There are five key steps to choosing the right marketing CRM for your business. This includes setting your budget, listing the features you need, getting feedback on the features your team needs most, exploring your options, and testing your best team CRM options to find the best solution for your business needs.
Calculate your budget
The starting point for choosing a small business marketing CRM is to determine how much you can afford to spend per month or year on the software. Many CRM companies charge per user, so break down your monthly budget per user. Then decide if you can afford the pension. This is important because most CRMs offer discounts of up to 20% if you pay for an annual software subscription.
List the required features
To list the features you need, make a list of what you want your business to do or achieve with a marketing CRM. Some examples are getting more information about a lead or customer, generating new leads, email tasks to save time, streamline communication with leads or customers, solve customer problems more efficiently, or forecast revenue.
Get feedback from your team
From your point of view, the list of required features can be exhaustive. But your team members may see it differently. It's important to draw your team's attention to your list so they can add features they know are important to achieving their business goals. Be thorough about this. Empower team members from different areas and levels of your organization to add the capabilities they require.
Discover your opportunities
Now that you have a clear idea of the list of features that will make your CRM more useful in achieving your business goals, do a simple Google search for "best marketing CRM". Review the resulting list of marketing CRMs and the features they offer to determine the two or three options that best fit your budget and feature needs.
Review your options to choose the best one
Most small business marketing CRMs have either a free starter version or a free trial. Use any of these options to test your CRM inventory for free, then have your team try out each software and provide feedback. Choose the CRM that best suits your business needs.
