There are many types of business software available on the market. Web-based, on-premise or hosted services which you deploy in your office or bring to the client. The options are vast, but some are more successful than others.
Business owners today face a deluge of new technologies. There’s no hiding from them: they’re making every industry more networked and process-driven than ever before, and even the smallest companies are discovering that they need to embrace new technology if they want to survive. Business software is what keeps business operations running smoothly and efficiently and helps businesses grow and scale. If your company needs help with leadership, like cash flow management, contract services, survey design, or customer relationship management (CRM), then business software will be on the short list of solutions for you or your company’s IT department to consider.
As a company grows, its ever-expanding sales team needs a capable CRM system to keep track of prospects and customers. Sales management software is used by many salespeople to organize their contacts, manage their pipeline, and streamline workflows and organizational processes for maximum efficiency—allowing small businesses to get bigger.
Before settling on one CRM platform, it’s important to carefully consider your criteria and weigh the pros and cons of the most popular options.
What small businesses should look for in sales management software
Picking the right sales management software is often critical to a startup’s success. You want a software that meets your immediate needs but also makes sense as a long-term solution. If you eventually outgrow your sales CRM, moving all your data to a new platform can be costly, disruptive, and time-consuming. That’s why it’s best to take a “measure twice, cut once” approach when making your selection.
There are two key factors every small business should consider:
- Total cost of ownershipBudgetary constraints always factor into a company’s choice of vendor. Not every business bothers to calculate a CRM’s true total cost of ownership (TOC), though.When picking a sales management software, you may start by comparing the costs of competing packages, but there’s more to TOC than just the list price.“You have to also ask: Do I need to pay for implementation costs, consultants, ongoing maintenance fees, or add-ons?” says Josh Bean, Zendesk’s senior director of product marketing. “And as I grow, what sneaky fees are there going to be?”Many CRM providers offer a “free” version of their product but then charge for basic functions like reporting. Bean likens the process to purchasing a fixer-upper home; it can be easy to forget or to overlook the work you’ll need to put in, and costs can easily compound. It’s important to ensure that you account for all the potential costs that could make a sales management software more expensive in the long run.
- Usability and credibilitySmall businesses should also try to gauge the practicality of a sales CRM before committing to it.“You need to consider ease of use as well as ease of setup,” Bean says. Ask yourself: “Is it intuitive? Can I manage this myself, or do I need to pay someone else to actually get it set up for me? What kind of instructions or guidance is available?”Many software providers offer free demos that can give you a sense of the CRM’s usability. A free trial will also give you an opportunity to judge the quality of the vendor’s customer support and time to investigate whether the product also comes backed with customer tutorials or other self-service and support options.It’s important to research the software company’s reputation, too: “You should also be asking: Is [the software] secure?” Bean adds. “Is the company trusted?”Customer testimonials, user ratings, and professional reviews can speak volumes about a CRM’s credibility. That’s why we looked at all three when compiling our list of the best sales management software options.
The top 10 sales software for small businesses
To create our list of the top CRM providers, we read user ratings on Capterra and G2, plus professional reviews by PCMag. The overviews below include both the pros and cons of each option—particularly as they relate to SMBs.
1. Zendesk Sell
Zendesk’s sales CRM is a simple-to-use software tool designed with SMBs in mind.
“That’s where our roots are,” Bean says. “We are built with the usability expectations of a consumer product. So, we have 50-plus apps out of the box that you can just click and install. And that means you have really strong extendability.”
Zendesk users seem to appreciate the sales management software’s simplicity.
“They have created a super easy-to-use interface that makes keeping track of and interacting with clients both simple and easy. Being able to read whole past interactions as well as see relevant sales data makes it a perfect choice for a small business.” —Capterra review
“Zendesk has allowed us to keep track of who is doing what on the team, so that we can avoid double booking or stepping on toes. … Zendesk Sell is easy to use, pushes notifications where needed, and is great for small teams.” —Capterra review
The sales CRM is also exceedingly easy to customize.
“You don’t need to write code, and you don’t have to do special implementation in workflow structures,” Bean says. “You just go in and point and click and do whatever you need.”
“Zendesk Sell was well-rounded and flexible [enough] to cater to our needs. It has various features that we are able to utilize and smoothen up the sales process, such as customization of sales deals, automation of tasks and roles, forecasting sales, deal customization, the organization of smart lists, and yielding reports.” —Capterra review
Calling Zendesk Sell an “excellent” sales management software option, PCMag noted the CRM is also integrated with Zendesk’s “popular suite of self-service support, analytics, chat, and messaging solutions. This can make Zendesk an end-to-end customer experience platform for many SMBs.”
However, PCMag also pointed out that “SMBs seeking a standalone CRM solution might find [Zendesk’s] feature set overwhelming.”
Zendesk Sell user ratings:
- 4.3 out of 5 on Capterra
- 4 out of 5 (“Excellent”) on PCMag
- 4.3 stars out of 5 on G2
2. HubSpot
Thanks to the free version of its sales management software, HubSpot has become a popular CRM choice for many startups. In fact, most of the positive reviews for HubSpot’s product position it as a solid “beginner” model.
“This is a good starter CRM. It has a lot of great integrations but not a lot of built-in features that justify the price.” —Capterra review
“HubSpot is absolutely great as a CRM, so long as you plan to use another tool for actual deal flow—if your goal is to track names, contact info, notes, and docs, along with email traffic, HubSpot is perfect.” —Capterra review
But users are quick to criticize HubSpot’s pricing structure. One reviewer compared the sales software to “freemium” games because expanding small businesses are forced to pay for various upgrades, so the expenses balloon quickly. Sometimes, those costs become more than what a small business can bear.
“This is a good starter CRM. It has a lot of great integrations but not a lot of built-in features that justify the price.” —Capterra review
“Most businesses must [eventually] make the painful decision to abandon HubSpot and find new CRM suites [with] much more reasonable cost escalations. By then, you lost one to two months migrating, learning the new tools, and onboarding your team. In all, a great tool for enterprises. Small businesses and startups, just stay [a]way. You will end up regretting it just as your business begins to take off.” —Capterra review
The HubSpot CRM pricing structure includes a $50 per month “Starter” level for two paid users, a $500 per month “Professional” level for five paid users, and a $12,000 per month “Enterprise” level for 10 paid users.
HubSpot user ratings:
- 4.5 out of 5 on Capterra
- 4 out of 5 (“Excellent”) on PCMag
- 4.3 stars out of 5 on G2
3. Salesforce
Salesforce is another CRM with strong name recognition. Many users have praised it as a solid software solution—albeit one that can be quite expensive and time-consuming to configure.
“Salesforce is the best CRM if money is no issue and you customize it to your needs.” —Capterra review
“[Salesforce is] great. It does everything I need it to; it’s just hard to get going on your own. … The back end is a pain to use and takes a lot of getting used to.” —Capterra review
Aside from cost and complexity, the most common customer complaint focuses on Salesforce’s lackluster customer service.
“My overall experience was frustrating, and the lack of support only clouded the quality of the product. When we asked for support, we were told we had to go to a third party to get any help on our implementation. This was not clearly communicated when we were sold the software.” —Capterra review
Salesforce’s complex nature can be a double-edged sword. SMBs should consider whether the full range of customizability is really what they need—will be a benefit or a pain point—especially considering Salesforce’s pricing is competitive and its software is used by large multinational companies with different needs.
Salesforce user ratings:
- 4.4 out of 5 on Capterra
- 4.5 out of 5 (“Excellent”) on PCMag
- 4.2 stars out of 5 on G2
Try out Freshsales with their free trialVISIT WEBSITEFREE TRIAL
Together with lead capturing, Freshsales can distribute, nurture, score, divide, and verify leads, and does so via multiple channels of communication. Users get into their hands an advanced suite of features, including auto-dialers, call recording, call routing and affiliate management, but the thing that certainly distinguishes Freshsales from similar programs is reporting. At its core, Freshsales has collated all functions of legacy CRM systems, but found its own way to optimize sales and prioritize pipeline opportunities. As president Dilawar Syed explains, Freshsales was even intended to be a dynamic analytic contributor, which doesn’t only reveal magnificent sales insights, but gives companies hints on how to use those to their advantage.
The best thing about Freshsales is its open API infrastructure, which means you can instantly connect it to any other app/business system currently included in your software ecosystems. Contact support for more information or detailed connectivity instructions.
Detailed Freshsales ReviewREAD MORE
4. Unomy
Unomy is what our experts like to call one-of-a-kind system, and that’s because its functionality goes beyond what you’d expect from a standard sales system. Generally speaking, Unomy is more of an informative lead collection hub that helps improve your market position, and develop smarter future strategies. What is really specific is the company’s quote-pricing policy, which means there are no fixed plans, and each business gets a quote specifically tailored to its needs.
How does Unomy work? This advanced platform helps internet-based companies gather, analyze, and process pertinent data. It quickly improves B2B deals in smaller corporate environments thanks to its sourcing, organizing, and prioritizing capacity. It offers detailed company/employee profiles that focus on real-time performance to help you compare contact information, and supports in such way the growth and development of your business. If you expect your business to speed up development, there is also nothing to worry about – Unomy caters to the needs of large businesses just as good as it does to small ones. Meanwhile, the tool that saves your time by means of prioritization and specification, one where you can import contacts and look for their credentials, or where you can use outstanding categorization to narrow search down to only few relevant companies. Consequently, your work becomes more success-orientated and ROI-effective.
With hassle-free integration as your priority, you should also give Unomy a second look. The system works with a great Chrome extension which is easy to install, and operates on all devices and browsing systems.
5. Pipedrive
Touted as one of the top sales apps featured on our platform, Pipedrive has plenty to offer to small businesses. It combines sales management and CRM functions on an easy to use and control dashboard, and shines in direct sales which are, as you’d agree, the focal point of interest for every developing business. It also has one of the most affordable pricing schemes on this list, with packages varying between $10 and $63 per user/month.
Try out Pipedrive with their free trialVISIT WEBSITEFREE TRIAL
Pipedrive gives you a clear overview of your sales pipeline and effective sales methodology is built into the software. Adding deals in Pipedrive couldn’t be simpler: all you need to do is to click on the Add Deal button on top of the deals section, and fill in the data required in the pop-up dialog box (associated organizations, closure expectancy dates, stages, and scheduled activities). What Pipedrive is also good as is lead collection and management, as it gathers contact information using customizable Web Forms you can place directly on your website or newsletter, or create them manually within the Settings section. What is even better is that Pipedrive allows contact importation from third-party apps and systems.
Integrations are once again well-covered, having in mind that Pipedrive connects to 30+ systems and applications. Useful integrations include names such as MailChimp, ActiveCampaign, Quote Roller, Base CRM, Sage, and many more.
COnclusion
Business software has been a multi-billion dollar industry since the computer was invented. While many technologies have come and gone, one of the most consistent drivers of personal and small business success is software. If you’re looking to start a business or improve an enterprise already in place, you can’t make a better investment than the right software.