CRMs cover the gamut, offering lightweight services designed for fast and easy customer relationship and lead management, as well as powerful systems offering integrated e-commerce solutions and advanced analytics.
While many small business owners worry that they will sign up for a product that won’t provide adequate functionality later on, these fears are often overblown. Higher levels of service and additional features are almost always available.
Additionally, while more CRM features and functionality may seem inherently better, too many options in the system can be overwhelming. Too many features often lengthen the implementation process and make the system more complex and expensive.
If you already know what you’re looking for but want to narrow down your options, ask yourself and your team these questions:
- Should we have workflows with built-in multi-level approvals?
- Do we need to email customers directly from CRM?
- What sales tools do we need?
- Do we want software that can be used immediately after installation, or do we want to do a lot of customization ourselves? If we do want to customize the system, how much API access do we need?
- Who will be the primary software administrator? How comfortable are they with this role?
- How much are we willing to spend per user or per year?
In addition to the answers to these questions, list the integrations you need (including proprietary legacy software, if applicable) and ask the CRM company how to implement such integrations with its software before choosing a product.
For example, in some CRM systems, integration with external solutions is just a matter of clicking a few boxes; in other cases, you have to use a third-party tool, such as Zapier, to click through the integration. Some even require hands-on coding to implement the integration.
It’s important to understand what key features a CRM should offer so that you can get the most out of the program. Here are some of the most important features.
automation
You want to use a program that automatically performs actions based on data in the program. For example, when a customer fills out a form, your CRM should automatically send the message to the appropriate sales representative. Upon receipt of the message, the CRM should send a notification that the message has been received or opened.
Workflow automation minimizes or eliminates much of the time-consuming, unproductive work involved in data entry and sharing. It gives your staff more time to make sales and reduces the chance of leads being overlooked or lost in the system.
reporting tools
Reports help you understand the performance of your sales and marketing campaigns. Understanding the number of leads or sales acquired in a specific time frame and the point at which leads are lost can help build a sales funnel. Knowing how many outbound calls each team member made can provide a better understanding of KPIs. You can look for training opportunities for reps with low conversion rates.
An effective CRM system can help you make smarter decisions about your marketing and your company as a whole.
Customer data management
Understanding your customers is an important part of your business’s success, and your CRM system’s customer data management capabilities can help you organize and interpret this information.
Well-organized, easily accessible profiles of your current and potential customers can help you build better relationships, which will help you sell more products and increase your customer’s lifetime value.
customized
A customizable CRM lets you choose the features you need to help your business run better. You can build workflows and automation specific to your business to help it run more efficiently.
They also allow you to arrange dashboards and reports in a way that makes more sense to you. You can make your CRM do more by adding extensions and plug-ins that are typically found in the provider marketplace.
Integrate
Third-party application integrations connect your CRM software directly to other programs you use in your business.
This also saves a lot of time, as it eliminates the need to switch between apps and manually enter data on other apps.
To determine what functionality you need in a CRM, list what you want it to do. Before investing, make sure you know exactly how to use each feature and determine its potential value to you. If you can’t see a clear use case for a feature, don’t buy it.
