Industry-Specific CRM: Which One is Right for Your Business?

CRM software helps businesses drive sales by enhancing customer and prospect relationships. There are many CRM options available, some of which are general purpose while others are industry-specific with features meant to help certain types of businesses and industries like finance or automotive. Costs typically range from free to $100 per month, per user.

Why Use a CRM & CRM Examples

All businesses with more than one customer should use a CRM system to keep track of interactions with customers, prospects, partners, vendors, and internal teams they work with to serve their customers. Because there are a vast number of businesses with unique needs driven by industry or customer dynamics, demand for industry-specific CRM software has increased because of the unique benefits they provide.

Common Industry-Specific CRMs

Automotive CRM

Automotive CRM software is right for dealerships with aggressive lead generation and post-sale service strategies. Benefits include enabling sales and service teams to close deals, promote service and repeat business, and manage customer finance. Drawbacks are higher price points and slow adoption. Costs are higher than general-use CRMs, with fewer free versions and free trials.

Automotive CRM Providers

• DealerSocket – (Pricing based on quote) This automotive CRM gives car dealership an all-in-one platform to manage sales, marketing, and service. It allows car dealerships to collect customer data and use it for service marketing and equity mining to arm salespeople with warm leads to get additional business.
• Promax – (Pricing based on quote) Promax automotive CRM incorporates finance into the sales process with lending and credit bureau integrations and features, making it easier for car sales professionals to maximize the value of deals and to close them.
• Selly Automotive – ($50 to $250/user per month) This automotive CRM earned the top spot in our article on the top six automotive CRMs. It specializes in internet lead management, allowing salespeople to nurture leads from online ads. It also offers a mobile app for sales professionals and dealer managers to manage and close sales on the go.

There are dozens of other automotive CRM platforms that accommodate a variety of dealership types, from both large and small independent dealerships to franchises. For additional automotive CRM providers, see our article on the top six automotive CRMs for 2018.

Specialized Automotive CRM Features

Automotive CRM software offers specialized features like financing, partner management, and vehicle service details that help car sales and service professionals close more sales and retain more service business. Some also include advanced features like inventory management and QuickBooks integration to give business managers and owners a more complete view of their business.

CRM Examples: Specialized Automotive CRM Features

• Desking Tools – Automotive CRM have desking tools that allow sales professionals to create finance and payment options to present to customers. It pulls information like rebates, specials, or incentives when creating presentations or quotes.
• Partner & Referral Management – There are features that allow sales managers or business owners to manage and track partner interactions, like financial partners sending leads.
• DMS Integration – Most full-featured automotive CRMs allow for DMS (Dealer Management System) integration or offer options to include a DMS within the CRM.
• Inventory Management – Inventory management features help car dealerships manage and keep track of cars in stock and make this information available to sales professionals and managers. Advanced inventory management tools also do things like recommend cars for customer deals and offer an indication on deal profitability.
• Automotive Data Access – Automotive CRM provides access to valuable data including customer, prospect, vehicle, and industry data. This data can then be used to close deals and retain service business.

Real Estate & Mortgage CRM

Real Estate CRM software is right for brokers and agencies wanting to generate leads and manage long sales cycles. Benefits include real estate features like listing management and high volume lead generation. Potential drawbacks include costs and slow adoption rates. Pricing can be higher than general-use CRMs, but there are plenty of affordable and free options.

Mortgage CRM software then helps loan officers and mortgage companies manage relationships with customers, prospects, and referrals from partners like real estate agents. Its features include automated emails or text messages providing updates throughout the loan process and after closing for repeat business. Benefits include being ready to handle mortgage industry tasks. Costs and limited options are drawbacks. Costs start at $100 per month per user and often include set-up fees.

Below are real estate & mortgage CRM examples:

Real Estate & Mortgage CRM Providers

• Wise Agent – ($25/user per month) Wise Agent offers a comprehensive CRM for real estate agents, allowing them to track leads, manage their sales cycles, and execute marketing activities. It helps you stay on top of real estate transaction tasks with transaction management tools like reminders and real estate task assignment.
• LionDesk – ($25 to $49/user per month) This real estate CRM gives real estate professionals and brokers the ability to generate and assign leads with Facebook Lead Ad pages and lead assignment. It also helps real estate professionals manage marketing activities with tools like email and text message campaigns and video email and video text campaigns.
• Propertybase – ($79/user per month) Propertybase offers a robust real estate CRM that allows real estate professionals to manage leads, contacts, and listings. It even includes advanced features like lead assignments, marketing automation, and workflow automation. It can also integrate with your MLS so that you can manage and update your listings from the CRM.
• Zillow Premier Agent CRM – (free) This free real estate CRM specializes in lead generation, allowing real estate professionals to setup searchable agent profiles and receive leads in a lead inbox. To benefit most, you should advertise for more leads, which can flow into the free CRM. Leads include information like search history, buying time frame, and finance information.
• Whiteboard – (from $79/user per month + $299 set-up fee) Whiteboard Mortgage CRM is great for loan officers and mortgage companies wanting to manage leads, customers, and referral partners in one platform. It includes both email and text messaging features along with pre-written email templates and call scripts for different mortgage scenarios.
• Jungo – (from $99/user per month) this mortgage CRM is built on the Salesforce platform with Mortgage specific features including document management, task management, lead capture, and loan timeline communications. It’s great for both loan officers and mortgage companies wanting to centralize communication and loan process management.
• BNTouch – (from $99/user per month + activation fee) BNTouch mortgage CRM is great for loan officers and mortgage companies wanting marketing tools like website creation and email marketing included in their CRM. Features also include internal collaboration where team members besides loan officers can access and work on tasks associated with loans.

There are dozens of other paid real estate CRM platforms that accommodate a variety of real estate companies and professionals. For additional real estate CRM providers, see our article on the best real estate crm. But if you’re looking for something free, check out our article on free real estate CRMs. For those of you who are in commercial real estate, we’ve compiled the best Commercial Real Estate CRMs in this article.

Specialized Real Estate CRM Features

Real estate CRM software offers specialized features like listing management, real estate task management, and advanced lead generation, which helps real estate sales professionals close more deals. Some also offer mobile apps to accommodate real estate professionals while they’re in the field.

CRM Examples: Specialized Real Estate CRM Features

• Listing Management Tools – Some real estate CRM systems have tools that allow you to manage details of your listings, from listing presentation templates to the ability to update listings on your MLS without having to log in.
• Advanced Lead Generation – Real estate CRMs provide tools and features like social media ads to CRM forms, web-to-lead forms, and landing pages that help real estate agents generate and manage a high volume of leads needed to fill pipelines and close deals.
• Real Estate Task Management – Most full-featured real estate CRMs have real estate-focused task management tools from task reminders to task delegation among team members and vendors.
• Advanced Lead Management – Real estate CRMs focus on leads and include advanced lead management features like lead assignment and notifications, lead scoring and prioritization, and lead segmentation.
• Workflow & Marketing Automation – Real estate CRM software allows agents and brokers to set up workflow and marketing automations, which reduces repetitive tasks and keeps everyone focused on customer-facing sales activities.
• Mobile Features – Because real estate professionals spend most of their time in the field, most real estate CRMs have a mobile app that offers the same or similar experience as the CRM on their desktop. Some options include handy features like business card scanners. Others offer text message management and mobile marketing features.

Specialized Mortgage CRM Features

Mortgage CRM software offers specialized features that help loan officers and mortgage companies better manage their prospects, customers, and referral partners. These features can include tools like automated emails and text messages, website or landing page builders, email campaign features, loan document storage, and team collaboration.

CRM Examples: Specialized Mortgage CRM Features

• Referral Partner Management – Most mortgage CRMs offer tools to help loan officers manage referrals and relationships with partners like real estate agents. These tools range from automated updates regarding loans to marketing emails about offers and programs.
• Alerts & Communication – These features allow you to send alerts through emails and text messages letting clients know what’s happening at every stage of the loan application, approval, and funding process.
• Marketing Automation – Marketing automation puts marketing communications on autopilot so that loan officers don’t have to spend most of their time creating and sending marketing messages or campaigns.
• Post Loan Customer Nurturing – Once mortgages are funded, post loan nurturing campaigns like birthday or home anniversary emails can help you stay top of mind and generate repeat business and referrals.
• Mortgage Communication Templates – Templates help save time from having to create email and other communications from scratch for each customer or prospect. Many mortgage CRMs offer the ability to create templates and others like Whiteboard CRM provide you with pre-written templates based on scenarios you may encounter.

Insurance CRM

Insurance CRM software is right for insurance professionals wanting to manage and perform sales and marketing activities as well as linking insurance documents to customers in one platform. Benefits of insurance CRMs are specialized features like e-applications and policies. Drawbacks include comparatively higher costs and slow adoption rates.

Insurance CRM Providers

• Insureio – ($25 to $50/user per month) This insurance CRM gives insurance professionals a platform to manage e-applications and e-policies, sales activities, and marketing efforts. It allows insurance professionals to capture and assign leads, create and send quotes, and manage applications and policies electronically with back office support.
• Radiusbob – ($34 to $292/user per month) Radiusbob insurance CRM allows insurance agencies to manage and automate sales and marketing activities. It also includes an integrated VoIP, which allows insurance agents to make, receive, and transfer calls. It also has advanced lead management features like lead assignment and distribution, and includes a quote engine.

There are dozens of other CRM platforms right for insurance sales professionals that accommodate agencies and individual agents. For additional insurance CRM providers, see our article on the six best insurance CRMs for 2018.

Specialized Insurance CRM Features

Insurance CRM software offers specialized features like electronic application and policy fulfillment. Specialized features also include built-in phones, advanced lead management features, and advanced marketing automation tools.

CRM Examples: Specialized Insurance CRM Features

• E-policy & E-application Management – One very specialized insurance CRM feature is electronic applications and electronic policies. These features allow insurance applicants to avoid paper applications and also allow for policies to be delivered electronically. This saves insurance agents time from having to deliver policies in person or fill out paper applications.
• Phone Integration/VoIP – This isn’t a feature specific to insurance CRMs, but is a feature common to this type and typically includes built-in inbound and outbound calling features as well as functionality like call recording for both training and compliance purposes.
• Advanced Lead Management – Insurance CRMs focus on leads and include advanced lead management features like lead assignment and notifications, lead scoring and prioritization, and lead segmentation.
• Workflow and Marketing Automation – Insurance CRM software allows agents and agency owners to set up workflow and marketing automations, which reduces repetitive tasks and keeps everyone focused on customer-facing sales activities.

Construction CRM

Construction CRM software is right for companies wanting a single platform to engage prospects and manage customers and projects with features that help manage bid requests as well as project management. Drawbacks are higher than average costs and software complexity. Pricing tends to be higher than general-use CRMs, with little or no opportunities for free versions.

Construction CRM Providers

• JobNimbus – ($25/user per month) JobNimbus is a CRM for those in the construction industry that works by incorporating the nuances of construction sales and project management into the features of a construction-focused CRM. It includes construction industry features from building job estimates and invoices to managing construction jobs or projects.
• Buildertrend – ($99/user per month) This construction CRM focuses on home builders and remodelers. It is accessible from any device, which is key to many team members working in the field. It also offers pre-sale tools including bid request features, proposal building tools, and email marketing tools. QuickBooks and Xero can also be integrated and other financial features like purchase order, payments, and time sheet management are also included.

There are dozens of other CRMs for construction industry, from those focused on commercial projects to those doing home remodeling.

Specialized Construction CRM Features

Construction CRM software offers specialized features like project management, requests for bids, and proposal management. It also offers post-project features like payment management, purchase order management, and accounting software integration.

CRM Examples: Specialized Construction CRM Features

• Bid Requests Tools – Many construction CRMs have tools to help salespeople and business development managers respond to and manage bid requests. This helps keep track of opportunity details and information sent to prospective customers.
• Proposal Creation and Management – Most construction CRMs offer the ability to create and manage proposals. This saves time and avoids navigating multiple systems to build and manage proposals.
• Accounting and Payment Integration – Most full-featured construction CRMs allow for QuickBooks and Xero integration. This helps sales professionals and business managers stay on top of payments and stay on the same page when changes arise that incur additional costs.
• Project Management – Project management features help teams stay organized and on top of project tasks. It keeps everyone in the loop regarding project status. It empowers salespeople to engage with customers at the right times while projects are active.

Hospitality CRM

Hospitality CRM software helps hotels, restaurants, catering, and event planning companies manage current customers and prospects by providing a single platform to engage prospects, fulfill catering orders, or manage events and guest relationships. Benefits include staying on top of event-related tasks and encouraging repeat business. Possible drawbacks include higher than average pricing and slow adoption. Costs are higher than average with few free options.

Hospitality CRM Providers

• CaterZen – ($129 to $199/month) This is a CRM for those in the restaurant or catering industry. It works by combining lead and prospect management with catering order processing and catering delivery management, and where you can assign drivers in one platform.
• Gather – (Pricing based on quote) This hospitality CRM focuses on event planning. It offers a calendar for making and tracking event bookings. It also offers an auto-document feature that generates event-specific documents like banquet event orders. It also includes team collaboration tools so that event teams are on the same page. You can create and send digital proposals as well as request and collect payments.

There are dozens of other CRMs for hospitality industry, from those focused on catering to those producing and managing events.

Specialized Hospitality CRM Features

Hospitality CRM software offers specialized features like project or event management, proposal creation and management, event-specific document templates, and order delivery management. It also offers features like payment management and team collaboration tools.

CRM Examples: Specialized Hospitality CRM Features

• Order Processing and Payments – Many hospitality CRMs have tools to help salespeople and business development managers handle order processes and accept payments for catering orders or events.
• Catering Delivery Management – Some catering-focused CRMs allow users to track and manage catering orders out for delivery.
• Digital Proposal Creation & Management – Some full-featured hospitality CRMs allow users to create, send, and revise proposals. With this feature, many also allow for e-signatures, which speeds up the process to close deals.
• Project and Event Management – Project management features help event teams stay organized and on top of event-related tasks. It keeps everyone in the loop regarding status. It also empowers salespeople to engage with customers at the right times while events are being planned.
• Document Templates – Some hospitality CRMs include document templates like banquet event orders. These documents are helpful so that sales and other team members send consistent documents with approved verbiage.

Startup CRM Software

Startup CRM software is right for businesses in any industry that expect accelerated growth. Benefits include many free or affordable options and tools to build healthy pipelines at an accelerated pace with access to sales data and analytics.

Startup CRM Providers

• HubSpot CRM – (Free) HubSpot CRM allows you to place calls from within the CRM with its click-to-call feature. You can also record calls, log them automatically, and prioritize the calls you need to make based on contact, prospect, and opportunity data. It also supports email campaigns, offers a free version, and has a startup tier that offers 50% to 90% off HubSpot costs, and includes robust reporting and analytics.
• Zoho CRM – (Free to $100/user per month) Zoho CRM offers phone integration so that you can call customers and prospects without leaving the CRM. It also supports email campaigns and social media engagement. They offer a free option as well as budget-friendly paid plans.
• Freshsales – (Free to $79/user per month) This CRM can be used by startups as well as other businesses with aggressive sales acceleration goals. It has features like a built-in phone with call recording, logging, and transfers to support phone outreach. It can also support email campaigns.

There are dozens of other CRM for startups that promote accelerated growth and are affordable.

Specialized Startup CRM Features

Startup CRM software offers specialized features like accelerated outreach tools, reporting, and analytics. Specialized features can include outreach tools like built-in phones, email campaign features, advanced lead management features, and low-cost options.

CRM Examples: Specialized Startup CRM Features

• Phone Outreach Tools – Phone outreach tools can be critical to startups looking to grow and scale quickly. A built-in phone helps by making it easier to call prospects and customers. Recording and data features help with feedback on effectiveness.
• Email Outreach Tools – Email outreach features are key when prospecting and following up. Being able to send and track emails helps startups target and scale their email communications.
• Reporting and Analytics – Reporting and analytics are key for planning ahead and for pivoting based on what’s happening now. It’s also important for showing investors how effective the startup is and the growth it has achieved.
• Advanced Lead Management – Startups focus on leads and need advanced lead management features (like lead scoring and prioritization) and lead segmentation to stay focused on the most promising leads that are likely to turn into opportunities.
• Affordable Options – Startups have limited funding and need options that are free or budget-friendly

Business-to-business (B2B) CRM

B2B CRM software helps businesses manage relationships with customers and prospects that buy from their companies. It helps B2B salespeople build strong relationships within organizations, as buying decisions can be team efforts. Benefits include B2B features like managing multiple contacts and buyers at one company and longer sales cycles. Drawbacks include being difficult to use and expensive. Costs range from free to a few hundred dollars per month.

B2B CRM Providers

• Pipedrive – ($12.5 to $62.50/user per month) Pipedrive is visual pipeline-focused CRM that keeps B2B salespeople focused on critical tasks throughout the sales cycle that are needed to close deals. Salespeople can create visual pipeline stages and define activities within each stage to be completed. Its Kanban board pipelines are easy to use. It also offers contact enrichment features that reduce manual research.
• Insightly – (Free to $49/user per month) Insightly helps B2B businesses with offerings that include project management. It also offers automation and efficiency tools like the Business Card Scanner, email templates, web-to-lead forms, and lead assignment.
• Freshsales – (Free to $79/user per month) This CRM is great for B2B-focused businesses that depend on phone outreach. It has a built-in phone with call recording, logging, and transfers to support phone outreach. It also supports email campaigns. Sales professionals can also stay focused on the most promising leads with lead scoring tools.

Specialized B2B CRM Features

B2B CRM software offers specialized features like lead and contact enrichment, lead management, outreach tools, pipeline management and acceleration, workflow automation, reporting, and analytics. These features can include tools like built-in phones, email campaign features, and advanced lead management features.

CRM Examples: Specialized B2B CRM Features

• Lead Enrichment – Very often, it is difficult to find information on B2B prospects. Contact and lead enrichment tools scour the internet for information that you may not have like phone number, title, and LinkedIn profile, which reduces or eliminates manual research.
• Phone Outreach Tools – Phone outreach tools can be key for starting and building relationships. A built-in phone helps by making it easier to call prospects and customers. Scheduling and sending pre-recorded voicemails can also be effective and scalable. Call recording and data features help with feedback on call effectiveness.
• Email Outreach Tools – Email outreach features are key when prospecting and following up. Being able to send and track emails helps B2B-focused salespeople target and scale their email communications.
• Reporting and Analytics – Reporting and analytics are key for forecasting and for adjusting current strategies. Reports can show you what is working and where you should invest time, money and energy. They can also show you areas of improvement or efforts that need to be eliminated.
• Advanced Lead Management – B2B sales focus on leads and rely on advanced lead management features like lead scoring and prioritization as well as lead segmentation to stay focused on the most promising leads that are likely to turn into opportunities.

Business-to-consumer (B2C) & Call Center CRM

Like B2B CRM software, B2C CRM and call center software help businesses manage relationships with customers and prospects, but typically also includes invoicing and additional direct communication tools. It also includes the ability to segment high prospect and lead volumes through multiple channels like social media, outbound calling, email campaigns, and live web chats. Potential drawbacks include price, the software being difficult to use, and costs ranging from free to a few hundred dollars per month.

Call center CRM software, in particular, helps businesses with call centers manage relationships with customers and prospects using the phone as their core communication tool. Features include a built-in or integrated phone, call recording, logging, transfer, tracking and reporting. Drawbacks may include price and software being difficult to use. Costs range from free to a few hundred dollars per month.

B2C & Call Center CRM Providers

• Agile CRM – (Free to $47.99/user per month) Agile CRM, which offers a free version for up to 10 users, allows you to build landing pages and web-to-lead forms, and to schedule appointments. It also includes social media engagement tools, mobile marketing, and one-click calling.
• Bitrix24 – (Free to $179/month) This CRM is great for B2C-focused businesses; it offers robust features and fewer restrictions for up to 12 users. It includes multichannel marketing like email campaigns, landing pages, and website live chat. It also features Kanban-style pipelines, a mobile CRM, and a business card scanner.
• Freshsales – (Free to $79/user per month) This CRM is great for both B2B- and B2C-focused businesses that depend on phone outreach. It has a built-in phone with call recording, logging, and transfers to support phone outreach. It can also support email campaigns. It has lead scoring tools that help sales professionals prioritize the best B2C leads.

Specialized B2C CRM Features

B2C CRM software offers specialized features that help salespeople better engage directly with consumers. These features can include tools like built-in phones, landing pages, email campaign features, and advanced lead management features.

CRM Examples: Specialized B2C CRM Features

• Landing Pages – Landing pages can be effective in focusing your prospect on your offer or value proposition and getting them to sign up for more information or for something of value related to your offer, or to purchase your product. With landing pages, you can build your sales funnel or increase specific product sales.
• Web Chat – This feature allows you to engage directly with your prospect or customer. It also allows you to capture their contact details and get them into your sales funnel.
• Phone Outreach Tools – Phone outreach tools can be key to engaging with consumers. A built-in phone helps by making it easier to call prospects and customers. Call recording and data features can also help you analyze and improve your call effectiveness.
• Email Outreach Tools – Email outreach features are key to prospecting and follow-up. Being able to send and track emails helps B2C-focused salespeople target, customize, and scale their email communications.
• Mobile Marketing – More and more consumers make purchases and research buying options on their mobile devices. Getting your message to your customers and prospects where they are making purchases can be key to getting their business.
• Advanced Lead Management – B2C sales focus on leads and rely on advanced lead management features like lead scoring and prioritization to filter numerous leads they’ve generated through prospecting and marketing. Lead segmentation tools also allow B2C-focused businesses to stay focused on the needs of various customer groups or personas, improving their chances of converting them into paying customers.

Specialized Call Center CRM Features

Call Center CRM software offers specialized features that help call center professionals better engage with customers and prospects by phone or other call center messaging channels. Features can include built-in phones, live web chat, call recording and playback, call logging and mobile messaging (SMS/text).

CRM Examples: Specialized Call Center CRM Features

• Phone Outreach Tools – Phone outreach tools can be key to engaging with consumers. A built-in phone helps by making it easier to call prospects and customers. Call recording and data features can also help you analyze and improve your call effectiveness.
• Live Web Chat – This feature allows call center professionals to engage directly with prospects or customers while they’re on your website. They can answer questions or solve problems right away while they are top of mind.
• Mobile Messaging – More and more customers are reaching out to businesses with their mobile phones. Sending support related communications to mobile phones can help resolve issues more quickly, especially if it’s your customers’ primary communication device.
• Phone Number Acquisition & Assignment – Most call center CRM software makes it easy for you to acquire phone numbers as needed and assign them to dedicated teams or individuals which helps route calls to the right people more quickly.
• Voicemail – Voicemail features allowing customers or prospects to leave voicemail messages are included in call center CRMs. Some give you the option to speak your recorded voicemail or use text-to-voice features.
• Call Tracking & Reporting – Call center CRMs include call tracking and reporting features to help you measure the performance of your sales and service teams by measuring things like number of calls and talk time.

How CRM Software Works

CRM software works by establishing a network that connects salespeople with selling activities and sales data. It allows users to input, store, and manage information about leads and customers that help businesses move customers and prospects through sales cycles more quickly. CRMs have pipeline stages that mirror sales cycles that can be set up to perform tasks like alert you to follow up with a prospect or even send an automated email.

CRM software includes features like contact management, opportunity management, and lead and prospect management functionality. These features offer a 360-degree view of customers, which helps to personalize communications throughout the sales life cycle. CRM software can also include more robust functionality like built-in phones, social media management features, and mobile marketing tools, helping to personalize messaging in a scalable way.

Below are a few core features and benefits you should find in CRM software:

• Lead and Prospect Management – Functionality that allows you to manage leads and prospects in one place, convert leads into pipeline contacts and customers, and manage lead and prospect communications in a way that allows you to build strong, long-term relationships that can lead to lifetime customers.
• Account and Contact Management – The ability to access information about your leads and customers, such as contact details, interactions with your company, pain points, and even personal details like coffee preferences. You can check out the products that do this the best in our article on the Best Contact Management Software
• Opportunity Management – Features that let you manage your pipeline by tracking things like opportunity stage, probability-to-close ratios, and opportunity-to-close ratios.

Each of these broad features, as well as more specialized ones discussed in this article, allow you to define and carry out activities important to getting deals closed as it relates to your sales cycle and the associated CRM pipeline. For more information on organizing your sales cycle into stages, read our article, 8 Sales Pipeline Stages Every Sales Team Should Have.

Who CRM Software Is Right For

CRM software is right for industries of any size that sell products with longer sales cycles or those that are more relationship-based. A few of these industries include real estate, technology integrators, construction or general contractors, automobile, and corporate caterers. However, CRMs benefit other business types too. CRMs help connect salespeople to prospects, organize information, and help and manage post-sales tasks and projects.

CRM offer specific benefits to the following:

• Business Owners and Managers – Data and reporting tools in CRMs help business owners and managers make important decisions based on sales revenue forecasts and the number, stage, and value of deals in the pipeline.
• Salespeople – CRMs help salespeople build relationships at scale by managing and tracking customer and prospect interactions like recent activity, issues resolved by customer service, or promotional offers sent to prospects.
• Marketers – CRMs can help marketers plan and execute more relevant campaigns based on trends they observe.
• Customer Service – CRMs benefit customer service by giving the full picture of what the customer has purchased and what their interactions have been with sales and other areas. This information becomes useful when resolving customer disputes or issues.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

There is so much information on CRM software and so many reasons why small business owners would use a CRM. We decided to include a short FAQs section that may answer a few questions you may have about CRM software.

Why Use a CRM?

All businesses that have, or plan to have, more than one customer should use a CRM system to keep track of important interactions with their customers, prospects, partners, vendors, and internal teams they work with to serve their customers.

“We had been using Excel to manage our vendors at the start, as we started small and didn’t really think about using a system. As we grew in vendors and customers, we needed a system to record the data and automate some of the processes. Our CRM helps us automate data entry by attaching one plug-in to Outlook, so all the emails are tracked. This reduces time needed to do mundane data entry.”

– Jun AnTan, Co-founder, Eezee.sg

What are CRM Examples?

The CRM market is very competitive, offering industry-specific and business stage-appropriate CRM examples. We have provided examples in this article as well as in our article on the types of CRM, where to find them, and how they work.

How Much Do CRMs cost?

CRM software varies in price. There are multitudes of free options to test and to start out with. There are also plenty of affordable options that cost under $20/user per month. The more specialized the CRM, like Automotive CRMs, Hospitality CRMs, or some Real Estate CRMs, the higher the prices tend to be.

Bottom Line

Businesses with more than one customer, manage multiple internal and external relationships, and operate within a major industry where relationships are key to sales and product delivery should use a CRM. A CRM will help you keep track of important interactions with their customers, prospects, partners, vendors, and internal teams so that you can close more deals and delight more customers.