How to Choose a CRM in Six Easy Steps
Learning how to choose a CRM system is the first step to effectively mapping customer relationships. The right CRM software ensures a seamless transition from leads to prospects to customers.
Customer relationship management (CRM) systems maintain data on a central platform. As a result, you eliminate redundant interactions and focus on those that matter most.
As SharpSpring certified consultants, the Cultivize team helps organizations find customized solutions to know where prospects are in the sales funnel. As a result, the right CRM enables you to develop and maintain meaningful customer relationships.
Discover how to find CRM software to track your prospects’ unique journeys through your marketing and sales pipeline.
How Do I Find the Perfect CRM?
The perfect CRM suits your organization’s requirements and helps it exceeds its sales goals. Additionally, the system should fit into your current workflows and budget. With that in mind, let’s consider how to choose a CRM in six easy steps.
1. Establish Priorities and Goals
Improved conversion rates begin with establishing priorities. Start with a business audit or gap analysis to clarify your goals. Then peruse annual business performance reports to find areas that need improvement. For example, do you want to provide better customer service or add new product lines? Once you know your goals, you can find a CRM system that helps you reach them.
2. Understand the Team’s Requirements
The second step is to assess who will use the CRM system and for what purposes. Typically, the sales and marketing departments use CRM software. However, other departments, such as management and procurement, also benefit from using CRM software to make crucial production decisions that impact the bottom line.
3. Explore Robust Features
CRM software offers various features to help you track sales performance and refine marketing campaigns accordingly. First, review what the CRM software should do with your team to find the right solutions. For example, does your team need access to lead tracking and search engine analytics? Also, verify data security options, such as advanced user permissions and encryption, to ensure safety. Finally, attentive customer service is crucial when questions or issues arise about the CRM.
4. Identify the Types of CRM Systems
The fourth step is identifying the three basic types of CRM systems. The first is collaborative, to support teams working together at large corporations or organizations. Then the second is operational to streamline and simplify the customer relations process and follow prospects through the sales journey. Finally, the third is analytical to analyze data and help you gain insight into customers’ buying behavior and purchasing trends. Some systems offer a combination of features for a truly robust CRM solution.
5. Determine the Budget
CRM software pricing is based on factors such as features, storage capacity, and the number of users. Free CRM software exists, such as Insightly for project management or Bitrix 24 for companies with multiple users and contacts. HubSpot is another popular free CRM with limited features. However, free software often does not have all the desired features. The right CRM software helps you realize an ROI on digitalization and marketing campaigns, making it worth the investment. Establish a budget before shopping around so you know the parameters and are ready to take action.
6. Research CRM Software
The sixth and last step in learning how to choose a CRM is doing the research. Read user reviews of potential software and talk to other professionals about their CRM systems. Then turn to trade publications to see what others use in your industry. Also, many leading business publications provide independent software reviews and comparisons for a side-by-side view of the features and costs. Finally, always test CRM software before committing to determine if it works for your business. Many providers offer a free trial to try it before you buy.
What Is the Importance of Choosing the Right CRM?
Staying relevant in a constantly evolving international marketplace requires data analysis and constant evolution based on facts, not speculation. The right CRM maximizes your marketing budget and improves overall efficiency. Also, a CRM should help your company:
- Build additional business opportunities
- Refine data analytics
- Nurture existing customer relationships
- Improve marketing and sales reporting
- Identify sales opportunities, such as upselling and cross-selling
- Feed the marketing loop by following customers’ journey through the sales funnel
What Is a Good CRM to Use?
The right CRM software is affordable with robust features. Additionally, ease of use is crucial to get everyone on board quickly and maximize the system’s potential. Consider what your company needs, including sales pipeline management, email marketing, lead nurturing, and project management.
Does it all seem overwhelming? But what about the cost of lost leads because you don’t have the right CRM software? The experts at Cultivize, SharpSpring certified consultants, help organizations find the ideal CRM solutions, so they don’t have lost leads – which equals lost opportunities.
Contact Cultivize today for more tips on how to choose a CRM with crucial insights into the lead nurturing and conversion processes. Then, based on real-time data analysis, let us show you how the right CRM software can accelerate your growth and productivity.
