CRM is the fastest-growing enterprise software. The market for CRM tools is growing exponentially and is projected to reach $96.5 billion by 2028, compared to $47.6 billion in 2021.
There are thousands of CRM tools listed on software review sites like Capterra, G2, and more.
So, how do you find the best CRM software for your business?
Don’t worry. We’ve shortlisted the 18 best CRM tools based on their functions, business problems they solve, ratings on software review sites, reviews, and pricing.
What is a CRM tool?
A CRM tool is a contact management software that enables brands to stay in touch with their customers, streamline customer engagement and support and improve profits.
It also lets you store customer information, all the interactions they had with your brand, touchpoints, and more.
A strong selling point for CRM tools is that everyone in the company can see customer profiles, their past purchases, their current interests, their stage in the sales pipeline, and deal status.
Modern CRM tools extend that functionality by managing the entire customer lifecycle, including sales, marketing, customer support, and digital commerce.
In a nutshell,
CRMs can help large organizations run efficiently and can help small businesses grow.
Now that you know what a CRM is, let’s look at how it can benefit your business.
Benefits of a CRM tool
A CRM can serve your business in many ways. And the best part? A CRM tool can easily be customized to improve outcomes across various business functions, including:
- Sales automation
- Customer experience management
- Customer service
- Analytics
- Marketing automation
- Campaign management
Here are a few quantifiable ways in which a CRM benefits your business:
- Higher sales productivity: A CRM tool can help you track, report, and manage sales performance. With a thorough insight into what your sales reps are doing on a daily basis, CRMs help boost sales productivity by 34%.
- Decrease customer churn: You’ll receive all the warning signs related to customer or account health on the CRM. Check customer activities, product usage, and even track tickets raised on the CRM to improve customer lifetime value.
- Keep your customers satisfied: From hyper-personalization to quicker turn-around times and follow-up reminders, a CRM leaves no scope for a poor customer experience. It does all of this while making your salesperson’s day easier so they’ll be smiling every time they pick up the phone.
- New opportunities to upsell and cross-sell: Use a CRM to segment your audience, map their preferences, and even identify the best time to upsell or cross-sell based on lead activity.
- Accelerate sales revenue: All of the points mentioned above will boost your revenue. But, a CRM can shoot it out of the roof with automated sales workflows, pipeline management, and sales analytics.
But to reap these benefits, you need to choose the right CRM tool for your business!
18 best CRM tools for your business
1. LeadSquared
LeadSquared combines sales execution and field force management in a single package. It helps businesses increase closure rates and easily manage pipelines. Key features include:
- Mobile CRM
- Self-serve portals
- Marketing automation
- Onboarding automation
- Intelligent lead prioritization
- Detailed sales and pipeline reports
- Seamless integration with third-party apps
- Has its developer platform allowing the creation of custom business logic
Pros
- Lead management and opportunity management
- A powerful mobile platform that allows access to complete functionality
- Allows creation of highly flexible workflows (zero-code)
- SmartViews for sales reps. It lets them access their accounts, leads, opportunities, activities, and tasks in one place.
- HIPAA and GDPR complaint
Cons
- Lacks built-in chatbots but can integrate with third-party solutions
- Email campaign templates can be more creative
Ratings and Reviews
On G2, LeadSquared has a rating of 4.5/5.
Kowshick B. on G2 calls it “The Best CRM.”
“Very easy to use. Administration can be done without any coding hardcore skills. Landing page creation is easy and feature like some Landing page some module can be visible or hide on mobile is a great one without any coding. Support is great. The customer care team is very fast in responding to customer queries.”
Pankaj Singh S (via Capterra)
Pricing
LeadSquared comes with a free trial and a Lite plan starts from $20/user/month.
Best suited for: B2C enterprises, SMBs, Marketplaces
2. Podio CRM
Podio from Citrix is an all-in-one solution that aims to be a cloud-based collaboration and project management tool. It is known for its:
- Wide range of apps
- Extensive customization options
- Comprehensive collaboration and project management tools.
Pros
- Project management is a key feature of Podio; it can be a great option for those larger companies that require a dedicated project management solution along with basic CRM functions.
- Provides automated workflow solutions that further simplify manual workflows.
- Allows creation of forms and host them as web pages
Cons
- Since it is more of a project management tool, often users have a problem using it as a CRM out of the box.
- It requires extensive configurations and often all the modules do not operate as coherently as it does in other CRM tools.
Ratings and Reviews
At Capterra, Podio gets a review of 4.3/5. However, G2 gives it a solid 5/5.
“The inclusion of SO many features were daunting for a new hire to learn quickly.”
Sara M. at G2
“It is amazing how it can integrate with so many things, send emails, SMS, signatures. The files can be organized with just a click. It is also suitable for any type of business.”
Manuel D. at Capterra
Pricing
Podio is free for five employees and the basic plan starts at only $7.20 per month.
Best suited for: SMBs
3. Freshsales
If you are looking for a CRM solution that also doubles as a customer support solution, then Freshdesk is the right CRM tool for you. Freshdesk enables businesses:
- Create knowledge bases
- Collect and respond to individual support tickets
- Communicate effectively with customers
Pros
- Freshdesk can help you resolve numerous customer queries with AI and bots
- Customer engagement can be personalized
- The workflows of agents can be automated when addressing customer concerns
- Freshdesk can also seamlessly integrate with social media.
Cons
- It can be overwhelming for new users and has limited reporting features.
- The software lacks automation compared to other solutions.
Ratings and Reviews
G2 gives Freshdesk a rating of 4.5/5. TrustRadius gives it a rating of 8.4/10.
“FreshDesk makes issue resolution for larger organizations simple. I like that there are several paths that you can set up inside of your organization. We have ours set up to communicate with the right department for each situation.”
Scott R. (via G2)
Pricing
Freshdesk has a free plan that allows unlimited agents. Their starting plan is $15/user/month.
Best suited for:
Enterprises and SMBs, mainly for sales management, customer service and support.
4. HubSpot CRM
HubSpot is one of the most popular CRM solutions for managing your sales pipeline and take decisions based on real-time analytics. It allows users to:
- Automatically track new sales
- Help with lead generation
- Integrates with a lot of other HubSpot tools and services.
Pros
- HubSpot collects all the data of your marketing efforts
- Brands can easily manage and segment contacts
- The lead generation features are quite comprehensive.
- Provides intuitive and easy-to-use page builder for email marketing and campaign landing pages
Cons
- You need to pay for additional contacts depending on your subscription. This subscription system makes scaling the CRM for your business a little challenging
- HubSpot also lacks starting templates.
Ratings and Reviews
G2 gives HubSpot a perfect 5/5 rating. Capterra gives it an overall rating of 4.5/5.
“A G-Suite Friendly CRM,” while Jesse L. calls it an “Excellent CRM for SMEs and growing companies.”
Anthony J. (via Capterra)
Pricing
HubSpot comes with a free plan, but if you want to scale up, the next plan starts at $50 a month.
Best suited for:
Has separate product categories for sales, marketing, and customer service. Businesses of all sizes can use HubSpot CRM.
5. Apptivo
Apptivo focuses on making your lead generation efforts more effective. It helps you create forms to capture more leads and automate customer tracking. Apptivo stands out of the pack by providing:
- Easy to use and intuitive mobile apps
- Provides extensive tutorials and guides
- An end-to-end business management platform
Pros
- Much easier to use compared to other CRM tools. It comes with built-in support for new users
- It automatically keeps contacts updated and helps manage projects with long life cycles.
- Comes with integration with Google’s software suite at a much lower price.
Cons
- Apptivo is good for basic functionalities but cannot be extended much
- Their UX is not very intuitive for new users
- Gmail integration is not great
Ratings and Reviews
TrustRadius gives Apptivo a rating of 9.2/10. Capterra gives it 4.4/5.
“I am always able to get an agent through the embedded chat widget. It is like have a teacher or assistant sitting beside me all the time.”
Brent K (via G2)
Pricing
Apptivo has a free tier while the basic tier, called “Lite” starts at $8 per month.
Best suited for
Small Businesses and the Airlines/Aviation industry.
6. Salesforce Sales Cloud
When it comes to CRM solutions, Salesforce is one of the most popular solutions. One of the reasons why it is so useful is because of its wide range of integration with other software platforms. It allows companies to make critical business decisions based on real-time data.
The USPs of Salesforce includes:
- Extensive support for businesses of any size.
- It can integrate with almost all known third-party services used by businesses.
- Customizable for almost all types of businesses
Pros
- All users have complete access to the leads and contacts.
- Extremely customizable and can be used in almost any situation.
- Provides comprehensive analytics.
- Nearly no performance hiccups.
Cons
- The pricing of Salesforce Sales Cloud is also quite complex and depends on the features that the user will use.
- Automation capabilities are underwhelming when compared to cheaper options.
- It may not be suitable for small businesses
Ratings and Reviews
On Capterra, Salesforce Sales Cloud has a rating of 4.4/5 while Gartner provides it a score of 4.3/5.
Jamie G. on Capterra says “When used properly, a real gamechanger. … It’s really impacted the way that we work, the way we interact with customers and the way we approach deals. It’s the foundation of our everyday.”
However, he also adds, “It’s not especially intuitive and you need to spend a lot of time to get the most out of it. (“Salesforce Sales Cloud Reviews, Demo & Pricing – 2022”) It’s also not the fastest software in the world.”
Pricing
Salesforce Sales cloud offers a free trial and a starting price of $25/month/user.
Best suited for
Salesforce offers a range of suits for sales, marketing, service and have customized offerings for several industries.
7. Acquire
Recently, Acquire has been gaining a lot of traction and is one of the best solutions for small businesses. Acquire focuses more on customer communication and care, allowing customers to get the best experience from the brand. Acquire is known for:
- AI-powered chatbots that can help customers with simple tasks
- Instant file and screen sharing solutions
- Video and voice calls with recording features
- Co-browsing
Pros
- Co-browsing allows support agents and customers to collaborate in the customer’s browser in real-time. It can take place via chat or phone calls.
- Provides a high degree of personalization.
Cons
- Pricing is on the higher side
- Third-party integration via APIs is limited.
Ratings and Reviews
Acquire gets a rating of 4.2/5 at G2.
“Acquire support and features are top-level and one of a kind. We spent months looking for the perfect solution for our needs and the Acquire product checked all of them.”
Julian David M.
Pricing
Acquire does not declare their pricing publicly and you need to get in touch with them.
Best suited for
Mid-size businesses
8. Odoo
Odoo is the top-ranking open-source CRM solution. When it comes to CRM tools, most of them are proprietary. But Odoo changes that by being open source. This makes the CRM extremely modular and customizable. The key selling points of Odoo include:
- An open-source solution that allows extensive customization
- Easy to use Kanban view
- Comes built-in with all the basic tools needed to track leads and opportunities
- Works right out of the box with minimal setup time.
Pros
- Allows extensive customization
- Can easily integrate with a lot of third-party solutions
- Easy to use, has well-designed helpdesk section
- Reasonable pricing with a comprehensive set of features
Cons
- Customer service is not up to the mark
- Navigation of the CRM can be challenging at times
- Development can be challenging as it uses multiple languages
Ratings and Review
G2 gives Odoo a rating of 4/5 and TrustRadius similarly rates it as 8/10.
“You can do whatever you want with Odoo, from ordering lunch to selling online.”
Oscar Alcalá (via TrustRadius)
Pricing
The Basic solution comes at $3060 per year (approx.. $250 per month) which includes the whole app suite. They also offer free trials or more granular pricing for the apps that you will only require.
Best suited for: SMEs and large corporations
9. Zendesk Sell
Zendesk is a popular name in the world of CRMs and their platform Zendesk Sell, as the name implies, is designed for selling. It provides a comprehensive feature set to manage your sales funnel and make your brand more visible.
- It integrates well with other services and provides extensive customization
- Comes with omnichannel support
- Provides a unified workspace with contextual interface
Pros
- Integrates well with Google’s services
- Relatively inexpensive starting plan with a decent set of available features
- Allows you to customize the sales process
- Provides the tools needed to track and follow up on contacts
Cons
- The reporting module is not as detailed as the competition
- The dashboard is confusing and can be hard to find the necessary tools
- Lacks the option of auto-filling data
Ratings and Reviews
Zendesk Sell gets 4.3/5 on Capterra.
“Been using it since it came out as a beta months ago, It integrates very easily with Zendesk support ticketing and has all features as any other CRM. You can easily integrate with Pandadoc and send agreements. You can send texts, emails and calls from the CRM very easily and track agents productivity.”
Marlene V. (via Capterra)
Pricing
Zendesk Sell starts at $19/user/month.
Best suited for: Enterprises and SMBs
10. Less Annoying CRM
CRMs can be complicated as they often cram a lot of tools into a single software suite. Less Annoying CRM or LACRM tries to simplify CRM adoption for small business owners by offering a simple solution at a low price. The key features include:
- Easy to use even for inexperienced users
- Perfect solution for businesses and organizations with limited needs
- Provides all basic features, workflow management, marketing automation, customer support, and more.
Pros
- Simplified CRM adoption with no set-up fee
- Integrates well with most popular web services and apps
- Can be customized as needed by the brand
- Requires no contract
Cons
- Can feel limited for a growing business
- Integration does not offer in-depth tracking of leads
Ratings and Reviews
LACRM gets a solid 5/5 at G2.
“LACRM is so easy to learn I was able to understand it myself within just a few days of the trial period. From there, I still had time to add on my team and have them test and learn the system before we even had to make our first payment. I loved this aspect because it allowed us all to be comfortable with the system and begin integrating it into our daily operations right away. When LACRM says that there are really no tricks or hoops to jump through, they mean it, the system is easy to understand, and the team is super helpful if/when you need them!”
Laine D. (via g2)
Pricing
LACRM has one pricing tier of $10/user/month.
Best suited for: Small businesses, marketing and advertising industries
11. Capsule CRM
Capsule CRM allows you to build better relationships with customers by collecting more data on them. It a solution that any business can adopt easily.
- It simplifies data collection and follows up on information such as pet’s names
- Simplifies contact management
- Comes with integrated document storage
Pros
- The free tier can accommodate up to 250 people
- The mobile app is feature-filled
- Easily integrates with third-party apps
- Pipeline visualization can help monitor and implement pipelines easily
Cons
- The import data functionality isn’t great.
- Search and reporting functions are not up to the mark
- The UX isn’t intuitive for new users
Ratings and Reviews
Capsule CRM gets a 4.5/5 rating on Capterra.
“What initially attracted us to this CRM was its cost effectiveness. I was impressed by how easy it was to deploy and run. The mobile app was pretty solid, easy to use and probably better or on par with some of the other (more expensive) CRM apps I’ve used.”
Ilia T. (via Capterra)
Pricing
Capsule CRM has a free trial and starts at $18/user/month.
Best suited for: SMBs
12. Keap
Formerly Infusionsoft, Keap allows you to automate numerous marketing tasks, including tracking people. It is marketed mostly as automation software. It can:
- Automate lead capture and subsequent follow-up activities
- Can automate nearly all aspects of customer experience
- Can predict revenues based on past and present performance
Pros
- Extensive automation capabilities
- Allows segmentation and personalization of email campaigns
- Allows behavior tracking and tagging
- Combines affiliate marketing, sales and marketing automation, and email marketing at a relatively lower cost
Cons
- The landing page builder is lacking functionality
- The reporting module is unintuitive
Ratings and Reviews
At G2, Keap gets a score of 4.2/5.
“Keap helps keep our contact list organized and updated. Their marketing campaign capabilities are some of the best I’ve seen, along with the tagging system. Putting our marketing on autopilot saves us time and headaches.”
Michelle B
Pricing
Keap offers free trials, and the Lite plan starts at $40 per month for the first three months.
Best suited for: Freelancers, small businesses
13. Sugar Sell
Sugar Sell is a popular CRM solution. If you prefer detailed data visuals, then Sugar CRM is for you. Brands can use this solution to manage accounts, automate parts of the sales process, and analyze the pipeline.
- Automates data collection – gathers actionable insights from social media and business interaction data
- Automates the customer journey
- Supports omnichannel communications
Pros
- Extensive customer-centric automation
- Detailed and highly functional sales console.
- A reliable option for startups and small businesses
Cons
- The UI can be clumsy at times
- Filtering data can be cumbersome
Ratings and Reviews
Sugar Sell gets a rating of 3.8/5 on Capterra. On TrustRadius, it gets a score of 7.4/10.
“Overall, I really enjoyed Sugar and think it would be a great fit (especially for the lower price point!) for marketing and advertising agencies that are looking to build out custom flows. Their customer care team was incredibly helpful and knowledgeable, and I really enjoyed working with them.”
Katie F. (via Capterra)
Pricing
Sugar Sell starts at $80/user/month.
Best suited for: Mid-size companies
14. Scoro
Scoro is an end-to-end work management software that allows brands to manage their entire workflow from the first interaction to the final invoice. It combines project management tools with CRM tools to provide this experience. Scoro allows you to:
- Track leads and opportunities in real-time
- Easily compile quotes and invoices into PDFs
- Standardize sales processes and predict future sales
- Set up multiple custom dashboards with sales KPIs and targets
Pros
- Provides an all-in-one solution that integrates CRM with project management
- Comprehensive invoicing and reminders system
- Can be easily implemented
Cons
- The tool is difficult to understand for beginners
- Emails sent from Scoro generally land in the client’s junk folder
- Contact synchronization with Gmail isn’t available.
- Has limited integration support with third-party solutions.
Ratings and Reviews
Scoro gets a score of 4.6/5 on Capterra while on G2, it gets a 4.5/5.
“Scoro brought major relief to our team as a single place for information and sharing progress on projects and individual tasks. Its limitations to work as a sales CRM forced us to be creative in how we record data and push that data down the pipeline.”
Nasko L. (via Capterra)
Pricing
Pricing starts at $26/user/month.
Best suited for: Small businesses
15. BIGContacts
BIGContacts is a comprehensive Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solution focusing on simplicity and usability. It offers an array of robust features aimed at streamlining business operations and enhancing customer experience.
- A well-rounded CRM solution that includes a contact manager software, email marketing tool, automation system, and more.
- Designed for simplicity. , iIt is easily customizable while staying delightfully easy to use.
- Streamlines customer communication, storing all emails and contact records in one place.
Pros
- BIGContacts provides a comprehensive overview of all activities related to contacts, tasks, and opportunities.
- Ensures timely follow-ups with automated task creation and reminders for meetings and other important events.
- Allows users to create custom fields, processes, and workflows tailored to their business operations.
- Offers powerful reporting features and analytics, making it easy to track sales pipelines, create custom reports, and analyze team performance.
Cons
- Search functionality for email templates can be improved.
- Users may need a stable internet connection for optimal performance.
Ratings and Reviews
G2 gives BIGContacts a rating of 4.5 out of 5. TrustRadius scores it 9.6 out of 10.
“BIGContacts has delivered everything we needed and more. One of the most valuable tools is the history and email tracking capabilities. This program offers many utilities and options to increase sales and lower the sales cycle. I highly recommend this product for anyone who is in need of monitoring sales calls and customer information.” – Chuch G. (Capterra)
Pricing
BIGContacts has a 15-day free trial and plans starting at $5/user/month.
Best suited for small to medium-sized businesses looking to simplify their relationship management efforts while being able to scale and customize per their unique requirements.
16. Zoho CRM
Zoho CRM is a popular solution that provides omnichannel communication capabilities, track leads and opportunities in real-time, and measure the effectiveness of the marketing campaigns. With Zoho CRM, brands can:
- Automate lead nurturing tasks
- Make better decisions with real-time analytics
- Leverage AI-powered sales assistant to help identify high-quality leads
- Connect with customers and leads across multiple channels
Pros
- Comprehensive omnichannel communication options.
- Provides extensive integration capabilities with other Zoho products as well as third-party services
- Automatically notifies team members of updates on leads and customers.
- Offers a solid set of features for the price.
- Excellent customer support
Cons
- The user interface can feel outdated and challenging
- Customization options in email marketing are limited
Ratings and reviews
Zoho CRM gets a score of 8.2/10 on TrustRadius and a 4/5 on G2.
“You are not going to find a “fuller” program. They have been a leader in the industry for a long time for a reason, and that is because they listen to their clients and attempt to improve themselves based on feedback.”
Patrick Stephens (via TrustRadius)
Pricing
Zoho offers a free trial as well as freemium plans. Premium plans start at $14/user/month.
Best suited for: Zoho offers a range of products for different business functions. The most common users of Zoho CRM are from SMBs.
17. Pipedrive
Pipedrive is another popular CRM solution that is specifically designed with small teams in mind. It allows you to easily track customers using minimalistic visuals.
- Pipedrive is extremely easy to use and needs little prior training.
- Activity reminders notify team members of deals.
- Can sync all activities with Google Calendar
Pros
- Extremely easy to use with a drag-and-drop interface
- Automation systems can take care of repetitive tasks and sending emails
- A comprehensive note-taking and management system simplifies voice calls
- Ensures that leads do not go stale with notifications and reminders
Cons
- Customer support is limited
- Integration with social media accounts is lacking
Ratings and Reviews
Pipedrive is rated 8.7/10 on TrustRadius and a perfect 5/5 on G2.
“Pipedrive is an excellent collaborative tool since it is very complete and provides many functionalities that are currently being used in several of our department within the company.”
Jack Mattheus (via TrustRadius)
Pricing
Pipedrive starts at $12.50/user/month.
Best suited for: SMEs, Most of their customers are from manufacturing, trade, news and media sectors.
18. Nimble
Nimble focuses on getting more insights into your leads and customers with minimal effort. It automatically gathers leads and segments them. It also helps with your marketing and outreach efforts. With Nimble, you can:
- Gather customer data from their social media profiles
- Makes it easy to manage tasks with Smart Agenda and Activities
- Integrates with Google Workspace and Office 365.
Pros
- A practical choice for organizations using Office 365 and Google Workspace
- Extensive automated contact enrichment and segmentation
- Integrates with social media accounts
- Provides comprehensive email marketing features
Cons
- The interface can be confusing to new users
- Price is geared towards larger businesses
Ratings and Reviews
On Capterra, Nimble gets a 4.4/5 while on TrustRadius, it gets an 8.7/10.
“I have been using Nimble for customer relationship management software. Apart from the price, I can say that it is best among other in the industry.”
Alper K. (via Capterra)
Pricing
Nimble starts at $19/user/month when billed annually. It also offers a free trial.
Best suited for: SMBs
That’s our list of the 18 CRM tools we recommend.
But before you finalize a deal, consider the following points to find the best CRM tool for your business.
How to find the best CRM tool for your business
We’ve helped thousands of companies successfully implement CRM in their business.
In conversations with customers, we’ve had the privilege to learn about the buying process, competition, horror stories and more.
In short – our customers have helped us identify potential red flags that we can share with CRM buyers to prevent them from making the same mistakes.
These red flags include:
- The lack of customer support
- An unscalable CRM
- Manual updates and lack of access
- Lengthy implementation time
- Lack of integrations
Apart from these, check the following for the CRM vendor you’re evaluating:
- Who have they worked with?
- Do they have well-reputed names under their belt with credible evidence?
- Do they have good reviews?
Below are some of the websites that offer credible CRM reviews:
- G2 Crowd
- Capterra
- GetApp
- Crozdesk
So now you know what red flags to look out for. Let’s talk about the points to shortlist the best ones.
1. Instant support
While companies claim zero downtime, outages are still possible.
So, check if the CRM vendor has a mechanism to support customers in such instances.
Also, check if they respond promptly, in general.
The best way to check this is to contact them. If they’re quick to communicate, offer support at every step of the way, you’re in good hands.
2. Scalability
Chances are, when you implement your CRM, you receive less than 100 leads per week, and you have 10 employees. But within a year or even a couple of months, your lead levels increase to 500 per day, and you have 50 employees.
So, check if the CRM is scalable and flexible to your needs.
3. Implementation
Implementation should be easy, fast, and free (for lighter/DIY implementations) or priced based on the level of customizations.
Cloud-based deployments are usually faster, and you should be able to deploy a solution in two to four weeks.
“We had a very smooth implementation experience. Earlier, we thought that it would take us at least two weeks to get it started, but LeadSquared said they can start work from the very next day. We could have failed miserably if we hadn’t taken this decision.”
Siddhartha Nihalani, VP – Product, Practo
4. Automated updates
Two types of updates should happen in your CRM tool automatically. They are:
- Product updates
- Customer data and activity updates
Product updates usually happen when your CRM provider adds or updates a feature on the software. In this case, you must receive communication from your vendor regarding the update and resources to help you use those features.
Another aspect we spoke about is the customer data update. Here, the system should automatically update records for:
- Whenever there’s a change in your lead/customer account, such as turnover, number of employees, and more.
- Whenever your sales users add an activity. For example, when a user adds sales activity as “deal closed,” the stage of the lead should automatically change to “customer”.
Doing it manually will only cost time and resources. Plus, you won’t be able to ensure data integrity.
5. Training
Let’s face it. The users may not be from a technical background. No matter how intuitive the CRM be, users need at least some training to be able to utilize the software to the fullest.
So, check if your vendor provides live training and has training modules in place that your team can refer to anytime. Also, check if the vendor is comfortable providing training per your user’s preference.
When we surveyed 3,061 CRM customers, we found more than 50% prefer live training over self-paced training.
6. Information repository
It should not happen that salespeople have to save email templates, proposals, or sales pitch decks, on their desktop or drive.
Why?
Because it’s time-consuming.
To enable your sales teams, have a content library or information repository in the CRM. It will give them quick access to what they need without having to switch platforms.
7. Reports and dashboards
The greatest point of productivity when using a CRM is that you don’t have to use several spreadsheets, manually update information, or search for customer data.
Make sure your CRM lives up to its name.
While reports help you analyze data from the past, dashboards give you real-time metrics on campaigns, leads, and sales.
To give you an example, LeadSquared provides both – a real-time dashboard (customizable for users) and 100+ automated reports to increase productivity across the organization. Managers rarely ask their teams to prepare reports – they fetch the information they need from the CRM directly.
8. Integration
The final and the most important aspect is – does your CRM integrate easily with popular tools and your core software?
Make sure it does. Otherwise, you’ll end up employing more resources for managing data across systems.
Worse, you won’t be able to ensure data integrity.
So, check for integration capabilities in your CRM.
9. Compliance
Since CRM tools store sensitive customer information, the software must comply with the regulatory requirements of the region the brand is located in. For example, if you are in the EU, you need to use a software solution that complies with the GDPR requirements.
Similarly, if you’re from domains like healthcare, HIPAA compliance in the tools you use is a must.
A quick recommendation
We’ve discussed the 18 best CRM tools and their core features, pros, and cons.
We also shared tips for finding the best CRM software for your business.
Now, allow me to recommend our favorite (and reasonably priced) CRM tool.
LeadSquared.
LeadSquared is built for high-velocity sales, using a vertical-centric, use-case first approach instead of keeping features at the center of the software.
The goal is simple:
To build truly connected, empowered, and self-reliant sales organizations.
With 200,000 users worldwide, LeadSquared is one of the fastest-growing CRM companies in the world (featured in Deloitte Fast50 five times in a row)
To experience it yourself:
