These are the Top CRM Platforms

top crm platforms reviewed

Nowadays, when it comes to top CRM platforms there are plenty of choices. A good CRM will make your work easier and you will notice an immediate boost in profits. If you have a small business and a small budget, you might even find a free CRM platform to meet your initial needs.

top CRM platforms for nurturing clients

However, if you need something more robust, you’ll have to consider the different paid options. And there are actually a ton of options. It might even be overwhelming at first with all of this choice. How can you know which one is right for you? Well, this article lists a small selection of some established CRMs, some unique CRMs and some low-cost CRMs. At the bottom we also reveal a consideration you might have missed… Perhaps a stand-alone CRM isn’t what you’re truly looking for.

Salesforce

This is probably the best customer relationship management platform for small businesses that want to scale. They have plans to cover every stage of a growing business. If you’re a small business and can barely afford a CRM, you’re covered. If have a big fortune 500 company, you’re covered. And if you happen to grow from that small business into that fortune 500 corporation? They cover that growth, too, and will scale right alongside you. 

Features Overview
  • Collaboration Tools
  • Workflow Automation
  • Sales Forecasting
  • Lead Generation
  • Contact Management
  • Opportunity Management

One of the best things about Salesforce, however, is its partner network (AppExchange). This marketplace currently offers more than three thousand 3rd party apps that extend the abilities of Salesforce. If you’re worried about how Salesforce integrates with your other favorite tools, be sure to check the AppExchange. There is probably an app or two there to cover your needs.There are two things you need to know about Salesforce. It is a cloud-based platform. This means you can access anything you need from anywhere. It also boasts being an

There are two things you need to know about Salesforce. First, it is a cloud-based platform. This means you can access anything you need from anywhere. It also boasts being an easy-to-use platform which will really help your workers adopt it quickly. It prides itself on having an intuitive streamlined user experience.

ProsperWorks CRM

If you’re a fan of Google products and Google Apps, this is the CRM for you. While not produced by Google itself, it might as well be. It is actually the CRM that they recommend and use themselves. This CRM is designed to integrate with all the Google tools that you use daily.

In fact, one of the selling points is that Prosperworks can dig your Gmail and Google Drive for data. The promise is that Prosperworks will save you a ton of time on data entry. This is because it can automatically find and interpret the data already inside your Gmail and Google Drive.

Unlike more established names, it lacks a marketplace with thousands of integrations or addons. But it does natively support many favorites such as Dropbox, Mailchimp, and most importantly Zapier. Through the Zapier connection you can integrate it with many other tools.

Being newer to the market, its features are more basic than most, but it is probably the easiest to use. If you can use Gmail, you can use Prosperworks. At least this is the promise.

Features Overview
  • Google Chrome Extension
  • Basic Integrations
  • Basic Reporting
  • Online Support
  • Sales Forecasting
  • Records
  • Custom Fields
  • MailChimp Integration
  • Email Open Tracking
  • Task Automation
  • Activity Reporting
  • API
  • Launch Training
  • Phone Support

Zoho CRM

Zoho is best known as being a long-time competitor to Google Apps. Unlike Google, Zoho does have its very own CRM solution. If you use the other Zoho apps, you might want to consider the CRM as well. It obviously integrates seamlessly with the rest of the Zoho experience. Additionally, it integrates well with Google Apps.

As with the rest of the Zoho offerings, this CRM is primarily for the price conscious. It has a very simple feature set. But don’t confuse “simple feature set” with “simple to use”. It is not as intuitive as some of the more expensive options. The user experience is just not very polished.

And therein lies another caveat. Zoho does offer higher plans to cover your needs as you grow, but you probably won’t need them. By the time your business grows large enough, you’ll probably need some of the features of the more complex CRM solutions out there. Zoho is probably best for businesses that are small and plan to stay small.

Pipedrive

This CRM is probably most similar to Zoho. Its entry plan is also free, but their paid plans start at just $12. Not surprisingly, it offers fewer built-in features than the competition. Fortunately, it does offer some pretty popular integrations. If you know your growing business will need some of the fancier features very soon, this isn’t the CRM for you. On the other hand, if you are reasonably satisfied with the current feature set, this CRM might save you a lot of money.

Speaking of savings, this CRM will probably also save you a lot of time and effort on training. They’ve invested a lot of effort in making the user experience minimalist, clean, and intuitive. Almost everyone loves their drag-and-drop visual pipeline builder. Using it is a breeze. Each one of your sales staff will pick it up and run with it in no time.

There are two main things that might sway you toward this CRM. The first is that it has the best way to visually build and manage a sales pipeline and all of your deals. The visual editor makes the experience a breeze. The second is that a sales pipeline methodology is integrated and built around it. If your sales staff loves throwing around the terms “pipe” and “pipeline” a lot, let them have a go at the free trial. They might end up loving this CRM.

Forcemanager

Forcemanager claims it was created for field sales reps. It should cater to the needs of sales people and sales managers, automating most sales tasks. It tracks the sales performance of the different sales agents and helps you incentivize them. Its key selling point is that it automates the documentation of sales records, sales activities, and different transactions. In a word – it helps you save time on data entry. The mobile apps (available on most devices) are there to help the sales agents coordinate with each other and management, and do better work in the field.

Our Personal Favorite Top CRM Platforms

If you’re like us, you believe that CRM and marketing automation go together. So do many smart business owners who want fast growth. This is why we advise many of our clients on how to build a fully integrated solution. You want a strategy that combines all aspects of marketing, sales and customer relationships.

Conclusion

The truth is that nobody can tell you which CRM is “perfect for your business”. In fact, in most cases all of them will have a “flaw” that bothers you. What you want to do is see which ones “catch your eye”, and utilize their free trial offers. You have to actually try the hands-on experience and see if it makes sense for you.

crm help & consultations

However, you probably realize you’ll have an easier time if somebody helps you choose client relationship management software. Should we be entrusted with this decision, we can work together toward building a combined system that grows your business. This system will include an overall marketing strategy, integrating all of your business software with whatever CRM solution we choose (together) for you.

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