So like several entrepreneurs, I too decided to start my own home grown/ internet presence only business. My idea of initiating such a venture was that it will add to my monthly earnings and promote a sense of internet presence and urge me to research about internet marketing. Now although I am starting as a small time home decor selling business and I do not expect it to go viral anytime soon, still I wanted an efficient way to manage my customer information and some way to keep a record as to what my interactions where with a customer and how likely is he to buy more from me. This enthusiasm required me to get my feet wet on a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solution for my business. Now my search for a CRM solution come with the criteria that it should come within my allocated budget, preferably free or a minimum setup cost, small not too bloated for its own good, simple to set up, does not involve intensive learning curve and if possible some way to backup customer information either online or some external hard drive for redundancy.
For my search I turned to trusted Google and placed a query for CRM solution for small business. My query produced 400,000 webpages. Apart from the top ads one of the first result page was from smallbizcrm.com. Something that immediately caught my attention to this website was that they not only lay top 10 or top 20 CRM solutions available in the market, but also educate their readers as to
- What it means to have a CRM solution for your business,
- Does a person really need a CRM solution for their business,
- Best way to evaluate horde of CRM applications currently available
- And a strategy plan as to how best to prep your business to reap maximum benefits of a CRM solution
All through the means of case studies and white papers that can be read online or downloaded for later viewing. Now although all CRM applications fulfill the same purpose however not all CRM applications are made equal.SmallBizCRM They categorized various CRM installation available in market based on availability, design, coding, hosting facilities, installation platforms, cost etc. Furthermore under each category they sorted applicable CRM solutions as per market reviews including their own experience with that version.
Reading through all their reviews and judging the popularity levels of various CRM applications definitely helped me to choose the CRM solution most applicable to my business needs. Did I mention that they offer whitepapers collected from many reputable sites that publish articles on CRM solutions and provide educative content to their readers!! All above analysis and whitepapers for their readers all without any registration needs or spam mails or unnecessary advertisements under the convenience of a single URL, what more can you ask of them!