Best CRM Software Systems for Small Businesses

Finding the right CRM software for your business can be very tricky, and if not done correctly, can be overwhelming. And it does not matter whether your business is a startup or an enterprise, you should always be careful when choosing your CRM software.

The first thing you need to do when considering the best CRM software for your small business is to understand the reasons why you need it in the first place. This will help you determine the features and tools that you need to look for in the CRM software. When you decide what benefits a CRM software can bring to your business, you need to start comparison shopping to find the best CRM in terms of price, features, ease of use, and more. Every single CRM software will have certain benefits to provide to your specific business type, size, goals, and industry.
 

What is CRM Software for Small Businesses?

Customer relationship management (CRM) software systems help businesses of all sizes and needs; as for small businesses, they utilize their CRM software to organize the large volumes of data that they deal with, manage their relationship with their customers, streamline the sales processes, automate their marketing processes, and more. In a nutshell, a CRM software is a tool designed to help companies control their business processes and workflows more efficiently.

You may be wondering if there is such a thing as a CRM for small businesses different from the one for large businesses and enterprises. The truth is that there isn’t much of a difference between them. The difference lies in the fact that some CRM software systems provide more advanced features that may be important for large businesses but are not as important for a small business. In addition to that, there are a few similarities between CRM software for small businesses, like the following:

1. They are easier to set up: Most of CRM software systems for small businesses are cloud-based. This means that they are easier to implement and run than CRM software made for enterprises. They also offer easier learning tools, making them accessible to everyone.
    
2. They are more suitable for small teams: Using a CRM designed for smaller businesses does not mean that you will be limited by a small number of employees or users, as you can include as many employees as you want. However, it means that the features and functionalities are made for teams that have less than 100 employees in most cases.
    
3. They are more affordable: One of the most important things about a small business CRM is that it offers all the needed features at the most affordable prices and with plans that have shorter subscription periods and obligations. In most cases, a CRM software for a small business will let you pay for your subscription on a monthly basis rather than annually to ease your mind of the burden of making a long commitment. This is great for businesses that are on a tight budget. It also allows businesses to stop using a certain CRM if they don’t find it good enough.
    

When Should You Use a CRM Software for Your Small Business?

Exceptional customer service used to be an extra advantage in the past and companies used to compete in this matter. However, great customer support is no longer an extra service and rather a given; if you don’t offer exceptional customer service, you might simply lose your customers. You need to offer user-oriented products, personalized marketing campaigns, effective communication with customers and leads, immediate support, and more.

The truth is that customers want to be the main focus of your business and want to feel how important they are. You should do your best to make them feel satisfied, starting from the very first interaction they make with your business as a prospect. And again, this isn’t something you have the luxury of either doing or ignoring, as the moment your customers feel unsatisfied with your service, they will simply leave. Customers talk, and they share their experiences with others; so if your rivals offer better customer service, you will most likely see your customers using their services or buying their products instead of yours. To avoid this, you need to adopt a CRM software that can help you improve your customer service significantly.

If any of the following applies to you, you should consider getting a CRM software system for your small business:

You can't keep up with the flow of leads

If your sales pipeline is overflowing with new leads, then that’s great news! However, the huge number of leads may be overwhelming for you. And if you cannot keep up with the growing number of leads, you may start losing opportunities and potential customers. So if you do not manage your leads correctly, your nurturing will not bring you the result you are hoping for. A small business CRM software system will help you handle those leads effectively; it can automate the whole sales pipeline and lead capture process, enhance lead scoring and lead qualification, and help you create and automate lead nurturing processes.
 

You find it difficult to keep track of your data

If your data is all over the place distributed over spreadsheets, emails, direct messages, digital and physical sticky notes, and more, then maybe this is your cue to get a CRM software. Even though this may have been easy to handle when your business was a startup, it will quickly become difficult, if not impossible, to handle as your business grows and the number of customers grows along with it. If you keep handling customer data manually, you will lose great opportunities; to avoid that, you need to use a system that can consolidate and centralize this data for you in one single platform and make it easy to access for you. A CRM system will gather all this data for you from all the sources like email, social media, and more, and create a coherent database with everything collected. You will be able to see a broad overview of your leads and customers’ data and profiles, including your communication history with them from the very first interaction until the current moment.
 

Your sales and marketing teams are not cooperative

Your sales and marketing teams need to work together and be aligned in order to ensure there are no missed chances or leads. If these two teams in your business are not in sync and do not know exactly what they are doing, you need to do something about it to bring them together. Together, they will work collaboratively on nurturing leads and retaining customers. A CRM software solution can bring both departments together and give them access to the same data in real-time.
 

Your customer support team is not efficient enough

You should always offer forms and surveys for customers to give their feedback about your customer service. If you find that customers are not satisfied with the quality of support your team provides, saying that it is not as rapid or accurate as they want it to be, then you need to do something about it. A CRM software system will help your customer support team keep track of each customer and see each customer’s history of interactions to be able to help them in the best way possible.
 

You are unable to scale your business

If you feel like managing your data manually is time-consuming, and if you cannot find enough resources to help you expand your business, now may be the right time to throw this burden off your shoulders and delegate it to a CRM software solution instead.
 

Choosing the Right CRM Software Solution

Determining the right CRM software solution for your business will also determine how well your business grows. If you choose a robust CRM solution, it can help you in the following ways:

1. It helps your sales team gather and organize customer data.
2. It allows personalized communication with leads through advanced database segmentation.
3. It helps you run and manage customized email campaigns.
4. It allows you to monitor and keep track of the sales process.
5. It automates and provides accurate real-time sales reporting.
6. It aligns the sales and marketing teams.
7. It prevents your sales team from missing lead opportunities.
8. It improves your sales planning strategies.
9. It improves sales performance.

So to help you with your search, we have done our research on the best CRM software solutions for small businesses and compiled a list of our top three picks.

Monday.com

Monday CRM is our top recommendation; not only do they offer robust CRM solutions, but also a project management system that will help you grow your business efficiently. Monday.com’s CRM solution offers ease of setup and use as well as a mobile CRM app that will help your employees stay connected wherever they are and at any time.

Its CRM includes the following features and more:

• Lead/Pipeline management
• Customizations
• Consolidated contact information
• Prospect tracking
• Constant monitoring
• Total visibility
• Mobile optimizations
• Project management
• Integrations

As for its subscription plans, Monday.com CRM offers five plans; we will go over the first three plans as they are the ones suitable for a small business.

Individual plan: Free

The Individual plan is free to use forever with no obligations. Its best for tracking personal work; it offers two users and the following features:

• Unlimited boards
• Unlimited docs
• +200 templates you can choose from and can be customized to your needs
• Over 20 column types
• Android and iOS apps
• 500 MB file storage
   

The Basic plan: $8 per user per month

The basic plan offers unlimited users and is best suited for small businesses. It offers everything in the individual plan, plus:

• Lead, contact, and deal management
• Unlimited visual sales pipelines
• Unlimited contacts
• Unlimited custom fields
• Unlimited free viewers
• Full mobile CRM
• Document management
• Full API access
• 5 GB file storage
   

The Standard plan: $10 per user per month

The Standard plan is the most popular offer from Monday.com CRM, and it is good for small businesses and growing businesses with more CRM needs. It packs everything in the Basic plan, in addition to:

• Timeline view
• Guest access
• 2-way email integration with Gmail or Outlook
• Sales analytics
• Mailchimp integration
• Sales goals and forecasting
• Calendar view
• Automations up to 250 actions per month
• Integrations up to 250 actions per month
• 20 GB file storage

Monday.com offers a 14-day free trial, where you can enjoy their services for free before making any decisions or commitments.

Zendesk

Zendesk is our second pick the best CRM software you could find for your small business. It offers an inclusive list of features and capabilities that will help you manage your business better and convert more leads. Zendesk offers more than just CRM software; it also offers a ticketing system and a live chat messaging software that greatly goes along with it.

As for its CRM software features, Zendesk provides you with the following:

• Sales Email Intelligence
• Native Dialer (business phone system)
• Integrations and API
• Sales Reporting and Analytics
• Mobile CRM
• Sales Prospecting

Zendesk offers four subscription plans for its CRM software, below are their two plans that work perfectly for small businesses:

Sell Team plan: $19 per user per month, billed annually

This plan provides you with:

• Email integration
• Up to 3 paid users
• 1 custom sales pipeline
• Built-in click-to-dial & call recording
• Fully featured mobile CRM
• Apps & integrations

Sell Professional: $49 per user per month, billed annually

This plan packs everything in the Sell Team plan, plus:

• Email integration
• Unlimited paid users
• 1 custom sales pipeline
• Built-in click-to-dial & call recording
• Fully featured mobile CRM
• Apps & integrations
• Personalized bulk emailing
• Unlimited email templates

Both plans come with a 14-day free trial for you to try their services before making any commitment.

Salesmate

Salesmate is our last recommendation for the best CRM software on the market. It supports a wide variety of business types and all sizes, with plans specially made for small businesses. Its CRM software is designed with inclusive capabilities and everything you may need to improve your business's performance and your customer relationships.

Its key features include:

• Contact Management
• Sales Pipeline
• Sales Automation
• Text Messaging
• Built-in Calling
• Marketing Automation
• Google Integrations
• Customizations
• Product management

As for its plans, you are offered four subscriptions, and each comes with a set of features that can help you manage and grow your business. Below are their first two plans, as they are perfect for small businesses:

Starter plan: $12 per user per month or $144 billed annually

Its features include the following:

• Contacts, Companies, Deals
• Email Sync, Tracking & Templates
• Multiple Pipeline Management
• Standard Dashboard & Reports
• Workflow Management
• Built-in Calling & Text
• Web forms
• Lists
   

The Growth plan: $24 per user per month or $288 billed annually

The Growth Plan includes everything in the Starter plan, plus the following:

• Product Management
• Goal Management
• Email Reminders & Scheduling
• Team Inbox
• Custom Dashboard & Reports
• Date based Workflows
• Custom Roles
• SSO/SAML integration