How to Choose CRM SoftwareFor Your Business

Choosing the right CRM System for Your BusinessChoosing CRM software is ultimately a matter of balancing the features you want with the cost of service, hassle of set-up and willingness of employees to adopt it.

The Two Ends of the SpectrumWe’ve chosen Salesforce and Insightly to represent the two ends of the spectrum – not only because they’re the premier products at their respective levels, but also because understanding their features gives you a good sense of your CRM options overall.

How Much CRM Systems Cost

You get 2,500 records (which includes contacts, projects, etc.), 40 custom fields and can register up to 3 accounts.

Per user per month for the basic sales and marketing package and

$30 for the basic customer service package.

You can use a limited version of Insightly for free.

Salesforce starts at $25

Boosts this to 100,000 records and 100 custom fields. This costs $7 per user per month and there’s no limit to how many users you can add.

Can cost well into the hundreds. The most popular sales and

customer service packages are $125 and $135 per user per

month, respectively.

The Full Package More advanced packages

WHICH FEATURES DO I NEED?

Mobile Accessibility

Using your CRM system on a smartphone or tablet is ideal for telecommuters or salesmen on the go.

Offers a mobile app with limited functions, such as viewing contacts/projects and setting tasks. Insightly does not offer offline functionality.

Insightly

Has more robust mobile support, letting you edit projects, open files and search all data.

Salesforce

Integration with E-Mail

You can archive an email by sending it to a unique

Insightly mailbox address. The system will then identify all contacts and organizations

CC’d in the email and link them to the message.

With Insightly

Integration with E-Mail

Can do this automatically if you integrate your email account. Currently, many

different clients are supported, including

Microsoft, Gmail and Yahoo. Insightly can do this only if

you have a Google Apps email.

Salesforce

Integration with other software

Allows you to connect your account with a few other online applications, like Google Apps or MailChimp, so you can easily import/export contacts or upcoming tasks. However, whereas Insightly only supports a handful of applications.

Insightly

Can integrate a very wide range, including accounting software like Quickbooks.

Salesforce

Customization

You can customize how you enter in contacts or projects by adding your own data fields.

Insightly

Customization

You can go far beyond and edit the software itself with simple customizations like changing the appearance or access levels for different employees.

Salesforce

Automated leads

You can set up your CRM system to receive the form and automatically assign the potential customer to a salesperson. In the same way, customer service claims can be automatically forwarded to your staff. Salesforce has tools to set this up. Insightly does not.

If you generate leads from a webpage,

Custom Reports

With automatically-generated reports, charts and graphs on your dashboard. Insightly builds 10 different reports, including figures on opportunities, sales made and tasks completed.

Track your company’s daily progress

Custom Reports

You can build a custom report using any data in the system and add it to your dashboard.

With Salesforce, however, the possibilities are endless.

Project Management

Then assign tasks to employees and watch the progress unfold. Insightly offers this feature at no extra cost. To use project management on Salesforce, however, you have to install a separate app.

Use your CRM to create step-by-step projects.

Social Media Integration

So you can view their LinkedIn profile and see their latest tweets.

Both Insightly and Salesforce can automatically link your contacts to their social media accounts,

Permissioning

When you create or edit an item (such as a contact, opportunity, etc.) you can easily select who has permission to view it: everyone, specific teams and/or specific individuals.

In Insightly,

Permissioning

You have to assign objects to a permission set and assign that permission set to a user.

With Salesforce

Administrating your CRM System

Are cloud based applications so you don’t have to deal with installing any software. It will take some setup, however, as you personalize the interface for your business.

Both Insightly and Salesforce

Administrating your CRM System

Adding your contacts and projects to the system, adding any additional data fields that are not already included, writing descriptions, and setting up any step by step processes you would like. You don’t have to have any special technical expertise.

With Insightly, this means

Insightly has a series of training videos that covers most of the features, and it shouldn’t take longer than an hour or so for your employees to learn how to use it.

It also takes users much longer to learn how to use. Expect to hold special training sessions for your employees and have someone on staff that is responsible for answering questions after the rollout.

Because Salesforce offers many more features

Salesforce also has a training center where you can browse a wide array of topics and ask questions to other customers.

Conclusion

Keeping it simple is usually the way to go. You save money, set up faster and don’t have to worry about confusing or overwhelming your employees. But before you break out your wallet, make sure you and your staff are ready for the overhaul.

When it comes to choosing a CRM system

ConclusionWe Recommend Insightly

Click Here To Try Insightly For Free!

ConclusionWe Recommend Insightly

Click Here To Try Insightly For Free!

ConclusionWe Recommend Insightly

Click Here To Try Insightly For Free!