What is the Best CRM for My Business?

If you’re in business and deal with leads, customers, clients and sales, then chances are you are using some form of customer relationship management (CRM) tool. Maybe you have a rudimentary system, even if it’s a spreadsheet or <cringe> a whiteboard. Customer relationship management (CRM) – necessary for businesses of all sizes, track leads, customer interactions, activity of your sales team (even if that’s you), automate certain tasks and correspondence, purchase history, conversions, track comments and notes. Ideally from potential lead to sale and beyond through nurtures; build loyalty, team visibility. Allows you to examine what’s happening in your own business, forecast, analyze insights, identify upsell opportunities, target market, increase productivity, conversion statistics, improve customer satisfaction, Don’t rely on a spreadsheet to track some of the most important information in your business – what’s going on with your customers. Too much is left to chance, and there is too much risk of vital next steps or follow ups falling through the cracks, 

What do you want your CRM to do? 

With so many CRM solutions on the market, it can be a challenge to pick the one that’s right for your business. It pays to take the time to examine what each solution can offer to your business goals, and how it can support both your clients and your team – even if it’s a team of one… you. Some things to look out for:

• Meet you at your current needs, but will grow with your business as it grows
• Cloud-based vs. SaaS
• Robust capabilities/functionality
• Integration with email, social media, mobile
• Optimize the customer experience
• Lead capture and nurture
• Tracking/reporting/analytics capabilities
• Pricing should not be the only driving factor – a cheap solution that doesn’t meet your needs – now or as you grow – can end up costing you more in the long run; look for a free trial or free plan to give it a “test drive” 
• Amount of training it will take to get up to speed
• Call capture and integration with your phone system
• Level of Support becomes especially important if you have users accessing the system in different time zones/countries

Our Top 12 CRM Picks

We’ve rounded up our top 12 CRM solution picks for you. This list is not all inclusive, but represents some of the most common and best rated :

1. SalesForce – One of the most well-known CRMs. Robust, powerful, innovative; a great solutions for companies of all sizes, from start-ups to large enterprises, cloud-based, scalable, easy user interface, customizable, can grow as your needs grow. Features full integration, forecasting, customer engagement, analytics, social media capabilities, business automation; Free version, Lightning Essentials available for an additional fee.
2. HubSpot – A longtime innovator in the CRM space, Hubspot is one of the most well-known and widely used CRM solutions. Ideal for small businesses but perfect for any size business, with capabilities for customization, lead management, marketing, robust capabilities, simple user interface, flexible; full integration; free version (limited functionality), four pricing tiers. 
3. Infusionsoft [now Keap] – Infusionsoft/Keap is a very robust CRM, sales, marketing automation, eCommerce platform. It will handle just about anything you throw at it. Create custom marketing campaigns, build your lists, track your sales process, automate eCommerce, measure everything with robust analytics. Three pricing tiers.
4. Freshsales – This CRM is simple, basic, but enough to get the job done when you’re just starting out; offers affordable pricing tiers to meet you where you are, options that allow you to customize your needs. Four pricing tiers.
5. Less Annoying CRM – Designed specifically for small businesses; affordable, flexible. Does have mobile access, in addition to the capabilities you’d expect in a CRM – contact and pipeline management, calendar, some customization. Free trial, then $15/user/month.
6. Apptivo – Great for small businesses, affordable, with an intuitive interface. G-Suite integration, customizable, lead capture and sales management; territory management, work orders, contracts and more. Free trial, three pricing tiers.
7. Insightly – Robust functionality and integrations, intuitive and with an appealing user interface. Manage sales, leads, projects, marketing. Integration options available. Free trial. 
8. Pipedrive – Ease of use is the hallmark of this CRM; advanced capabilities, reporting, chatbot creation; “minimum input, maximum output,” focused almost exclusively on sales and sales workflow, solid reporting, simple user interface; limited capabilities, not as much room for growth; Free trial, three pricing tiers.
9. Creatio – A solid choice is you have a large sales team; strong analytics, marketing automation; agile, focus on accelerating sales, marketing, customer service and operations all with the aim of improving the customer experience. Robust and powerful, mobile, analytics, lead management collaboration, Able to grow as you grow, mobile, multiple features; different pricing tiers for Sales, Marketing and Service Modules. Free trial.
10. Oracle NetSuite – A very robust cloud-based CRM that is well suited for large – even global – organizations. Has all the features and capabilities you’d expect in such a platform, including Sales Force Automation (SFA), marketing automation, forecasting, quotes, incentive compensation, fulfillment, commissions, even integrated eCommerce. License pricing plus per user pricing. 
11. Zoho CRM  – A cloud-based CRM, perfect for businesses of all sizes and enterprise customers. Sales, lead management, full integration, customizable, AI prediction (sales outcomes, anomalies, best time to contact), marketing insights, mobile; Free trial, free for up to three users, four pricing tiers.
12. Monday.com – Oversight of sales, workflow, processes, contacts, marketing, orders, even team projects and tasks. Mobile access and integration with other productivity tools There is a 14-day free trial, three pricing tiers.

The Twlv20 Choice

With all these great options (and many, many more!), what do we use at Twlv20? Our choice is Infusionsoft. This system allows us to track all our lead, sales and client activity, automate our marketing and follow up processes, and so much more. It allows us to streamline and carefully track and drive customer conversions. The analytics let us see, at any point, exactly what’s working, what’s not, and where any gaps are. It’s the one tool that we have relied on over the years to meet and exceed our demands as we continue to grow. Twlv20 is proud to be an Infusionsoft Certified Partner. 

Now it’s your turn… tell us what CRM you’re using and why you like it (or are ready for a change)! 

In the meantime, book a Free Strategy Session to find out how to 10x your sales and marketing results.