system review where your workflow holds the most potential. Non-binding, concrete and tailored to your agency. As an authorised Zoho partner we support you from setup to running operations.

● Free system review · no obligation

Open the Workflow Planner

We use your details only for the call. No spam.

Frequently asked

What you'll want to know before the call.

On a retainer, do we see when a client runs over their agreed hours allowance?

Yes. Logged time runs against each retainer's agreed allowance. You spot scope creep while you can still adjust or renegotiate, not only at month's end.

Do we still have to piece the monthly client report together by hand from several tools?

No. The report builds from the real project and time data in Zoho. Your team reviews and sharpens it instead of pulling figures from different sources every month.

How long does rolling out Zoho One take?

Depending on scope, typically a few weeks to a few months. After our first meeting we give you a rough estimate, and after the requirements meeting a realistic estimate for your specific business.

What does Zoho One cost?

Zoho One costs €37 per employee per month on an annual plan, or €45 per employee with monthly billing. That includes all 50+ Zoho apps. We show you which option fits your business in the consultation, including a comparison with your current tools if you like.

Do we have to re-enter our existing data?

No. We migrate existing customer, quote and job data into Zoho One as part of the implementation, provided it can be exported from your current system.

Can Zoho One connect to our existing tools?

In most cases yes. Google and Microsoft connect easily for email, calendar and drive, as do many other common applications. Beyond that, almost any system can be integrated individually via the Zoho API.

Does Zoho One suit smaller businesses and mobile teams?

Yes. Zoho One works for sole traders as well as growing teams. Your team accesses records, tasks and documents on the go via the app, even when out of the office.

Where is our data stored?

On request in Zoho's EU data centres, GDPR-compliant. Your data stays within the European legal space, an important point for businesses with sensitive customer and project data.

How much time does the project cost us day-to-day?

As little as possible. Your team is only involved at a few clearly agreed points, such as analysing the workflow, providing information and training, so your day-to-day work keeps running.