Before buying a customer relationship management (CRM) system, it is important to consider the following:
Identify your business needs
Determine the specific needs of your business and how a CRM system can help meet those needs. This may include tracking customer interactions, managing sales, and marketing efforts, and analyzing data.
Research different CRM options
Look into different CRM systems and compare their features, pricing, and overall fit with your business needs.
Evaluate the user experience
Consider the user experience of the CRM system, including how easy it is to use and navigate, and whether it integrates well with other tools and systems your business uses.
Consider your business scalability vs CRM scalability
Think about the future growth of your business and choose a CRM system that can scale with your needs.
Test the system
Many CRM providers offer free trials or demos, so take advantage of these to get a feel for the system and see if it meets your needs.
Determine budget and do Cost to Business Value Analysis
Consider the cost of the CRM system and how it fits into your budget. Make sure to also factor in any additional costs, such as training, customization, and integration with other systems.
Review contracts and terms of service
Carefully review the contract and terms of service before committing to a CRM system to ensure that you understand the terms and obligations of using the service.
Custom Fields and Objects
Custom Field: A custom field allows you to create completely new fields, apart from the one which is already given by default in the CRM.
For example, A contact object will allow you to save specific information about the company (name, email, phone, contact person). But if you want to store a new field, let’s say the person’s best food, you will require a custom field.
This is where custom fields and object comes into the picture. A custom field allows you to add a new field to an existing object and it will add a new field to enter the data in the existing user interface.
Adding discounted price field in the product.
Custom/New Object:
And the custom object is useful when you want to save a type of data that doesn’t fit in the existing modules.
Customization
Generally, people like to customize things in their own way. Sometimes by changing the color of the application, sometimes by adding new features, and sometimes by presenting the data in a specific way.
- Features
- Theme
- layout
Personalization
Look if the CRM allows you to send personalized messages and campaigns to your customer. This will allow you to send messages without typing customer names or business names one by one.
Integration
Does the CRM integrate with other products or existing CRM? This is important if you had a business system that has been running on any other kind of system. ie: Salesforce, Excel sheet, or Google Sheets.
There are generally 2 types of integration (1.)plugin integration and (2.) API integration. Plugin integration is generally done by technical support and CRM experts with existing software packages available in generally 24-72 hours.
API integration in the other site takes weeks, sometimes months to complete. This requires a software engineer for integration, it costs more and allows businesses to do very core-level integration. API integration allows you to develop very business-specific core integration.
Having said that, any application that has zapier integration will do the job 99% of the cases. API integration would not be required in most of cases.
Data Export and Import:
Are you moving from an old CRM to a new CRM? If you are then you should consider looking for a CRM system that has a data import feature available in your system. In case you were doing business on an excel sheet on google Sheets, look for options that will allow you to import these features.
Business Process Innovation
Almost all the CRM but some of them will be very specific to your industry. Some companies build CRM that is focused on a very specific industry, ie: Tours and Travel. This kind of CRMs has almost all the features ready to be used and will fit perfectly into your specific industry.
Business category-specific CRM is still not in the mainstream but some companies like mixcommerce are focusing to build a core CRM and add up a customization for a specific industry that absolutely fulfills the need from day 1.
Support
SaaS(software as a service) adaption has brought down the cost of owning a CRM. Over a period of time, industry-specific CRM will likely be the most preferred choice for businesses.
Support becomes a key factor while this customization happens.
