Tips for Choosing the Best CRM Software

Cover your basic objectives
When you begin to see the possibilities offered by CRMs, it is easy to want to take advantage of them all and imagine integrating them into all departments at all levels. Although it is possible to do it, it can cause a lot of headaches because it becomes a complex project. Focus on the CRM solving your biggest problems early on. As you have met these objectives, you can gradually expand it and add new features until it is already a fundamental part of your business. This way the process will be easy.

Don’t start by looking
at demos Watching product demos won’t do any good if you’re not clear on what you want. The first thing is to clearly define your needs. Ask yourself: why do you need a CRM?

Don’t Focus on Price Too Soon We do
n’t want price to restrict your company’s potential. First find the CRMs that meet your needs. On those, you can use the price to prioritize some. That way you will achieve the greatest value for your organization.

Don’t forget to invest in training
The most powerful CRM in the world is useless if you don’t know how to use it. The CRM must be very personalized, have procedures to use it and that all the staff use it in the same way. We need to prevent duplicate information, missing information, processes that are not done correctly, opportunities that are lost… Training is important.

Plan a phased integration
Consider doing a gradual CRM integration. It is a process that has to work with key aspects of your company (customers, billing…) and also has an adaptation process associated with it. The best way to manage complex processes is to break them down into simpler ones to minimize risk. It is better to start using one part of the CRM and gradually integrate the others.

How will it integrate with my current services?
With billing, customer databases…? It’s key. If the service is well known, surely it will be placed on your website. Otherwise, it is best to ask the supplier. If they do not offer integration, you have several alternatives:
Find another provider, although sometimes no CRM will integrate our service Create a custom solution: probably the CRM has some kind of mechanism so that third parties can develop a small application that interacts between that service and the CRM . This mechanism offered by many CRMs is called API.

Check Also – Upgrade NAV To Business Central

Software in the cloud or in your office?
SMEs are increasingly opting for cloud solutions for the simple fact that they do not need to manage it themselves, it is always available and can be accessed from any location. The cloud model is quite flexible and has lower setup and configuration costs.
The software model installed in the office is recommended for medium-sized or large companies with IT staff who can manage the tool because in the medium term the initial cost is compensated.

Can it be used from mobile?
The mobile is already an almost essential device to work. It is important that CRMs can also be used from them because it is a great competitive advantage. Imagine a salesperson at an event who has just spoken with a potential client. If you can enter the data instantly in the CRM, the information will be more complete and you can start working.

See Also – Microsoft Dynamics 365 Field Service

Can you manage my social networks?
Social media is becoming a more important strategy in companies. If our CRM can manage social networks, monitor what they talk about us and interact with people, we will be saving a lot of time and facilitating management.

Does it incorporate Business Intelligence?
With these tools we can discover many new business opportunities. Until not too long ago, BI (Business Intelligence) tools were used by large companies due to their high costs. Today many CRMs incorporate functionalities that allow us to analyze the data of our clients, sales… create graphs, visualizations and extract relevant information.

For large companies
Large companies have a different set of challenges than SMEs. The users of the CRM will be mainly the personnel of the sales department and the customer service department. So it is important to take both profiles into account when choosing a solution.

Also Read – Dynamics 365 Customer Service

They usually bet on solutions installed in their offices because although they have higher costs at the beginning, in the medium/long term they are usually compensated. For this you must take into account the cost of maintenance and hardware requirements.

Low-cost solutions
If you have a limited budget or very basic needs, you can start by using several powerful CRMs that offer a freemium model (free with few features). It can be useful to start with, but when you make daily use of the tool, you will soon realize that the solution falls short.

Another low-cost option is to use free CRMs (open source). There are several providers that make their CRMs free (without some options) for you to install on your own servers. They offer more features than freemium CRMs but you need some technical knowledge to install and manage them. If you opt for a solution of this type, you can investigate if there is a community of users that provide support in case of problems.

See Also – Business Central Trial