Finding the right CRM (customer relationship management) software can be difficult because there are so many options, ranging from sales-centric to all-in-one solutions.
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Benefits of using a CRM
Contact and sales information are neatly organised in customer relationship management software. Your CRM should be able to track every interaction with your customers, including phone calls, emails, chats, web visits, social media connections, and more. Why? Because you can learn something new about your customers with each and every interaction.
Ease of use
CRM platforms may not be able to meet the “don’t make me think” standard for websites, but it’s something to aim for. Getting a hang of the basics is all that’s required for a first-time user, but things won’t be as simple after that. There must be in-app help articles, definitions, and instructions for the more advanced features. A more productive user experience is also enhanced by readily available support and onboarding options.
Management of contacts and sales
Because your CRM and your business are built around people, how you manage them is essential. The more you know them, the better. What’s the best way to get to know them? What is the best place to focus your marketing efforts? Do you know how to keep in touch with your friends? The contact and sales management features of a CRM should be tailored to your ideal customers and their purchasing habits.
Customization
CRM software should function in the same way as your business does. The terms you use, the data you need, the procedures you follow, and the apps you use are all unique to your business. CRM software should be flexible enough to meet the demands of your business.
Reporting
The only way to effectively manage something is to measure it. What do you hope to gain insight into? What about predicting sales? Sales by rep, sales cycle, average value, reasons for losses, and a slew of other metrics should be easily accessible in your CRM.
Integrations and automation are key
Increased efficiency and better communication are the benefits of automating processes. Nothing in a CRM is all-inclusive. Customers’ profiles can be improved by integrating with third-party applications, which can connect departments and increase data collection power.
The best CRM solutions in the market
Zoho CRM (Web, iOS, Android)
No matter how big or small your team is, Zoho CRM has a plan that’s right for you. Zoho offers a variety of add-ons, including Finance, Custom Apps, and Forms, depending on the CRM plan you choose.
Projects, marketing, help desk, and social are all accessed from the main CRM dashboard in this edition. Click the settings icon and select a channel to get to its settings menu. In the settings menu, select Social Channels, then select one of the four social media platforms—Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter—from the drop-down menu that appears.
Canvas, a new feature in Zoho, shows the company’s dedication to its customers. Canvas lets you design your CRM’s user interface from the ground up, whereas Zoho already offers a lot of customization options. Go to Setup, select the module you want to (re)design (e.g. contacts), and you’re done. After that, you can either start from scratch or customise an existing template. You can then drag and drop data fields, elements, and styles onto the WYSIWYG editor page to customise it to your liking. It’s time to pick the people who’ll get first dibs on the new design. Each module can have a unique design or all of them can be cloned to look the same.
Using Wizards, which allow you to design the record creation process, you can further streamline data collection. The sequence of steps for each section of a sales process can be designed when creating a sales application. First, gather basic demographic data, then gather financial data, which may come from a variety of sources. Other screens can be opened by clicking on any of these buttons. The source can be selected by clicking the button, and a new form screen will open for you to complete. Think of it as a way to organise your research into a tree of options.
The 360-degree view for every contact will be appreciated by fast-growing businesses. All activities and touchpoints associated with a specific contact can be found in their record, including site visits, sales, social media, help cases, emails, meetings, and campaigns. It’s possible to get a clearer picture of how each employee interacts with your company by analysing the “footprint” of each individual contact.
We like the leads module (instead of contacts) because it allows sales reps to focus on qualifying leads from sources like trade shows, campaigns, and the like. Using SalesIQ, we were able to pull in a large image of the person, followed by a chunk of contact information that you can click on (phone, email) to begin a conversation with them. On the left, you’ll find a list of filters that you can use to quickly narrow down your search results. As soon as you’ve got your list, click on the ones you want and perform actions like sending an email, creating a task, or adding to a campaign.
Zoho has one of the most robust reporting tools of any CRM. Reports can be configured to show a wide variety of data views (charts, tables, and more) that can all be customised. Comment sections allow you to engage in discussion about any of the reports that you’ve viewed. Using the Motivator app, you can use contests for key performance indicators (KPIs) like leads converted, deals won, and emails sent to gamify sales.
Salesforce Sales Cloud (Web, iOS, Android)
Salesforce Sales Cloud is a good option for companies that require a lot of flexibility in their CRM software. The options for creating a bespoke platform are nearly limitless thanks to both the internal ecosystem and the third-party AppExchange.
Using the Flow Builder, you can design your own process automation. Select the type of flow you want to create from the Flows section of Settings. You can design what happens when a specific record (like a contact) is created by using a record-triggered flow. You can then use the visual builder to add conditions, such as sending a follow-up email only to contacts created during a specific time period.
It’s possible to control who can see and edit fields on a page-by-page basis in Salesforce As a result, depending on their roles, you may want to restrict employees’ access to non-job-related fields in contact records. This can be done for security reasons, as well as to protect the integrity of employees who lack the necessary expertise. You can also add your own explanations of a field’s meaning at the field level. There may be an explanation for a discount field such as: This is the maximum allowed for this account type. Anything above the manager’s approval is required. These instructions serve as reminders for new employees and reinforce business practises, especially for those who have been in the workforce for a while.
Click on the Setup wheel in the top-right corner and then click Edit Object to make changes to a page like contacts. From here, you can change the page’s fields and layout, among other things.
Hundreds of third-party integration options are available for both paid and free apps on the AppExchange. Available apps can be found by using a variety of criteria, such as your software edition (such as “professional,” “enterprise,” etc. ), category, price, and rating. It’s important to verify that an app is compatible with your Salesforce edition before purchasing.
Create a report for any data you collect in Salesforce. For deals, activities, the top accounts, win ratios, conversion rates, and anything else you might want to measure, there are dozens of pre-built reports. As a sales manager’s worst nightmare, what is it? Reps aren’t keeping track of their deals. With the Login Wall of Shame, you’ll be able to see which representatives aren’t even logging in, much less updating their profiles.
Bitrix24 (Web, iOS, Android)
Working from home is not going anywhere. There are many ways to stay in touch, collaborate, and share information using Bitrix24’s CRM for those who work with dispersed, remote teams.
Full CRM, marketing automation, project management as well as web design capabilities are all included in this app’s many communication tools. You can begin by creating departments (e.g., marketing, sales, service) and assigning employees to them. When you create departments, you can then divide your teams into workgroups, knowledge bases, and communication channels more easily and quickly.
In a workgroup, individuals, departments, or specific groups can come together to collaborate on projects or ongoing work. Every member of the team has access to the group’s work and progress through the use of various tools, including task apps, images, calendars, chat rooms, and knowledge bases. It’s not uncommon for CRMs to include knowledge bases, which are essentially mini-websites where users can post content, communicate with one another, and work together on projects and tasks.
Using the internal chat feature, you can communicate with coworkers individually, in groups, or across departments. You can also attach files, use tags, and record and send videos via the internal chat feature. To record a video, simply click the Record Video button in the chat window and wait for the recording to begin automatically after five seconds. The video will appear in your chat message after you stop recording and select Use Video. You can also save the video to your Bitrix24 drive or other specified locations, such as Google Drive, if you like.
You can share your computer screen, record meetings, and raise your hand during a video conference meeting. Using the quick link or an internal invite message, share a link to your video with your attendees. As a result, you can send and receive emails from the CRM’s contact records by connecting your email account (e.g., Gmail, Outlook, iCloud, Office 365).
All plans come with unlimited contacts, deals, and companies to work with.. With Bitrix24, you can create custom fields and sections to collect data that works for your company’s needs. Each contact has their own profile, which displays their communication “load” and all relevant data, such as deal value, invoices paid and active bills, conversion percentages and emails.
Pipedrive (Web, iOS, Android)
Pipedrive is an excellent choice for sales CRM software that is easy to use. While the platform has a lot of options, its sole purpose is to help salespeople close more deals. You won’t be able to get distracted by features like marketing or customer service.
Adding deals, activities, and leads is a cinch with Pipedrive’s user-friendly interface, which features a search box at the top and an expandable menu on every page. Your mailbox is one of the options on the menu. As soon as your email service provider is connected, you can send emails directly from your inbox or contact record, which will allow you to track open rates and email histories. If you’d like, you can also sync your calendars with Outlook or Google Calendar, manage your meeting availability, and send a link. Smart Contact Data is an additional useful feature that allows you to quickly gather social and professional data about your contacts with just a single click.
Purchases of call credits (you get five free hours each month) are required to make phone calls from the app. These credits are applied to the monthly by-the-minute fees. In addition to the list view of people, calls can be made from individual records, and they can be recorded. To move on to the next call, select the outcome from a list and click on it. The recording of a phone call is included in the history of all activities associated with a particular contact.
A few sales-related add-ons, such as LeadBooster and Web Visitors, are available in Pipedrive. When it comes to customer service, the first option has a variety of features that can help salespeople connect with potential clients. Data on companies and contacts can be filtered by size, industry, keyword, and other attributes that are relevant to your target audience. Real-time data on the companies who visit and what pages they view is provided via a tracker code pasted into your site’s code by Web Visitors. It can also tell you which of your visitors is already in your database.
The Sales Assistant uses artificial intelligence (AI) to help you prioritise your tasks. For sales tasks, Workflow Automation provides pre-made templates such as follow-up emails and tasks. An activity can be created when the deal progresses to a new stage, for example, or a message can be sent to the relevant sales manager via Slack.
For each week, the goals track the number of tasks completed as well as the amount of revenue generated. Each data field can be used to customise reporting, allowing you to get as specific as you want. Standard and customizable dashboards are available for keeping track of all of the aforementioned data.