Features to Consider before Using CRM for your Business

Saphyte Team

4 min read

Updated: June 23rd, 2020

As a business who’s bread and butter are sales and marketing, you need reliable customer data. No matter how good your management lead and sales process is, you need a sturdy partner to achieve great results. The partner that we’re talking about is a CRM tool.

What is CRM?

An acronym for Customer Relationship Management. A CRM is a tool or software used to manage a company’s relationships and interactions either with existing customers and potential customers. This tool is commonly used for those who need to organize the company’s sales pipelines and customer support. 

Not to discredit the use of manual tools. But time is always of the essence when it comes to business. Any strategy that might save time can create a big impact for your organization. 

How to know if your business needs CRM?

If your business’s sales team has a desktop full of spreadsheets, customer turnover rate is skyrocketing and the business process is slow – that is the time you’ll know you need good CRM software and management tools by your side. 

Or say, your business is in an expansion phase but you’re not too sure if your current tools will help you in your business growth. If you’re in this situation, you need a good CRM software to start with.

Are there any free CRM available in the market? 

Yes. There are plenty of free CRM software available. Software like Agile CRM, Zoho, Saphyte, Hubspot, and to name a few. It is important to try out some of these software before deciding which software to use. 

What are the features to consider before using CRM?

Now before jumping off and signing in to a CRM software, there are plenty of things to consider. With other CRM tools, you need to subscribe to a paid plan before you can use some of the premium features. Some might offer free trial for a month and some might have a cloud based free version. 

That is why it is important to check the features you think is best for your business. So here are the things you need to know. 

List the Things you Need

A CRM, whether the software is a paid plan or part of the free plans, are unique by design. Sit down and talk with your sales team and marketing team. Learn the pain points in your sales process. 

You also need to identify the following whether or not your business is viable to use a CRM software. 

• Do you need to increase the number of lead generation? 
• Are the deals in the sales pipeline stuck? 
• Are you having problems with your contact data management? 
• Do you want to have easier access to detailed reports and sales insights?
• Do you want to increase efficiency across your teams??
• Is your sales team unable to convert leads?

If your answer to all of the questions is yes, then it is highly recommended for you to get a CRM software. 

Ease of Use

Of course, you and your team will be using the software. So it is recommended that you will use a tool that is easy to learn. Before you go and purchase a CRM, make sure that it has no steep learning curve and is not difficult for employees to use.

Why do you need to consider the ease of use? If your employees find the platform difficult to navigate, adoption will be low. Hence, the CRM tool will make you and your business less efficient. Furthermore, wasting your time, resources and opportunities.

Dashboards

Dashboards are the most underrated features in a CRM software.  However, don’t take this feature for granted. 

When choosing a good CRM you need to be sure that the dashboard is customizable and allows you to see daily metrics. The matrix should be viewed in easy-to-understand charts and graphs. 

Marketing and Sales Features

Marketing and sales are the bread and butter of every business. A CRM software should have the ability to equip your sales and marketing team. Here are the tools you need to consider when you’ve reached this point. 

• Tools like email templates for email campaigns and email marketing.
• Workflow Automation that saves plenty of time.
• Custom fields to create better forms for leads, contacts and companies. 
• Sales forecasting. One of the most essential feature used to estimate future sales and also to avoid any business pitfalls.
• Sales intelligence. A collection of information related to a client. This feature is most helpful, most especially if you want to close a sale or improve your sales pitch.
• Lead Scoring. You no longer have to manually calculate your lead scores. A good CRM will do the job for you. Furthermore, this feature will help you prioritize your leads. By applying score conditions, you can identify which leads have the most potential to progress into a closed sale.
• Project Management features.

Metrics and Reporting

Behind every successful business decision are accurate and data-driven information. In order to have growth, you also need to measure your efforts. Hence, the importance of metrics and reporting.

A good CRM tool should be able to provide you with metrics and analysis on the following:

• Sales Pipeline state 
• Projected sales and revenue
• Deals that you’ve won or lost
• Outcome of your Campaigns

Mobile access

We live in a fast-paced world. As the management lead, you need to have access to your CRM via your mobile phone. Companies like Saphyte, Zoho and to name a few have already adapted to this idea. 

When looking for a CRM software, you need to consider if you can bring your business with you. If the software allows you to have information at your fingertips. 

Social Media CRM Capabilities

Not every sales and marketing CRM has a social media capability. Not every social media CRM is also capable of sales and marketing. Hence, it is imperative to choose a free CRM software that has social media capabilities and sturdy knowledge base.

The social media CRM allows the user to monitor any brand mentions and interact with customers on social media via the CRM tool. So you need to consider if you need this feature (which in most cases, you really need to). 

Assistance through implementation

After signing in to the software, does the CRM developer just let you loose? Or will they be able to assist you through educating you for the set-up and implementation of your CRM.

This might be a small factor to consider. However, important to have knowledge and experience on how to use the system to meet your requirements.

Make sure that the provider’s CRM implementation doesn’t only come up with a quick tour video. Check if they have a team that are set to train you, answer to your questions and provide reliable knowledge about the product.

Customer Support Availability

It would be a shame if a software used for customer support can’t live up to expectations. So make sure that customer support is available from your on-boarding, demo, to any queries you might have. Whether it is through live chat or email, as long as it is available.

Conclusion

Lasty, when you’re looking for a CRM, you need to consider the scalability and flexibility of the application. An application that grows with you. Take Saphyte for example. 

The software can offer free CRM use for one month. All premium features listed above and more are within your hands without the commitment – yet. Additionally, Saphyte has no set-up fees and hidden fees. 

All you have to do is sign up for an account and choose the number of user per month. Afterwards, you can choose the free version or the paid plan, and start using the CRM tool right away. 

Book a demo with us today and see how Saphyte can launch small businesses and enterprises  forward. Including your business.