In customer relations, from marketing activities to sales management, a great deal of data is essential for teams to interact more effectively with prospects. The centralization of information is a real asset in boosting a company's performance and competitiveness. The use of customer relationship management software is part of this dynamic. What is a CRM? And how do you choose the right one from all the existing solutions?
What is a CRM?
CRM is the acronym for Content Relationship Management. These are software applications designed to optimize commercial exchanges.
These dashboards are used by teams to track past sales, transactions in progress and prospecting actions to be carried out. By keeping a history of the various contacts, this solution can also be used by customer support. As for the marketing department, it can also use CRM to draw up forecasts and campaigns based on audience segments.
The CRM database includes contacts, B2B or B2C prospects, opportunities, negotiation phases, completed and unsuccessful sales... Some all-in-one solutions also integrate human resources and accounting functions. CRM then doubles up as an ERP, an enterprise resource planning system.
In addition to contact records and sales performance tracking, a CRM can also include a module for automating communication and/or managing customer feedback.
How to choose it?
A CRM is a strategic tool for business development. It needs to be chosen with care to support the company's growth. The market for CRM solutions is vast.
For the same sector of activity and the same size structure, customer relationship management (CRM) software will be perfectly suited in one case, and not at all in another. This depends in part on the company's objectives, its internal operations, the composition of its team, how it feels about the interface, the business applications already in place, the budget allocated...
While comparisons enable you to discover different software packages, it's also a good idea to have a personalized demonstration or access to a no-obligation trial period. To do this, we recommend selecting several CRMs - 3 or 4 maximum - according to personalized criteria, taking into account :
- desired functional scope (sales tracking, marketing campaign automation, ERP integration, etc.)
- interface ergonomics between simplicity and complexity
- adaptability to industry-specific software and constraints
- responsive support services
- the budget
Five CRMs for SMEs
1. Axonaut
Axonaut offers CRM software specially adapted for the self-employed and small businesses. The French solution Axonaut implements its all-in-one management tool (ERP) for small and medium-sized businesses. Numerous CRM-related functionalities make it a complete system, providing day-to-day support for all tasks: contact management, statistics analysis, e-mail and calendar connection for tracking exchanges, electronic signature module, preparation of quotations and invoices, automatic reminders for unpaid invoices, etc. The subscription price is calculated according to the number of users.
2. Hubspot CRM
Hubspot 's CRM is a totally free SaaS software solution designed for start-ups, SMEs and large accounts alike. It's a 360° solution that allows you to use both sales and marketing functionalities: prospect database management, ticket creation and allocation, dashboard, email tracking, recording of call data in a customer file...
3. Microsoft Dynamics 365
Microsoft has developed an entire suite of business management software that integrates seamlessly with the Office package. CRM is coupled with CRM software. The Microsoft Dynamics 365 platform brings together different functionalities on the cloud: audience analysis, exchange history, opportunity management, competitive intelligence, sales, marketing, finance... Several pricing offers are available depending on the number of users. This means that organizations of all sizes can benefit from the American giant's solution.
4. Salesforce Sales Cloud
It is one of the world's leading CRM software companies. The user community is made up of companies of all sizes. Subscriptions are also based on the number of users. The customizable Salesforce Sales Cloud platform is constantly evolving, and features customized workflow rules, graphical presentations to measure the effectiveness of actions taken, customer database segmentation, the ability to create personalized emails...
5. Monday
The Monday platform is built around project management. In this CRM, customer relations can be managed as a team, with different levels of authorization for creating and monitoring pipelines. The interface is visual, intuitive and customizable, and can be synchronized with other business applications.
Pipedrive, Zendesk, Teamleader... This CRM description is not exhaustive.