How do I choose the right CRM Platform?

For small business sales teams, some CRM benefits are nice to have and others are absolutely essential. These eight items should be non-negotiable when researching CRM solutions.

1. Can it track all team and customer communication?

Interactions with your customers can span email conversations, phone calls, and online chats. Your CRM should be able to capture and centralize all communications in one location so that you know the next action to take and never lose important details.

The best CRMs make it simple to enter customer data, follow customer interactions across teams, and find the information you need quickly. Pro tip: Before you choose a CRM, confirm that it can import communication history from the contact management tools you currently use (i.e., spreadsheets or a previous CRM).

2. How well does it adapt to your current sales process?

Implementing a CRM doesn’t mean changing the way you sell. A CRM platform should easily mold to your current practices while adding time-saving automation tools and customization to help you sell more efficiently.

3. Does it offer custom reports and performance tracking?

Take a close look at how the CRM pulls customer data for its reports. What insights can it draw from your customer behavior, interactions, and team activity? Can the reports be exported and shared? How easy is it to customize the CRM’s reporting to find the information that’s most important to your team?

4. How easy is it for your employees to use?

Sales reps aren’t software experts, so your CRM should be as user-friendly as possible. Ideally, the design and interface should be intuitive enough so that everyone at your company can learn the system quickly and start using it right away.

5. Can you use it on the go?

Your CRM software should be accessible and provide a user-friendly experience from all devices including mobile phones, so that you can connect to your deals wherever you are.

6. Does it integrate with the 3rd party tools your business uses?

Your CRM platform should allow you to manage all of your sales activities and customer data from one place. By choosing a CRM that easily integrates with Mailchimp, Leedfeeders, document sharing programs etc, you’ll no longer have to spend your day switching back and forth between applications and browser tabs.

7. Can I really afford this?

Are there required fees for onboarding and training? Do you have to pay extra for additional contacts or reporting ability? Are there overage charges for data storage? All of these extra costs can blow up your annual CRM spend, so make sure you do your research in advance.

Now that you know how CRM brings value to your business, what to consider when evaluating different CRMs, and if your business is ready to adopt one, it’s time to start evaluating your options and learn if FlowRocket is a good fit.