Essential elements for selecting a Salesforce alternative CRM
Salesforce CRM is a splendid SaaS cloud-based customer relationship management software, but there are many who are not satisfied using Salesforce and therefore look for Salesforce alternatives, as-
'Salesforce CRM is not meant for everyone.'
The key reasons as to why most SMB organizations look for Salesforce alternatives are:
- Lower prices
- Greater customizability options
- Easy adoption and simpler learning curves
- ·Ease of use to satisfy their CRM requirements
Now let us tell you if you new in understanding CRM, and you are into the thought process that all CRM systems are the same, you need to consider your decision again. CRM systems are not petty software applications that you can change frequently, given the efforts and high cost it involves in adopting a Customer Relationship Management platform.
Well, we know you might be guessing, Where do I begin?
To answer this most critical question, here are a few essential elements to winning CRM implementation as you look for Salesforce competitors in the CRM marketplace.
Your CRM should grow with you, not ahead of you
As every business is different in its own way, and so the size of businesses varies greatly, therefore, the one-size-fits-all, strategy does not work with CRM systems.
Hence, before identifying your Salesforce alternative CRM platform decide on how many people in your organization will use the CRM. As according to the strength of your workforce in your organization, you need to choose a CRM system that answers to your business needs and can be customized for that purpose easily.
There are many CRM software, which you need to purchase, based on what they have, while there are also others that
Simplicity is the key
You need to stop and change your CRM purchasing strategy if you are looking for a CRM that provides every function that has ever been developed to perform on a CRM system. The logic behind this is simple. An overqualified CRM will also end up churning out over complicated results, which is a completely unfavorable approach while selecting a CRM for small and medium businesses.
Buying a CRM with excess unproductive functionalities will also result in spending more time in getting used to the system or train your staffs for
Therefore, the only solution while selecting your Salesforce alternative CRM is to focus solitary on the functionalities that your business needs and to be truthful, the fewer the functions the better is the CRM for growing organizations, startups, and SMBs.
However, this does not mean you need to compromise on the eminence of this software. Since CRM systems for SMB like ConvergeHub and others are there to offer you an uncomplicated customer relationship management system without compromising on the functionality, scalability, or quality of the software.
Review more than a few, before deciding on ‘the one’.
Deciding on CRM for an alternative to Salesforce can be difficult, since there are several of them available in the market, and within them, there are many that claim that they have the same features that you need for your organization. Therefore, the solution is to check on several systems and then decide on how easy the systems are to use when compared to each other.
You can also inspect the reputations of the CRM systems that you have shortlisted by checking out the reviews of the software in social networking websites and relevant CRM related magazines published online.
Consider professional support
Although you might understand what you need out of your CRM system, still you may end up being confused at times because of the dearth of expertise on the CRM oriented chosen fields. Never base your selection of any CRM as an alternative to Salesforce based on your instincts. Therefore, it is highly recommended that you should consider taking professional help from experts those who offer CRM implementation solutions.
CRM development consultants not only help you to choose the right CRM solution that is scalable, easy to adopt and fits your business but they also most often provide support during the CRM implementation and provide training sessions for your staffs to understand the functionalities of the CRM.
Conclusion
We all understand your business needs a CRM, but be careful not to rush into it. Remember; if your company is working until now, a few more days will never hurt your business as much as a wrong purchase decision while buying your Salesforce alternative CRM.
Purchasing a CRM is always a costly process and so invest your time to research and find the best Salesforce alternative CRM and buy the one that will pay off once it is implemented.
There is one other reason why people are moving away from Salesforce. With Salesforce all their customer's data is on Salesforce's servers, so the companies are not in full control over their own data. The open source alternative to Salesforce is SuiteCRM, which can be hosted on premise, allowing companies to stay in full control over their own data, have all CRM functionality the need, while saving a lot of money (open source is free) and getting rid of user limits. Disclaimer: I work at SalesAgility, the driving force behind SuiteCRM ;)