Chris Hawkins

A sales cycle represents the repeatable process of turning a prospect into a customer. For B2B sales, most salespeople follow a common set of steps, such as “prospecting” or “lead qualifying.” Understanding this sales cycle can help your business improve performance, lower customer acquisition cost (CAC), and provide revenue predictability, among other benefits. Understanding your…

Customer relationship management (CRM) software helps a business manage contacts, sales leads, and customers in a central location. It also helps sales, service, and other company departments view and share customer information from anywhere at any time. To help you maximize your CRM, we asked experts to share their insights on the best CRM benefits….

A request for proposal (RFP) is a formal document describing a company’s need for outside help with a project. It outlines specifics such as project scope, goals, budget, timeline, and selection criteria, requesting vendors submit bids. An RFP lets businesses evaluate a vendor’s strengths and weaknesses, helping them choose the best one for the job….

CRM software helps businesses manage relationships with customers and prospects using sales pipelines and other organizational tools. We compared more than 20 products offering a range of options to determine the 10 best CRMs for small businesses in terms of price, features, customization, integrations, and reporting, arriving at the best overall CRM for small business….

CRM integration allows you to share information such as customer, contact, and lead details with other business software, meaning data can be viewed, updated, and shared across a company. This exchange of data can be done with a CRM’s native integrations tools, using a software-to-software interface, or hiring a third-party data integration services company. If…

Insightly is an intuitive customer relationship management (CRM) software ideal for small businesses that want to combine both sales and project management. Setting up the CRM includes understanding its hierarchical structure, constructing a solid foundation with sales functions such as leads, opportunities, and pipelines, creating security permissions, and building custom reports and dashboards. Insightly is…

Open source customer relationship management (CRM) software is customizable software that manages contacts and deals. It is often free to download but typically requires technical ability to implement and use. We compared 20 programs for basic functionality, installation difficulty, technical support, and overall ease of use to arrive at the best six for small business….

Insightly and HubSpot are customer relationship (CRM) software with free and paid upgrades. Both include contact management, sales pipelines, and email integration, among other features. However, HubSpot CRM is more ideal for startups wanting a basic free CRM with unlimited users while Insightly is a better fit for businesses wanting combined contact and project management….

Live chat software allows a company’s service and sales teams to connect with website visitors in real time, providing an easy way to answer questions quickly. It is a relatively affordable technology investment—$15 to $80/user per month—that can help improve customer service response time and satisfaction and increase sales opportunities. If you’re looking for a…

White label customer relationship management (CRM) providers enables agencies, consultants, and vertically-focused companies to rebrand customized software for resale or bundle it with other services for added client value. We compared several options based on setup fees, partner pricing flexibility, and features, arriving at the top white label CRM providers, including the best overall. Top…