If you’ve started looking for a CRM recently, you might not know where to start.
There are thousands of CRMs, whether they’re specific to niches and sectors, pitching themselves as an all-in-one sales and marketing function or ease of setting up and getting emails out the door.
Long story short, knowing what the ‘right’ CRM for you is… not easy.
Every single one claims to be the perfect solution, as they would. But whether you’re looking at HubSpot, Keap, Mailchimp, Pipedrive, Zoho or any of the countless others available, it doesn’t take long before the comparison tables, feature lists and sales demos start to blur into one.
And it all sort of means nothing if you’ve not used any of them before.
The good news is that choosing the right CRM is actually more straightforward than you might think, so let’s reframe that question.
What are you looking to achieve with your CRM? Is it reaching prospects with simple regular communication? If so, your best bet is to keep things simple and Mailchimp might be the logical place to begin.
If it’s to set up more complex automations, segment audience and tie everything together with your internal functions, then you might want something that is a bit more ‘all singing, all dancing’ to borrow the idiom.
But let’s get down to the nitty gritty and figure out how to find the right CRM for you and your business…
CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management.
It’s simply a system that allows you to manage your audience, whether that’s existing customers, previous customers or prospects. Email sending is a quintessential part of the package and so is the creation of tags, lists and segments (you can read about those in Mailchimp and Keap here).
What Marketing Or Sales Problem Are You Trying To Solve?
This is probably the most important question you’ll ask during the entire process – what is the exact problem you’re trying to solve?
Is it sales? Is it marketing? Is it a bit of both?
Because the reality is that many businesses start comparing CRMs before they’ve identified why they need one.
For example, are you struggling because:
- Leads are slipping through the cracks?
- Follow-ups aren’t happening consistently?
- Customer information is stored in multiple places?
- You’re sending email marketing manually?
- Nobody can see what’s happening in the sales pipeline?
Different problems often point towards different solutions but your specific needs might be very different OR very similar to others, depending on what your answers to those questions are.
The clearer you are about the problem, the easier the decision becomes.
How Important Is Marketing Automation?
Not all CRMs are created equally when it comes to marketing, some excel at managing audience and curating sales reports but aren’t as much of a star when it comes to marketing.
While others are built around automation and customer journeys specifically.
If you’re looking to send a welcome email (it doesn’t have to say ‘howdy, welcome aboard’ or anything on the nose, but a nice introduction to you and your business without signposting it can be effective), follow up after an enquiry or trigger an abandoned cart sequence, then it might be worth thinking about how you want to go about that.
There’s no point buying a CRM only to discover you need three additional systems to achieve the marketing you want to do.
It’s also worth remembering that a CRM that works brilliantly for a business owner managing their own enquiries may not work as well for a growing team.
Think about:
- How many users you’ll need
- Whether different people need different permissions
- How opportunities will be handed between team members
- Reporting requirements
- Any future growth plans
The best CRM might be the one that gets you going today, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it will still be the best one in 6 months, for example. And moving CRMs isn’t as difficult as you might think, either.
Should You Choose The Cheapest CRM?
It’s tempting.
But we’re back into the argument between price and value, so it really depends on what you’re hoping to achieve here.
That’s not to say that the most expensive CRM is your best option here, either – the middle ground might be the perfect place depending on how much functionality you’re looking for.
Now, if you’re looking for a universal answer on what the best CRM is… I’m afraid there’s not a single answer there.
Different CRMs suit different businesses because while Mailchimp is ideal for businesses primarily focused on email marketing and audience engagement, Keap is strong for businesses that want sales, marketing and automation to sit under one neat roof.
Then HubSpot is the CRM that targets growing businesses who are looking to scale, Pipedrive is (as the name might suggest) more focused on the sales pipeline and having sales functions nailed.
And that’s barely a drop in the ocean of the popular CRMs, never mind the specialist
So, How Do You Choose The Right CRM?
Choosing software before defining what it is that you’re trying to achieve is the single biggest mistake businesses make with CRMs.
A CRM should support the way your business operates, rather than you working around its limitations because that’s what you’ve chosen.
If your sales process is unclear before you buy a CRM, chances are it will still be unclear afterwards.
Once that’s mapped out, selecting the software becomes much easier.
For most businesses, a good starting point when choosing a CRM begins by:
- Identifying the problem that you’re trying to solve
- Mapping your customer journey
- Deciding how important marketing automation is
- Considering future growth
- Comparing a shortlist of suitable systems
- Focusing on usability, not just features
The right CRM isn’t always the most powerful or the most popular and it absolutely isn’t the most expensive. It’s the one that gets you off the ground and communicating effectively and efficiently with your audience as soon as possible.
The best marketing isn’t the occasionally brilliant, it’s the marketing that’s consistent because it’s always there, staying top of mind and reaching your prospects at the right time, whenever that time may be.
Who Are 3XM?
We’re 3XM Marketing, our goal is to generate you more leads and get more customers.
Simple, right?
The 3XM Marketing team with the ‘Best Strategic Marketing Firm’ Midlands Enterprise award from SME News.
If you’re looking for a strategic marketing partner to work with and ensure you’re doing the right stuff (and getting it to the right people) and you want to make sure it happens… consistently, then we can help.
Across our team, we’ve got most marketing bases covered, from strategy to copywriting, from paid traffic to CRMs, and we can work closely with you to:
- Get more marketing out the door
- Improve the quality and results of your marketing
- Enjoy your life and your business more
Get help to grow your business, for FREE
Book a free 3XM Business Growth Call, and spend 30 minutes with a member of the 3XM team, where we’ll help you outline some straightforward actionable things you can do to improve your marketing and grow your business, no strings, no tie ins, and no purchase necessary.
During your Business Growth Call, we’ll:
- Take a look at the marketing you’re doing, and give you our two cents on how to improve it
- Tell you what we’d be doing if we were in your shoes
- Give you actionable tactics and strategies we’re using right now to get leads and customers for our clients
- Make sure you walk away with something you can take away and use straight away
Click the button below to book a slot, and we’ll see you on the call:
