Running a small business can be overwhelming; believe me, I know! Keeping track of leads, sales activity, and managing customer relationships often means 10 different spreadsheets and many small details to keep track of.
That’s where a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system comes in. A magic tool that keeps track of all your interactions, any requests, automation, and even which newsletter a given client liked the most. But with so many options, finding the best CRM for your business can feel daunting. That’s why we’ve compiled the below list of the top contenders for small businesses.
This list has been picked according to the following criteria:
1-Improves sales process and saves time
2-Pipeline management
3-Depth of insights
4-Easy integration
5-Has a useful free version
1- Hubspot
HubSpot CRM goes beyond just storing contact information. It acts as a central hub for your sales activity, providing real-time insights and analytics to help you close more deals. But that’s not all. You can also run all your marketing campaigns and surveys from the software, linking the results, and customer insights to your customers’ profiles. Best of all it’s free to start.
2- Zoho
Nothing beats Zoho when it comes to integration with other applications. That said, it’s so much more, this CRM offers everything you need to manage your sales pipeline and customize your process. It allows you to create sales workflows, log customer support, accounting, human resources, and even inventory management.
The free basic plan is good for up to three users, which is suitable for small businesses and startups, and includes leads, deals, contact management, tasks, events, Zoho app integrations, and multichannel marketing.
Paid plans (which you can try for 14 days) include features such as custom dashboards, inventory management, advanced customization, and scoring rules.
3- Salesforce
Known for giving its users a bird’s-eye view of their business, Salesforce helps you manage your leads, contacts, opportunities, and customers.
Moreover, they have a pared-down version for small businesses, dubbed Salesforce Essentials. Designed to rescue small business owners from spreadsheets by delivering just the basics in an out-of-the-box solution to track and manage contacts and connect multiple support channels into one.
The platform has a free trial for 14 days.
4 – ActiveCampaign
Other than storing and sorting your customer history, ActiveCampaign CRM offers integration with many apps including your online store, marketing automation, and email marketing. On the sales side, you can score leads and manage their pipeline.
There are even workflow templates to help you with planning marketing automation. Some ActiveCampaign plans include advanced automation functionality and AI features like sentiment analysis and win probability, which you can try for a 14-day free trial.
5- Suitdash
CRM is just one of the functions of Suitdash. The software takes a client-focused view of the buying journey, creating custom proposals and portals that add a white-label touch to your customer management. In addition to standard CRM tools, SuiteDash offers a form builder, estimates, appointment scheduling, custom onboarding, and document management to your workflow. Like the rest, it also offers a 14-day free trial.
Choosing the best CRM system for you can be transformative, not just for your business but for you as an entrepreneur. Of course, it all comes down to your current goals, specific needs, budget, and most importantly ability to scale alongside your business.