Does your pallet business depend on Outlook or some other system that isn’t really designed to be a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system to keep track of customer data? Even if it’s just managing contacts and communications, you ideally should have a CRM system to keep important customer contact information in a centralized place. The good news is that there are plenty of affordable and even free options for your pallet business to have a world-class CRM.
CRM Systems Include Sales and Marketing Tools
Beyond making it easier to keep track of your customers, a CRM system will likely help you improve revenue. That’s because most CRMs will include sales and marketing tools to make it possible to do a better job of marketing and tracking sales activity. Tracking sales opportunities and doing some email marketing alone could add to your bottom line.
The majority of CRMs are cloud-based and will require little or no IT support and shouldn’t be difficult to implement. You simply have to decide which CRM system will be the right fit for your pallet business in terms of cost and functionality.
According to Capterra, a free resource to help companies find the right software, the average cost of a CRM is about $37 per user a month. This cost is likely high because it includes very large enterprises which spend a lot more per user on a CRM, so in reality, a smaller business spends a lot less and may even do fine with some of the free CRM options on the market.
Five CRM Systems to Consider
Here are five of the CRMs you might consider evaluating for your pallet business
• HubSpot – This CRM is free for basic functionality like contact management and has a good reputation for being user-friendly. It integrates easily with Google’s G-Suite which means you get good email activity tracking. One note of caution on HubSpot: If you want more than basic functionality, the cost per user can rise rapidly.
• Less Annoying CRM – As the name implies, this system is designed to be easier to learn and to use. Small businesses have spoken and clearly love this CRM. Pricing is an affordable $10 per user per month.
• Teamgate – This is a CRM designed for sales. Therefore, if your purpose for getting a CRM is to use it to increase sales then this is one you will want to evaluate. It starts at $9 per month per user if you have a small team (up to five users).
• Zoho CRM – This company has been around for a long time and has a mature CRM product that is used by about 80,000 businesses worldwide. Pricing starts at free for three users and paid plans are quite affordable starting at just $12 per user.
• Salesforce.com – We mention this one because it is one of the oldest and most well established and will be a good option if you are a larger and growing organization. Salesforce has a powerful product and a deep ecosystem of apps you can add to the product to acquire additional functionality. If you are recruiting experienced sales people, there is also a good chance they will already know how to use Salesforce and that can save you time on training new hires.
A CRM system can make a big impact on the sales performance of your pallet business. And with so many affordable and even free CRM products, there is no reason not to have one. The biggest issue once you decide to implement a CRM is making sure it is used so you get the maximum benefits from it. Why not take the time at your next management meeting to discuss a CRM system for your business?
