CRM Tools for Small and Medium Businesses

Over the past decade, the demand for CRM tools has witnessed considerable growth. As more and more companies around the world are leaning towards centralizing customer data to improve customer service, the trend is here to stay. 

Today, CRM is the largest software market in the world, and for a good reason. The CRM market is estimated to surpass $80 billion in revenues by the end of 2025 [1].

At present, a plethora of affordable and highly resourceful CRM solutions are available. This is why even small and medium enterprises are investing in the best CRM tools to improve their customer relations. 

Benefits of CRM Tools

A CRM software offers three main benefits:

Access to customer data

Every CRM tool comes with a searchable database that allows you to access leads and client information on the fly. Besides, some CRM solutions also allow users to sync data from various devices. This ensures they have access to the most up-to-date information. 

Automation

A CRM tool plays a crucial role in standardizing workflows and various processes associated with marketing, sales, and customer service. This improves team collaboration and enhances coordination between team members. 

Analytics

The best CRM tools come with cutting-edge dashboards and analytics functionality. Users can also customize dashboards and generate personalized reports based on customer data. 

Reports generated by CRM software help bifurcate customers, improve management of customized campaigns, and track revenue. 

Now that you know how CRM software can benefit your business, you can reap those benefits when you choose a CRM. There are hundreds of tools available, offering different features, functions, and more. 

When you are spoilt for choices, choosing the right solution for your business can become a daunting task. Thanks to ToolsMetric, you do have to spend hours researching the different options. 

We have compiled a list of some of the most popular CRM tools and also provided our rationale for choosing them. 

Popular CRM Tools for Small Businesses

Zoho CRM

Zoho CRM mainly focuses on improving lead conversion over customer support. The vendor understands the importance of making CRM accessible to sales reps that are on-field. Hence, Zoho’s CRM solution is also available as a mobile application that can be used from any device from any location. 

If you are looking for a CRM solution that acts as an extended arm of your sales team particularly in B2B sales, you should consider investing in Zoho CRM.

Salesforce Sales Cloud

Similar to Zoho, Salesforce Sales Cloud is designed to make the most of your sales opportunities. Even Salesforce provides a mobile application that can be used to access customer data to improve coordination while they are out of the office. 

One area where Salesforce Sales Cloud could make improvements is its range of features for marketing and customer service. 

HubSpot

HubSpot is one of the most widely used CRM tools in the world. Its tools are primarily designed to improve search engine optimization and website design. 

More recently, the company has turned attention to its Sales Platform that is integrated with a CRM solution.

The first component of the Sales Platform is labeled as Sidekick, which is an email management tool. Although Sidekick does not come with a full suite of CRM tools, it includes some basic CRM features. 

NetSuite CRM

While speaking about different business tools and software, it is hard to miss out on NetSuite. NetSuite develops a gamut of business software such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions. Apart from an ERP, NetSuite also offers a CRM solution, NetSuite CRM+. 

NetSuite CRM+ comes with all the desirable features one looks for in big business software. If you are running a small business, NetSuite CRM may not be the right tool for you. As a small business, you will not have enough time on your hand to fully explore and try all features. 

Infusionsoft

Infusionsoft’s CRM tool provides you with time scheduling and appointment solutions for sales representatives. It also includes features for e-commerce and online businesses such as payment processing, billing, and more. 

The integrated email function allows users to carry out their sales activities and campaigns over emails. Users can also score or grade their leads in the customer profile module and change the way they interact with them based on their score. 

Similar to Zoho CRM and Salesforce Sales Cloud, Infusionsoft can be accessed via smartphones. 

CRM Features

Every CRM tool comes with a few core features and some common features. Some of these features are standard across all types of CRM solutions. 

Almost every CRM will come with these core CRM features mentioned below:

Core features

Contact management

Contact management allows you to save contact information such as social media accounts, names, email addresses in a searchable database.

Although all CRM platforms offer contact management, you should consider investing in a CRM with a layout that resonates with the way you work. 

Lead management

Lead management is another feature that you will find in almost all the best CRM tools. With this feature, you can identify and interact with prospective customers based on their score. 

Interaction management

Interaction management helps you track interaction history and make notes of conversations you have with your contacts. 

Common features

The difference between common and core features is that you may see most of these features in every CRM software, but not all of them. 

Common features can be used to distinguish between the offerings of various CRM solutions. 

Some common features include:

Email integration

A lot of CRM tools can be integrated with email platforms such as Outlook, Yahoo, Gmail, etc. This allows you to manage and segment contact lists and also create a centralized communication hub. 

Document management

Most CRM platforms will allow you to collect, upload, store, and share documents in a centralized location. This ensures that all individuals involved in a specific project or an activity have access to the same. 

Pipeline management

Users have a comprehensive view of their sales pipeline. Besides, they can also track the progress or status of each project within the sales funnel. 

Some of the other common features that you are likely to encounter while using a CRM include reporting & analytics, forecasting, workflow automation, and proposal management. 

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Source:

[1] Taylor. M (2021) “18 CRM STATISTICS YOU NEED TO KNOW FOR 2021 (AND BEYOND)” SuperOffice [online] Available from: https://www.superoffice.com/blog/crm-software-statistics/ [accessed May 2021]