We're a fiduciary Registered Investment Advisor specializing in retirement planning, and we've committed to Zoho One as the operating system for the entire firm. We need an experienced Zoho consultant to design and build it out end to end.

Our CRM is already largely configured and our data is loaded, so that piece needs refinement rather than a rebuild. The rest is still ahead of us: adding a service desk, migrating our accounting, moving our automations, consolidating password management, and standing up an internal knowledge center. We want it architected by someone who has built this depth of system before and understands how the pieces connect.

The single most important requirement: everything has to be built to scale. We're adding advisors and support staff intentionally over the next several years, so we need to be able to add users without breaking analytics, dashboards, workflows, permissions, or automations. Role-based structure, ownership rules, and reporting need to be designed for that from day one, not retrofitted later.

Scope of work

1. Zoho CRM refinement for financial services data

Note that our CRM is already substantially set up and our data is already in it. This part of the job is refinement rather than a build from scratch.

Review of what we've built and recommendations on what should change before we scale

Custom fields, layouts, modules and record types adjusted so they match how an advisory firm actually tracks people, including leads, prospects, and clients

Household or family grouping so related contacts roll up correctly

Lifecycle stages that reflect our actual pipeline rather than generic sales stages

2. Sales process documentation and tracking

Our full prospect-to-client process built into the CRM as documented, repeatable stages with the right required fields and triggers at each step

Specific conversion and activity metrics captured automatically and surfaced in analytics, including lead source performance, stage-to-stage conversion, time in stage, and close rates

Dashboards that stay accurate as advisors are added, with reporting available at both the individual advisor and firm-wide level

3. Insurance and annuity account tracking

A structure for tracking accounts held away from our custodian, with insurance accounts (annuities) as a first-class record type

Fields for carrier, product, contract number, issue date, premium, surrender schedule and term, and commission detail, all tied back to the client record and reportable in analytics

4. Integrations

Calendly: leads captured automatically into the CRM, deduplicated against existing records, and categorized by meeting type and source

Kit (formerly ConvertKit): two-way sync so CRM status and tagging stay aligned with our email marketing segments

Zoom Phone and Zoom SMS: calls and texts logged automatically to the correct contact record as activity and notes

Zoho WorkDrive: each client contact synced to their document folder so files are reachable directly from the contact record, with a consistent folder structure applied to new clients automatically

5. Zoho Desk, built from scratch

Full implementation including ticket types, queues, SLAs, assignment rules, and automations

Tickets easy to create, especially by forwarding an email or a text message

Tickets tied to the corresponding CRM contact so service history is visible from the client record

6. Xero to Zoho Books migration

Full migration of our accounting data from Xero to Zoho Books

Integrated into firm reporting and dashboards

Permissions locked down so financial data is restricted to specific users rather than open to everyone in the organization

7. Make.com to Zoho Flow migration

Rebuild our existing Make automations in Zoho Flow, with documentation of what each flow does and how to modify it

8. Bitwarden to Zoho Vault migration

Migration of credentials with a permission structure that supports adding users cleanly

9. Zoho Learn

Build out Zoho Learn as our internal knowledge center from scratch, including the space and category structure, article templates, and search

Permission structure that controls who can view and who can author, and that lets us add new staff into the right access level without reorganizing the library

Connected to onboarding so a new hire has a clear path through the material

10. Handoff

Written documentation of the build, including field definitions, automation logic, and the process for onboarding a new user without breaking anything

Training for our team so we can operate and extend the system after the engagement ends

Required qualifications

Extensive, demonstrable experience with the Zoho suite, specifically CRM, Desk, Books, Analytics, Flow, Vault, WorkDrive and Learn. Please tell us which of these you've personally implemented and at what scale

A working understanding of US financial services terminology so we can discuss the business without translating every term

Proven experience architecting Zoho for growing teams, where users were added later without rebuilding reporting or automations

Experience with data migrations into Zoho, including preserving historical dates and record integrity

Clear written communication and availability for regular calls during US Mountain Time business hours

Willingness to sign a confidentiality and non-solicitation agreement before starting. This is not negotiable. You'll have access to client data, and we treat that access seriously

Strongly preferred

Prior Zoho CRM implementation for an RIA, wealth management firm, or insurance agency

Familiarity with annuity and insurance commission tracking

Experience integrating Zoho with Calendly, Zoom Phone, and an email marketing platform

To apply

Please don't send a generic proposal. Instead, tell us:

Which Zoho apps you've implemented yourself, and the size of the firms you built them for

Whether you've worked with a financial services or insurance client, and what that build involved

How you'd approach designing the permission and ownership structure so we can add advisors later without damaging analytics

One example of a Make or Zapier automation set you've rebuilt in Zoho Flow

Your estimated timeline and how you'd prefer to structure the engagement

Confirmation that you're willing to sign our confidentiality and non-solicitation agreement