As a small business owner, you regularly switch between marketing, sales, operations, and customer service on a daily basis, and sometimes even within the same hour.
To effectively cater to your customers and avoid any mistakes, you require a tool that aids in monitoring and handling all your affiliations. The solution lies in utilizing customer relationship management (CRM) software.
If you believe that a CRM is only for big companies and is a costly tool, reconsider your thoughts. No matter the size of your business, implementing a CRM solution can help you save time, keep your team organized, and enhance sales and customer retention.
How a CRM Can Benefit Your Small Business
If you’re uncertain about needing a CRM or being able to afford it, let’s get straight to the point. Once you have a CRM software implemented, there are four ways in which it will recover its cost.
- Saves Admin Time
No business owner desires to spend time or energy on manual data entry. CRM systems assist small business owners in saving time by automating tasks such as call logs, notes, and entering company data.
- Improves Sales Processes
Whether you are working independently or as part of a team, incorporating a CRM into your sales process can greatly improve its effectiveness. By automating the collection of potential customers, you can promptly assign them to sales representatives for a swift response. Additionally, utilizing features such as pipeline management, appointment reminders, and bookable calendars allows you to expedite your sales cycle and amplify your conversion rate of leads to sales.
- Boost Customer Engagement and Retention
After making a sale, it is important to continue your efforts. You can encourage customer involvement by assisting with the onboarding process and addressing questions or feedback through social media and customer service platforms. It is crucial to maintain ongoing communication with customers even after they have agreed to your services, so that you are prepared for future renewals and opportunities for upselling.
- Gain Visibility and Insights
By consistently utilizing a CRM, you can acquire valuable data as a reward. Utilize activity-based reporting and KPIs to gain insights into your sales process. Through sales forecasting, you will have a precise understanding of your revenue position for the upcoming month or quarter. Additionally, improve your intelligence and decision-making by analyzing your audience with marketing and AI tools.
What to Look for In a CRM for Small Businesses
There is a wide range of CRM software available in the market, and it can be overwhelming to navigate through them. As a small company, it is crucial not to be easily distracted by the additional features that often accompany enterprise-level software packages.
In order to ensure a smooth integration of marketing, sales, and service, you require a system. This system should have a user-friendly interface that allows new employees to start using it immediately without extensive training. Additionally, you need a reliable support team that is aware of the absence of an IT department and is always there to assist you.
When assessing CRM systems, ensure that you consider these six features to enhance the efficiency of your small business.
Managing contacts
The main purpose of a CRM is to store and organize customer data in a system, with customizable fields to suit your requirements. It should allow you to quickly access a contact’s and company’s information and review your complete contact history with that person.
In addition to contacting the customer for customer service purposes or renewal, the contact management features should also enable communication with the customer directly within the system.
is a method of using software and technology to automate and streamline marketing tasks and processes. It aims to improve efficiency, productivity, and overall effectiveness of marketing campaigns.
In order to have a comprehensive understanding of all interactions between your prospects and your brand, it is advisable to seek a CRM solution that incorporates marketing automation. By incorporating email marketing, social media, and advertisements into your sales process, you can avoid the requirement for multiple software platforms.
The management of pipelines
By utilizing a CRM, your small business sales can transition from being reactive to proactive. Numerous CRMs offer tools for gathering and evaluating leads, automatically assigning them to sales representatives, and providing reminders and lead information.
Once you input a lead, you have the capability to nurture the lead by using email proposals, scheduling through a calendar, and managing proposals and contracts to finalize the agreement. You can always stay informed about the status of your pipeline and make sales forecasts through the use of dashboards.
Integrations
As CRMs continue to include increasingly impressive features, you have the option to either retain your preferred tools or implement your operations gradually. The decision is up to you to create a technology stack that aligns with your preferred working approach.
Search for CRM software that is compatible with your current tools such as QuickBooks, Google Workspace, or Microsoft 365. You have the option to continue using tools that you already prefer, like Zoom, Asana, or MailChimp. Additionally, if your inbox is where you primarily spend your time, you can also manage your CRM from there.
Customer support should be approached by following a logical sequence of steps.
If you do not have an IT department, it is crucial to have assistance available for any onboarding or troubleshooting queries that may arise. Seek a vendor that provides support through phone, email, or chat, depending on your preferred method of communication.
Software that has robust user communities is also extremely valuable for gaining knowledge and insights from fellow users in online forums.
is the ability of a system, network, or process to handle a growing amount of work, or its potential to be enlarged to accommodate that growth.
When considering any new software, small businesses usually prioritize budget. Since bloated CRM functionality is unnecessary for most small businesses, it is recommended to search for a tool that has a strong yet simple starting point that can grow alongside your business.
The Best CRM Software for Small Businesses in 2023
At this point, you should have a fundamental understanding of the concept and functionality of a CRM. Now, let’s focus on the core concern: which software is capable of meeting the needs of small businesses effectively?
- HubSpot CRM
HubSpot CRM consolidates all the necessary contact information in a single location and enables the monitoring and examination of sales activity in real-time. When combined with HubSpot’s marketing suite, users are able to conduct comprehensive marketing campaigns utilizing features such as email marketing, social media, advertisements, customized landing pages, and lead capture forms.
With HubSpot CRM, you can have a comprehensive overview of your sales pipeline and effectively manage all your marketing operations through the platform, thereby building a personalized user journey.
- Less Annoying CRM
Less Annoying CRM, a software provider with a name that suggests their understanding of small business challenges with business software, has been family-owned since 2009. Their design of simple pricing and interface aims to cater specifically to small businesses and solopreneurs.
You have the ability to view your contact information and notes effortlessly using this tool. Additionally, you can include any custom field that you require. By utilizing this tool, you can easily handle your leads, pipeline, and calendar across any device to ensure that you do not overlook any opportunities.
The price per user is $15 monthly.
- SuiteDash
SuiteDash approaches the client journey with a focus on the client, by developing personalized proposals and portals that enhance your customer management with a white-label element. Alongside regular CRM tools, SuiteDash expands your workflow with a form builder, estimated figures, appointment scheduling, customized onboarding, and document management.
The price per user is $19 per month.
- Monday Sales CRM by Monday.com
Do you have a preference for visual aids? Monday Sales CRM allows you to easily move prospects from one stage to another and provides a colorful overview of your pipeline. It is primarily designed for sales purposes, offering funnel charts and deal forecasting to keep you informed about your current status.
With Monday Sales CRM’s automation features, you have the ability to save time. An example of this is when a lead is received, it can be automatically assigned to a sales rep, an automated email can be sent, or reminders for upcoming calls can be sent.
The cost for three users is $30 per month.
- Bigin by Zoho CRM
Bigin, which is similar to Zoho CRM, can be considered as the younger sibling of the leading CRM software in the industry. Therefore, what makes Bigin a preferable option over Zoho CRM? Bigin offers the essential features required by small teams and is economically suitable for small businesses.
The platform provides a user-friendly interface that allows easy navigation. Setting up an account can be done in less than 30 minutes. Users have the capability to create pipelines, handle contacts, and initiate calls and send emails all within the platform.
You can smoothly integrate Bigin with other Zoho ecosystem apps such as Zoho Forms and Zoho Desk. Furthermore, if necessary, you can easily upgrade to Zoho CRM.
The cost is zero.
- ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign is a platform that integrates CRM, marketing automation, and email marketing. It allows users to collect and evaluate leads, handle their sales pipeline, and perform task management and reporting.
Marketing automation tools enable small businesses to effectively handle their complete customer journey, mirroring the capabilities of larger businesses. This involves segmentation, email marketing, text, and workflow templates. Certain ActiveCampaign plans offer added automation capabilities and AI features such as sentiment analysis and win probability.
Each user is charged $19 per month for the service.
- Salesflare
When considering another popular CRM, Salesflare should be taken into account as their tagline emphasizes: accomplish more sales with less effort.
The reason for this is that Salesflare is a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system that enables you to engage with customers, along with integrating all of your preferred marketing tools. With just a few clicks, you can begin using it and increase your sales, even if you have minimal initial data.
This software collects the contact information of your leads from social profiles, email signatures, and other public sources. Additionally, it automatically records all of your meetings and phone calls, eliminating the need for manual data entry and the worry of forgetting.
Important characteristics
- Contact information is gathered and automatically updated from public sources
- Meetings and calls are recorded and filed to keep you organized
- Files exchanged with customers are automatically sorted and tracked
- Sales opportunities are placed in an easy-to-read dashboard
- Notifications are sent telling you who messaged you and from which channel
- To-do lists are automatically generated to help you stay productive
Step by step, consider the pricing.
Starting at $29/month when billed annually, plans progress to $49/month for the Pro plan and $99/month for the Enterprise plan.
- Zoho
Zoho, which is ideal for startups, is a software suite based on the cloud that provides everything necessary for efficiently operating a small business. It offers robust marketing and sales capabilities through SaaS applications and online productivity tools.
This simple CRM software assists small businesses in arranging contacts, promoting their brand, handling sales processes, offering customer support, and much more.
Zoho CRM allows for seamless integration with your existing marketing tools, enabling lead capture via social media, visitor segmentation, and provision of support through its integrated live chat feature.
Characteristics:
- Multichannel contact management (email, phone, live chat, and social media)
- AI voice assistant for creating intelligent dashboards and forecasting business trends
- Sales lead management (with lead scoring) so you can prioritize leads and convert them faster
- Detailed analytics reports so you can make data-driven decisions
- Mobile apps to keep everyone on the same page, even on the go
- Team collaboration tools and team roles
- IT management for monitoring websites and handling support tickets
- Built-in security measures to keep your data safe
The topic of discussion is pricing.
Zoho offers a free plan for a maximum of 3 users, however, the premium features are found in the paid plans which begin at a price of $14 per month per user, with an annual billing cycle.
- Pipedrive
Pipedrive is a sales CRM software that prioritizes simplicity and speed, making it exceptionally user-friendly. By utilizing its pipeline management feature, users can have a comprehensive understanding of their sales management process and maintain full control throughout.
In addition to having a clear, visual interface for pipeline management, there are also features such as email integration, sales reporting and forecasting, and mobile apps that allow you to access your CRM from anywhere.
Although Pipedrive lacks segmentation, it is still uncomplicated to effectively identify leads and manage relationships.
– Retain identical content, do not add or remove any information – Reorganize the text while preserving the original meaning Features that are vital:
- Mobile alerts and email reminders
- Easy integration with Google Apps, Trello, Zapier, and more
- API for easy integration with any software
- Email integrations to keep your sales communication in one place
- Email templates
- iOS and Android mobile apps
- Sales forecasting and trend analysis
- Backups and encryption to keep your data secure
- Drag and drop tasks as customers follow the sales funnel
Please rephrase the text while maintaining the same meaning. Pricing is to be considered on a step by step basis without adding or removing any information.
Plans begin at $9.90 per user per month when billed on an annual basis.
- Salesforce
Salesforce, one of the best CRMs for small businesses, is a dominant force in the CRM industry. With Salesforce, you have the ability to guide leads through a customized customer journey while utilizing the intelligent marketing platform to amplify sales through various channels such as emails, SMS messaging, social media, and digital advertising.
Salesforce has a long history, which is why it offers a wide range of sophisticated features and solutions that cater to various needs. These include sales, marketing, commerce, customer service and engagement, team productivity, and more.
Features that are essential or important.
- Guided onboarding
- Custom dashboards and reports
- Automatically track emails and meetings
- Social media and email support
- Enterprise-level security and ongoing support
Arranging the pricing.
The starting price for small business plans is $25 per user per month, with annual billing.
- Freshsales
Freshsales, which has now been rebranded as Freshworks, is a widely used CRM software that caters to businesses of all sizes. It boasts a user-friendly interface and provides a sales-focused approach, offering all the necessary features to optimize conversion rates.
Not only does it have a great dashboard that provides instant access to contact management, reports, emails, phone calls, and other features, but it also offers mobile apps for seamless sales on the go.
Freshsales utilizes AI technology for lead scoring, enabling effortless prioritization of leads with higher conversion potential. Additionally, it offers the capability to establish customized workflow automation, gain actionable insights from conversations, monitor events, and provide a comprehensive customer view from one screen, incorporating essential information.
The number of integrations for popular 3rd-party services and apps on this platform is somewhat limited, although it does offer native integrations for some.
Important characteristics: This is a request to rephrase the given text in a step-by-step manner while retaining the same meaning. No new information should be added, and no information should be omitted.
- 360-degree access to customer profiles, complete with customer touchpoints
- AI-powered lead scoring for prioritizing leads and boosting sales
- Sales team grouping and automatic lead assignments
- Visual sales pipeline with a drag-and-drop navigation
- Mobile app integration for managing your business processes on the go
- Automatic contact profile updates
- Appointment booking and phone calls right from the platform
The pricing is an important factor that needs to be considered carefully.
The pricing begins at $15 per user per month, with an annual billing cycle.
- Streak CRM for Gmail
If you already use Gmail or G Suite, Streak CRM can be the best CRM software for you as it allows you to track customer emails and leads, manage contacts, and stay organized with your sales funnels. It is compatible with both G Suite and free Gmail accounts.
You have the ability to automatically obtain leads from your contacts, include tasks and reminders, arrange emails, generate personalized pipelines/funnels, include tags and notes, and perform additional functions.
Streak CRM offers customizable workflow management features for tasks such as hiring, project management, sales, support, and more. Being integrated into Gmail makes it user-friendly, even for beginners.
This convenient CRM software is available as a browser addon or mobile app for both iOS and Android. Moreover, it is capable of facilitating 3rd-party integrations with Gmail and Zapier.
Main Characteristics:
- Track all your contacts in a pipeline (with custom views)
- Track and share customer interactions with your team members
- Easily import and export data
- Mobile apps help you stay connected, track calls, and take notes from anywhere
- Mail merge to send mass emails easily
- Easy third-party integration with hundreds of platforms
The pricing structure is to be considered step by step, without adding or removing any information, in order to retain the same meaning.
Streak CRM offers a free plan that includes restricted features. If you have a business, it is advisable to opt for one of the paid plans, which begin at $49 per month per user (with annual billing).
- Agile CRM
Agile CRM is an exceptional all-in-one CRM software which provides contact management, sales, marketing, and customer service all on a single dashboard. Additionally, it boasts user-friendliness.
This customer database software offers a comprehensive contact view, project management, and gamification features that can motivate salespeople with enjoyable competitions, as well as events, calendars, timelines, and other tools. Apart from the detailed reports that are available, you can also use quick reports to delve deeper into the information and gain a better understanding of the current situation.
Agile CRM incorporates contact management on a single page, a one-click calling feature, appointment scheduling, and the necessary marketing tools for lead generation and capture. It allows you to generate email newsletters, design landing pages, and send email communications.
In addition to everything mentioned before, Agile CRM also includes support ticketing, helpdesk, and additional features.
In terms of sales, they provide a range of services including single-page contact management, deal tracking, 1-click calling, voicemail automation, appointment scheduling, project management, and various other features. Additionally, they offer marketing tools such as a landing page builder, email tracking, and a social suite. Furthermore, their service features involve helpdesk, ticketing, and additional functionalities.
Listed below are the main characteristics:
- Single-page contact management
- 1-click calling, call scripts, and automated voicemail
- Fully integrated marketing automation (create landing pages and web forms)
- Multichannel campaigns created and managed with a drag-and-drop interface
- Advanced lead tracking and reporting
- Built-in live chat windows
The pricing is to be thought about step by step. Do not add any new information or remove any information.
Agile CRM provides a free version with limited features and paid plans that begin at $14.99 per month. Additionally, customers have the choice to save by pre-paying for a two-year term. The enterprise plan is priced at $79.99.
- Keap
Keap is an effective CRM and sales/marketing platform that aims to assist you in cutting through the distractions and concentrating on increasing your sales.
With over 20 years of existence, Keap has proven that experience is invaluable. This software utilizes automation tools to assist you in:
- Collect more leads
- Convert more clients
- Create more fans
The CRM is very user-friendly, thus appealing to small business owners who do not consider themselves technologically skilled.
Keap provides a variety of pre-written email templates that can be utilized to save time when reaching out to new leads and improve the efficiency of the process. Additionally, Keap supplies status updates and reminders to ensure effective follow-ups with contacts, assisting in guiding them through the sales funnel.
Main Characteristics:
- User-friendly dashboard and UI
- Integrations for email providers like Gmail or Outlook
- Email tracking helps you optimize your email marketing campaigns
- Automated process for sending messages to new leads
- Pre-written emails save you time
- Internal forms help you gather crucial data about your new leads
The pricing aspect of the situation requires careful thought and consideration, taking into account each step and ensuring that no additional information is added or removed while maintaining the same meaning.
To manage up to 1500 contacts, the starting price for paid plans is $149 per month.
- Apptivo
Apptivo is exceptional for being a comprehensive CRM solution that includes everything from lead capture to invoicing.
Businesses can select and utilize specific apps that suit their operations, thanks to its modular approach, which guarantees a customized experience.
Teams are able to access critical data at any time and from any location thanks to its cloud-based infrastructure.
Characteristics that are essential or significant.
- Lead Management: Capture and track leads from various channels.
- Email Marketing: Engage your audience with targeted email campaigns.
- Project Management: Manage projects, tasks, and milestones within the same platform.
- Invoicing: Send professional invoices and track payments.
The pricing is to be considered in a step-by-step manner.
The starting price for paid plans is $10 per user per month with annual billing.
- Salesmate
Salesmate has been designed with the modern sales team in mind.
Acknowledging the difficulties faced in the current sales environment, it provides tools that streamline and mechanize the sales procedure.
The intuitive interface guarantees that sales representatives will be able to spend more time engaging with potential customers and less time on data entry.
Highlighted here are the primary characteristics:
- Sales Automation: Automate repetitive tasks to focus on selling.
- Pipeline Management: Visualize and manage your sales pipeline efficiently.
- Built-in Calling & Texting: Engage with leads and customers directly from the platform.
- Performance Analytics: Get insights into sales activities and performance metrics.
The pricing plan consists of several steps.
The starting price for paid plans is $15 per user per month.
- Nimble CRM
Nimble differentiates itself in the competitive CRM industry by placing emphasis on simplicity and incorporating social integrations.
Nimble is a single platform that consolidates contacts, emails, and social interactions for professionals who handle multiple communication channels.
By providing intelligent insights, it ensures that you will always possess the necessary context before contacting someone.
Characteristic Features:
- Contact Management: Combine contacts from various channels into a unified address book.
- Social Insights: Get detailed insights from social networks directly into your CRM.
- Email Tracking: Know when and who opened your emails to time your follow-ups perfectly.
- Task Management: Organize tasks and set reminders to stay on top of things.
The pricing:
To manage up to 2500 contacts, paid plans begin at $29.90 per month.
Getting Started
In order to streamline operations, improve efficiency, and enhance customer relationships, businesses must have CRMs. With the centralization of customer data, small businesses can effectively manage their sales pipeline and offer personalized experiences to customers.
You can achieve your goals by utilizing the power of technology, thereby enabling you to compete with bigger companies.
