Business Technology CRM for small business

Discussion in 'Starting & Running a Business' started by Simon Hampel, 21st Oct, 2015.

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  1. Simon Hampel

    Simon Hampel Founder Staff Member

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    Anyone have a great online CRM system they use?

    I'm looking for something cloud based, multi-user capable and preferably with social media integration (although this is not critical at this point).

    Email integration - or at least the ability to track email discussions - is pretty important.

    I'm not particularly interested in mailing list systems - I already have that covered and won't be using my CRM to drive that side of things.

    I'm also not really interested in pipeline forecasting and all that stuff - perhaps one day, but not now.

    I've tried a few over the years (Batchbook was the last I tried) but have never found something that really works for me - mostly they were too cumbersome and slow to use and seemed to be targeted at other types of business (eg retail).

    I have a friend from uni who runs a small but growing business who has started using Zoho CRM and is quite happy with its capabilities, so I was going to try that.

    My main needs will be to track sales communication with clients and identify opportunities for future contact. I need something online and multi-user because eventually it won't be just me doing the sales work, I'll need someone else as well.

    The system must also have a good API too - since I will be integrating it in with my other systems to automate as much of the sales process as possible.
     
  2. Propertunity

    Propertunity Well-Known Member

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    We use google's Insightly CRM. https://www.insightly.com/
    Free to start for under a specified number of users and records. Easy to create custom fields. MailChimp integration. Captures emails etc etc
     
  3. Simon Hampel

    Simon Hampel Founder Staff Member

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    Thanks Alan - Insightly was another that came up on a few recommended lists that I've seen.

    Will probably be evaluating that one too.
     
  4. Ted Varrick

    Ted Varrick Well-Known Member

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    Sim, maybe give this some consideration http://www.legrandcrm.com/
     
  5. Scott No Mates

    Scott No Mates Well-Known Member

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    Have a look at webims.biz as well - been using it for about 6 months now.
     
  6. Peter_Tersteeg

    Peter_Tersteeg Mortgage Broker Business Member

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    Infusionsoft

    It's predominantly a sales and marketing platform. It could be a bit over the top if you're not planning marketing campaigns.
     
  7. JDP1

    JDP1 Well-Known Member

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    Insightly is probably one of the best for the size of PC; the costs are low [ I think up to 10 users its free] , cloud based, and should give most of what you need I would think. It has social media integration as well.
    Zoho should also fit the bill....but has more limitations and cant scale as well.
    I'm guessing you are not looking for enterprise grade like SMB versions of msft dynamics, salesforce etc...
     
  8. Simon Hampel

    Simon Hampel Founder Staff Member

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    One thing I've found in my research into CRMs is that there are a LOT of them out there now - all with their own unique approach to things and their own USP.

    I found it was incredibly important to make sure you understand your sales process and what business problems you are trying to solve by implementing a CRM - otherwise you'll just end up going around in circles or waste time trying to implement something which won't actually do what you need.

    When I get some time, I'll post my thoughts on the CRM systems I have evaluated and what I found to be their strengths and weaknesses.

    After trialling and testing it for over a month - I've just signed up with Close.io - it's much more focussed on sales communication than on anything else, it is a very simple system that does what it does really really well. Depending on your needs - it might not do enough for you.

    I chose it because it has an excellent API and I can use integration to make it do what I need. None of the more complete products covered all of my requirements (indeed I don't think any product does!), so I decided to use one which solves just a couple of my specific needs and will develop a custom solution to solve the rest of them which are very unique to my business.
     
    Last edited: 6th Dec, 2015
  9. D.T.

    D.T. Specialist Property Manager Business Member

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    Look forward to your write up Sim
     
  10. Mitesh Dedhia

    Mitesh Dedhia Well-Known Member

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  11. Simon Hampel

    Simon Hampel Founder Staff Member

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    Still quite happy with Close.io - busy working on integrating it into my systems now to automate as much as possible. Actually building another integration as we speak!

    No time right now to write about the other products unfortunately.