|
Page 3 of 5 Choosing A CRM Tool If you don’t currently use a CRM tool, or if you are feeling compelled to re-evaluate your CRM after reading the last section, I will outline a few options available to you. In my opinion, you are in an enviable situation if you are planning to use a new CRM tool. You have a clean slate and my organizational habits love a clean slate! No fat-fingered data entry from previous salespeople to clean up and no stagnant contacts.
On the next few pages you will find summaries of readily available tools which I think are best suited for today’s salesperson. Don’t consider this a comprehensive list. There may be a product built for your specific industry that offers a lot of convenient tools. The options I have reviewed simply represent the CRM tools I find to be popular and feature-rich. For what it’s worth, I use Microsoft CRM for my primary job and Salesforce.com for my other business ventures.
 
Publisher: Salesforce.com Ease Of Use: Beginner Free Trial: Yes Free Single User Version: Yes Cost: Free for Personal Edition. Team and Enterprise versions start around $65 per user per month.
Description: “Reps need solutions that make their jobs easier, not more complicated. Salesforce gives them fast access to data—online, offline, and via mobile devices—and links easily to popular tools like Microsoft Office and Outlook. With a user interface rated “simple and intuitive” by PC Magazine, Salesforce is the one SFA solution every sales rep will love and use.” – Salesforce.com
My Review: Salesforce.com has taken the CRM industry by storm and for good reason. First and foremost, it does everything a salesperson could ever ask of a CRM product. Second and maybe most important to you, they offer a free single user version.
Concerns: My primary word of caution for this product is that you need a browser to use the non-enterprise versions. If you don’t have a constant internet connection (or have a slow one) this may not work well for you. With the absence of “views” in the personal versions, the user can use the report builder to meet the same objective but it’s not quite as powerful.  
 Publisher: Microsoft Ease Of Use: Beginner Free Trial: Yes (30 days) Free Single User Version: No Cost: Starts around $395/user annually, though you may be able to find it cheaper.
Description: “Microsoft Dynamics CRM is a customer relationship management (CRM) solution that provides the tools and capabilities needed to create and easily maintain a clear picture of customers, from first contact through to purchase and post-sales. With modules for sales, marketing, and customer service, Microsoft Dynamics CRM delivers a fast, flexible, and affordable solution that drives consistent, measurable improvements in every business process, enabling closer relationships with customers and helping to achieve new levels of profitability.” – Microsoft.com
My Review: As I mentioned, this is the tool that I use in my daily job. Microsoft Dynamics is a powerhouse and really delivers on functionality. I’m fortunate my company picks up the tab on this one. One of my favorite features of this CRM is its excellent out-of-the-box query engine.
Concerns: Microsoft Dynamics CRM is not user-friendly for the novice. The standard import tool is limited and the available documentation for this product is difficult to obtain and not very comprehensive. Finally, and this may just be my experience, the email tool built into Microsoft Dynamics CRM leaves a lot to be desired. Â 
Act! 2009 Publisher: Sage Software Ease Of Use: Beginner Free Trial: Yes (30 days) Free Single User Version: No Cost: Currently $199 for the single user version.
Description: “ACT! enables individuals and small business customers to instantly access key contact and customer information, manage and prioritize activities, and track all contact-related communications. It fosters the growth of productive business relationships. Renowned for its ease of use, ACT! can be tailored by each user and offers robust integration with the tools you use everyday.” – Sage Software
My Review: Act! Has everything you need and is feature-rich. They have the small-to-team-sized CRM market cornered. I have never used the product outside of my research for this review, but I have known many salespeople that are committed to it. It also provides a desktop installation so you do not need connectivity to use it. The built in integrations with Microsoft Word and Excel are solid. The product is updated frequently and current owners upgrade for a minimal fee.
Concerns: As an individual user, I would go with Salesforce.com’s free product. As a large organization, I would choose Salesforce.com or Microsoft Dynamics CRM. For a small to medium sized team that requires data to be shared and centrally stored/reported on, Act! is a great solution.
If you or your company prefers to have the data hosted on your own servers rather than delivered over the web, then Microsoft Dynamics CRM or Act! may be a better fit. It is entirely possible to find a specifically tailored software to fit your niche (real estate, etc.) but expect to pay a higher price for it and lose some standard functionality.
|
