Uncategorized | Apr 16, 2020
Every company, however large or small, needs a customer relationship management tool, or CRM. The big question is: which one is most suitable for your business or are they all more or less the same? The answer, in short, is that some are better than others and it does depend on the nature of your business as to which might be more suited to your needs.
The aim of this top five is to identify some of the leading CRM options available to help your business become more efficient and more productive. However, before we get to that, it might be worth taking a closer look at exactly what a CRM actually does for your business.
The ultimate aim of the CRM solutions available today is to save you time, money and generally make your life in sales or sales support much easier. Imagine a tool that could allow all conversations to be seen by everyone without the need to email the content. CRMs allow everyone in the organization (or a pre-determined group) access to data — whether that’s on their desktop, laptop or working remotely.
Some CRM providers offer free usage but, as with most free options, the functionality that you may want is usually in the next version up. Once you realise that an investment is well worth it, the question becomes about finding the most suitable CRM for you.
Which is where our top five best CRMs can help you excel in sales:
The aim of this top five is to identify some of the leading CRM options available to help your business become more efficient and more productive. However, before we get to that, it might be worth taking a closer look at exactly what a CRM actually does for your business.
The ultimate aim of the CRM solutions available today is to save you time, money and generally make your life in sales or sales support much easier. Imagine a tool that could allow all conversations to be seen by everyone without the need to email the content. CRMs allow everyone in the organization (or a pre-determined group) access to data — whether that’s on their desktop, laptop or working remotely.
Some CRM providers offer free usage but, as with most free options, the functionality that you may want is usually in the next version up. Once you realise that an investment is well worth it, the question becomes about finding the most suitable CRM for you.
Which is where our top five best CRMs can help you excel in sales:
1. ACT
ACT, was originally designed as a ‘contact management solution’ and over the years it has become a well respected and formidable sales tool which keeps on giving value. It allows you to create a simple database where you can essily run queries to find the information you want.
It’s a system that records all conversations, with multiple users being able to access the same information. It’s also customizable so you can make sure that it fits exactly into your company.
Summary
Despite being around since 1986 (the prehistoric days of CRMs) ACT still has a lot to offer.
It’s a no nonsense, easy to use solution. The only downside is that it like most CRMs, it can become expensive depending on the different versions and functionality.
2. Salesforce
If money is no object and you want amazing functionality and the ability to integrate it across your organization, then you should go straight to Salesforce. It’s probably one of the most open systems out there and, like all of the larger CRMs, it also offers marketing automation and customer service.
Couple this with their massive AppExchange and a huge client and user base, and it’s not hard to see why Salesforce is so popular. Their easy customization and reporting are both particular strong points. You can easily create a report within minutes and custom fields are never a problem.
Salesforce remains the backbone of many companies, but be aware that once you add marketing automation and some of the other add-ons, it can become expensive.
Summary
Having data at your fingertips and using one of the original SaaS products will probably help you understand your clients, your prospects and your sales opportunities. They even have a version for up to 10 users.
3. HubSpot
HubSpot started as a marketing automation platform but evolved naturally to become a CRM. With so much crossover with email marketing it seemed to make sense.
Some would argue that it’s best to keep your CRM clean and separate from any email marketing activities. Certainly, using an email marketing platform like Mailchimp or Constant Contact could save embarrassment when managing undeliverable emails, but the compromise is that there are two sets of data to manage.
Summary
Hubspot is a well-rounded product that offers a totally free entry-level solution which can and will add value. However, it does become expensive if you have a large email list.
4. Pipedrive
Pipedrive really excels from a sales perspective. It’s intuitive and has an easy to use interface.
Additionally, it can be customized to fit every environment and is really suited to smaller organisations that want to track sales. The software can be set up and used remarkably quickly because of the way the whole solution is put together. It also manages duplicates and its mobile user interface is far superior to those of some of its competitors.
As with most CRMs there is the option to upgrade to a more functionally-rich solution. The mid-range option offers email marketing and workflows, while the professional version is more team centric. It’s perfect for smaller companies, as it is intuitive and straightforward to use.
Summary
If you want to manage your sales pipeline efficiently and close more business, then Pipedrive is a tool that helps you do it.
5. Capsule CRM
For many businesses, before CRMs existed, they had to rely on spreadsheets and Outlook to manage their sales and marketing data. It was unwieldy and complicated and wasn’t easy to move all of their data.
Capsule solves this and has several cool integrations and connectors. This includes Gmail, Outlook, Mailchimp, Xero and, more recently, QuickBooks.
The layout is intuitive and very easy to set up and customize. The general look and feel is pleasant and it only takes a few clicks to get to where you want to be. Populating your sales pipeline is as simple as managing each sales opportunity. Being able to drag and drop each opportunity as they reach your defined milestones is a great feature which keeps you involved, and everyone can then see what stage the opportunities are at.
With Capsule you get 13 standard reports. However, if you are on the ‘Teams’ plan you can connect to Google Data Studio (Google’s own business intelligence platform) to create customised reports. This is really helpful if you want to slice and dice performance and data.
As with some of the other solutions, there is a free version for up to 2 users and 250 contacts which for the smaller company may just be enough, otherwise one of their affordable paid plans will allow you to benefit from this likeable CRM system.
Capsule solves this and has several cool integrations and connectors. This includes Gmail, Outlook, Mailchimp, Xero and, more recently, QuickBooks.
The layout is intuitive and very easy to set up and customize. The general look and feel is pleasant and it only takes a few clicks to get to where you want to be. Populating your sales pipeline is as simple as managing each sales opportunity. Being able to drag and drop each opportunity as they reach your defined milestones is a great feature which keeps you involved, and everyone can then see what stage the opportunities are at.
With Capsule you get 13 standard reports. However, if you are on the ‘Teams’ plan you can connect to Google Data Studio (Google’s own business intelligence platform) to create customised reports. This is really helpful if you want to slice and dice performance and data.
As with some of the other solutions, there is a free version for up to 2 users and 250 contacts which for the smaller company may just be enough, otherwise one of their affordable paid plans will allow you to benefit from this likeable CRM system.
Summary
Capsule is one of the most underrated systems out there. You can eliminate working from multiple spreadsheets, create automation and get your data quickly. All of this means that you can run your business like a pro and keep your clients happy.
