Best CRM for QuickBooks: see why accounting software + CRM is a win

Best Practices

by   Alexa Tsongranis March 21, 2023

Your team should love the tools they’re using. 

Odds are, they probably don’t love them all.

Now more than ever, it’s essential that your CRM has the ability to integrate with the tools your teams already use. Easier integrations make it easier to adopt across teams, helping your business better achieve its goals.

If you’re new here or just need a refresher, CRM, or Customer Relationship Management, is a software system that helps businesses manage interactions with customers and prospects. With a CRM solution in place, you can collect and store customer data, identify trends, and streamline communication. CRM is an essential tool for businesses of all sizes and across industries.

Some features of a CRM include contact management, sales management, workflow automation, and access to analytics and reporting dashboards.

• Contact Management: A CRM enables businesses to store contact information, previous communication with contacts, and customer data in one place. Contact Management makes accessing customer information and tracking communication history easy while managing current and prospective customer relationships effectively.
• Sales Management: Track the entire sales pipeline in your CRM and have better insight into your sales process from lead generation to conversion. Sales management features enable businesses to identify potential leads, track their progress through the sales funnel, and close deals more efficiently.
• Workflow Automation: Utilize your CRM system to automate repetitive tasks like following up from a form fill or syncing a calendar. Saving time and streamlining tedious processes enables your team to focus their efforts on selling.
• Analytics and Reporting: Get valuable business insights into customer behavior, sales trends, and other metrics within your CRM. Make more data-driven decisions, improve customer engagement, and optimize your marketing, sales, or customer service strategies with key data points.

We get it; you’re busy managing leads, nurturing prospects, and supporting current customers. Throw in managing invoices and sorting through customer transactions — it can be overwhelming. Luckily, that’s where QuickBooks can help.

QuickBooks is the industry-standard accounting software for small and medium-sized businesses. It’s built to manage income and expenses while giving you a complete view of your business finances. Thousands of Insightly users count on QuickBooks to send invoices, create budgets, prepare taxes, and more. The software is flexible and scalable with affordable pricing.

Integrating your CRM with QuickBooks can give you a complete picture of your customer data. This integration enables businesses to manage customer data, track sales, and automate invoicing and payment tracking processes. Choosing a CRM for QuickBooks integration can be especially beneficial for users who want to make their sales and accounting processes more efficient. A full view of your customer’s interactions and financial transactions in one place can help you make more informed decisions, provide better customer service, and even increase sales.

Why Integrate CRM and Accounting Software

Integrating accounting software and CRM software can benefit your business in several ways. Linking these two systems can simplify financial processes, improve overall customer management, save time and money, and reduce errors from manual inputs across multiple systems.

As mentioned earlier, one benefit of choosing an accounting software integration for your CRM is the ability to track customer transactions and interactions. At their core, CRM systems are designed to store customer data, which includes contact information and purchase history. 

When integrated with accounting software, you can automatically create invoices and record payments in the accounting system based on your CRM data. That’s right; in this case, integrating also means automating. Say goodbye to manual inputs across different software systems.

Another reason to integrate the two systems is to improve financial reporting. More accurate reports can be generated by combining financial data with customer information, leading to a better understanding of customer behavior and how that behavior impacts financial performance.

Integrating accounting software and CRM can give your business a more holistic view of your financial and customer data, helping you make more data-driven decisions and improve your bottom line.

QuickBooks CRM Integration

Now that you know the why. It’s time to break down the how. 

When thinking about QuickBooks CRM integrations, it’s important to note there are two main types of integrations available, native and third-party integrations.

Native integrations are built into QuickBooks, allowing users to connect their CRM system directly to QuickBooks. Developed and tested by QuickBooks, native integrations are pretty straightforward. QuickBooks Online offers native integrations with Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, and Insightly CRM. QuickBooks Desktop has native integrations with Microsoft Outlook, Excel, Word, and more.

Third-party integrations offer more advanced features, customization options, and integrations with other applications. These integrations allow businesses to connect their CRM system with other business tools, such as inventory management, project management, and marketing automation software. Most QuickBooks CRM connections are through third-party integrations.

CRM With Quickbooks Integration

Integrating QuickBooks with a CRM system can lead to big wins for your business. One example of a company that has successfully integrated QuickBooks with a CRM system is EnterpriseIS. They use Insightly to manage customer interactions, automate workflows, and utilize custom dashboards. By integrating QuickBooks with Insightly, they can manage their finances and have a 360-degree view of their business operations.

For the Enterprise team, QuickBooks is an essential tool for their business. The Insightly CRM and QuickBooks integration was one of the biggest reasons they chose Insightly. Being able to automatically create invoices and track payments with the integration has significantly reduced the time spent on manual data entry and eliminated errors. They have also gained insights into customer interactions by tracking them in Insightly and matching them to corresponding financial transactions in QuickBooks. This has helped them identify areas where they can improve customer service and increase sales.

When looking for the best CRM for QuickBooks, it’s important to consider the specific needs of your business and choose a system that meets those needs. Whether you’re using QuickBooks Online or QuickBooks Desktop, many CRM systems can integrate.

Insightly offers a seamless CRM integration with QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Desktop, allowing businesses to manage their financial data and customer information in one system. 

Can You Use Quickbooks As A CRM?

A common question among many small and medium-sized businesses: Can you use Quickbooks as a CRM? The short answer, unfortunately, is no. 

Quickbooks is a popular accounting software with many robust features that help manage finances, but Quickbooks is not designed to be a CRM. While Quickbooks does have some basic customer management features, such as contact management and sales tracking, Quickbooks cannot be used as a proper CRM.

However, if you’re a QuickBooks Online user and need a CRM or vice versa, there are ways to connect the two. You can link the two systems using a third-party CRM software that integrates with QuickBooks or a CRM software specifically designed for QuickBooks integration. 

QuickBooks can be integrated with a CRM system to provide businesses with a comprehensive financial and customer relationship management solution. With the ability to sync customer data and have payment details available at your fingertips, you can better track sales and marketing efforts to gain valuable, customer-centric financial insights into your customers’ buying habits and preferences. 

Integrating QuickBooks with CRM software like Insightly can provide your business with improved customer relationships and a deeper understanding of your customer.

Start Your Free Trial Today

If you’re a QuickBooks user and don’t have the ability to integrate with your current CRM system, see what you’re missing and get started with a free trial of Insightly CRM today. Or schedule a personalized demo to see how Insightly can help your company achieve its business goals. Not on QuickBooks yet? Insightly customers can save 30% on QuickBooks online. There’s no better time to get started and put these two powerful applications to work for your growing business.

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