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As a small business owner, you know that customer relations are important to your success. After all, your customers are the ones keeping your business afloat. That's why it's critical to have a good CRM (customer relationship management) system in place. But with so many CRMs on the market, how do you know which one is right for your business?
With so many CRMs on the market, choosing the right one for your business can be difficult.
This overview will help you understand the different features and benefits of CRMs so that you can make an informed decision about which system is best for your needs.
Keep reading to learn more about the best CRM for small business owners!
Why Do Small Businesses Use CRM Software?
To run a small business effectively, your most important goal should be boosting sales and strengthening relationships with your customers.
You'll need a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) tool to do this. A CRM is a business management tool that helps you store, organize, and maintain your lead and customer information. A good CRM system also helps you understand your business' past interactions with each customer.
The best CRM systems will store contact information such as name, email address, phone number, and any correspondence you’ve had with your customer. It's a lightweight project management tool for small teams.
Your CRM platform may include emails, invoices and a sales pipeline so that you can continue to build new relationships with leads and nurture current customer relationships.
A CRM will help your team manage their tasks and support their overall sales and business process. It's essential to provide your team with training to use CRM effectively. This is one of CRM best practices for brands today.
A good CRM system helps your sales team stay in touch with their best customers, and improves the customer’s experience. Also, it allows your sales reps the opportunity to focus more on selling than worrying about keeping up with storing data.
They also help your whole sales team access customer data at any time and keep track of where each lead is in the customer journey. With a CRM your sales process is easily recorded and easy to improve because there is real data to work with.
With that in mind, let's take a look at some of the best and most popular customer relationship management (CRM) software available today for your business.
What is the Best Ecommerce Builder?
- Hubspot CRM
- Zoho CRM
- Monday.com
- Freshsales
- Pipedrive
- Insightly
1. HubSpot CRM
HubSpot CRM makes it easy for you to organize, track, and manage leads and customers. It helps sales teams automate tasks they don't enjoy doing, record all customer interactions and make pipeline management easier by speeding up the sales cycle for your entire team.
You can access every contact and his/her personal information in one convenient place in the HubSpot CRM Dashboard. Adding contacts to your HubSpot contact list is easy to do with the HubSpot's chrome extension straight from your Gmail or using the HubSpot plugin on WordPress. It's great for both startups and large companies.
Key Features
Some key features found in the HubSpot CRM include:
- Create personalized email sequences for leads and existing customers. HubSpot also allows yo run email campaigns without having to leave your CRM.
- Send emails, calls, WhatsApp messages, and more from the CRM
- Includes email marketing tools, lead segmentation, contact profiles within your CRM and your site user behavior If they are a contact.
- A robust free CRM platform with lots of free tools for sales including landing pages.
- Receive real-time notifications regarding the behavior of leads like email opens link clicks, webpage visits and more.
- View the communal data dashboard,(It allows you to create a custom dashboard) and set task reminders for your or your team.
- Connect HubSpot to Gmail or Outlook to log email activity automatically and for email tracking.
- Integrate with popular apps like Salesforce, Shopify, and Microsoft Dynamics
- Customizable email templates and sales document storage.
- Customer service tools like live chat for your site (HubSpot's service hub).
- The mobile app allows you to scan business cards to create new contacts
- Move sales leads through your sales process through deals using drag and drop features. You can also use the the deals feature for sales forecasting by including the amount you expect from each deal your sales reps are working on.
HubSpot's free CRM software is available to small businesses free forever. If you want more advanced features, you can opt for one of their premium plans. Hubspot is great for sales teams and marketing teams alike to gain access to the same data.
Get started with HubSpot CRM today.
2. Zoho CRM
Zoho CRM is a cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) software designed to help businesses streamline their sales, marketing, and customer support operations. The software consolidates all of your customer data into a single platform, making it easy to track and manage your customers' interactions with your business.
If you're looking for a CRM solution that offers many customisation options, then Zoho CRM might be right for you. You'll have complete control over your company's operations, thanks to its customizable user interface.
3. monday.com
Monday.com CRM is a cloud-based customer relationship management software designed to help businesses manage their customer data, sales pipeline, and marketing campaigns. The software includes features such as contact management, task management, document management, and lead tracking. Monday.com CRM integrates with popular business applications such as Gmail, Outlook, and Salesforce.
Monday.com is a project management tool that helps teams stay organized and get their work done. It offers a variety of features, including task lists, calendars, and file sharing. monday.com also has a mobile app so you can access your projects on the go.
Monday.com makes it easy to stay organized and get work done. With its variety of features, including task lists, calendars, and file sharing, monday.com is a great tool for project management. Additionally, the mobile app allows you to access your projects from anywhere.
- monday.com offers a cloud-based customer relationship management software designed to help businesses manage their customer data, sales pipeline, and marketing campaigns.
- The software includes features such as contact management, task management, document management, and lead tracking. Makes it easy to create and manage your sales funnel.
- Third-party integrations with popular business applications such as Gmail, Outlook, and Salesforce.
- monday.com is a project management tool that helps teams stay organized and get their work done. It offers a variety of features, including task lists, calendars, and file sharing.
- The monday.com mobile app allows you to access your projects from anywhere.
4. Freshsales
Freshsales is a customer relationship management software that helps businesses manage their sales and customer relationships. It offers several features to help businesses streamline their sales processes and stay organized. Freshsales also has a robust CRM platform that helps businesses track their customer interactions and data.
Freshsales offer several benefits to businesses that use it to manage their sales and customer relationships. It helps businesses streamline their sales processes and stay organized. Additionally, Freshsales' CRM platform helps businesses track their customer interactions and data.
One of the benefits of using Freshsales is its ability to help businesses streamline their sales processes. This can save companies significant time and make it easier for them to manage their sales. Additionally, Freshsales' CRM platform can help businesses track their customer interactions and data.
This allows businesses to better understand their customers and make more informed decisions about their sales strategies.
Freshsales also offer several features that businesses can use to customize their sales processes and workflows. This makes it easy for businesses to use Freshsales to meet their specific needs.
- Complete access to customer profiles, including their contact points
- Lead scoring for lead prioritization and boosting sales
- Territory and automatic lead assignments for sales teams
- A visual sales pipeline with drag-n-drop navigation for identifying potential business opportunities.
- A mobile app that integrates with your business' existing systems
Freshsales offers a 30-day free trail. After that, the plan starts at $12 per user per month.
Get started with Freshsales today.
Overall, Freshsales is a powerful tool that can help businesses manage their sales and customer relationships more effectively. This makes it easy for businesses to use Freshsales to meet their specific needs.
5. Pipedrive
Pipedrive is a powerful CRM tool designed specifically for sales teams. This cloud-based platform makes it easy to track and communicate with contacts, prospects, clients, and partners. And because Pipedrive is web-based, there's no need to download or install any software.
Pipedrive's intuitive interface makes it easy to find what you're looking for. You can search by contact, opportunity, deal, or campaign.
You can also create custom fields in Pipedrive to quickly sort through your information. For example, you could add a "Scheduled" field to each opportunity so you know when they were scheduled to close.
Pipedrive includes a variety of tools that can help you improve your sales process. These include:
- Email templates
- Task automation
- Invoicing
- Automated follow-up emails
- Automatic email responses
- Customizable reports
- Social media marketing tools
The tool includes features such as a CRM, pipeline management, email integration, and more. Pipedrive is easy to use and helps sales teams stay organized and focused on their goals.
Some of the key features that make PipeDrive a valuable sales tool include:
- CRM: The CRM system helps sales teams keep track of customer interactions and follow-up tasks.
- Pipeline management: The visual sales pipeline gives sales teams a clear overview of their deals, helping them prioritize and stay focused on their goals.
- Email integration: PipeDrive integrates with email providers such as Gmail and Outlook, making it easy to keep track of email conversations and attachments.
- Affordability: The Basic plan starts at just $15 per month, making PipeDrive an affordable option for small and medium-sized businesses.
PipeDrive helps sales teams close more deals by providing an easy-to-use CRM and pipeline management tool.
The tool includes features such as email integration and a visual sales pipeline that helps sales teams stay organized and focused on their goals. PipeDrive is also affordable, starting at just $15 per month for the Basic plan.
6. Insightly
Insightly is a fast and flexible CRM software that helps businesses of all sizes manage their customers, sales, and projects. It's easy to use and packed with features, making it a great choice for businesses that are looking for a CRM solution that can scale with them as they grow.
Insightly helps businesses manage their customers, sales, and projects in one central place. It's easy to use and packed with features, making it a great choice for businesses that are looking for a CRM solution that can scale with them as they grow.
Insightly features include:
- Customer relationship management (CRM): With insightly, you can easily view customer information, including contact details, recent activity, notes, orders, invoices, payments, and more. You can also send emails, create reports, and share data across different platforms.
- Project management: Insightly lets you organize and assign tasks to multiple users, set due dates, and track progress. You can even add files and images to your project documents.
- Sales automation: With Insightly, you'll be able to automate repetitive tasks like scheduling meetings or sending out reminders. You can also automatically generate quotes based on existing data.
- Data visualization: With Insightly, it's easy to see how your business is doing from any angle. For example, you can see what products have been sold most recently, which leads were generated, and which ones were converted into new customers.
- Integration: In addition to integrating with popular services such as Google Drive, Slack, Dropbox, Salesforce, Zendesk, and others, Insightly supports integrations with other third-party applications, allowing you to sync data between them.
Scalable pricing: Starting at just $9 per user per month, I nsightly offers three plans that let you pay only for the features that you need.
What to Look for in a CRM Software
Before choosing which CRM to use for your business, consider which features are most important to you. Here are some things to look for when selecting a CRM:
Easy setup: If you're new to using a CRM, make sure the software has a simple setup process. This will help ensure that you get up and running quickly.
Mobile access: Many CRMs offer mobile apps so that you can access your data whenever you want. Make sure that the app works well on both iOS and Android devices.
Customization: Some CRMs allow you to customize the way that you work. For example, you may be able to change the colors used throughout the system, choose which fields appear on each screen, and even decide whether certain fields should display numbers or text.
Integration: When considering which CRM to buy, think about the types of integrations available. Does the CRM integrate with popular cloud services? Do you need to connect to an external application? How much do you want to spend on integration fees?
Security: Choose a CRM that provides strong security measures. This means that the software encrypts sensitive data before leaving your computer and doesn't store credit card information on its own servers.
Support: Find a CRM that includes 24/7 support. After all, if something goes wrong, you don't want to have to wait days or weeks to get answers.
How to Pick the Right CRM Solution for Your Business
Once you've decided which CRM you'd like to use, here are some tips for finding the right solution for your needs:
Do your research: Before making a decision, find out everything you can about the different CRMs available. Read reviews online, ask friends who already use one, and check out their websites. As you do the research have your business goals at the back of your mind so you can make a well-informed decision.
Compare features: Don't forget to compare features. While many CRMs include similar functions, they often differ in terms of which features are included. For example, some CRMs include more robust reporting tools than others.
Look beyond price: The cost of a CRM isn't always indicative of its quality. You might be willing to pay more for a CRM that includes advanced functionality, but this could also mean that you'll have to pay more for ongoing support.
Think about your workflow: What type of workflow do you prefer? Are you comfortable working offline? Do you prefer to enter data into the CRM from a desktop or mobile device?
Consider ease of use: Is the CRM easy to learn? Can you navigate through screens without getting lost? Do you feel confident using the software?
Think about customization: Most CRMs provide extensive customization options. However, these options aren't always intuitive, so be sure to read the documentation carefully.
Make sure you know what's included: Look at the list of standard features offered by every CRM. These items typically include things such as email marketing, customer relationship management (CRM), sales automation, lead tracking, and project management.
Read the fine print: Be sure to look over any add-on packages that come with the CRM. They can sometimes include additional costs, such as monthly maintenance fees.
Make sure it works with your other systems: If you're planning to use the CRM alongside another piece of software, make sure that it integrates well. Also, consider whether the CRM will work with third-party applications and platforms.
Remember that there is no perfect CRM. Each company has unique requirements, and the best CRM won't fit everyone's needs perfectly. That said, once you've found the right CRM for your business, you should be able to achieve great results.
Your entire team needs to be capable of accessing your CRM solution from anywhere at any time. Your lead management system needs to be in the cloud so your whole team can access it anywhere.
If your business has sales reps and you want them to access and share data accurately, you need to be able to control who they're sharing data with. It's also important to have a process in place for leading people from leads to conversions. For example, you could send out automated emails based on behavior, make follow-up phone calls to people who haven't responded to your initial email, and offer free trials.
Each lead who shows interest in buying from you should have his or her own profile. It should include the person’s name, email address, and phone number. And it should include any social media links. This method allows you to contact your contacts whenever you need them. It also helps you identify whether they fit your customer profile or not.
Choosing the Best CRM Software for Your Small Business
Pipedrive is probably the best small business CRM system for you if you want to grow your business by focusing on sales activities. It has an intuitive interface that makes it easy to use. It automates repetitive tasks, making lead collection easy. And it integrates with your email marketing services, so collecting leads is easy.
If you want a more robust sales platform, your best bet is either Hubspot or FreshSale. Hubspot gives you a CRM and more with their marketing, sales, and CMS hub operations. Freshsale is also a robust platform but focuses more on sales activities. Both platforms integrate well with Gmail, Outlook, and other email clients. They both provide analytics reports that help you understand how your campaigns are performing.
For businesses that don't sell online, Pipedrive and FreshSale still have some advantages over traditional CRMs. Pipedrive and Freshsale allow you to create custom landing pages and forms, which means you can collect information about potential customers without requiring them to sign up first. This allows you to build relationships with new prospects before asking them for money.
You can start with Hubspot's free CRM plan if your budget limits you. You'll get basic functionality like email marketing, lead generation, and lead tracking. If you decide to upgrade to the paid version, you'll get additional features such as campaign automation, website conversion tracking, and unbranded email marketing campaigns.
Tips Capture Leads For Your CRM for WordPress
After deciding which CRM you want for your small business, you need to start importing leads you captured from your WordPress forms into that CRM.
We recommend WPForms for capturing leads. With WPForms you can create customized lead generation forms in less than five minutes and collect all of the information you need so you can guide them through the sales funnel.
Its simple interface and drag-and-drop feature make it easy enough for anyone to use, so generating leads and sending them directly to your CRM takes just a few clicks. You can connect them to HubSpot, drip, or salesforce with our dedicated add-ons, or create other connections with the Zapier addon.
That's it! You now know which lead management system you need to use to manage your leads in a way that works for you.
Create Better Customer Experiences with a CRM
Once you've narrowed your search down to a couple of options, research them thoroughly. Start reading user reviews. Look at the pros and cons listed on each site. You'll get an honest view of the software. If you're looking for something specific, ask around.
Your peers may already be using the crm software and can tell you all about its strengths and weaknesses. Finally, ask yourself if it's worth paying for the software when there are free alternatives.
Most CRM vendors provide a free full-feature trial of their products. Make sure to take advantage of this to ensure that the system meets your business needs and expectations.