I’ve never worked anywhere with a perfect CRM deployment, but all modern CRMs have brought us a long way since my career in sales started with yellow cards in a cardboard box. A CRM or Customer Relationship Management system reduces friction in your organization’s sales and marketing process while improving the customer experience.

The homegrown approach

Back in business school, the curriculum included Management Information Systems (MIS) course that included building our customer databases using Microsoft Access and my first experience with an enterprise CRM was for a company that had a homegrown solution built on top of Access. While this solution may have worked when the company was small and it continued to offer job security for the team who maintained it did not provide a good experience to the sales team.

My experience with a homegrown CRM

• Slow performance - Access to the on-prem SQL database backing the MS Access client, especially when accessed remotely was incredibly slow. In today’s remote work environment, I can’t imagine having entire sales and marketing teams access an on-premise CRM via VPN.

• Lack of integrations - Every integration for a homegrown CRM has to be developed internally and it is a waste of company resources if you even have them when cloud-based CRMs are available with out-of-the-box integrations.

  • Logging - All of our logging was done manually for each contact. Sales teams have a lot on their plate and any time you can automate notes or record keeping will free them up to generate more revenue. Modern CRMs can typically integrate with email and phone systems to automatically log contacts. While sales teams will still need to take notes.

  • Sequences - Our only way to track conversations was through a dashboard that noted opportunities that hadn’t been touched in 30 days or when a designated follow-up date had passed. Automated email sequences can take a sales persons mind off simple follow-up emails and let them focus on selling more.

  • Partner Systems - Since internal teams must complete all integrations, we didn’t have many connections to our partner’s systems. This meant more manual data entry across multiple consoles for our sales team. Once again a hallmark of most cloud-based CRMs is a large catalog of pre-built integrations.

What to look for in a modern cloud-based CRM?

When selecting a modern cloud-based CRM, it’s important to consider features that are essential to your business needs. Look for a CRM with an intuitive user interface that makes it easy for users to learn how to use the system quickly. It should also have powerful analytics capabilities, allowing you to gain insights into customer data and trends.

Automation features can be incredibly helpful in streamlining processes and ensuring the accuracy of data entry.

Finally, look for a CRM that integrates with other applications and platforms, so you can easily access the data you need from one central system. All these features will help ensure that you have the best possible experience with your cloud-based CRM.

CRMs that I have used

• SalesForce is incredibly powerful and versatile. As a CRM it can be as good or as bad as its deployment. As new features are released and as a company grows a Salesforce deployment can become bogged down with layers of complicated dependencies.

  I am not familiar with what a simple out-of-the-box deployment of SalesForce for a small business looks like as my experiences have all been in large enterprise environments. My experience is that it is probably the most powerful solution if not the simplest to configure. While I typically think of SalesForce for Large Enterprises they do have packages and offerings tailored for Small Businesses as well.

• Hubspot has pioneered the idea of inbound marketing and they are obsessed with your customer’s experience. They take the idea of managing the whole customer experience from first touch through support in a flywheel model with modules that facilitate every step of the way. I find Hubspot to have a very intuitive UI with plenty of available integrations and a strong network of supporting partners. I typically think of Hubspot for SMB through Mid-market Enterprise. (Learn more about Hubspot)

• Freshworks is another cloud-based CRM that has a complete platform with modules to support the customer acquisition cycle just like SalesForce and Hubspot. Any of these three platforms will likely accomplish what you need and it may just come down to which UI, pricing model, and set of pre-built integrations work best for your team. (Learn more about Freshworks)

All three of these platforms provide native modules to support every step of the customer journey and provide health catalogs of pre-built integrations with your other business applications.

Support and Training

Support and training are incredibly important in deploying a CRM. Without proper support and training, users may struggle to understand how to use the system and make the most of its features. Additionally, having a reliable support team available can help ensure that any problems that arise are quickly addressed and resolved, helping to ensure the smooth running of your business operations.

Training is also essential because it helps your users become familiar with the system's features, so they can make full use of them in their day-to-day operations. Investing in good support and training will pay off in the long run by making sure your CRM is used properly, efficiently, and effectively.

Most CRM providers have an ecosystem of partners who can help with setup, training, and support. Choose a partner who has experience with other clients like you. Most CRM systems are incredibly customizable and it is very valuable for them to understand your business and it’s unique challengs.