6 Top CRM for Small Businesses in 2019

Published on: 05 April 2019 Last Updated on: 04 September 2024

Growing your small business in a cost-effective way that increases your brand awareness and attracts more customers is no easy feat.

According to a Statistic Brain study, the failure rate for all companies across the US after 5 years is over 50%.

So how do you make sure you don’t fail? By ensuring your customers are happy, of course. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems allow you to collect data about your customer’s interactions with your business.

Read on to learn about the top CRM for small businesses.

Why Use a CRM?

Customer Relationship Management systems are a great way to analyze data from various channels. Channels include your business’s website, social media channels, customer support logs, and feedback reviews.

CRM let you see what your customers like about your business’s products and/or services. CRM also allows you to address any customer concerns and better your products/services.

The success of a business, particularly a small business, relies on its customers. That’s why CRM systems are one of the most essential business tools you need in order to grow your business.

Top CRM for Small Businesses:

Find out everything you need to know about CRMs by learning more about the pros and cons of CRM for small businesses.

We’ve compiled a list of 6 of the best CRM solutions for small businesses, check it out now:

1. Salesforce:

Salesforce offers an affordable package whilst still including all of the essential product’s great features.

Salesforce is easy to use and includes key features such as:

Lead generation
Contact and opportunity management
Sales forecasting
Workflow automation

Salesforce is ideal for small businesses who want an affordable CRM.

2. HubSpot:

HubSpot

Be sure to add HubSpot to your list of must-have small business tools. The free version of HubSpot offers CRM solutions for small businesses and includes:

Learning guides
Invoice template generators
Email signature generators
Marketing plan template generators

HubSpot offers a great package for independent contractors and/or small businesses.

3. Agile CRM:

Up next in our top CRM software solution that your business needs are Agile CRM. Agile CRM allows you to:

Store details about 10,000 companies or contacts
Receive support for tracking emails
Set lead scoring and custom deal milestones
Access builder tools for forms, email templates, and website landing pages
Monitor social media

Agile CRM is great for small and big-sized businesses that want a whole range of customer relationship management tools.

4. Zoho CRM:

The multi-channel online CRM, Zoho CRM can collect data from your emails, calls, live chats, and social media channels. It is popular amongst small businesses because of it:

Is easy to use
Offers real-time analytics and notifications for every customer
Allows you to assign individual targets for your team
Features the option to build and automate your sales processes

Zoho Marketplace also ensures that you can increase your business functionality by offering various extensions that can be added to your CRM dashboard.

5. Streak:

Streak

If you are looking to implement a CRM system that is easy to use, you need to get a Streak. Streak can be installed and added as an extension on your Gmail. Streak CRM for Gmail features:

Easy collaboration options (with the ability to easily share contacts and files)
Webhook API access
Mail merge
Ability to manage deals

The streak is ideal for small business owners who are new to the world of CRM and need an easy to use platform to help grow their business.

6. Insightly:

Insightly is great for small businesses because it is an affordable CRM that offers a range of features, such as:

Storage space of 10gb
send up to 2,500 mass emails a day
detailed reports and analysis options
API access
and the ability to import 25,000 records per session.

Insightly can be used by big, medium, and small-sized businesses who are looking for a tool that offers a range of features to better understand their customers.

7. Freshsales:

Freshsales is a full-fledged sales CRM software for businesses that range from startups to enterprises. With Freshsales you don’t need multiple tools to drive sales anymore.

The major advantages of choosing Freshsales are below

Simple UI with powerful features
Detailed overview of leads & customers
Configurable dashboards and reports
Great integrations
It also offers a free forever plan for unlimited users with basic contact management and a built-in phone system.

The Right CRM Software for You:

When choosing from our list of the top CRM for small businesses list, make sure you know what you want from your CRM.

If you want a more basic, low-cost CRM then opt for one that is free or cheaper. Or if you want one that has all the trimmings and helps you understand and analyze all parts of your business, then opt for one that has more features.

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Custom Standup Pouches for Small Businesses

In 2018, the number of businesses that were using standup pouches increased by a high percentage. The custom printed pouches offer more to small businesses when it comes to convenience, affordability among other many other features. Gone are the days when businesses ignore the importance of proper packaging, small businesses are now investing more money into the packaging. The businesses that benefit the most from stand-up pouches are the companies dealing in food and beverage. Unlike the big companies, medium-sized and small companies can't sell a lot of merchandise in the retail stores. Due to this low sales return, many small businesses will focus more on cutting costs, and one of the sectors that suffer the most is the packaging. A small business owner will find it more affordable to use paper bags to pack their items. To add a little twist to the packaging, they will add a simple label on the packaging to brand their product. However, with time as the number of consumers grows, this form of packaging no longer seems like a feasible idea for your company. Your production quantity has to increase, and you have to adopt a new packaging strategy. Your old packaging style will be subjected to errors like wrong labeling or the paper bags getting torn and the products getting damaged. These simple mistakes within a short time start to bring losses in the production which cannot be ignored. At this juncture, most small businesses have no option but to adopt the custom stand-up pouches. What Are The Options Available With Stand-Up Pouches? Stand up pouches come with plenty of options, that a small business can utilize to make sure they deliver the best services in packaging their products. In addition to that, they come as a cost-effective option especially if you are a startup company. The standup pouches can be used in packing a wide variety of products. Compared to the ordinary paper bags, the standup pouches can withstand any form of roughness without getting damaged. The standup pouches cannot experience other challenges faced by paper bags like wrong labeling since they have the option of the company printing their label on the pouches. Label pasting or printing can be done anywhere and is also very cost-effective; you have a wide variety of printing options for your label. Depending on your production supply you can consider label pasting or label printing. The challenge with label pasting is that it is not very efficient when dealing with a large stockpile. Label printing offers a more attractive option. A small business can opt for custom printed standup pouches. The custom printed pouches are also cost-effective in the long run. What Are The Printing Options Businesses Can Consider? There are several printing options small businesses can consider. The printing options are high quality and offer flexible packaging options especially with food and beverage products. The printing of one’s product details has many advantages: it’s a useful visual marketing strategy, the printing of the brand in beautiful colors and letters increases the attractiveness of the packaging of your product, improved brand awareness, and lastly increased sales. Small businesses benefit from reduced cost in production by adapting standup pouches since the bags are very affordable. They are cheap and have low minimum run. If you compare the cost of a folded cartoon and that of standup pouches that are customized, you will find that the standup pouches are way cheaper. Since they are more reliable when it comes to protection of the product, then you don’t have to worry about your products getting damaged in storage or during transportation. The space used in storage when you sue the standup pouches is less compared to the other packaging options used by other companies. When picking your standup pouch design, it’s essential for your team to answer the following questions: 1. What kind of product is your small business producing and selling: How delicate is your product, what is the size of your product and what are the materials used in making your product? Simple facts like the perishability of product and the shelf life will play an important role in picking the best standup pouch design for your product. Each product has some logistics that must be taken into consideration when designing its packaging. 2. What is your target market? Who will be buying your product: Understanding the nature of your target market and their preferences is very important? For instance, the packaging you use when designing the packaging for men’s’ products will be fairly different than those used for those on women’s’ products. When surveying your potential clients, special things like age, sex, preferences, culture and religious boundaries have to be taken into great consideration. The ability to fully understand your customer will give you an idea of what packaging to use that they will find very attractive. If you are targeting the older generation, you will consider using larger texts in your printing, while a target market that is more affluent will want something that is classier and more luxurious. 3. How will your client buy your product: will the product be purchased in a retail store or online? Products that will be sold online don’t face the same stiff competition from similar products like the goods that are sold in a retail store. If you are products will be sold online then you don’t need to have extra space in the packaging as this will make the product to rattle a lot, or it will bend when being transported. If your products will be sold on the shelves of a boutique, then the packaging needs to eye-catching and cute. After answering these questions, you will have the opportunity to come up with different ideas on the ideal packaging to use. Product packaging is a practical tool since with the proper packaging you will be able to tell a story of your product. This means your story needs to very engaging, sensual, and awakens all the senses in a potential buyer. With the above questions fully answered your team will get a chance to come up with a packaging that will not only secure the product but also sell it to the current and potential buyers. Read Also: Building A Brand For Your Small Business 5 Ways To Reduce The Packaging Cost In Your Business

What Does Business Law State about Monitoring Employees?

Occasionally, we come across many individuals that are conflicted about the role monitoring applications have to play in the day to day office routines and activities. The most common question asked deals with the boundaries and limits that are “bendable” with the installment of monitoring applications. And the answer is simple; monitoring applications and software programs are legal and frequently advised to be installed in any firm or company. Here is why. Legal but… Monitoring or spy applications are legal in any court of law across the world. However, there are some regulations that need to be upheld by the employers’ side before installing monitoring software around the company premises. These guidelines include: Informing Employees Beforehand When it comes to employee monitoring applications, every court of law strictly states that the employees should be clearly notified about being monitored. The best way to accomplish this is via policies and guidelines that should be always kept on display within office premises. These guidelines should clearly explain every element of the employee monitoring intervention put forth by the company. Moreover, even when the firm decides to take on new employees, they should adjust a clause in the contract which makes it mandatory for every person being hired to sign a nondisclosure stating that they are alright with being monitored on company-related matters. Only Limited to Company Owned Gadgets Monitoring software programs tend to give employers an unwarranted power over the employees. And to protect the employee's interests, legal guidelines regarding monitoring apps clearly state that the spying should be only limited to company-owned gadgets. This means that every information coming in and going out through the company-owned gadgets are company property. The guidelines placed around the office premises should also clearly pinpoint this clause so that it poses as a reminder at all times. Furthermore, it is also recommended that the employers get their employees to sign a nondisclosure agreement that clearly states that all information on the company owned gadgets is company property. This means it can be used by the company in court if need be as well. Using Reliable Technological Sources When another’s a source of income and image in the business world is on the line, it is always best to be careful and use reliable technological sources and software programs rather than the usual cheap ones. The expensive yet well-reputed ones can be easily programmed and altered according to the specific needs of the company, hence always used for easy access and usage. Balancing is key Putting so many restrictions and highlighting many stingy clauses regarding monitoring applications like TheOneSpy mobile spy software around the office can definitely scare an employee and hence hinder their overall productivity. This is primarily due to the lack of rapport that should be there between the employee and employer to help increase profits as employee motivation grows. Therefore, it is always recommended by experts to use a system that is similar to a token economy where the employees are given some leeway and flexibility in some areas while at the same time restricted in some too. For example, allowing them access to specific social media sites during a few designated hours of the day. Never Resort to Open Slander It is never healthy to insult or accuse an employee openly among their peers. And with monitoring applications installed, there will be many times that the system may show you red flags which in reality are nothing but some mishap with the coding of the monitoring application itself. Therefore, rather than losing your cool and openly slandering a perfectly loyal employee, it is always best to take them aside or discreetly conduct a further investigation either with their knowledge of it or without it. This is because an employee can otherwise sue you for slandering their image followed by wrongful termination which would prove bad for your company’s image. The law about monitoring applications is specifically made to protect both the employees as well as the employers in case of any mishap or misunderstanding between the two parties. While it may look like the employers have all the power with monitoring applications installed, but in reality, analysis has shown that monitoring applications have been found to be more useful to employees. For example, if an employee faces discrimination at the hands of another employee or employer, they can use the backup made by monitoring applications to highlight the wrongful act in court.

Resolutions To Help The Small Business Owners To Avoid Being Bankrupt

Business is not something that can be started with a certain amount of cash. There are various factors how a developer starts creating a relationship between a borrower and a lender. This means that unless you are fully grown to start a business, you will have to undergo the requisite details of taking a loan from a formal financial institution. It is evident that the mode of this loan taking business is many but still it has a more or less similar process. However, in this process, there may be some that may lead to a misleading way of this entire process. With quite an effect misleading of this particular aspect leads the business to grow his debt. Read also: How Industry-Specific Loans Can Support Your Business Reasons to fall into the ditch The lenders tightening their interest rates on the borrowers or with the increased rate of interest the borrowers tend to suffer the most. Many such small businesses lead to some misleading happenings fro not dealing the debt well. There are reports claim that ten present of the ratio gets bankrupt due to this debt issue. Thus, there need to cater to some ways in dealing with this massive issue to help the firm from getting some critical strategy in leading the business. The methods are necessary to save your business from being among one of those ten percentages. Avoiding extra charges There is an essential requirement to curtail and control the payment structure and the useless expenditures when you are in debt. It is very normal to be in debt but in the same way it is equally important to file some resolution in catering to the relevant fact and figure about meeting the debt. Track the details and ensure that your priority is to meet up with the demand of the debt interest. Once you finish repaying it, you can easily fulfill all your luxuries. Have a record on your budget This is one of the prime aspects that have to be considered when you are one of the borrowers. You need to increase your turnover to ensure that you can create a balance. Implement any proper accounts of people who will be tracking your budget in details. Following your budget will also help you to keep up with the amount that you need to repay. You can also move to the visit here option of different software that has been developed for tracking your business records. This keeps you in the upfront to deal with any issue faster. List your prioritization There is an important way how you can make yourself and your business stand in a better position. It is important to take a note of some important details about your lenders. Figure out the details initially and update the list whenever you finish paying one. Initially, it is claimed to repay the smaller amounts. List them according to the date of the lease. In fact, keep a calculative note on the interest rates and make sure to repay the high-priced loans as fast as possible. Designate your turnover into sections and maintain a separate account for clearing your debts every month. Read also: Six Pointers to Starting a Successful Business

6 Top CRM for Small Businesses in 2019

Why Use a CRM?