The Ideal CRM Platform for Your Small Business in 2023

It’s often said small businesses play a big role in propelling the economy, and rightly so. A report published by the US Small Business Association (USSBA) reveals small businesses employing 500 people or fewer constitute 99.9% of all firms in the country.

Despite playing a pivotal role in the economy, small businesses often face problems in reaching out to their customers effectively and communicating their brand value. They also face challenges in making the best use of business data to come up with novel solutions to meet the dynamic needs of their customers. These problems can be resolved effectively by using a robust Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system. Today, we’ll examine the features of 3 popular CRM systems used by small businesses across the world. But first, let us look at the benefits of using a good CRM platform.

Major Advantages of Using a Powerful CRM System for a Small Business

Collection and Organization of Customer and Marketing Data Is Streamlined

• Most small and micro enterprises rely on spreadsheets to capture customer and market information. This results in huge inefficiencies as a lot of time is spent searching thousands of workbooks to get the required information.
• A CRM system helps you overcome this problem with high efficacy. You can find the needed piece of information with just a few clicks; CRM platforms also provide a wide range of customizable reports, which empower you with the right insights to make sound decisions in a timely manner.

Delivery of Hyper-personalized Services to Customers

• Personalization of services is the key to business success in the 21^st century. A survey reveals nearly three in five customers expect highly personalized services and believe they’re recognized as individuals when they are sent special offers. You must make sure your products are fully tailored to meet the unique needs of each customer to create the best value for him.
• You can personalize your offerings very effectively using a CRM system. The IT platform allows you to utilize sophisticated filters to segment your customer base into several smaller groups based on various criteria such as industry, job function, level of experience, number of past interactions and so on. You can then drill-down to get the exact details about the needs of each member in a group.  

Facility to Get Complete Visibility of the Sales Pipeline

• Proper visibility of the sales pipeline plays a key role in helping sales teams meet their targets; it enables your salespeople to assess the urgency of each deal and prioritize their actions suitably. The right insights into the sales pipeline allow reps to identify likely issues in closing a deal and take appropriate remedial measures, besides helping them spot potential opportunities to maximize revenues.
• A good CRM system empowers your sales personnel with complete visibility of the sales pipeline. Its predictive scoring capabilities help the reps evaluate the likelihood of a prospective customer making a purchase in real time and identify risks involved in each deal and mitigate them effectively. Sales reps can also identify opportunities to cross-sell and up-sell very effectively.     

Development of New, Innovative Revenue Models Is Made Easy

• We’re passing through uncertain times, and firms must be able to tackle extreme vagaries in demand for their products in an effective manner. They must be able to scale their business operations and initiate timely actions to optimize revenue cycles. Most importantly, they should be able to come up with novel, flexible revenue models that cater to the ever-changing requirements of their customers efficaciously.  
• These needs of organizations can be met using a robust CRM system – companies can use a wide range of billing models including one-time purchase, continual licensing or milestone-determined-charges. They can also charge a flat amount from their customers or bill them on the basis of quantum of consumption of a product. Furthermore, they can automate their revenue management processes to enhance efficiencies and cut costs in a big way.
• Having looked at the benefits of using a CRM system for small firms, let’s proceed to look at key aspects the businesses need to focus on to zero in on the right CRM platform.

Choosing the Ideal CRM System for a Small Business in 2023 – Key Aspects to Consider

• Cost of Purchase and Maintenance

This is the most important aspect you must focus on. Buy a CRM tool that fits within your stipulated budget. You must also see the IT platform is easy to use and can be maintained with minimal expenditure

• Scalability of Usage

You must make sure the CRM system you purchase enables you to scale your business operations seamlessly, as per your needs. The system must be able to provide extended functionality, which your firm would require as it expands its activities.

• Integration with Existing IT Platforms

Ensure the CRM system you use can be integrated with your existing software applications efficaciously, without hassles. This is very important to facilitate smooth, timely flow of business data within the organization.

• Structure of the System

This is a vital (but unfortunately the least focused) aspect in choosing a good CRM system. It’s advisable to select a system that provides different modules, each catering to the needs of a specific team such as sales, marketing and customer support.

So far, we’ve seen the benefits of using a CRM system for small businesses and the aspects that must be considered for zeroing on the right system. We’ll now move on to review the features of 3 popular CRM systems used by small and mid-sized businesses across the world.

A Comprehensive Review of 3 Popular CRM Platforms

Platform 1 – Salesforce

Salesforce is a robust IT platform that has become synonymous with CRM systems. The feature-rich suite is highly powerful, yet very user-friendly; Salesforce is used by nearly 1 in 4 businesses across the world, making it the most widely used CRM system.

The best thing about Salesforce is you can customize the platform with very high levels of efficacy to meet your unique needs. The CRM system comes with a plethora of add-ons, which can be purchased as your business needs them. The novel products of Salesforce can be easily integrated with any software application using middleware such as MuleSoft. On the flip side, you need specialized skills to configure and set up the suite of applications.

Advantages  

• Rich functionality that can be customized to meet your specific business needs
• Unparalleled ability to automate workflows rapidly, with minimal expenditure
• Highly intuitive, low-code interface designed specifically for the non-technical business user
• Seamless Compatibility with all popular operating systems and browsers

Limitations

• Configuring the system can be difficult, as it requires specialized skills; however, you can overcome this problem by teaming up with a reputed Salesforce partner who can set up the system for you quickly at low cost
• Add-ons may prove to be expensive; but you must remember you need to buy only a few add-ons that fit your business needs

Platform 2 – Zoho

Zoho is one of the most robust CRM systems that adopts state-of-the-art technologies. The IT platform is developed by one of the most technically-sound teams in the industry, which releases innovative updates at frequent intervals.

A major point where Zoho scores over other CRM platforms is its AI-powered tools to handle leads and contacts with minimal effort. It also comes with very powerful internal applications that facilitate hassle-free communication between different teams. Zoho has released a CRM platform called Bigin, especially to cater to the needs of small and micro enterprises. Coming to its limitations, the CRM system requires considerable customization and offers limited support to its clients. But the biggest challenge faced by users of Zoho is integrating the CRM system with various software platforms – companies may find it hard to connect the system even with the simplest of applications such as Gmail and Outlook.  

Advantages

• Rich features to facilitate effective management of leads, contacts and data pertaining to marketing and sales
• Excellent tools to enable cross-channel and internal communication
• A free plan for small firms with limited features 

Limitations

• Significant efforts are needed to customize various features to meet specific business needs
• Limited support to clients
• Major challenges in integrating the system with multiple software systems

Platform 3 – Microsoft Dynamics (MS-Dynamics)

MS-Dynamics is a power-packed CRM product that can be used by businesses of any size, but there is also a robust solution designed to cater to the specific needs of Micro, Small and Mid-sized Enterprises (MSMEs) with high efficacy.

The CRM powerhouse provides one major benefit to users that its competitors cannot – it enables the users to integrate it with other Microsoft products such as Office 365 and Power BI with little effort. Despite its rich capabilities, MS-Dynamics is a highly complex system that takes considerable time for its users to get familiar with and fully utilize its features. It’s also not the most affordable solution in the market and requires the services of experts to maintain it. Furthermore, customization of some of its useful features can take a lot of time and money.

Advantages

• A number of feature packs to meet specific business requirements
• Smooth integration with Office 365 and Power BI
• Powerful tools to facilitate high-quality collaboration between various teams

Limitations

• Very complex user interface and configuration
• Pricey compared to other CRM systems in the market
• High learning curve and difficult to maintain
• Expensive and time-consuming to customize certain features

I’d like to conclude by saying a good CRM helps small businesses make the best use of data to meet their revenue goals. The 3 CRM systems mentioned above are widely used by companies across the world. You must consider the relative merits and limitations of each system before zeroing-in on the one that best suits your budget ad business requirements. We suggest you team up with a reputed Salesforce service provider who can comprehensively evaluate the suitability of the systems to your specific requirements and help you make the right choice. The consultant should have worked with companies with similar requirements as yours and have a proven track record of meeting their needs effectively.

Hope you liked this post. Which CRM do you plan to use? We’d love to know.