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A CRM serves as your secret weapon for a more efficient business. That’s one of the reasons why the CRM market continues to grow. It’s going to grow at a compound growth rate of more than 14% between now and 2027.
Small businesses recognize that there is a need to manage leads efficiently because it leads to more sales and more loyal customers.
How can you find the best CRM system for small business that falls within your needs and your budget? Read on to learn why you need to use a CRM, the best solutions on the market, and how you can pick the best one for your business.
Benefits of CRM Systems
Why should you invest in a CRM system? As you’re about to find out, CRM systems are affordable. There are free solutions and some that require a larger investment.
One of the reasons why small businesses struggle is that they fail to follow up with their leads. Most salespeople follow up once or twice with their leads. Most leads require 6-8 touches to close.
A CRM system has all of your leads in one place and reminds you which ones need to follow up with. In the end, you have a better relationship with your customers. That creates more loyal customers.
A good system helps your marketing team by giving you valuable insights as to what works and what doesn’t work.
Best CRM Systems for Small Business
Which CRM system for small business is the best one? You don’t need to research CRM systems online, because this list tells you which ones you need to pay attention to.
These CRM systems fit a variety of needs and budgets for small businesses. Let’s take a look to see which ones rank as the best small business CRM system.
- HubSpot
If you’re a small business or solopreneur, there aren’t that many CRM systems that help you manage leads effectively. That’s the one thing that HubSpot does so well.
You can look at your dashboard and see exactly where your leads are in the pipeline. See which ones were sent a proposal and which ones had their first contact with you. You know exactly when you need to follow up with the right leads.
- Agile
Agile is one of the most robust and affordable CRM solutions on the market. You have a number of ways to manage your leads.
Where Agile shines is that it lets your sales and marketing teams work together. You can track social media, email marketing, and landing pages.
- Salesforce
Salesforce is the most well-known CRM solution. It’s not that well-known for small businesses. That’s because it’s not the most cost-effective solution for many small businesses.
However, if you have a sales team that is struggling to manage its leads, this is a robust tool that can help. Since it’s the standard in the industry, it integrates with almost every business tool out there.
- ZohoCRM
Zoho made its name by offering a free CRM solution several years ago. The company expanded to offer everything from financial tools to email marketing.
Believe it or not, Zoho still offers a free version of its CRM. This is limited access, but it gives you a starting point to organize your leads and grow your business.
- Drip
Drip is one of the few CRM systems that focuses on the needs of ecommerce businesses. What this CRM does really well is it helps you build your email list.
It also helps you manage your list. For many ecommerce businesses, the quality of the list is the business. You get to see what messages your customers respond to and move your customers to keep buying.
How to Get the Right CRM for Your Small Business
These CRM systems are all great solutions. They can do the job, but they might not be a good fit for your business. These are the things that you need to look for when investing in a CRM system for your small business.
Business Needs
This is your starting point to pick a CRM system. You’ll find that there are plenty of great CRM solutions, but not all of them meet your needs.
There are CRM systems that appeal to different industries. There are solutions that target the healthcare industry, which function like a CRM case management system.
You also want to know what you’re going to use a CRM for and how many people will use the system.
Budget
You do need to assess how much you can spend on a CRM system. You could start with a free solution and grow into it. You may have to migrate to a new solution later on, which can be a costly proposition.
Most CRM solutions charge by the number of users that are on the system.
Integrations
One of the benefits of a CRM is that it helps you keep a lot of information in one place. Zoho and HubSpot connect with Gmail and Office 365.
You can also connect to QuickBooks, LinkedIn, Mailchimp, and Slack. You want to know ahead of time you want to connect to your CRM. That will help you find the right solution.
Mobility
Do you need to have your lead information available while you’re on the road? Then you need to make sure your CRM has mobile support.
Most CRM systems today are cloud-based, and many have an app that gives you access to your information. You need to check to see if the CRM system offers this before you buy.
Get the Best CRM System for Small Business
What’s the best CRM system for small business? The one that fits your unique business needs and budget. As you learned in this article, there are plenty of great CRM options that you can use in your business.
They have different price points, features, integrations, and levels of support. You need to get a full understanding of your own business needs before you commit to a CRM solution for your business.
Be sure to visit the Sales section of this site to learn the latest sales tips and techniques.
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