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A CRM platform is a long term solution for most businesses. It is rare to see a company switching over from one to another over years. Many businesses actually look at their CRM relationship being similar to a marriage, hence the reason to have at most clarity when choosing one. This is why it is important to be careful when choosing a CRM software. In this blog post, we will help you understand what to consider when choosing a CRM software:
Here is what to consider when choosing CRM for your business
1. Make out and recognize your business needs
What do you need? You ought to understand your business needs and your sales team's goals to choose the right sales tool that fits your profile and portfolio. In some scenarios some companies only need the CRM for sales and in others they may need a combination of a tool that serves marketing, sales and customer support. Each of these departments has individual tools they may require. Before you choose the right get to understand what exactly your business is looking to achieve and what tools may be needed to achieve those goals so that by the time you are looking for a CRM software you truly understand what is needed.
2. Tools and the features you want to include in the CRM
Not all CRM's are the same, some will have tools that are not available in another CRM. Just from a simple comparison as an example, you will notice that the set of features in MonkeyPesa CRM differs from those in the the Zoho CRM. And what another company may need may not necessarily be what your company may need. In many scenarios getting so many things you may never use is what makes your employees not adopt a software. Pin point exactly what tools within the CRM would be needed for sales, marketing and support teams and base your decision on that.
As an example, these are some of the tools that could be needed:
Deals management
Advanced analytics
Contacts management
Joint inbox
Marketing automation
Prospecting tools
Task manager
Meeting manager
3. Ease of access via Mobile, Desktop or even USSD
In the current era of technological advancement, everyone has embraced working remotely from home. Therefore, to keep relationships with customers consistent, teams must access client information to observe sales pipelines and perform day-to-day roles remotely. Platforms that provide Apps that can easily be accessed on playstore, IOS and web have become a given. When choosing a CRM, choose one that gives you access across all platforms
4. The pricing
Price charges are significant for you to know to evaluate whether they can fit into your budget or not. CRM platforms range from Free to hundreds of thousands of dollars every month. Your budget would clearly dictate the CRM provider you choose. For startups and new businesses, we would recommend the MonkeyPesa CRM
Related: The Benefits Of CRM For Fintech
5. Ability Test drive the CRM
This is very critical for your business before choosing the right CRM. If need be, and you don’t understand some aspects, ask for a demonstration session from the expert to show you how the system operates and fix anything you think could be missing.
This would also help you determine how the sales system can be maintained. You could decide to do a free trial version to test the performance of the software regarding user experience and functionality. This allows you to understand the ease or simplicity of usage regarding tax executions and accomplishments. Therefore, it is advisable that before you go to buy CRM software, request a free version first, use, test, and prove its usability experience.
6. System Integration
This is a vital aspect to consider when choosing the right CRM system. If you buy a CRM system to help you run your business, you may need to integrate the software with other third-party applications for maximum gain. The right CRM should support services like office 365, Google Workspace integration, ERP, and many other software tools. Make sure you find out what active integrations are available before choosing the CRM to work with.
7. CRM deployment
You are going to choose between cloud-based or on-premise sales software. However, both solutions have positive and negative effects. With a SaaS, you must log in to the cloud-based CRM of your internet browser. The downside is that internet support is vital but may not be entirely reliable. On the other hand, the on-premise software is physically suited, meaning integration with other software tools might become easy due to straight access; however, mobility is limited.
8. Security
Data security is a non-negotiable aspect of your preferred choice of CRM. Your customer data is your gold mine. Your company data is so sensitive, and the last thing you want is for this data to be under threat. Choose a CRM with the right precautions in place to protect your data. Look through the terms and conditions and possibly ask for them and share with your legal team to review before making this decision.
9. Ease of use of the CRM
This is one of the most underrated yet most powerful reasons to consider when choosing a CRM tool. People do not like using complicated tools. The easier the tool is to use, the more your team will adopt it.
10. The ease to capture leads
The easier the CRM can help your business capture
11. Support availability
Verify which kind of support is available. Is it live chat, email or phone support? Is the support paid for or free of charge. The more available the support, the better it will fit your needs
12: Automation
Automation increa
13: AI access
With the coming of GPT modules like Chat GPT, the world is forever going to change. In the future, your CRM will need to access AI. When considering a CRM software, verify how it accesses and AI and how it can be used.
In conclusion, These are the 13 factors to consider when choosing a CRM software. In case you are looking for a CRM that fits all the criteria you are looking for, look no further than the MonkeyPesa CRM.