How to choose a CRM for small business

CRM for small businesses is just as important as for medium or large ones. It allows you to optimize the company's work, attract more customers, and increase profits. The choice of an artificial intelligence module should be approached thoughtfully and responsibly. It is important that it fully fits all business processes, does not have unnecessary functions, and increases functionality as the business scales. With its help, it should be easy to manage sales, marketing, accounting, suppliers, and other data. In this article, we will find out how to choose a CRM and consider several of the most popular options.

Does a small business need CRM?

Definitely yes. It helps both the business as a whole and each employee in particular. Business - to put things in order and optimize business processes in order to improve them qualitatively. The company owner - to build and maintain relationships with new and existing customers, monitor the work of employees and generate reports. Thanks to the use of ready-made tools, you can take your work to a significantly new level and spend your budget wisely.
CRM systems for small businesses remind sellers and marketers of tasks and calls. A smart system records all incoming calls so that the manager can quickly contact a potential customer. All the necessary information about customers is stored in one place. Thanks to this, you do not need to waste time on long searches in work chats or notebooks. Also, using the accumulated information base, it is much easier to create promotions and new products.
A smart system allows you to optimize all work processes, facilitate daily work and free up resources for the company's growth. It provides a ready-made set of tools for better understanding between employees, timely completion of tasks and an increase in the number of successful deals.

Successful cases of implementing CRM systems in small businesses

Text elementThe following CRM implementation case can be called successful: a beauty salon collects information about its customers in a common customer database. Having phone numbers, dates of birth, a list of favorite procedures, it sends SMS messages about promotions, discounts, and birthday gifts.

For a service company, this is an opportunity to record residents' requests, send local technicians to promptly resolve existing problems, monitor troubleshooting deadlines, keep track of the amount of materials used, and receive feedback from residents through their ratings.

A simple CRM for small businesses is often used in car service stations. With its help, car mechanics can track car maintenance dates, send SMS or e-mail with prices for services and consumables a few weeks before maintenance. Thus, a person will check all the systems of his vehicle in time, and the company will not lose a regular customer.

Criteria for choosing a CRM for small businesses

When choosing an artificial intelligence module, pay attention to:

1. Functionality. CRMs have a wide range of functions. Before choosing, it is important to decide which ones you want to optimize. Small businesses should pay attention to functions such as setting tasks for employees, managing customers, managing deals, monitoring work performance, preparing documents, etc.

2. Usability. Consider how convenient and intuitive the interface is. Test the system for several days with your employees. If during this time you get used to the location of the buttons, then it suits you.

3. Direction. When choosing a CRM for small business, rely on the company's activities. Among smart systems, there are narrowly focused ones, that is, those that are designed specifically for beauty salons, delivery services, fitness centers, banks, restaurants, etc. For example, the Ventra-CRM platform is designed to automate water delivery.

4. Flexibility of settings. Find out if there is an opportunity to independently add and remove buttons on the taskbar. Many of them only clutter up the workspace. The ability to disable functions and fields that are not used in work is considered a big plus for the software.

5. Integration with other programs. To interact with customers, you need to use messengers, mail, telephony, social networks. Some systems have ready-made integrations that connect to the settings in a few minutes. If there are none, you should contact the developer.

6. The possibility of development. Before choosing a CRM for small business, think about what your company will be like in a few years. Is the functionality that the system has today enough? You may want to introduce new products or services. And then you will have to look for another artificial intelligence module.

7. Reports and statistics. The system should provide reports on all parameters that help analyze sales. Some programs have a limited set of reports - the dynamics of new customers, the number of incoming applications and successful deals, etc. Others, on the contrary, have the ability to create any reports, graphs and charts.

8. Data quality control. The order and cleanliness of the input are necessary for a quick search for the necessary information. Most systems do not allow an employee to make a mistake or typo. After all, even accidentally entering the symbol "0" instead of "o" will not allow you to quickly find the requested data.

9. Data security. A CRM system is a repository of confidential company information. Therefore, access to it must be reliably protected from unauthorized persons. 10. Cost. Price should not be one of the main selection criteria. There is a possibility of both overpaying for a set of unnecessary functions and saving on convenience.

CRM selection algorithm for small businesses

We offer you 5 stages of choosing a smart system:

1. Define the task. What processes do you want to optimize and what errors do you want to eliminate? Think about these points first to determine the main functions for the CRM system. This way, you won't have to overpay for unnecessary functionality.

2. Narrow down your search. Before choosing a platform, you need to decide on its type. By data storage location, they are cloud and desktop, by flexibility of settings - individual and batch, by functionality - universal and industry.

3. Choose testing options. After you have decided on the type of CRM and set of functions, you will see many different offers. The best solution would be to test each of them during a free trial period.

4. Test and analyze the programs. Communicate with technical support staff and test programs according to the following criteria: functionality, usability, variability of settings, reports and analytics, integration, technical support, etc. Set points and make your own rating of the software.

5. Ask a question to the representative. Write down the main questions and ask them to the program representative. Perhaps you were unable to understand some functions or you had difficulties during testing. Specify the points for which the system received lower scores.

Choosing a CRM system is a long and laborious process. Do not rush to stop at the first tested option, even if it seems that it is ideally suited to the business tasks. Next, the most popular software for small businesses will be presented to your attention.

Comparison of CRM systems for small businesses

Bitrix

Practically the best CRM for small businesses. It has cloud and desktop data storage options. The paid version costs 1200 hryvnias per month.

Main functions of Bitrix24:

1. Working with customers. Managing and editing the customer base, processing applications, contacts, leads, deals, etc.

2. Generating reports. Sales funnel, work reports and invoices for conducting analytics of company processes.

3. Setting tasks for employees and tracking work. Thanks to the distribution of roles into executor, observer and responsible, you can assign and monitor the implementation of assigned tasks.

4. Ability to send messages.

5. Integration with social networks and the website.

6. Website builder Creating a landing page or online store in a short time. Connecting your own domain, Google Maps, etc.

7. Mobile version.

8. Built-in telephony. Ability to rent a number, record a conversation, connect a phone.

9. Integrated marketing tools. Conduct marketing campaigns and track their effectiveness using ready-made tools.

Megaplan

Included in the top 3 best CRM systems for small businesses. The cost depends on the data storage method, tariff plan and number of people in the team. Allows you to manage sales and generate detailed reporting. An excellent option when you need to speed up the work of the sales department and bring order to projects. Thanks to the "Sales Activator" function, you can launch promotions, repeat sales, and extend contract terms. The program has an intuitive interface and a convenient indicator panel.

Megaplan functionality:

- Creation of a single customer base and history of interactions.
- Control of managers, notifications about unfulfilled tasks.
- Generation of reports and sales funnel.
- Setting tasks for employees and monitoring their implementation, including time tracking and generation of reports for each employee.
- Planning the working day, vacation schedule and discussion.
- Integration with WhatsApp.
- Automatic generation of documents and filling in details without errors and typos.
- Connection of telephony, mailing, analytics.
- The mobile version provides access to data from anywhere in the world.

AmoCRM

The number one choice among companies engaged in B2C activities. The cost of use per month is $7 per user. The data storage method is cloud-based. There are two versions - for the browser and mobile. A simple and intuitive interface, as well as integration with Google. Analytics bring the program to a leading position among business representatives of any scale.

Functionality:

1. Creation and systematization of the client base.

2. Setting tasks and reminders for managers.

3. Digital abyss of the sales department.

4. Maintaining a client base and managing deals.

5. Generating reports.

6. Connecting telephony with the ability to select the appropriate widget.

7. Synchronization with C1, My Warehouse, etc.

8. Setting access rights.

The platform is not overloaded with unnecessary functions and capabilities. Usability is great for the effective work of sales managers.

Simple Business

The name speaks for itself. This is a fairly simple software that allows you to interact with customers and manage sales. The cost depends only on the tariff, but not on the number of people in the company.

Simple Business functionality:

- customer accounting (maintaining a customer base);
- notifications and reminders about calls;
- IP telephony;
- SMS, e-mail mailings, faxes from the customer base;
- autofilling of documents and details;
- sales reports, sales funnel;
- integration of a virtual PBX;
- video conferencing;
- adding a person to the customer base after an incoming call or letter;
- assessing the effectiveness of advertising;
- barcode scanning.

There is a free trial version for a limited number of employees. You can test the usability before connecting the module. All important functions are available in the demo version. It is possible to create a customer base, connect IP telephony, corporate mail, create automatic document templates, connect applications from the site and much more.

Pipedrive

CRM platform for managing sales and deals. Allows you to increase the efficiency of managers and track the progress of the company.

Pipedrive's main functionality:

1. Lead and deal management. Thanks to the chatbot and web forms, orders can be received around the clock.
2. Reporting. Analysis of indicators, which allows you to assess the ratio of the company's efficiency to its goals.
3. Tracking interaction with customers. Systematization of contacts, data import from Excel, built-in email, calls directly from the Internet and much more.
4. Mobile version. Native applications for Android and iOS
5. Integration. Marketplace with more than 200 integrations.

Searching for a suitable CRM can take quite a long time. However, it will fully pay off when working with the software begins to bear fruit.

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