What is a CRM Sales Tool?

Sales

by   INSIGHTLY TEAM

CRM Sales Tool: An Overview

Customer relationship management (CRM) tools have become increasingly popular among businesses, and for good reason. These tools offer an effective way to manage customer data, track customer interactions, and automate various processes, making it easier to deliver exceptional customer experiences. By providing CRM sales tools in the cloud, the total cost of ownership has decreased so that the technology is now more affordable for more businesses. With a good CRM sales tool, businesses can enhance their sales and marketing strategies, optimize their customer service, and ultimately improve their bottom line. In this blog post, we’ll explore various aspects of CRM sales tools, including software examples, their application in sales and marketing, best CRM tools, and popular CRM software platforms such as Insightly, Salesforce, HubSpot, and Zoho.

CRM Tools Examples

Examples of CRM tools can mean different things. Sometimes the features of a CRM are called CRM tools. These would be features like workflow automation, lead routing, email tracking and sending, reporting, use of a mobile app, etc. 

Sometimes CRM tools are the different brands of CRMs available on the market. For instance, Insightly is a CRM sales tool, as is HubSpot, Salesforce and Zoho. These all perform the basic functions of a CRM, while differing in cost, flexibility and scalability. (Insightly, is a modern, scalable CRM that teams love.) 

CRM sales tools can also refer to the many industries that use a CRM. Some examples include:

  1. Manufacturing: Manufacturers need to track vendors and customers and ensure that products are delivered on time. A CRM for manufacturing can take away massive amounts of paperwork, which reduces errors and increases efficiency. 
  2. eCommerce: Online businesses use CRM tools to track customer interactions, purchase history, and preferences. A CRM for eCommerce helps them create targeted marketing campaigns and personalize the online shopping experience for customers.
  3. Customer Service: CRM tools can help customer service teams keep track of customer issues, interactions, and feedback. This information can be used to improve service quality and customer satisfaction.
  4. Real Estate: Real estate professionals use CRM tools to manage leads, track client information, manage properties, and streamline the buying and selling process.

Some popular CRM software options include Insightly ,Salesforce, Zoho, and HubSpot. These platforms offer a range of features, from lead management and marketing automation to sales forecasting and customer analytics. Insightly is a modern CRM platform that also includes an application for marketing automation, customer service, and an integration tool to help make CRM  the heart of your business.

CRM for Sales and Marketing

CRM tools are essential for sales and marketing teams, as they help to streamline lead management, communications, and conversions. A good CRM tool can help businesses:

  1. Keep track of customer interactions and purchase history.
  2. Automate emails and track their success.
  3. Identify potential leads and track their progress through the sales funnel.
  4. Provide insights into customer behavior and preferences.

A CRM can also send batches of emails to prospects or customers, but this is typically limited to a number like 50 or so. For marketing campaigns at scale, most teams choose to add a marketing automation platform. In addition to being able to send hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands, and even millions of emails, a marketing automation platform can help you measure the effectiveness of your email sends. It typically also includes list segmentation, email journeys (for sending behavior-based email campaigns), landing pages, forms, and extensive reporting. 

CRM and marketing automation work best when they are within the same platform using a shared data set. This allows marketers and salespeople to align on the best prospects and share the customer journey together. 

Best CRM

Arrow pointing up representing growing sales.

The best CRM tool for a business depends on your business and your specific needs and budget. Some popular options may be in the top 10 CRM software list, but still may not be the right fit for you. You should look at CRM software lists, review sites such as TrustPilot, TrustRadius, G2, Capterra and others to see how the different features compare and what is available at differing price points. For instance, the best CRM for startups may not be the same as the best CRM for small businesses. If you have a focus on business development, you may look for the best CRM for business development representatives. 

There is no one best tool, which is why there are many options on the market today. Some industries will gravitate towards an industry-specific solution, although this can be risky. Since they tend to be smaller with lower budgets, platform updates can be infrequent, leaving you stuck with an antiquated set of tools to grow your business. 

Some popular platforms can be pricey. For instance,  the total cost of ownership of Salesforce is often high due to its complexity. Most businesses find they need full time, specialized staff to run their instance and they may also need outside firms for implementations and upgrades. Another example is HubSpot, It can be an expensive choice and usually works best when your business is using all of the HubSpot components. In essence, it’s a closed system. If you outgrow one of the applications (e.g. the HubSpot website tool or social media tool), you’ll be left with expensive integrations that often break. 

So the best CRM is likely one that you research and find fits your needs.

CRM Tools

Design of sales toolsA common question is “what are CRM tools used for?” CRM tools are used to manage customer data and automate various processes, including lead management, workflow automation, relationship linking and customer information management. You can find an extensive list of features of a CRM and then decide which features are most important to your business. For example, automating workflows may be important to you if you have multi-step, repetitive tasks that, if you automate them, can save time, money and errors. Routing leads could be an important feature if you have multiple sales reps and clear criteria for which rep gets which type of lead (based on industry, geographical area, company size, etc.)

A CRM for your sales force

Your sales team, sometimes called your sales force, is a group of people that specialize in different areas of the sales process. You may have sales development reps, account executives, sales managers, sales directors, sales enablement team members, project managers, data analytics managers, and more. Each of these roles within your salesforce plays an important part in revenue generation. You need the right CRM for your salesforce, so be sure that all role types have a say in what system is selected and how it gets implemented. “Salesforce” is also the brand name of a popular CRM. The brand name product Salesforce is used for managing customer relationships, although there are dozens of CRMs on the market that compete with Salesforce and come in at a lower price point and a lower total cost of ownership.

Insightly is your CRM sales tool 

Insightly offers a cost-effective CRM sales tool that can be tailored to your business’s unique requirements. Insightly is equipped with essential CRM features and eliminates unnecessary complexity. Businesses that choose Insightly experience fast ROI within an easy-to-learn platform with comprehensive training. It is ideal for businesses looking to scale quickly and efficiently/.

Get started with a free trial of Insightly CRM today, or request a personalized demo to see how Insightly can help your company achieve its business goals.

Additional helpful links

More information on this topic is available on the following pages:

 

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