Home > Top 9 Best Small Business CRM Software 2023 (Free & Paid)

Top 9 Best Small Business CRM Software 2023 (Free & Paid)

Do you think CRM software would be expensive for small businesses? If so, the cost depends on the time, effort, and features they add to the CRM software. Hence, a CRM is not only for large companies. Today, you will find that even an individual or a sole proprietorship uses the best CRM software for small businesses as a secret sauce for transforming them into strong, vibrant, and fast-growing companies. The best CRMs for small business offer simple and scalable customer management and enables effective sales, simple and affordable infrastructure, creating social media awareness, customer service, flexible growth, organized customer information, effective interaction with customers, effortless coordination with the team members, seamless integration with other software, optimization of marketing strategies, and automated sales tasks. If you have considered going in for CRM software for rapid business growth, you will come across a list of top CRM software for small businesses when you surf online.

best-crm-for-small-business

Our Score98/100
  • Pipedrive
  • United Kingdom
  • $14.90/month/user
  • Yes

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Our Score98/100
  • HubSpot
  • United States
  • Not provided by vendor
  • Yes

Visit Website

Our Score98/100
  • Salesforce
  • United States
  • Not provided by vendor
  • Yes

Visit Website

What are the Best CRM Software for Small Businesses?

  1. Pipedrive
  2. monday sales CRM
  3. Freshsales
  4. HubSpot CRM
  5. Zendesk Sell
  6. Close
  7. Bigin By Zoho
  8. Act!
  9. Really Simple Systems

» Our score is based on user satisfaction (reviews & ratings), social media buzz, online presence, and other relevant information. If your software is part of this list, use this badge on your website and social media to let your readers know about your success.

List of Top CRM Software for Small Businesses Reviews

1. Pipedrive - Amazing CRM to Scale Up Sales

Pipedrive - Best CRM For Small Business

› Why We Pick Pipedrive as The Best CRM Software For Small Businesses?

According to our in-depth research, Pipedrive is an amazing cloud-hosted CRM software. It is a top-notch CRM that helps businesses to manage leads as their business grows. The tool also enables businesses to engage with deals at the right time and assist in nurturing long-term relationships.

Pipedrive CRM has a user-friendly UI. Hence, small businesses can easily adapt the tool and start optimizing their sales processes. It also has fascinating features with easy learning curves. It means sales reps may spend less time training and more time on sales activities to boost productivity. Pipedrive CRM also provides customizable functionalities. Users can easily tailor CRM activities based on business requirements. Read Our Detailed review of Pipedrive CRM Software

› What are The Top Features of Pipedrive CRM For Small Businesses?

    • Pipeline Visibility: Awesome software to get complete visibility into sales to track progress.
    • Automation: Create workflows and automate manual tasks like sending follow-up emails.
    • Sales Conversations: Leverage cutting-edge messaging features to nurture leads and customers.
    • Notifications: Get real-time notifications whenever leads open marketing emails.
    • Mobile Application: Run your small business from anywhere using a dedicated CRM mobile application.
    • Cash flow: Ensure seamless cash flow by integrating CRM with accounting tools to set payment reminders and automate invoices.
    • Feedback: Collect positive customer feedback and display them as testimonials on social media to build authority for the brand.
    • Segmentation: Segment the audience to engage with them using more personalized messages.
    • Data Insights: Amazing tool to customize dashboards with vital sales metrics to track them and gain valuable data insights.

› What is The Price of Pipedrive CRM?

Pipedrive CRM offers 5 simple, straightforward, and affordable subscription plans. They are 1) Essential, 2) Advanced, 3) Professional, 4) Power, and 5) Enterprise. It also offers a 14-day free trial for every plan. Pipedrive CRM’s lowest plan costs $11.90 per user/month, billed monthly. Its high-cost plan pricing is $74.90 per user/month, billed monthly. Users must explore Pipedrive’s official pricing page to learn more.

2. monday sales CRM - Customizable CRM Software

monday sales - Best CRM For Small Business

› Why We Pick monday sales CRM as The Best Small Business CRM?

As per our comprehensive analysis, monday sales CRM is a cloud-ready and fully customizable CRM solution. Our researchers found it easy to set up and use. It offers intuitive and flexible features that can help small businesses to customize their sales cycle. For example, businesses can easily edit deal stages, manage multiple pipelines, and add columns.

Furthermore, monday sales CRM offers comprehensive data visualization. Businesses can use prebuilt analytics, prebuilt dashboards, live reports, and widgets to get deeper and more understandable insights. They can also use Gannt charts, Headcount planning, Kanban view, and Timeline view features. Additionally, it is a no-code/low-code software. It means even less technical users can design their workflows using an intuitive interface.

› What are The Best Features of monday sales CRM Software For Small Businesses?

    • Account Management: Amazing software to track all contacts, tasks, and deals from one centralized place.
    • Lead Management: Great tool to capture, segment, and nurture leads in multiple ways.
    • Email Tracking: Track every marketing email and know when they are opened to engage with leads at the right time.
    • Lead Scoring: Awesome CRM solution to filter conversion-ready leads using accurate lead scoring.
    • Mobile Responsive: Good software to track and monitor important deals' progress on any mobile device.
    • Integrations: Integrate with apps like Gmail, Aircall, PandaDoc, Outlook, and more to boost sales activities.
    • Post-sales Management: Efficiently manage post-sales operations to keep your customers happy and loyal.
    • Automation: Easily automate repetitive tasks so you can focus on growing your small business.
    • Email Templates: Use pre-defined email templates to create professional-looking welcome emails quickly.

› What is The Price of monday sales CRM?

monday sales CRM offers 4 pricing plans with simple and affordable pricing: 1) Basic, 2) Standard, 3) Pro, and 4) Enterprise. It also provides a 14-day free trial for every subscription plan. Its low-cost plan pricing is $12.5 per seat/month with a monthly billing cycle (minimum 3 seats required). Its high-cost plan is Enterprise CRM. Users must contact monday sales CRM’s sales team to learn about its pricing. Please visit monday sales official pricing page to learn more.

3. Freshsales - Best CRM For Small Businesses

Freshsales - Best CRM For Small Business

› Why We Pick Freshsales as The Best Small Business CRM?

In our detailed evaluation, we found that Freshsales is one of the best CRMs in the market. It is a low-cost, easy-to-use, and feature-rich CRM software to generate leads and manage contacts. It has a simple implementation process. Hence, sales and marketing teams can easily set up Freshsales without needing an implementation team.

Furthermore, Freshsales small business CRM (formerly known as Freshworks CRM) provides just the right features that every small business might need to grow. It allows users to capture online website visitors and save them as leads in the CRM database. The tool also lets users track and monitor the lead generation source to improve marketing efforts.

› What are The Top Features of Freshsales Small Business CRM Software?

    • Contact Management: Effortlessly maintain all customer data under one roof.
    • Lead Generation: Build a lead generation hub by converting website visitors into leads.
    • Segmentation: Segment audience and target them with strategic email marketing campaigns.
    • Sales Forecast: Amazing tool to reveal sales patterns and forecast revenue.
    • Visibility: Get better visibility over the deal pipeline by tracking every stage of the sales process.
    • Automation: Teams can automate mundane routine tasks and boost productivity.
    • Predictive Scoring: Greate solution for analyzing behavioural patterns and data points to score and find quality leads.
    • Dashboards: Track and monitor crucial sales metrics on visual dashboards to measure team performance.
    • Mobile Application: Track sales activities and create visual reports on the go using a dedicated Freshsales mobile app.
    • Integration: Boost business performance by integrating with popular apps like Trello, Freshdesk, Freshchat, and more.

› What is The Cost of Freshsales CRM?

Freshsales from Freshworks has 3 transparent and budget-friendly pricing plans: 1) Growth, 2) Pro, and 3) Enterprise. It also has a free version with essential features for up to 3 users. Freshsales has a 21-day free trial to offer for its paid plans. Its most affordable pricing plan starts at $18 per user/month, billed monthly. Its highest-paid plan costs $83 per user/month, billed monthly. Users should visit Freshsales’ official pricing page to get in-depth pricing data.

4. HubSpot - Top-level CRM Solution

HubSpot - Best CRM For Small Business

› Why We Pick HubSpot as The Best CRM Software For Small Businesses?

Our comprehensive research indicates that HubSpot is a top-level small business CRM software. It is a cloud-ready solution specially designed and developed from the ground to help small businesses in the competitive market. It has intuitive and robust features that assist users in every business activity, like recording calls and email logging.

HubSpot CRM’s pipeline management tool can help businesses keep a bird’s eye on deals to ensure no deals stay unattended. Additionally, businesses can get total visibility of teams' performance. It allows businesses to monitor the pipeline’s health. Businesses can also customize the pipeline to business requirements.

› What are The Best Features of HubSpot CRM For Small Businesses?

    • New Contact: Add a new contact record directly into the CRM with just one click from your email inbox.
    • Pipeline Management: Track sales activities and reveal monthly trends to achieve higher financial goals.
    • Sales Leads: Find high-quality leads and engage with them in real-time to increase conversions.
    • Email Templates: Explore a library of customizable email templates that can be used at every stage of the customer’s journey.
    • Knowledge Base: Explore a rich knowledge base to find solutions quickly.
    • Chatbot: Use chatbots to interact with leads and filter them using predefined follow-up questions.
    • Live Chat: Customer support agents can chat with customers in real time to understand their issues better.
    • Marketing Analytics: Gather and analyze marketing campaign data to reveal underlying trends and patterns.
    • Mobile App: Engage with leads, prospects, and customers from anywhere using a robust HubSpot CRM mobile app.
    • Online Form Builder: Create stylish online forms and plug them into your website to generate leads.

› What is The Pricing of HubSpot CRM?

HubSpot CRM offers 4 subscription plans. They are 1)Free, 2)Starter, 3)Professional, and 4)Enterprise. Its free plan consists of fundamental features for up to 5 users. HubSpot CRM’s paid plans are straightforward and reasonable. Its lowest pricing plan is Starter. It costs $30/month/commits annually. HubSpot’s high-cost plan is Enterprise. Its pricing is $5000/month/commit annually. Users have to visit HubSpot’s official pricing page to learn more about its subscription plans.

5. Zendesk Sell - Modern Small Business CRM

Zendesk Sell - Best CRM For Small Business

› Why We Pick Zendesk Sell as The Best CRM Software For Small Businesses?

In our thorough evaluation, we found that Zendesk Sell is one of the modern small business CRMs available in the market. This cloud-hosted online CRM software offers a variety of boss-level features to increase visibility and productivity for growing businesses.

Zendesk Sell CRM comes with simple usability to reach high adoption rates. Sales and marketing teams can efficiently perform business activities to maximize return on investment. Moreover, the tool offers flawless integration with Zendesk Support. It helps businesses to provide a gold-level customer experience.

Furthermore, businesses can integrate with hundreds of tools like Loopy, Assembled, Productboard, and more. They can expand CRM’s capabilities using these integrations.

› What Are The Top Features of Zendesk Sell CRM For Small Businesses?

    • Pipeline Management: Manage each step of the sales process in the pipeline to accelerate sales acquisition.
    • Lead Generation: Automate the lead generation process and get more qualified leads using sales engagement tools.
    • Contact Management: Store crucial details of leads in one place so you can reach them easily through multiple channels.
    • Analytics: Use cutting-edge data insights and accurate forecasting to grow your business.
    • Sales Dashboards: Use different sales dashboards to visualize business data and performance metrics concisely.
    • Web Forms: Create eye-catching web forms to capture leads online.
    • Lead Nurturing: Nurture leads by making them familiar with your services and products to increase credibility and trust.
    • Sales Prospecting: Great tool to recognize and engage with potential buyers to explore new sales opportunities.
    • Mobile App: Use Zendesk Sell mobile app on iOS and Android devices to interact with customers from anywhere.

› What is The Cost of Zendesk Sell CRM?

Zendesk Sell has 4 transparent and cost-effective pricing packages: 1) Sell Team, 2) Sell Growth, 3) Sell Profesional, and 4) Sell Enterprise. Users can leverage a 14-day free trial before the subscription. Its most affordable pricing package with a monthly contract starts at $25 per agent/month. Its high-end pricing package with a monthly contract starts at $169 per user/month. Please visit Zendesk Sell’s official website to learn more about subscription packages.

6. Close - All-in-one CRM For Small Businesses

Close - Best CRM For Small Business

› Why We Pick Close as The Best Small Business CRM Software?

As per our complete analysis, Close is an all-in-one small business CRM Software. It is an online cloud-ready tool with cutting-edge marketing, sales, and customer service functionalities.

Close CRM has a simple installation process and a user-friendly interface. Users can quickly adapt the CRM to get benefits like streamlined communication and increased productivity for their small businesses.

Additionally, Close CRM is flexible. Businesses can use Custom Objects, Custom Activities, and Custom Fields to tailor Close CRM in a way that best works for their business. Close also offers superb built-in modules for Calling, messaging, and sending emails. More importantly, the tool is GDPR, CCPA, and SOC 2 Type 2 compliant.

› What are The Best Features of Close CRM Solution For Small Businesses?

    • Easy Installation: Close has an easy installation and onboarding process.
    • SMS+Calling: Use built-in SMS and VoIP tools to boost outbound marketing.
    • Reporting: Leverage custom CRM reporting to get actionable insights and crack more deals.
    • Automation: Easily integrate with popular automation tools to streamline workflow.
    • Power Dialer: User power dialer to start calling leads automatically through lists.
    • 2-way Email Sync: Leverage 2-way email synchronization to use CRM features directly from your email inbox.
    • iOS Mobile App: Awesome iOS mobile application to get vital notifications instantly.
    • Integrations: World-class native integration with Microsoft 365 calendar to streamline meetings and appointment scheduling.
    • Fully Secure: SOC 2 Type 2, CCPA, and GDPR compliant.

› What is The Price of Close CRM?

Close CRM offers 3 simple subscription packages: 1) Startup, 2) Professional, and 3) Enterprise. It also provides a 14-day free trial for its packages. Its most budget-friendly pricing package starts at $59 per month with a monthly commitment. Its most costly package pricing is $749 per month with a monthly commitment. The Startup and Professional plans have 1 & 3 users included, respectively. The Enterprise plan has 5 users included. You must explore Close CRM’s official pricing page for detailed information about its subscription plans.

7. Bigin By Zoho - Easy to Use Small Business CRM Software

Bigin - Best CRM For Small Business

› Why We Pick Bigin By Zoho as The Best CRM Software For Small Businesses?

Our in-depth research says that Bigin by Zoho is one of the best easy-to-use CRM solutions in the market. It is specially developed and designed for growing businesses. The tool has an easy-to-use interface and powerful yet intuitive features. Businesses may easily start working without any previous experience with any CRM.

Moreover, Bigin CRM’s design and interface are optimized for providing a hassle-free user experience and faster activities on any platform. Small businesses may improve lead conversion rates and customer retention by 300% and 27%, respectively. Additionally, they may decrease marketing and sales costs by 23%. Small businesses can put the heavy lifting of managing the business on CRM and focus on customers with Bigin on their side.

› What are The Top Features of Bigin By Zoho CRM For Small Businesses?

    • Team Pipelines: Use team pipelines to unify customer-related activities and create a single source of truth for all customer data.
    • Lead Management: Great tool to capture leads from multiple sources and organize them for better visualization.
    • Import: Amazing tool to automatically import contact data from spreadsheets into CRM.
    • Notifications: Stay updated with new leads' arrival, missed calls, and more using real-time notifications.
    • Built-in Telephony: Superb CRM to connect with leads and customers using phone calls.
    • Automation: Excellent software to rule out human errors and save time by automating repetitive tasks.
    • Activity Management: Get an instant overview of crucial activities like calls, events, tasks, etc.
    • Customization: Transform Bigin CRM in a way that best suits your business needs.
    • Multi-currency: Nice software to create deals in multi-currency based on customers' location.
    • Analytics: Advanced software to measure sales and marketing performance and determine the future course of action.
    • Mobile App: Use Bigin’s mobile application to access customer and business data on the go.

› What is The Price of Bigin By Zoho CRM?

Bigin by Zoho CRM has 2 simple, transparent, and affordable pricing packages: 1) Express and 2) Premier. It also has a free package with essential features. The Express plan pricing is $9 per user/month/billed monthly. The Premier plan pricing is $15 per user/month/billed monthly. Both paid plans include a 15-day free trial, 30-day onboarding service, bi-weekly webinars, basic product training, data import assistance, and support by chat, email & phone. Explore Bigin by Zoho’s official website to learn more.

8. Act! - Great CRM to Automate Sales and Marketing

Act! - Best CRM For Small Business

› Why We Pick Act! as The Best CRM Software For Small Businesses?

In our evaluation, we discovered that Act! is one of the great CRMs for small business owners. It offers robust automation features to create automated sales and marketing operations workflows. It also provides other magnificent features and capabilities that help your small business increase sales, enhance marketing, and get customers for a lifetime. Read Our Detailed review of Act! CRM Software

Furthermore, Act! allows you to provide best-in-class post-sales services for increasing customer satisfaction and retention. Suppose you can improve by just 5% customer satisfaction. You might increase profits by 95%.

Act! has excellent lead management features. You can efficiently segment leads based on criteria like company size, geolocation, demographics, behaviour, and more. Additionally, you can start targeted marketing campaigns based on lead segmentation.

› What are The Best Features of Act! CRM Tool For Small Businesses?

    • Relationship History: Create a rich customer profile and use it to personalize each interaction.
    • Powerful Search: Find what you are looking for instantly using a powerful search.
    • Pipeline Management: Access sales pipelines by region, territory, product, sales stage, agent, and more.
    • Centralized Customer Data: Get every customer's details, like emails, notes, calls, and more, under one umbrella.
    • Personalized Campaigns: Leverage the Turnkey templates or create new templates to start personalized campaigns.
    • Opportunity Tracking: Keep updated with sales opportunities to jump on them at the right time.
    • Landing Pages: Create out-of-the-box landing pages and web forms to capture more leads.
    • Real-time Metrics: Monitor crucial metrics in real-time to track and prioritize follow-ups.
    • Customer Activities: Track comprehensive customer activities to surface hidden patterns and trends.
    • Act! Companion: Always stay connected with customers and prospects using a dedicated Act! Companion mobile app.

› What is The Pricing of Act! CRM?

Act! CRM has one straightforward and affordable subscription plan - Act! Premium. However, its pricing differs based on the deployment. Act! Premium Cloud pricing is $30 per user/month/billed annually. Act! Premium Desktop cost is $37.50 per user/month/billed annually. Users can leverage a 14-day free trial for the plan. It includes basic marketing automation features. Yet, users can opt for various Act! Marketing Automation (AMA) plans to use advanced marketing automation features. Please visit Act! CRM’s official pricing page to learn more about pricing structure.

9. Really Simple Systems - Simple CRM Designed For Small Businesses

Really Simple Systems - Best CRM For Small Business

› Why We Pick Really Simple Systems as The Best Small Business CRM Software?

According to our analysis team, Really Simple Systems is a simple CRM software designed for small business owners and start-ups. The tool can assist businesses in creating long-lasting and healthy relationships with customers to increase retention rates. Furthermore, it is built with an easy-to-use interface. Hence, sales and marketing teams can easily manage prospects and customers.

Really Simple Systems CRM also has a lifetime free plan. This free plan fits small businesses and start-ups best due to its cool features. It includes essential features like Contact Management, Pipeline Management, Calender, and Document Storage. It also consists of advanced functionalities, such as Sales Weighting & Probability, Product Lines, Assign & Re-assign Tasks, One-page View, and Sales Stages.

› What are The Top Features of Really Simple Systems CRM For Small Businesses?

    • Sales Pipeline Management: Prioritize sales leads by efficiently tracking them through the sales process.
    • Contact Management: View complete interaction with contacts, leads, and suppliers from one place.
    • Activity Management: Manage activities like follow-up calls, emails, and more to organize the workload.
    • Reporting: Use a simple drag-and-drop interface to create in-depth management reports.
    • Email Integration: Fetch incoming and outgoing emails and save them automatically in related customers’ accounts.
    • Campaign Management: Great tool to efficiently plan, create, initiate, monitor, and analyze marketing campaigns.
    • Email Marketing: Develop engaging emails, send them, and track & analyze them to measure engagement level.
    • Mobile Responsive: The tool is optimized to run on any device with a fantastic responsive design.
    • Case Management: Manage the customer service case life cycle, from opening to closure, and get a complete view on one page.

› What is The Price of Really Simple Systems CRM?

Really Simple Systems CRM offers 4 transparent subscription packages, including free and paid. They are 1) Free, 2) Starter, 3) Professional, and 4) Enterprise. The Free plan is obtainable for up to 2 users. The CRM solution’s most affordable plan is Starter. Its pricing starts at $21 per/user/month/billed monthly. The tool’s highest pricing plan is Enterprise. Its price is $64 per user/month/billed monthly. Users can leverage a 14-day free trial for any paid subscription plan. Explore Really Simple Systems CRM’s official website to learn more.

Small Business CRM Software Buyer’s Guide

Now is a thriving time for small businesses around the world to exist - from a small bakery down the road to a departmental store to a home-based clothing business to a technology start-up.

It is exciting to be a small business owner in this era due to the plethora of opportunities, options, and exposure. However, it is also exhausting, given the multiple hats, one has to wear. Whether it is marketing, sales, or customer support, too much is going on every step of the way. While managing these aspects, in the beginning, is pretty much easier, things get complicated as you grow.

So, what do you do?

Simple. Shift to CRM software for small businesses.

» What is CRM Software?

CRM, or Customer Relationship Management, the software is a system businesses use to establish, organize and nurture their relationship with current and prospective clientele. Think of it as a systematic way of connecting with your consumers.

The motive at the core is to maintain & enhance relationships within and outside your organization. Thus, you can expect the software to help manage your customers, as well as your workforce, stakeholders, and vendors.

The tedious tasks of identifying potential customers, converting them, and providing after-sale support and services are no longer complex. And you can retrieve, study, trace and track the journey of your leads or customers from a centralized place.

Not just that, CRMs are also designed to streamline business processes, which, in turn, helps improve your company’s profitability.

And it doesn’t stop there.

Using CRM software for small businesses benefits your business in more than one way. Let’s have a look.

» How CRM Helps Small Businesses?

Whether you are a tech firm, a service store, or a management consulting start-up, a small business CRM system can help strengthen the way you make and maintain customer relationships. For starters, the platform can simplify the lead generation process, which typically eats up a lot of time. It also allows you to segment, track and cater to your leads as per their distinct behavior. At the same time, you can manage the database of your existing customers without any hassles.

In both cases, though, the customer service and support shoot up big time. Since you have handy data on your client/prospect’s history and preferences, the communication becomes more direct, personalized, prompt, and smoother. Such a proactive problem-solving attitude makes a positive impression on your brand. And results in increased customer engagement, satisfaction, and retention.

Moreover, a CRM system helps you discover and make the most of business opportunities arising out of client referrals. It also simplifies process management for your employees and provides seamless communication, enhancing overall productivity. What’s more? The system promotes optimum resource utilization while reducing sales costs.

Now that you know how a small business CRM platform benefits you, it’s time to check out the features that make the system a must-have tool for small businesses.

» What are the Features of Small Business CRM Software?

While different CRM software would most probably offer a diverse range of features, the following are the common features to find in a top-rated CRM for small businesses:

› Lead management

An integral part of every best small business CRM tool, lead management empowers your sales teams to recognize the right leads with high chances of conversion they should focus on at the right time. The system uses multiple preset factors, such as prospect demography and previous interactions, to provide their accurate positioning in your sales lifecycle. Furthermore, you can manage these leads and assign them to your team members for distribution, persuasion, or re-engagement purposes accordingly.

› Contact management

The contact management feature of any CRM for a small business refers to the ability to manage the ever-growing list of contacts, categorize them into groups and serve them as per their needs and choices. Not only that, you can find any of your contacts, both business and individuals, in one place in a matter of mere seconds. That means no need to lose your time (and mind) over those thick diaries and strings of spreadsheets anymore!

› Campaign management

With the campaign management feature, you can run every campaign - right from the beginning till the end - from a single platform. Whether it is initial planning, resource allocation, scheduling, or analytics on ROI, a CRM system includes all the tools to make your campaigns more effective & successful. Also, most of these solutions provide you with complete control of defining user access controls.

› Marketing automation

Targeting the right prospects can be difficult at times, and that’s where marketing automation can help. It enables you to target the right audiences that may be actively looking for the services/products you offer with a more strategic and powerful approach. Moreover, the terms & control for which segments and aspects of your marketing efforts should undergo automation remain with you.

› Email management

A majority of small business CRM systems come with built-in email management capability so that you don’t miss any crucial emails or keep switching between different email clients. Such a function allows your team to organize and access their emails from a single place. There is usually a wide range of email templates available to help you get started right away. You can also merge it with your calendar to schedule a meeting with your prospects, clients, and suppliers.

› Sales forecasting

For any business to grow, it is critical to set goals and measure them from time to time. And sales forecasting allows you to do just that. You can use this capability to predict sales for the next quarter or a specific period realistically. This data then comes in handy to evaluate the actual results of your efforts and make necessary changes in your processes and approach in the future.

› Mobile CRM

As everyone is constantly on the move in this fast-paced tech era, it completely makes sense to handle your customer relationship management needs on the go. That’s why most of the best CRM software for small businesses offer mobile compatibility. From accessing vital alerts about your campaigns and sales goals to viewing and analyzing data for strategizing, you can do it all, no matter where you are.

› Social media management

Monitoring and managing your organization’s social media accounts have become a significant part of acquiring and maintaining customers today. And that’s the reason many leading small business CRMs come with built-in social media management. Using such a feature, you can create a more effective social media strategy, carry out social listening & posting duties, understand your target users, and respond to customers and inquiries promptly, in real-time. Besides, you can also track your brand mentions & traction easily.

› Sales force automation

Automating your tedious sales process in part or full is something you can expect from a powerful CRM system for small businesses. Whether it is a follow-up response to a client/prospect, organizing data, or scheduling calls to vendors, the software offers everything to help up your sales figures. Moreover, it makes way for you to automate your routine tasks to save time and resources.

› Dashboard and reports

Every high-performing small business CRM tool comes in with a user-friendly, intuitive dashboard that provides an overview of your process quickly at a glance. From documents to campaigns to stats from the last marketing effort to internal groups & communication, all the key information is right in the front. Apart from that, CRMs provide you with accurate insights into your processes and KPIs in real time, along with customizable report generation functionality.

› Workflow, approvals, and tracking

Thanks to a customer relationship management system, your small business can streamline its workflow and bring together disparate teams hassle-freely. Since a single platform lets you collate, manage and access data whenever you need, as a team, you’re always aligned with robust collaborative tools. Plus, there is smoother, uninterrupted file sharing & communication internally and with external stakeholders, making way for faster work designation and approvals. Additionally, you can keep a tab on components, such as your contacts, leads, data, and sales funnel, to help improve your operations consistently.

› Third-party integrations

Being a small business, you might already be using other business tools for a variety of purposes, like accounting and human resources. Thus, leading CRMs to offer third-party integrations, eliminating your need to juggle between different software solutions while ensuring your business operations remain as efficient.

› Customizations

Since every business, small or large, has its own set of goals, processes, and limitations, there is no one-size-fits-all CRM solution. That’s why you will find enough options to customize the software as per your distinct requirements. From ready templates to access controls to dashboards and reporting tools, you can make the CRM adapt to your current workflow rather than the other way around.

» What are the Benefits of Small Business CRM Software?

Using a CRM system for your small business brings in a host of benefits. Let’s discover what those benefits are in detail:

› It becomes a centralized hub for your data

Whether it is previous client interactions or vendor details, the best small business CRM systems would keep all your information in one place. That way, all your teams, be it marketing, sales, or customer support, get to access the data they need instantly. The result? You are not only able to save time and resources but also improve your future marketing & sales strategies. At the same time, the customer gets a better experience all along.

› It enhances team collaboration

No matter the size of your business, you can only succeed if your different teams are aligned at all times. That requires seamless collaboration, which small business CRM apps offer you by default. Whether it is file sharing, keying in information about a particular client interaction, assigning work, or communicating with your teammates over chats, the software offers everything you need to function as a close-knit team.

› It increases overall productivity

Thanks to small business CRM tools, everyone in the organization is in line with what steps they need to take next. The dashboard provides precise status about your workflow at any given time. Tasks are always assigned to the right employee. And no deadline is missed. Such a balance in the operations enhances employee engagement and involvement, both at an individual and team level, which, in turn, increases the organization’s overall productivity.

› It helps scale your sales

With an efficient CRM system for small businesses, you can generate leads with high conversion potential. Besides, you get to focus on the right leads at the right time with the right information. This kind of strategic targeting, in a consistent manner, helps convert more leads into customers, which eventually results in increased sales revenues.

› It improves client support

From customer demographics and previous purchases to recent interests and communications, a CRM system gathers and keeps all this data from across channels in one place. That enables your disparate teams to promptly solve consumers’ problems and furnish the information they require faster. Moreover, it opens up avenues for seamless personalization, making the customers feel valued while taking your customer support efforts a notch higher at the same time.

› It boosts client satisfaction and retention

Through CRM, you can achieve the right blend of targeted contact outreach, sales pitches, and prompt customer support, all of which, together, help create a strong positive image of your brand in the consumers' minds. As a result, customer satisfaction shoots up, and they want to keep coming back to the products/services you are offering over and over.

› It automates routine tasks

CRM solutions for small businesses are developed to offer the latest technologies, such as automation, to ease the burden on your workforce. It allows you to automate your mundane, repetitive tasks, including data entry, task allocation, and report generation. While that ensures the absence of human errors from your records, it also frees up your employees’ time to concentrate on more critical tasks.

› It fosters effective decision-making

Using a small business CRM app, you can monitor your KPIs, performance, and goals in real time. Not just that but you get to generate accurate, customizable analytics and reports about your processes and pipelines. Access to such precise, real-time data aids your decision-making skills, which helps meet business objectives.

› It streamlines business operations

Most of the leading CRM systems for small businesses offer third-party integrations, for instance, human resources and accounting tools. That way, it becomes possible for you to optimize and streamline otherwise disparate business operations without losing your distinct processes, quality standards, or efficiency.

» How to Choose the Best Small Business CRM Software?

Choosing one solution out of the long list of solid CRM tools for small businesses is easier said than done. After all, it is either going to make or break your business. There are multiple things you need to consider. What those components are? Let’s take a deep dive.

Steps to choose the best small business CRM system:

› Understand your requirements

Every small business has its own set of requirements, processes, and goals. That’s why a CRM yielding great performance for one business may fail for the other. Hence, it is critical to first identify your distinct requirements and list out your expectations from the software. That greatly helps you narrow down your options.

› Analyze what you need: cloud-based CRM or an on-premise one?

A majority of customer relationship management software is available as a cloud-enabled system as well as on-premise solutions. For some small business organizations, going cloud can be too expensive, while for some it may be the perfect solution. So before buying a CRM, determine what type complements your current organizational structure.

› Explore your options

There are different types of CRM systems available in the market, for example, collaborative, analytical, and operational. Each has its advantages and disadvantages. To get the most out of your CRM software, you have to gauge which type of CRM will serve your purpose without altering your present business workflow.

› Study and compare the CRM features & functionalities

While surfing the internet to find your best-fit CRM tool for small businesses, you will come across multiple options. Each of those options offers a diverse range of features and functions. So, how do you choose? Simple. Take note of the features every system has on offer and compare them with the list of your business requirements. Keep eliminating the ones that do not fit your needs right away.

› Look for flexibility and scalability

A small business is not going to be small forever. There would be growth, regardless of the industry. In this case, it makes sense to opt for a system that can handle your growing CRM needs without compromising on processes or performance. At the same time, ensure that the CRM you choose is flexible enough to adapt to your unique business processes - not the other way around.

› Check the available integrations & customization options

Does the small business CRM system offer third-party integrations with other business tools? Is there enough room for personalization? Finding answers to these questions is crucial to select the ideal CRM for your small business success. Both of these factors come under a must-have list you should never compromise with.

› Enquire about post-sale support and training

Post-purchase support is as important as the software’s inherent features, if not more. The last thing you want is to get stuck using the system and have no means to rectify it in the middle of your conversion process! That’s why you must get clarity from the vendor about their after-sale support and services. Besides, don’t forget to ask the vendor about the learning curve and whether they conduct training sessions. And if both the support and training are covered under the CRM software cost.

› Don’t forget the cost

Like any other thing in the world, the cost of the software plays a key role in the software selection process. Some systems may be cheap but offer poor performance while some may provide great functions at a higher rate. Since every small business has its budget, it is wise to outline your budget and shortlist the systems that fit the buckets of both your price limitations and requirements.

› Opt for a free trial first

Nearly every CRM software for small businesses comes in with a free trial. The days of the free trial may vary from 7 to 14 to 30 days, depending upon the vendors. But since free trials and free versions are available, it is only apt to first see the system live in action before you shell out your hard-earned money.

› Gather vendor reviews before saying a “Yes”

What do the current and past customers of the CRM software you are planning to choose to have to say about the system and the vendor? Look up, gather and analyze the reviews and ratings from multiple sources before signing the check. There are many leading software review sites out there to help you make a wise decision.

» How Much Does Small Business CRM Software Cost?

The pricing of small business CRM software varies from vendor to vendor. You will find free small business CRM software, low-cost CRM software, and premium ones, too, on the market. Each of these packs in a unique bunch of offerings, performance capabilities, and limitations.

To give you a rough idea, a small business CRM tool can cost you as low as $10 a month per user or as high as thousands of dollars per month/per user. In the end, it all comes down to the features you want in the system and your business goals and requirements.

» Conclusion

Running a small business is both exciting and challenging. While you may be able to manage multiple operations on your own easily in the beginning, things get chaotic as you grow. Especially when you’ve multiple clients and teams to handle. That’s when a small business CRM software system can come to your rescue.

From getting your contacts, leads, and data organized in one place to providing instant access to information to improving your sales and marketing efforts to improving collaboration among your teams, the software streamlines processes in ways you never knew you needed. After exploring the features and benefits of CRM for a small business in this guide, it will become simpler for you to choose the best-fit one for your organization.