CRM’s come in all shapes and sizes. There are small ones, big ones, easy ones, and complicated ones. You can find CRMs for big companies, small companies, and specialized CRMs designed for specific industries.

What is a CRM?

What is a CRM? …you ask. In simple terms, a CRM is a software tool that helps companies manage their client interactions. CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management. It is the place where you put all your contacts and all of their information.

If you don’t have a CRM, your contact information is probably all over the place: In spreadsheets, paper notebooks, scattered business cards, post-it notes on your wall…well you get the idea.

A CRM helps businesses get organized, get new customers, manage their current customers, and follow up with past customers.

What Kinds of CRMs are Available?

There are many ways you can categorize CRMs. One of the easiest ways is using Small, Medium, and Large scales. When we talk about small, medium, and large, we are not only talking about the company size they are designed for, we are also talking about the size and complexity of the CRM itself. That makes sense, because a large corporation, like Amazon, for example, will have different needs than a mom-and-pop shop or a solo real estate agent.

Large CRMs

CRMs that would fall in the Large Category would include SalesForce, Zoho, Microsoft Dynamics, Oracle CRM, Sugar CRM, and others. These CRMs are highly customizable and can do everything a large company needs, and more. The corporations that have these CRMs have a team of technical experts and programmers on staff to keep the CRM up and running. 

These experts will customize the CRM specifically for the needs of their company. So as an example, Amazon and Apple both use Salesforce as their CRM. However, the implementation of Salesforce for these two companies is completely different. Amazon and Apple have customized Salesforce so much that you would not even recognize the CRM if you saw it in action at these companies.

Medium CRMs

CRMs for medium-sized companies would include HubSpot,  Pipedrive, Infusionsoft, ActiveCampaign, Insightly, and others. These CRMs would have all the power needed for a medium-sized business but without a lot of the complexity required by the big companies. You will still need technical help to set up, run and maintain these CRMs, but you will probably only need one or two technical experts for these CRMs.

Small CRMs

AllClients, Vendasta, Nimble, Thryv, and Less Annoying CRM are among the CRM class that would be best for small businesses. With these CRMs, you will not need a programmer on staff or any outside technical expertise to configure, use and maintain the CRM. 

In the case of AllClients, we don’t even have a user manual as we feel if the CRM needs a manual, it is too complex. AllClients has an intuitive interface that allows a non-technical user to get in, do what they need to do, and get out. AllClients also has over 100 video tutorials that will teach you anything and everything in 3 minutes or less.

What is the Worst CRM?

Now let’s get to the heart of the matter: What is the worst CRM out there? 

The worst CRM is the CRM that is used for the wrong type of company. For example, if you are a Real Estate agent (you are in the small column), and you use SalesForce (large) or you use HubSpot (medium) you will find those CRMs to be the absolute worst for you. You will not be able to set them up without (expensive) technical help, and it will be a money pit for you for years to come. Not to mention the fact that it will not even be a useful tool for you and not provide you with the functions unique to a small business. 

If your company has 300 employees and you try to use Less Annoying CRM, you will find that to be the worst CRM for you. Less Annoying CRM will not give you the features and functions you need to run your medium size business and you will constantly be trying to get more out of it than it is capable of. 

Any CRM will be the worst CRM when it is used by the wrong company profile. As you have heard it said, it is always best when you “stay in your lane”! Big companies should choose Salesforce, medium companies should choose HubSpot and small companies should choose AllClients. 

If you are a small (or very small company) try AllClients for free, right now! Sign up for a free trial ➟ here.

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