What is the best CRM for small startups?
Every new firm requires a CRM solution to store their contacts, standardize their procedures, and help them manage their customer interactions. Before revealing our top five candidates, we will be addressing that query in the section below.
Over the past several years, the CRM software(opens in new tab) market has expanded quickly, and each new product that has entered the market has brought with it a special set of capabilities. However, price and scalability are the two most crucial aspects for startups with limited funding. It can be challenging to switch from one CRM to another later on, so it’s critical to pick a solution that you won’t outgrow immediately away.It need to be able to grow together with your company.
The CRM options listed below are all affordable and very scalable. Continue reading, and we’ll provide you all the information you require about them. You will have all the knowledge necessary to make an informed decision by the end of this book.
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The HubSpot CRM is a collection of distinct tools designed to assist you in managing various facets of your company, from marketing and sales to operations and customer support. You may purchase these tools separately or combine them for an all-in-one CRM solution thanks to flexible price plans.
HubSpot is, in our opinion, the finest CRM for startups overall for a number of reasons. The HubSpot for Startups program is the first, and it offers startup-friendly onboarding, customized training, as well as significant discounts of up to 90% for qualified enterprises in the first year. By doing this, you may help keep costs down and free up more money for business expansion.
Another option is the free plan. All of Hubspot’s marketing, sales, operational, and customer service solutions are available in “light” form without cost.
A shared mailbox, contact management and live chat are accessible. Also, email marketing tools, dashboard reporting, deal tracking, onscreen calling, and more capabilities are included in the free plan. You can also pay for paid add-on packages when you’re ready. Dependent on needs to unlock more advanced capabilities that you might require as your business develops.
The HubSpot Academy, which offers limitless free access to training materials to assist you in making the most of your CRM and bringing your team up to speed, is the last option. This kind of advice and assistance is really beneficial for entrepreneurs.
Another robust, full-featured CRM is Zoho. It has all the features you’d anticipate from a CRM platform, including workflow automation, lead creation tools, robust reporting, and analytics. It also manages contacts and pipelines.
You can read, manage, and respond to customer communications from all of your communication channels; including phone, email, live chat, and social media platforms; in one location thanks to the unified inbox.
The Canvas design studio is a key feature of Zoho. With the aid of an easy-to-use drag-and-drop editor, this innovative tool enables Zoho customers to create their own CRM interface depending on their individual preferences and needs.
As a natural choice for current Zoho users, Zoho CRM naturally connects with all the other tools in the company’s suite of cloud-based software.
Good news for really lean startups is that there is even a free plan available. Although it just has a few capabilities, it can accommodate three users.
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Startups searching for project management capabilities in their CRM will love the adaptable features of Insightly. With calendar syncing and milestone/task tracking, projects can be managed more effectively.
Additionally, it has strong workflow management tools that can help you organize your work and save time.
To close more transactions, for instance, lead routing automatically allocates your leads to the appropriate sales agent. This allows you to rapidly follow up with prospects while they’re still interested. Powerful automations, on the other hand, let you set up intricate procedures to automate monotonous chores like sending emails and updating information.
Additionally, you can send, create, and track emails from inside of Insightly using the built-in email marketing functionality. Additionally, it will inform you of the open and click-through rates your emails are receiving. You may monitor all the other mission-critical indicators that are most significant to your firm with the aid of custom business reports.
Insightly does have a steeper learning curve than some other CRMs because there is so much it can do.
In the CRM market, Pipedrive is a recent entrant that was created with startups in mind. It is created to be everything that expanding organizations need: adaptable, cost-effective, results-driven, and simple to use.
The sales pipeline is the lifeblood of Pipedrive. The CRM’s creators concluded that this was the most crucial function for startups, not just for managing contacts and sales but also for resolving other issues that arise for brand-new companies.
You can track deals in the Pipeline View and identify what stage of your pipeline they are in thanks to a simple visual interface. This tool will help your team identify the direction and priorities of your sales.
You are able to add your own sales stages, activities, and team members to your pipeline in order to make it fit the particular sales process of your firm.
Pipedrive is among the most straightforward and user-friendly CRM solutions available, making it perfect for businesses that need to get up and running as soon as possible.
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The most well-known CRM software for startups in the world, Salesforce, has a solid reputation as one of the best.
Since it’s been so widely available, salespeople often have the greatest expertise with it, which will make onboarding simpler as your company expands and you hire additional representatives. The full version of Salesforce(opens in new tab) can, however, be somewhat expensive.
Salesforce Essentials is a less expensive option that is available for startup companies operating on a tight budget. Although it’s a more constrained version of the program with fewer bells and whistles. It can be a wise choice for startups who plan to upgrade to the full version of Salesforce as their company expands.
Salesforce Essentials may assist you with keeping track of sales, managing customer support requests, and organizing client data all from a single dashboard. Additionally, you may combine it with other components of your toolchain, like ActiveCampaign, Zapier, and Docusign.
Benefits of Using CRM for Startups
A CRM can help your firm manage contacts, identify clients, produce reports, save time, and increase revenue.
Expect ease when it comes to selecting a CRM. Thankfully, there are now several CRMs available that are simple to use, intuitive in their user interface, and offer quick access to information. Your entire team will be more likely to use it if the user interface is well-designed.
Sales automation, sales forecasting, and marketing campaign management should all be available in your CRM. Meanwhile, customization options let you adapt CRM software to your own business requirements. If you’re operating in new terrain, having the ability to change contact and opportunity fields as well as other elements is incredibly beneficial.
As a startup, you also probably don’t have your own IT department. Hence, you’ll want to make sure the CRM you choose is not strange to your customer care team. As it lowers the learning curve for the product, responds to your nagging queries, and quickly fixes technical problems.
The cost is another factor to take into account. It goes without saying that price can make or break a startup. Hence, you’ll want to find something affordable. Preferrably with tiers of pricing that increase slowly over time (in other words: no expensive surprises).
In Conclusion:
CRM makes distributed and remote work as productive as possible while also helping you plan, develop, and streamline daily operations.
Whatever your firm is doing, a CRM with capabilities like contact management, lead management, sales pipeline tracking, and marketing automation can help you tie your daily work together.
It will take some cross-comparing to find the best CRM for your startup. However if equipped with the aforementioned list, you’ll be in a good spot to start looking.