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The internet has brought a lot of change to the way people do business over the last decade. With that change, it’s important for businesses to have robust software systems in place so they can keep up with customer needs and preferences. One such system is CRMs (customer relationship management) which allow companies to track interactions with customers digitally and organize data into useful reports.
There are many CRMs that are available on the market today. It can be hard to choose which one is best for you. This article will help you decide which CRM is right for you.
A good customer relationship management (CRM) system may help firms handle client data and sales operations more effectively. Choosing the correct service, on the other hand, necessitates a methodical decision-making process in order to get the most out of your time and money. Before committing to a certain supplier, take into account a variety of factors such as cost, features, the convenience of use, and your own company goals.
Keep in mind that you don’t have to go with the finest and most sophisticated CRM on the market. Make sure you choose a service that meets your company’s demands and is compatible with your budget and goals.
Choosing a CRM: A Free Guide
We’ve created a free guide to help you pick your new CRM provider more effectively. It includes key factors to consider. These categories include determining your CRM requirements based on your company objectives, creating a list of must-have features, and narrowing down your top choices.
Then follow these five crucial steps to keep organized when selecting the finest CRM for your company’s needs:
1. Know Your Business Goals & Requirements
If you’re looking for CRM software, you’re probably looking to meet particular company needs or solve current operational issues. To choose the finest CRM for your company, you’ll need to establish goals and consider the problems you’d want your new CRM to solve.
Take a look at your annual business performance reports and analyze the objectives you’ve established for your organization going ahead before you start the selection process. In a perfect world, you’d set objectives for the next one to two years. These objectives might range from increasing year-over-year sales to diversifying your product line.
Goals that are explicit, quantifiable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound are the best (SMART). Check out our post on how to set SMART objectives. There are also some helpful samples and a free template to download.
Consider the tools your team will need to achieve your objectives once you’ve identified them. A CRM platform with workflow automation capabilities, for example, might be a business necessity if one of your company objectives is to increase the efficiency of your sales staff. A CRM platform with sales forecasting features might be a business necessity if a company’s aim is to set sales targets for your team. Defining your CRM strategy is another name for this procedure.
Reviewing the features and capabilities of CRM systems to trigger business requirement ideas might help jump-start this step’s thinking process. In Step 3, we’ll go through some basic CRM features to think about for this exercise.
2. Gather Input From Various Teams & Departments
Various teams who will utilize a CRM ecosystem, such as sales, marketing, and service, should have a say in the decision-making process for it to operate well. While the sales team is often in charge of CRM use, it is critical to get input from all possible users in order to make a choice that benefits the whole organization.
If your marketing, customer service, and accounting departments are also using the new CRM, their needs and feature requests are likely to vary from your sales representatives.
This ensures that the CRM you choose has all of the functionality your team needs. It will also save you money by preventing you from paying for things that no one uses.
3. Make a list of the features you’ll need.
It’s time to build together a shopping list of features that you need in a CRM system once you’ve examined your company objectives, identified your business requirements, and solicited input from your teams. In fact, making two lists: a must-have feature list and a nice-to-have feature list is much more beneficial. To build these lists automatically, use the sorting and filtering tools on page two of our handbook.
There are two areas where you should not cut corners when generating feature lists: data security and customer service. When choosing a CRM service, look for features like two-factor authentication and advanced user permissions that will keep your data secure. It must also be backed up with dependable customer service that is available across many channels. It should include live chat, email, and phone support so that you can get help whenever you need it.
Features
This list comprises mission-critical CRM software feature needs that may make the difference between a successful and unsuccessful CRM installation. This collection contains powerful contact management solutions to help you organize your increasing customer and client database. It may also have strong sales forecasting capabilities, allowing you to set realistic revenue goals.
The following are some of the most popular and important CRM features:
- Contact management: This feature allows you to keep track of all of your contacts in one place, preserving vital information including contact information, company details, and social network accounts.
- Lead and opportunity management: Provides a method for evaluating and nurturing incoming and active leads, improving the likelihood of them becoming paying customers.
- Sales pipelines: Provides a visual depiction of your sales process and indicates where a lead is in the sales process.
- Sales reporting: Provides you with a comprehensive picture of your sales performance, including incoming revenues and closed and unclosed agreements.
- Email marketing: This enables you to send marketing materials to your contacts automatically, as well as track their responses to the emails you send.
You should also determine if you need any industry-specific CRM capabilities, which may help you reject certain CRM systems straight away. The following companies might benefit from industry-specific CRM features:
- Property listings and comprehensive document management tools are frequently included in CRMs built for real estate agents.
- Companies in the construction industry: CRMs for the construction industry include tools for managing projects, bids, and work orders.
- Startups: CRMs are scalable and have a cheap (or no) startup cost for new or very young firms. The disadvantage is that they are often only accessible to one or two individuals.
Whatever your must-have feature list entails, make sure it covers all of the teams and departments that contributed during the original research phase. While it may not be feasible to fulfill all requests, having a list on hand guarantees that all teams are treated fairly.
You might include features such as team communication tools, storage, and time monitoring. These are features that you may not need or that are already covered by other programs you’re using.
Keep in mind that many CRM platforms offer tiered pricing, so features that are nice to have not included in your initial purchase may be available with higher service plans as you grow.
Freshsales has a number of pricing levels that allow customers to simply upgrade to higher-priced plans with more sophisticated features and capabilities. (Image courtesy of Freshsales)
4. Do some research on the best CRMs for your needs.
It’s time to explore which CRM alternatives on the market best match your objectives, armed with interdepartmental feedback and lists of what features you’re seeking for. To limit your possibilities and determine which ones to test drive, use a three-pronged method.
- Obtain word-of-mouth recommendations: Inquire among your peers, coworkers, and other company owners about the CRM they use and if they are satisfied with it. Learn about its benefits and drawbacks, as well as whether or not they would suggest it to you.
- Examine trade publications and websites: Online and print periodicals about your company or trade may be a fantastic source of information and can show you what CRM software is popular in your market.
- Check out the following user reviews: Reading current internet evaluations from consumers is one of the greatest methods to determine whether a CRM is worth considering.
Track suggestions, obtain individual contact information from suppliers and maintain notes on your encounters with each firm on page three of our guide.
Sign Up for Free Trials & Live Demos
The majority of CRM businesses provide free trials of their software so that prospective clients may test it out before making a purchase. The greatest free trials provide you with complete access to all features, allowing for a comprehensive evaluation and enough free trial days to acquire a good feel for the product.
Putting together a trial team made up of individuals from the different teams that will utilize the CRM is a good strategy to optimize free trials. Solicit one or two individuals from each department to take part in the free trial run so you can get a diverse range of feedback from your consumers.
During a CRM trial phase, keep the following in mind:
- Do the features function as expected?
- Is the CRM simple to use, even if you don’t have any technical skills?
- Is the functionality of the mobile applications sufficient to be helpful in the field?
- Is there any latency in the software that I’m aware of?
- Is the user interface simple and easy to use?
Free trials are often used to demonstrate a CRM’s premium capabilities, allowing the platform to be upsold. Check whatever features are offered in the lower-priced plans and see if you can get by with only those features for a few days before upgrading to a higher-priced plan. This prevents you from signing up for services that you don’t need.
You may also request a live demo from the CRM provider during the free trial period and invite members of your trial team to attend. This allows your employees to learn about the product and ask questions regarding its features. Most CRM providers are delighted to do so since it allows them to demonstrate how different features operate and explain the variations between price levels.
5. Select the Right CRM for You & Roll Out Implementation
After you’ve decided on a CRM and paid for it, the next step is to put it into action. It may be the last step in the process, but it is just as vital as the ones that came before it.
The stages are explained in detail to assist you to get your CRM up and running, from assembling your CRM team to defining your CRM’s settings and connecting it with other business software.
The Importance of Selecting the Appropriate CRM
Choosing the best CRM to use in your company is a difficult undertaking, regardless of how large or small your workforce is. Different CRM companies have different services that cater to different customer demands, so do your homework before committing to one.
Doing your homework can also help you avoid common mistakes when selecting a CRM, such as the following:
Failure to Meet Your Company’s Needs
The CRM’s goal is to assist you in meeting critical business demands depending on your goals, such as centralizing customer databases or automating marketing campaigns. Failure to match these requirements to a CRM product with the appropriate capabilities might result in a poor fit and a costly investment.
It’s missing key features that you’ll need.
A CRM tool’s feature set distinguishes it from competitors. The features of one CRM may be geared toward social media management, while another may be geared toward email marketing. As a result, recognizing their strong points and aligning them to the CRM features you want can help you avoid future headaches.
Doesn’t correspond to your level of technical expertise
Some CRMs are basic, uncomplicated, and simple to use, while others are very sophisticated and need an in-house technical staff to manage and maintain. Before purchasing a CRM product, determine your team’s degree of technical knowledge with it to guarantee it can be used effectively.
Users’ Adoption Rate Is Low
The amount of CRM acceptance among your target end-users is the most important metric for determining if you’ve picked the proper CRM. As a result, it’s critical to consider their views and suggestions while selecting the best CRM for your company.
Consider These Top-Rated CRMs for Your Business
It might be difficult to know where to begin when there are so many CRMs available. Here are three options to think about, each with a different pricing point and set of features. Check out our list of the six top CRMs for small companies for additional options.
Freshsales
Freshsales is a configurable CRM with features including lead management, graphic sales pipelines, time-based processes, and sales reporting. It also has a powerful in-app telephone mechanism. Freshsales offers a free plan with unlimited user allotment, as well as premium subscriptions that begin at $15 per user, per month.
Customer profiles provide relevant profile information and activity records, enabling sales personnel to more effectively enable follow-ups. (Image courtesy of Freshsales)
Zoho CRM
Zoho CRM is a straightforward and user-friendly all-in-one CRM system that includes lead and opportunity management, Kanban-style pipelines, and powerful analytics. Content scheduling, content pipeline visualization, and social analytics are just a few of the social media features. It has a free plan with three user allocations, while premium plans start at $14 per user, per month.
From reviewing sales status vs objectives to tracking lead conversion rate, Zoho CRM’s analytics solutions provide actionable information. (Image courtesy of Zoho CRM)
HubSpot CRM
HubSpot CRM is a full-featured CRM that offers essential functionalities, such as email marketing, deal and pipeline management, and sales reporting. Its CRM is forever-free with unlimited user allocation, while its Starter Sales plan starts at $45 per month for two users.
HubSpot CRM (Customer Relationship Management)’s email marketing tool provides users with an overview of how their contacts or leads interacted with their emails. (Source: HubSpot)
Conclusion
Choosing the best CRM requires thorough study and preparation. There is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all CRM system; instead, each one is tailored to individual company requirements. Ensure that all the important factors are considered, particularly your company’s objectives and requirements. Collaborate with your team to discover key characteristics that will help you succeed. Following the procedures we’ve given will save you time and money while also assisting you in making the best decision for your small company.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I choose a CRM system?
CRM stands for customer relationship management. A CRM system is a software that helps companies manage their customers and prospects in a way that enables them to provide better service. The most common types of CRMs are Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics, and Oracle Fusion Applications, which can be selected by doing an online search on the internet or speaking with your current IT department about what would work best for you.
How do you choose a CRM system for better effectiveness?
The choice of which CRM system to use is based on the organizational structure and culture. Some organizations choose email because it’s how they’ve always done things, but this may not be a good idea for newer companies or companies with high turnover rates that cant keep up with emails flooding their inboxes every day. If you’re unsure about your choice, speak to your company’s HR department for help deciding what would work best in your situation.
