best CRM for small business
CRMs benefit organizations by managing contacts and helping to track activities related to closing a deal. However, many CRMs include added features like analytics, system integration, and process automation, while others offer even more robust features. Still, many of these functionalities come at a high cost and are only suitable for a select few.
Therefore, the criteria we used to evaluate the best CRM for small business include:
Price – We compared each program’s monthly per-user fee as well as any add-on costs that resulted in additional functionality.
Contact Management – We compared how easy it is to create, edit, and search for contacts as well as how each tool worked with email, phones calls, and other tasks.
Deal and Opportunity Management – We looked into how each tool tracked a deal’s pipeline stage, what data related to the deal was viewable, and how each tool helped prioritize follow-up activities.
Workflow Automation – We reviewed each tool’s methodology regarding the sales process, follow-up tasks, and other reminders.
Reporting Tools – We examined what data is available to help sales managers better monitor their teams as well as their sales pipelines.
System Integrations – In order to conduct the fairest apples-to-apples study on core product features, we did not compare enterprise-level plans; however, we did compare each tool’s integrations with cloud-based third-party programs.
Customization – We reviewed how each program handles customizations such as contact fields, opportunity fields, and sales processes.
Customer Satisfaction – We read through extensive product reviews and compared technical support offerings and reported ease of implementation.
Based on this criteria, we have determined that Freshsales is the best CRM for small business overall. Freshsales was given this distinction as it offers the most complete balance of features to price, including a great mobile app, and overall ease of customization and implementation. Freshsales also has a great appointment and lead management capability, making it particularly the best for field sales teams or consulting businesses with longer sales cycles.