July 16, 2015
6 Important Factors to Consider When Shopping for CRM Software
BY John Paul Narowski IN CRM Software, Productivity 0 Comment
Customers are the heart of any kind of business and you cannot just let your customer relationships be out of your attention. Fortunately, nowadays there are a lot of customer relationship management (CRM) softwares which are there to help you. CRM software is one of the main tools that every business owner, manager and employee should have at their disposal. Instead of collecting contacts, documents, folders and writing information on sticky notes, CRM software lets you collect all these data just in one place.
But how can you choose the right CRM software for your business when there are dozens of those out there? Today our focus will be on introducing 6 factors that you need to consider when shopping for CRM software.
1. Price
Of course, price plays a huge role in making buying decisions. Depending on the budget and financial situation of your business, price can be one of the main limiting factors. However, the good side is that price will help you set a range and narrow down the list of CRM software you consider using. Keep in mind that when you have some options, you need to consider both long term and short terms costs to fully understand how much is the software going to cost you at the end of the day
2. Specialization
Another thing you should pay attention to when choosing a CRM vendor is what customers they usually collaborate with. Of course, this is not the most important factor, but it is really worth taking this into account. The reason is that there are some CRM vendors who have experience working with certain fields and they can’t be so useful for you. For example, if you have a healthcare business and the CRM vendor works with construction companies, the probability that they will not understand your needs is really high.
3. Ease of Usage
CRM is not just there in order to keep the contacts of your customers organized, it is there for you to increase your sales and help you implement your marketing campaigns. This is why CRM software is important for every employee in your company. So, make sure to examine several CRM softwares and understand which one would be easy to use for all of your employees.
4. Scalability
Today you may be a small company with less than 40 employees, but several years later you may have more than 300 employees. When choosing a CRM software for your business, make sure to check its scalability as well. Talk with the vendor and see whether he/she allows you to move up and down with the pricing based on the needs of your business.
5. Integration and Compatibility
Though today this is not a problem anymore, you should still look at the compatibility and integration of the CRM software you would like to buy. Make sure that it is a cloud based one, so it could be available for all of your employees, anywhere and anytime. Moreover, examine it a little bit and see whether it can be integrated with today’s technologies or not.
6. Customization
Though all of the CRM softwares are created in order to help all businesses maintain good relationships with their customers, it is good if the CRM software is customizable and can be modified if needed. The more customizable the software is, the more attractive it’s for businesses. Even if it’s more expensive t’s really worth paying more but having a software that would fit the needs of your business.
Besides these factors that you need to really pay attention to, there are some important questions that you should ask before making a purchase:
- What kind of unique feature this software has?
- How can it improve my business?
- If I have some problems with this software, is there somebody who will help me?
- When I can start working with it, if I buy it today?
- How many clients do you have now?
CRM software is there in order to make customer relationships better, save time and increase effectiveness of the business. If the software does not do these 3 things, it means that you are just wasting time and money. So, keep the tips mentioned above while searching for CRM software and you will make a much smarter decision.
