Are you a business owner, CEO, sales director, or marketing director looking for the best CRM solution for your company? You’ve come to the right place. We have carefully selected and reviewed the market’s top CRM systems to help you streamline your sales and marketing processes and more! We’ll look at:
- What is a CRM system?
- What features are included in a CRM system?
- Top 10 best CRM systems for 2024
- How to choose the best CRM system for small businesses
- Streamline your sales and marketing processes with Radiant
What is a CRM solution?
A CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system is a software tool that helps companies manage and improve their customer relationships. It allows you to collect, research, and organize essential information about customers in one place, such as contact details, purchase history, and communication.
By using an effective CRM system, you can enjoy many benefits:
- It can increase productivity among sales and marketing teams by automating workflows and customer relationship management.
- It can also contribute to better customer experiences through personalized communication and targeted marketing.
- It serves as a source of truth regarding customer journeys, allowing you to track what works and what doesn’t.
- You make your data independent of individuals, as all information is stored in one place rather than in personal notebooks.
A typical CRM system has several basic features, including contact management, sales management, reporting and analysis, and task management. Additionally, many CRM systems offer features like lead scoring, email marketing automation, and integrated social media tools for even greater functionality.
Read our article on: What is CRM?
What features are included in a CRM system?
A CRM system contains various features to manage contacts, track the sales pipeline, automate marketing, and handle customer relationships. These features include:
- Customer Information
- Interaction History
- Sales Management
- Marketing Automation
- Sales Pipelines
- Reporting and Analysis
CRM systems help you gain an overview of all customer data and consolidate marketing, sales, and customer service activities into one system.
Customer information
A CRM system allows you to store and organize detailed information about each customer. Beyond basic data like name, address, and phone number, companies can record purchase history, interactions, preferences, and demographic details. This structuring of customer data makes it easier to get an overall view of each customer’s relationship with the company and helps build a personalized and more relevant approach to customer management. By keeping customer data up-to-date, sales and support teams can quickly access information, improving efficiency and reducing errors in customer interactions.
Interaction history
The CRM system records all past and present interactions with the customer, including emails, phone calls, meetings, and service requests. This provides a complete history of the customer journey and allows you to track which activities have most influenced the customer’s decision-making process. This insight can be used for attribution and analysis, enabling improvement and optimization of both sales and customer service. With an overview of interactions, all departments can get a cohesive picture of the customer, ensuring a consistent and coordinated experience.
Sales management
A CRM system offers tools that simplify managing the entire sales process, from the first contact with a lead to closing the sale. Sales teams can track and prioritize potential customers, monitor the progress of sales opportunities, and keep track of deadlines and tasks. Using the CRM system for sales management allows the team to follow where each potential customer is in the sales funnel, ensuring nothing gets overlooked along the way. Sales managers can also access reports and analyses that reveal how the sales process can be optimized and which activities yield the best results.
Marketing automation
Many CRM systems integrate marketing automation tools, allowing companies to build and execute campaigns effectively and targetedly. Features such as email campaigns, lead scoring, and segmentation make it easier to engage potential customers based on their behavior and preferences. Automating marketing processes reduces the need for manual work and increases campaign precision, resulting in higher conversion rates and a better customer journey. The marketing team can save time and resources while focusing on delivering personalized communication that reaches the right audience at the right time.
Sales Pipelines
A CRM system allows you to gain a structured overview of your sales pipelines. Here, you can track all ongoing deals and gain insight into which leads need to be contacted and when they are expected to move to the next stage in the process. The CRM system can also help identify stalled deals, ensuring they receive the necessary follow-up. With a clear view of the sales pipeline, the sales team can work more proactively and effectively, increasing the chances of closing more deals and achieving better results.
Read more about sales pipelines
Reporting and analytics
CRM systems often offer advanced reporting tools that provide insight into sales activities, customer satisfaction, and other key indicators. Data is typically presented visually on dashboards, making it easy for companies to get a quick overview of important performance figures and trends. Using these tools, companies can make informed decisions based on data and actual numbers rather than intuition. With ongoing access to dashboards and reports, companies can better understand their performance, identify areas for improvement, and optimize strategies for more effective results
Top 10 Best CRM Systems 2024
Below is a list of the 10 best CRM systems we would recommend. This general list is based on our experience with CRM implementation and feedback from other companies.
1. HubSpot CRM
- HubSpot CRM is one of the best CRM solutions on the market in 2024. It offers a comprehensive package of contact management, sales management, and marketing automation features. HubSpot CRM is known for its user-friendliness and also provides integrated social media and email marketing tools.
- Pros: HubSpot can serve as an all-around tool that brings marketing, sales, service, CMS, and operations together in one place. The entire company can manage daily operations here, leveraging data across departments. It’s easy to get started with and scalable as your needs grow.
- Cons: HubSpot covers a broad range, meaning it’s suitable for many but not specialized for specific industries, so specific requirements might need custom coding.
Read more about the other CRM systems in the list, and learn how to choose the best CRM system for small businesses.
2. Salesforce
Salesforce is one of the most popular CRM solutions globally, offering a wide range of features, including contact management, sales management, and reporting. Known for its scalability, it can be customized to suit various business needs.
- Pros: Salesforce is a comprehensive CRM system that can meet diverse needs. Similar to HubSpot, it enables the entire company to manage daily operations within the platform.
- Cons: Due to its extensive features, Salesforce can be costly and typically requires a company to reach a certain scale for implementation to be practical.
Read more on salesforce
3. Microsoft Dynamics 365
Microsoft Dynamics 365 is a powerful CRM solution that integrates seamlessly with Microsoft’s productivity tools, such as Office and Teams. With advanced features like lead scoring, email marketing automation, and AI-driven sales forecasting, it combines CRM and ERP functionalities, making it ideal for manufacturing and distribution companies.
- Pros: Its integration with the Microsoft ecosystem makes Dynamics 365 a natural choice for companies using Microsoft products. The ERP functionalities also suit manufacturing companies needing inventory and supply chain management.
- Cons: The platform can be complex and may feel cumbersome for businesses without ERP needs, with extensive features that demand significant setup and maintenance.
Read more on Microsoft Dynamics
4. SAP Sales Cloud
SAP Sales Cloud is part of SAP’s larger C/4HANA suite, designed as an all-in-one customer service solution. It combines sales automation with predictive analytics and machine learning, enabling sales teams to anticipate customer behavior and streamline sales processes.
- Pros: SAP Sales Cloud provides deep insights into customer data, leveraging AI and machine learning to boost sales performance. It’s ideal for companies with complex sales processes and large data volumes.
- Cons: Implementing SAP Sales Cloud can be complex and often requires substantial investment, making it less suited for smaller businesses or those with simpler sales models.
Read more about SAP
5. Zoho CRM
Zoho CRM is known as a budget-friendly CRM solution that still offers a wide range of features, including contact management, sales management, and marketing automation. The platform provides many customization options and integrations, making it a popular choice for small and medium-sized businesses.
- Pros: Zoho CRM is budget-friendly and offers great flexibility with many customization options. It is easy to use and supports integrations with several other tools that can be adapted to the needs of a business.
- Cons: Some of the more advanced features may require an upgrade to a paid plan, and the system may be less robust for companies with complex sales processes.
6. Oracle CX Sale
Oracle CX Sales is part of Oracle’s Customer Experience (CX) suite and offers a range of advanced tools for sales automation, AI-driven insights, and detailed reporting. The platform is known for being robust and is often used by larger companies that require advanced solutions to optimize their sales processes.
- Pros: Oracle CX Sales delivers advanced AI technology, helping companies gain deeper insights into their sales processes and customer engagement. It is well-suited for larger companies with complex needs.
- Cons: Oracle CX Sales can be costly and complex to implement, often requiring IT resources for maintenance.
7. Insightly
Insightly is a CRM and project management tool designed specifically for small and medium-sized businesses. It offers contact management, sales tracking, and project management, making it easy for teams to organize their work and improve internal collaboration.
- Pros: Insightly provides project management alongside CRM, making it an excellent choice for companies looking for both functionalities in one solution. The system is also user-friendly and easy to set up.
- Cons: It may lack some advanced CRM features that larger companies need, and integrations may be more limited compared to larger CRM platforms.
8. Freshworks
Freshworks CRM combines sales and marketing functions with artificial intelligence to provide companies with a 360-degree view of their customers. The platform is known for its user-friendliness and scalability and is well-suited for growing companies.
- Pros: The user-friendliness and AI-driven features make Freshworks CRM a powerful tool for companies seeking a comprehensive solution. Its scalability means it can grow alongside the business.
- Cons: Freshworks CRM may lack some advanced features that very large companies need, making it less suited for the most complex requirements.
9. Pipedrive
Pipedrive is designed with a focus on meeting booking, sales teams, and simplifying the sales process for sales teams. With its intuitive drag-and-drop interface, Pipedrive makes it easy to manage leads and sales opportunities and is particularly well-suited for companies that want to focus on pipeline management.
- Pros: The ease of use and focused design make Pipedrive a popular choice for small and medium-sized businesses. It’s quick to implement and doesn’t require technical expertise.
- Cons: It lacks some features for larger or more complex organizations, and there are limited integration options compared to some of the larger CRM systems.
Read more about Pipedrive.
10. Bitrix24
Bitrix24 is a versatile business platform that combines CRM, project management, collaboration tools, and communication features. The platform helps companies manage customer interactions, sales opportunities, invoicing, as well as automate workflows and email marketing.
Pros: Bitrix24 offers both cloud-based and on-premise options and is ideal for companies needing a flexible solution that can handle various business functions.
Cons: The platform’s many features can be complex to set up and may require time and customization for smaller companies or teams that only need a simple CRM system.
Summary
These CRM systems have been recognized as some of the best CRM systems on the market in 2024. They offer a wide range of features and are known for their reliability and user-friendliness. Whether you need a CRM system to organize your contacts, manage the sales process, or automate your marketing campaigns, there is certainly a CRM solution on this list that will suit your needs.
You may find our comparison of CRM systems here.
How to choose the best CRM system for small businesses
The best CRM systems strengthen your sales process on many levels, but which one is right for your company? At some point, it’s no longer feasible to maintain a complete overview of your potential and existing customers in spreadsheets and documents. However, you still need to ensure that sales teams work with the right leads at the right time.
That’s why you need a powerful CRM system.
There are MANY options out there, and choosing the right one requires a lot of consideration and research. With the right CRM system, you can:
- Get an overview of all interactions with potential and existing customers.
- Integrate and target your sales and marketing activities.
- Build and strengthen relationships with existing customers.
- Improve collaboration between sales and marketing.
- Generate and nurture leads into customers.
At Radiant, we have a clear favorite when it comes to CRM systems. But before we tell you which one, here are three things you should consider before choosing your CRM system.
3 tips when choosing a CRM system
We’ve listed our top three tips to consider when choosing your new CRM system. Then, we’ll give you our absolute favorite and explain why it could also be the right solution for your business.
- Know Your Needs – Both Now and in the Future
The needs you have today won’t necessarily be the same in two years. Therefore, your new CRM system should adapt to your evolving requirements. It should be flexible and scalable, so it grows with you. It’s also worth considering whether all employees need all features, or if different departments have different needs.
- Integrated with Your Marketing Efforts
The purpose of a CRM system is to streamline your sales and marketing efforts. Ensure that these functions are included or at least possible to integrate. If integration isn’t possible, the system will be difficult to use, and if it’s challenging, it won’t get done. The CRM system should integrate with all aspects of your marketing—from website to social media, paid ads, email, and calls. Additionally, your CRM system should also integrate with the rest of your business tools, such as Office 365, ERP systems, and finance or HR software.
- Employee Support and Training
Regardless of which CRM system you choose, you won’t see its full potential without world-class implementation, including what might be the most critical aspect: training your employees in the new system so they can utilize all features fully. You should consider the support options that come with the CRM system. You might also consider getting assistance from a certified partner to define, implement, and train employees in the system and new processes.
Get the best CRM system with HubSpot
With HubSpot, you get the best CRM system for your company. At Radiant, we have tested many different CRM systems and concluded that HubSpot is the best CRM system.
HubSpot delivers the best features to help organize and streamline the sales and marketing processes in your company. From lead generation to customer service, HubSpot gives you the necessary tools to increase productivity and improve the customer experience.
The solution has an intuitive user interface and advanced reporting options, making HubSpot the ideal choice for business owners, CEOs, sales directors, marketing directors, and other decision-makers looking for an effective CRM solution.
When is HubSpot the right CRM for you?
- B2B Companies with a Complex Product or Service
The more a potential customer needs to know before they decide to buy, the more content you need to guide this lead through the buying journey. Content can inspire and educate the potential customer and answer any questions they may have. This type of marketing is also known as Inbound Marketing or Content Marketing, which HubSpot excels at. B2B companies that practice Inbound Marketing with quality content are the perfect match for HubSpot, both in terms of the Marketing Hub and CRM.
- B2B Companies with a Hybrid of Transactional and Relational Sales Processes
Complex products and services often come with long sales processes. For many companies, this process can span several months, requiring substantial resources to nurture relationships with each individual lead. Providing the right information at the right time is crucial for closing deals, which is where HubSpot shines. HubSpot isn’t just a CRM system; it’s also a powerful platform for marketing automation, allowing you to create automated email campaigns and content workflows to ensure your potential customers receive precisely the information they need when they need it to make the right decision and become a customer.
- B2B Companies with a Narrow Target Audience
Companies working with a very narrow target audience can often benefit from HubSpot, as the system performs well with well-defined segments. You can segment your audience in numerous ways, and HubSpot will help you personalize messages, create workflows, and call-to-actions, and much more. This way, you not only target your content toward your audience but also improve their experience. Additionally, you can track the behavior of your potential customers, so you know exactly when sales should reach out and start a conversation.
Get a free introduction to HubSpot
Streamline your sales and marketing processes with Radiant
CRM (Customer Relationship Management) systems play a crucial role in modern businesses. A CRM solution helps increase efficiency, optimize the sales process and improve customer satisfaction. By choosing the right CRM system, business owners, CEOs and other decision-makers can achieve greater efficiency, data-driven decisions and a more streamlined business.
There are a lot of CRM solutions out there, from HubSpot to SalesForce to Zoho, but at Radiant, we’ve found that the best solution is HubSpot. HubSpot is an easy-to-use CRM and a scalable solution that covers all aspects of your business.
If you choose HubSpot, it is relevant to seek out a HubSpot Partner (such as Radiant) as they can help with price negotiation, identifying which hubs you should choose and implementing HubSpot.
At Radiant, we can help optimize and implement your HubSpot, just like we’ve done for more than 100 companies. We have done this through HubSpot as a Service and Sales as a Service.
With HubSpot as a Service, you get a CRM solution that ties all your marketing, sales, customer service and CMS investments together. This way, you can ensure that you always have easy access to the right data and the latest tools to streamline your sales and marketing processes.
