Running a business is not an easy task even when an organization is in the pink of its health.

More so in today’s competitive times when a healthy relationship with the customers has become a sine-qua-non for business growth.

As a business grows, it acquires more clients, and in such times, the efforts of the sales and marketing teams may not be enough. Hence, a need is felt for marketing automation and an effective process that can track sales leads and manage contacts.

The invention of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software, thus, came as a boon for enterprises to build on customer profiles. We will get into the details of how.

A few more questions ring the mins: How do you select an appropriate CRM software for your company? And how do we ensure that it fulfills all your goals and that, too, within your budget?

In this blog, we will discuss all about a CRM software and how businesses can choose the best among so many.

What is CRM?

CRM is a technology employed by businesses to manage interactions with customers and potential customers right from the first instance of the meeting. An all-in-one CRM tool helps businesses establish a unique and seamless experience with customers. by providing a full view of customer interactions, keeping track of records, and facilitating team collaboration.

CRM software was, until now, mainly directed towards enterprise-level companies. But the good news is that many platforms offer plans for startups and local retailers. But in both cases, finding the best CRM remains challenging.

Top 5 CRMs for small businesses

Let’s have a glimpse at five outstanding CRM options. Each of these solutions will help you optimize your processes.

  • Hubspot
  • Salesforce
  • Zoho
  • Honeybook
  • Nutshell

1.  Hubspot – enhances consumer support

Keen to know about easy and free to use a CRM platform? Have a look.

One of the best CRMs for small organizations is the Hubspot CRM. It provides a cost-effective CRM solution during the initial stages. It allows one to manage the leads, streamline consumer service, increase leads, develop a website, and boost sales.

Hubspot CRM is a free service that includes inbound marketing tools that direct blog posts to search engines while also providing suitable email marketing.

Organizations will be able to manage workflows for better project management. One can also track all client interactions for the team. Plus, for maximum efficiency, one can effortlessly combine it with Google Workplace (G Suite), Office 365, or Zapier.

Note: Even though the free edition lacks several capabilities, it is still a viable alternative to manage day-to-day business operations.

The CRM by Hubspot has several valuable features, including:

  • A visually appealing account dashboard.
  • Can help manage pipelines.
  • Tools for email marketing.
  • Scheduling software.
  • Management of advertisements.
  • Ticketing and live chat are both available.
  • Instruments for increasing productivity.

2.  Salesforce

Salesforce has grown to become a major player in the CRM sector and is a useful tool for both big and small firms. With Salesforce, one can take prospects on a tailored path to become a customer and increase sales with intelligent marketing methods such as SMS, emails, social media, and digital advertising.

Salesforce services include custom reports and dashboards, enterprise-level security, guided onboarding, automated email and meeting monitoring, email and social media support, and other features. Salesforce begins at USD 25 per month per user for a small business.

If you demand advanced customization choices at a reasonable price, it’s worth investigating.

3.  Zoho

Zoho is a cloud-based software package that has been designed to provide everything you need to manage a successful small business. It has a robust set of sales and marketing features, online productivity tools, and SaaS apps.

The Zoho CRM software aids in the promotion of brands, sales management, contact management, and customer service, among other things. It includes an Artificial Intelligence (AI) voice assistant for creating intelligent dashboards and forecasting business trends, multi-channel contact management, mobile apps to maintain a team on the same page, data security built-in, extensive analytic reports, and sales lead management.

Zoho can also assist you in making the most of your social media channels. For example, you can use your CRM account to track consumer feedback on social media sites, import leads, and monitor posts.

The free version offers the following features:

  • A user-friendly dashboard.
  • Options for basic sales and marketing automation.
  • Typical reporting.
  • Management of the workflow.
  • Options for personalization.
  • Templates for emails.
  • Collaboration software.

4.  Honeybook

Since 2013, Honeybook has been delivering CRM solutions for small businesses. The software’s user-friendly interface makes it effortless to create customer pipelines. The solution allows small business owners to create custom automation in addition to a sophisticated CRM database that can hold an infinite number of customer notes, communications, data, and past projects.

Features include the following:

  • Templates that can be customized and are legally binding.
  • Client communications by the project are centralized and straightforward to use.
  • Form creation and branding possibilities are also available.
  • All major banks accept in-platform payments and direct deposits.

5.  Nutshell

Nutshell is a sophisticated CRM software well-known for its simple and intuitive interface, ideal for B2B sales teams. The sales and marketing tools allow you to access and build customer dialogue histories and leverage an integration of lead form to convert visitors into buyers.

One may also use the Android or iOS applications to keep track of meeting notes, edit contacts, scan business cards, and receive alerts to help you generate new leads. A few features are leaderboards, action reminders, a configurable sales pipeline, team notifications, and phone recordings.

How do I pick the right CRM software for my company?

It is critical to select CRM software that is compatible with your requirements. To figure out which software is ideal for your firm, you’ll need to do a lot of research. Many software have identical functions, but the user experience, integration, and bundles vary. Here are some crucial terms you might come across during your investigation.

  • Tasks – You may use tasks to build to-do lists and alerts for contact points, members of the team, opportunities, and organizations.
  • Lead – A lead is a contact who is not presently doing business with you but may be interested in doing so in the future. Lead stage contacts might originate through marketing campaigns, an email list, people interacting with an ad, and other sources.
  • Pipeline – Your sales pipeline offers a comprehensive view of all of your ongoing and potential income opportunities. You can see how an opportunity proceeds from the first contact to being won or lost in a sales pipeline.
  • Reports – Reports provide you with a comprehensive portrayal of who your clients are, what deals are taking place, and why deals are closing or not.
  • Opportunities – A possible sales contract or revenue-generating occurrence is referred to as an opportunity.

A Reliable CRM should offer you the following benefits:

  • Increase revenue and profitability:With more consistent communication with the customers, organizations can build stronger relationships, improving profitability.
  • Serve clients with efficiency: With all the information available in one platform, firms will be able to know them better and, thus, serve better with knowledge of previous discussions.
  • Increase team collaboration. A CRM allows multiple teams to work together and helps establish consistent communication across your organization.

When is the right time to adopt a CRM?

It’s common for startups and small businesses to use an email marketing tool to store their leads with the list of customers recorded in a spreadsheet. This system works but only until a specific time period. With companies registering growth, it becomes difficult to keep track of everything.

When stored in different places, information may lead to discrepancies between different databases. It’s as simple as the slow down of your team if anyone person forgets to fill the spreadsheet.

Moreover, with traditional software, firms cannot do things that a CRM does, like updating information in real-time, integrating it with your choice of apps, or tracking how your customers interact with your website.

So, the answer is straightforward. While you can function without a CRM, it may be for the time being. With the growth of your business, the sooner you adopt one, the better.

It’s a wrap

CRM software can bring efficiency to your business by tracking how you engage with clients, manage tasks, and make essential data easily accessible.

The most challenging and confusing task is to choose the correct CRM for your firm, and the options one can get are endless. We have tried to make this task simpler by describing a few of them, hope that it works well. Still, we suggest you do your research work well, take a free trial, and then take a call on the best CRM software for your firm.

A few features that must be kept in mind before selecting the software are: Costs and course, easy setup implementation, and great technical support, usability, user minimums along with the new GDPR security features.

To learn more about CRM software and other similar technologies, visit our whitepapers here.