Growing pains. A phenomenon that occurs not only among people but also among companies. The inevitable consequence of successful companies opting for expansion. If your company is a bit smaller, but you purposely choose to grow, naturally, your systems must be able to handle it as well as possible. The same holds for the tool you use for your customer relationship management, in short, your CRM platform. It must be able to start small and grow with you from the start. But not only that: it must also ensure that you grow.
First, let's take a closer look at what a CRM platform is. It is an instrument where data is kept and combined for current customers and potential customers. In short, it streamlines the processes in your company – all processes – and must therefore be embedded everywhere. The various departments collect their data from one central place and use it in their way to boost sales, provide service, predict purchasing behaviour or acquire more customers. When a customer searches for a particular product in a system, a well-functioning CRM system can send signals to the right departments to take action, facilitate in the purchase process during the transaction, and then contact the customer afterwards for feedback and customer loyalty. And this is only a fraction of what a well-functioning CRM can achieve.
In recent years, CRM systems have constantly improved: focus on growth, efficiency, intelligence and productivity. But what are the best platforms in the world of customer relationship management?
Microsoft
There are many CRM providers, but the best known is probably Microsoft. A classic brand: almost everyone grew up with it, knows the (basic) interface and it is still used worldwide. Microsoft also focuses on CRM – although it is not its core business – and has bought more than 240 companies in recent years, including Dynamics and Navison. Two CRM instruments (how could it be otherwise!), but two instruments that basically have nothing to do with Microsoft. And that is going to hurt in the long run. There really is innovation at Microsoft, but not in the CRM department.
Salesforce
For the more dedicated user, there is Salesforce. A party that had the world first cloud solution for CRM systems. But while their growth was initially driven by bold choices and successful innovations, Salesforce no longer engages in an actual business confrontation through their product. The growth now comes from constantly buying up of other parties and Salesforce is now also becoming a kind of messy sandbox full uncorrelated sand.
So those large parties are not always ideal. You have to look for parties that are small or are not afraid to think small, with a view to the future. Fortunately, the CRM world is one of innovation and growth. Some parties think along. They are not only intended for the big companies, but also for the modest ones that are still on the brink of their growth spurt. And once there, they grow with it, since they focus on pure CRM work. In this article, we will plug 3 potential parties.
Freshworks
Freshworks has approximately 50,000 customers worldwide. A cloud-based party that not only markets itself as user-friendly but also as versatile. It is praised for its easy control and fresh look. Hence the name 'Freshworks'. Works very intuitively and has a high satisfaction rate of 8.4. Mainly popular in small and medium-sized companies due to good customer service and 'easy entry'.
Zoho
Has over 100,000 users around the world. Just like Freshworks, a CRM partner that is highly scalable and certainly introduces small parties to a CRM system at an affordable price. You pay per connected user. The range is wide, it also is very user-friendly and you can easily integrate existing systems with Zoho. However, due to the wide range, it sometimes is necessary to make a difficult choice between the functionalities. This is identified in reviews as one of the reasons why small companies came to be so clearly and well in the market.
HubSpot
The CRM tool which has the best reviews and experiences. It has more than 100,000 B2B organizations as customers. Offers a complete package and is one of the highest-rated CRM systems in the industry. Great for small businesses that want to grow big, because HubSpot simply grows with you. HubSpot is an icon and is expected to remain so for the foreseeable future.
You see: there are a lot of options, something different for every customer. Take the time to orient yourself and enlist the help of certified experts to get started with your own CRM system! Are you ready for growth?
