Software products are selling like hot cakes and enticing many new entrants into the market. The growing demand and increased importance of software products is forcing software companies to offer maximum service and better product quality. This book covers basic concept of marketing and sales, which is vital for the successful development of any software product.
The process of selling software products is not that different from selling other kinds of products. You will need to know your market, the customers buying criteria, where to sell and how to sell, etc.
Salesmate
Benefits:
Salesmate is a CRM system for salespeople who want to spend more time selling and less time learning to use new apps. It’s great for startups and small businesses, but it can also be used for real estate and construction industries.
This platform is always improving itself. It’s given its analytics and reporting a significant upgrade, with a more customizable and interactive dashboard. Salesmate has also added new tools for phone calling and deal management, as well as new mobile app improvements. New features on the horizon include live chat and DocuSign integrations.
Drawbacks:
Some of the customization features can be a bit lacking, especially when trying to create custom data fields. Also, you’ll need the pricier version for essential tools like email analytics.
Pricing:
- Starter version is $12 per user/per month, billed annually
- Growth version is $24 per user/per month, billed annually
- Boost version is $40 per user/per month, billed annually
Salesmate.io offers a 15-day free trial on all of their plans.
Really Simple Systems
Benefits:
Simple yet sophisticated. An easy-to-use CRM with marketing automation, contact management for clients, vendors, suppliers, and leads. Features sales force automation and customer satisfaction-inducing customer service tools.
Really Simple Systems also offers advanced data security and encryption (traits that make this CRM a favorite of government and financial organizations).
Drawbacks:
Generating a report is a bit more complex than it probably needs to be. Email templates for marketing campaigns are a little basic. Outlook users won’t be able to trigger active reminders in their inbox.
Pricing:
- Free plan for up to 2 users.
- Starter plan is $14 per user/per month billed annually, and $15 per user/per month billed monthly.
- Professional plan is $30 per user/per month billed annually, and $33 per user/per month billed monthly.
- Enterprise plan is $46 per user/per month billed annually, and $50 per user/per month billed monthly.
Quickbase: Best CRM Software for Cross-Platform Integrations
QuickbaseQuickbase allows you to build a CRM to your exact specifications.It’s adaptable to changing business needs, no matter how broad.This system requires much more technical aptitude than a prebuilt CRM solution would.COMPARE QUOTES
Despite the large number of CRMs on the market, some small business owners find that nothing is quite the right fit. Enter Quickbase, a downloadable customer relationship management template that you can use to design a seamlessly integrated CRM.
Quickbase is a “low-code” solution, meaning most of the heavy lifting is done for you but it still requires some coding knowledge to create the finished product. Quickbase isn’t the right CRM for everyone, but developers will recognize the value of a low-code app that can be ready for rollout in weeks instead of months. Tweaks and changes to the system are made in a sandbox environment, so there’s often no need to take the entire CRM system offline for updates. Some components can be changed with no downtime at all.
HubSpot
Just because your business can handle only a few customers right now, doesn’t mean it’s going to always stay that way. Growth is the ultimate goal of any business, so you need a CRM solution that is scalable enough to easily manage an increased influx of customer interactions. If that’s what you’re looking for, HubSpot is the answer.
HubSpot offers an always updated view of your company’s sales funnel through a visual dashboard. Here, you can manage scheduled appointments, track performance against set quotas, and more. The CRM automatically logs all customer interactions (e-mail, calls, and social media), and the same can be synced to Gmail or Outlook easily.
Thanks to its timeline view, HubSpot makes it easy to follow up on all the interactions with any lead. You can send personalized e-mail sets on schedule and get actionable insights about them. The marketing hub includes numerous tools that let you manage optimized landing pages, create e-mail templates, and measure SEO-based ROI.
As you’d expect, HubSpot works seamlessly with third-party services like G-Suite and Office 365.
Zoho CRM
Benefits:
Zoho CRM caters to businesses of all sizes and types with its simple user interface, customizable modules, automation, and social media features.
The platform lets you define workflows and rationalize your everyday tasks, manage leads, and automate processes. Integration with Twitter, Facebook, and Google+ allows you to reach out and engage with leads quick and snappy, at just the right time.
If you’re on the hunt for a free CRM, you may want to give their gratis offering a whirl. It’s available for up to 3 users, although it is limited features-wise. Customization is limited, but users can send 50 individuals mails per day and have access to 10 email templates.
The paid Standard edition of Zoho pumps up the usability factor with robust sales forecasting and KPI tracking. The Enterprise edition adds ever more sophisticated tools, such as stage-by-stage sales funnel tracking and customizable data comparisons across teams, users, regions, and more. You can access Zoho’s advanced features with the Ultimate edition which comes with an exclusive 30-day free trial.
Drawbacks:
Zoho is popularly perceived as a small business offering when in reality they have affordably priced plans, where low price doesn’t equate to low quality. They have been able to achieve this by staying boot-strapped and free of exit-oriented investors. Zoho CRM is a value-centric offering for businesses of all sizes and types.
Pricing:
- A free version is available for up to 3 users. 15-day free trial for paid versions.
- Standard edition is $14 per user/month, billed annually.
- Professional edition is $23 per user/month, billed annually.
- Enterprise edition is $40 per user/month, billed annually.
- Ultimate edition is $52 per user/month, billed annually. Exclusive 30-day free trial.
Conclusion
Software products are dynamic in nature and, hence, the strategies for marketing them must be dynamic. It is important to keep mature software products fresh by adding or updating features to keep customers coming back, either through new purchases or upgrades. Most companies focus on incremental enhancements which may not be sufficient to provoke customers to come back. For example, Google has made major enhancements in its search capability after every major release of the Chrome browser, yet it still endures that most users stick with earlier versions.