Client relationship management (CRM) software is popular because it gives businesses an advantage when tracking contacts and customer interaction history. Given how many CRMs are on the market, it can be a challenge for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) to find the best CRM software to maximize their efficiency.
The right CRM will support your particular suite of services. We believe that investing in small business CRM software can help SMBs establish continuity between every client relationship stage and department — from marketing and sales to customer success and billing.
A CRM can serve as a vital tool to help your SMB improve workflows and reduce repetitive tasks. It’s critical software for sales and marketing teams in particular.
No matter how you prefer to connect with potential customers, ease of use matters. The right CRM features should be user friendly and make it easier to carry out your marketing strategy.
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A CRM’s most popular marketing functions include:
Segmenting contact lists to improve targeting
Connecting your email client to avoid spamming contacts
Automating custom follow-up to various lists by integrating with an email marketing tool
Logging touch points via social media platforms to track a contact’s history
Creating a custom audience for ad targeting
Sales is all about building relationships, which means that a CRM can fulfill many of its needs. Sales teams often use a CRM to:
Reduce time spent on data entry and spreadsheets, and reallocate that time to prospecting
Pull up accurate contact data in seconds while taking a call
Quickly generate quotes based on client data
Increase communication between sales reps
Enhance visibility over the sales cycle, from start to finish
If a CRM system offers customization, it can prove useful to SMBs, including business consulting firms, beyond marketing and sales: tracking vendors, improving customer support or even housing data about employee skills.
Customer Relationship Management Tools for Businesses
There are plenty of CRM platforms to choose from, but it can be time-consuming to research which CRM offers the right tools to make your SMB more efficient. We’ve done some of the hard work for you.
Below, we review ten of the top client relationship management tools, including notable features and pros and cons based on real user reviews.
1. Accelo: A Complete Professional Services Automation System
The Accelo platform streamlines all aspects of your client work into one centralized client record.
Features
A centralized client database to provide all employees with up-to-date client information
Project management tools, including time tracking, resource management and project templates and triggers
Retainers, including contract management and automation of recurring work and tasks
Reporting and analytics, including revenue and sales forecasting, client profitability reports and team member performance
Pros
Built for all aspects of client work beyond its robust CRM, including quote automation and project management
Products can be purchased individually for unmatched customization
Cons
Works best for teams of seven or more, so may not be the best fit for freelance consultants or smaller teams and startups
No built-in marketing automation tools — but does have a range of seamless third-party integrations, including HubSpot and MailChimp
Schedule a demo to see why Accelo could be the solution you’ve been seeking for better client relationship management — and then some.
2. HubSpot CRM:
HubSpot CRM is a pipeline management tool that provides real-time visibility into your firm’s sales pipeline. Their free CRM tier offers additional tools to assist sales activities, marketing, customer service and operations professionals. HubSpot CRM is well known for helping business owners and their teams nurture existing client relationships.
Features
Intuitive contact management with enriched data to save time on pre-sale research
Lead management, including nurturing, scoring and automated sales alerts and tasks
Options to send emails and make calls directly from the platform
Thorough deal tracking, pipeline dashboard and performance reports
Pros
Free subscription option with simple CRM tools and essentials for new firms
Option to upgrade to Marketing or Sales Hub paid plans for additional key features and expanded workflow tools
Cons
Free plan does not include customer support and it’s very easy to max out its limitations
Limited customization not ideal for companies with complex sales funnels
3. Insightly:
Insightly is a CRM software that can be used in a range of industries, including consulting, professional services, nonprofits, media and advertising and more. Insightly aims to help its users go beyond sales to better connect with customers and align teams to encourage longer-term relationships.
Features
Lead routing and workflow automation streamline the sales process
Milestone tracking and process management
Customer support and SLA management help improve customer satisfaction
Build and deploy custom apps in minutes with no code using AppConnect
Pros
Can handle complex automations that trigger task delegation, manage email campaigns and more
Ticketing add-on to simplify interactions with customer service representatives
No built-in contract management or billing, so it can’t serve as an end-to-end solution
4. Keap:
Keap combines CRM, sales and marketing automation, contact management and eCommerce capabilities with the primary focus of helping small business owners manage client relationships. Its set of tools offers a wide range of features beyond the typical CRM, including appointment setting and landing page and email templates.
Features
Lead management including lead nurturing, lead scoring and automated sales alerts
Social media marketing, including social profile integrations
Campaign management, including calendars and event marketing
Reporting and analytics
Pros
Keap Lite pricing tier for solopreneurs and small teams.
Marketing automation capabilities create a consistent customer experience
Cons
No option to remove or hide existing tabs — even with customization
Some features, including the mobile app and SMS messaging options, only available in limited regions
5. monday.com sales CRM:
monday.com’s sales CRM is a cloud-based CRM software that serves as an add-on to monday.com’s Work OS platform. It supports sales teams as they build workflows, manage leads and send quotes and invoices. With custom dashboards and sales analytics, this CRM can help your team set the stage for better deals and stronger client relationships.
NetSuite CRM is a cloud-based solution that integrates with the NetSuite ERP platform. It brings customer data, sales and marketing automation and support together to help businesses gain visibility into their work and continue to grow.
Features
Sales automation and forecasting, including pipeline visualization and revenue projections
Partner relationship management with visibility into partner sales forecasting and options for joint marketing, orders and commissions
Customer service and support featuring case management and online self-service options
Reporting and analytics, including customer service metrics, lead-generation trends and customer acquisition costs
Pros
Integration with the NetSuite ERP platform offers a robust combination of tools
Sale performance and commission tracking
Cons
Includes ERP-specific advanced features that won’t suit many service businesses
Some users mention a steeper learning curve due to a complex UI and confusing fields
7. Nimble:
Nimble is a CRM that merges details about business contacts from multiple platforms into one enriched database. This platform makes it possible for your entire team to draw insights about clients from other websites and platforms to develop the ultimate client record. Interactions with potential customers and internal actions are both tied to a contact record, providing excellent visibility to the entire team.
Features
Data enrichment via social media and email signatures
Task, event and call tracking tied to contact history
Nimble Prospector sends templated group emails and displays contact details on social and email
Pipeline visualization and deal management tools
Pros
Natively integrates with Microsoft 365 to pull in communication history, calendar data and more about existing contacts
Simplifies prospecting for those who frequently use social media
Cons
Most useful for agencies with a dedicated sales team
Pipedrive is a small business CRM with additional sales-focused features, including lead segmentation and a customizable pipeline. Custom sales stages and activity reminders support smooth workflows and uninterrupted conversations with leads. Additional features include document management and email marketing.
Features
Specialized team management
Detailed reports, including deal tracking, conversion rate by lead source and revenue forecasting
Embeddable forms to manage inbound leads
Tools for tracking team performance and setting goals
Pros
Not as complex as some larger CRMs, so easier to implement and train users
Sales automation and tips from AI-powered Sales Assistant
Not connected to the full client journey via project management, billing or other essential work management features
9. Salesforce Sales Cloud:
Salesforce Sales Cloud is a web-based CRM solution that helps companies manage their customers, partners and employees. The platform offers several pricing levels and features, providing scalability for rapidly growing companies. Businesses can use it to configure solutions that can shift with their changing business needs.
Features
Sales automation including customer data management, workflows and contract management
Customer service and support, including case management and call center management
Project management, including tasks, billing and reporting
Reporting and analytics, including forecasting and pipeline visualization
Pros
Ability to automate business processes, including simple tasks like creating automatic email alerts to more time-heavy tasks like filling out orders
Fully customizable, with options to add custom fields and tabs, create email templates and build reporting dashboards
Cons
Cost of is often higher than other CRM options, and increases with customizations and API integrations
Scoro is a CRM and systems-oriented project management platform that helps consulting firms, agencies and other professional service providers manage complex projects. It improves team productivity with customized project templates and ample integrations.
Features
KPI dashboard for simple goal tracking
Task bundles to cut down on project creation time
Multiple languages for invoices, quotes, contracts and more
Customizable templates for unique workflows
Pros
Useful for businesses that need the ability to automatically plan recurring projects
Best for businesses that value clear KPI visibility
Cons
More costly than some other project management tools
Zoho CRM is built to help businesses of all sizes manage their customer relationships. The platform helps companies engage with customers and build revenue via its workflow automation features, advanced analytics, customer segmentation and KPI tracking.
Key Features
Sales automation, including a contact database, quotes and contract management
Customer service and support features
Marketing automation, including lead management and email marketing campaigns
Integrates with Zoho’s Bigin platform to support additional processes and operations
Pros
A free version is available for three or fewer users
Pay-as-you-go service allows customers to pay monthly or annually without a contract
Cons
While the free and standard levels offer some solutions, many of the features available through Zoho are only available in their higher-priced plans.
Users report that customer support for each Zoho product is not coordinated, which can can interfere with the user experience
The Power of Software for Managing More Than Contact Data
You can see that many CRMs have similar features, but that doesn’t mean they’re equal when it comes to accommodating your particular business processes.
There’s tremendous value in housing accurate data in a centralized space with custom fields. However, SMBs need robust all-in-one functionality to maximize efficiency and profitability.
Client relationship management doesn’t stop after you make a sale. If you run a professional services business, it makes sense to select a CRM that’s designed to support growing customer loyalty over time. The benefits of a CRM can extend far beyond contact management if the other parts of the client lifecycle are linked back to the client record.
A platform that’s not limited to the features of a CRM, like Accelo, makes it possible for your clients and team to see the big picture behind every client relationship — long after a contract has been signed.
Your project management team can:
Easily transition new clients from sales by converting quotes into projects
Auto-assign tasks based on team availability
Manage workload by monitoring time-tracking data and a scheduling dashboard
Your customer success or technical support team can:
Follow the entire journey of a given contact from the moment the record was created
Keep track of the history of communication with both companies and individual contacts
See existing projects and review their progress before engaging with a client
Your billing team can:
Bill clients in bulk with detailed invoices created from billable time logs
Review sent, paid and overdue invoices in automatically generated reports
Manage retainers of various billing periods with a hands-off approach
Your operations team can:
Optimize existing workflows and create new ones using trigger automations
Review an auto-generated dashboard to see which projects and clients are profitable
Improve new hire onboarding protocol using thorough platform documentation
Your clients can:
Check on project progress at any time by logging in to a client portal
View and pay invoices on their own time
Understand adjustments to project plans based on accurate budget and time logs
The key to avoiding many potential frustrations is to make a clear plan to get your team ready and communicate that plan to your managers. Even if a platform provides lots of automation capabilities, your employees will be responsible for applying it to its full extent. They can’t do so unless they understand the reasons you’ve decided to go with this particular CRM and that it’s about more than simple data storage.
How To Know It’s Time to Experience Accelo
Chances are, your business is ready for more than a basic CRM. Here’s what you could be experiencing if this is the case.
Your team is overwhelmed and you’re noticing rampant inefficiencies
You know you need to set up better workflows but aren’t sure how to do so
You need a CRM, plus project management, customer support, billing and more
You’re unsure of exactly how profitable each client or type of project is
You’d like to invest in deeper client connections and increase recurring work
Sound familiar? Your business is ready to experience the power of a dedicated client work management platform — and your clients are no doubt ready to engage with your team in a new way.
➡️ Find out why a CRO at one marketing technology consulting firm says “Accelo ranks as the best CRM view of all time” — and how the firm doubled in size and increased client commitments by 90% using the platform.
Your business can experience similar results when you enable Accelo across your teams. Schedule a demo and speak with one of our experts to learn more.
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