Traditional CRM systems were relegated to the large enterprise space due to cost, maintenance and overall risk invovled. But times have changed. Today’s CRM market is filled with many systems that are appropriate for the small business owner. These systems operate in the cloud, resulting in lower up front cost and reduced risk at the onset.
To help you sort through the many available systems, we have compiled a list of our five favorites.
Sage ACT! – Sage is a legacy vendor in the CRM space, and ACT! is one of the strongest products in their portfolio. ACT! provides contact management for the small business owner. They offer specialization in multiple industries, including real estate and financial services. Their latest release of the product, the 2011 edition, introduced a more user-friendly user interface, as well as a new add-on that aggregates business contact information from Hoover’s and deposits it directly into ACT!
SugarCRM – Companies looking for a high level of flexibility and ownership over their CRM will want to take a look at SugarCRM, the leader in open source CRM software. The basic edition is free and offers standard features such as contact and campaign management. For more sophisticated features, companies will want to look into the paid editions. SugarCRM is can be deployed both on-premise and via the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model.
Salestrakr5 – This web-based solution is ideal for the SMB owner looking to better align their sales and marketing teams. Salestrakr5 offers lead management, sales pipeline management, email campaign management, and many other features to help sales and marketing automate their processes. It is also offers strong integration features, allowing users to import contacts from almost any contact management, CRM or email service provider.
Maximizer CRM – Sales people are always on the go, looking for the next big opportunity. Maximizer CRM has strong capabilities for contact and opportunity management, but their mobile integration is the one that shines. Whether using an iPhone, Android or Blackberry, users can access vital contact and account information from anywhere in the world. The Entrepreneur edition is probably the best fit for the SMB, but Maximizer makes it easy to upgrade to more robust editions as your company grows.
Infusionsoft – Infusionsoft was created by small business owners for small business owners. It offers basic CRM capabilities, with its strongest features centered around marketing automation. Perhaps the best feature Infusionsoft offers is the dedicated marketing mentor assigned to every client. CRM and marketing automation are complex systems that can often be intimidating. This mentor serves to ease you into the system, teach you the bells and whistles and provide you the training wheels you need until you are ready to go it alone.
For a more comprehensive overview of each system, as well as a system comparison, check out the original article on the Software Advice blog: Small Business CRM Software | 5 Affordable Solutions.
Great list of software. Just discovered another few that could be useful to try out. Thank you.