Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software has been a gamechanger for many small businesses.
With powerful online tools, CRMs like Hubspot and Salesforce have rapidly transformed business models and jump-started company growth. For example, Rock Content—a content marketing tech company—experienced a surge of 650% growth in annual recurring revenue after using Hubspot. But with so many CRM software companies on the market, it can be difficult to know where to start. Read on to learn which one is right for your business.
Hubspot is known for being user-friendly yet powerful. With many free, accessible features and an affordable starter package, it’s a great resource for newer businesses; however, established companies can still benefit from Hubspot as well. Some key features include reporting, email marketing, ads, landing pages, list segmentation, bots, live chat, custom properties, and Hubspot Academy—Husbpot’s resource and learning database. Hubspot is becoming a Sales/Marketing leader, with a wealth of useful blog posts, videos, and resources for business professionals.
Salesforce has a steep learning curve but includes a wealth of features that other services don’t include, and have the highest level of customization of any platform. For example, nearly anything in Salesforce can be custom coded, which is useful when working on a larger scale. Salesforce provides a free trial and a free grant-based program for nonprofits. All in all, we recommend Salesforce for middle to large companies that have more resources and more specific needs.
Zoho is somewhere in between Hubspot and Salesforce. It doesn’t have a free version, but its pricing is affordable. It requires more implementation at first than Hubspot, but has a lesser learning curve than Salesforce. Zoho has some features that may be considered more customizable than Hubspot, but not to the extent of Salesforce. One unique feature is an AI-powered sales assistant called Zia that responds to unique commands. Like Hubspot and Salesforce, Zoho can be used for businesses of all sizes, but is typical for medium-sized companies.
Any of the above platforms can dramatically grow a business in nearly any industry, from tech, to design, to food. Whether you’re a sales rep or a private chef, we highly recommend you do more research on each platform. Once you’ve decided which one is right for you, stick with it, and see just how much it can help you grow your business!
