It’s imperative for a small business to keep track of their sales pipeline, leads, clients, and contacts. There are so many CRM (Customer Management System) options available to business owners nowadays, it can be hard to figure which is best for your particular business and your current progress. A B2C Freelancer just starting out will need something small, simple, and easy to pickup and run with. But a B2B company in year 5 of business may need something to track multiple contacts and positions inside each lead and client, to identify the contacts that they are working closely with at a clients business.

Below, you’ll see a breakdown of as many CRM’s that we could find, and a little bit about each one. At the bottom of the article, we’ll weigh in on which one(s) we like the most for your business, and why. Enjoy!

Act! Cloud— Act! Cloud, by Swiftpage, combines contact management with email-marketing to help you get organized, convert new customers and get more from your existing customers. The software takes the guesswork out of choosing where to focus time and resources by offering you intelligent, prioritized recommendations based on the level of engagement of your customers and prospects.

— If you’re looking for a simpler way to acquire leads and maintain customer relationships, AllProWebTools’ CRM software is quite a unique integrated solution. This CRM tool is part of a business suite that also includes email, Web and e-commerce hosting, marketing, task management, and timecards.  Having all these tools available from one dashboard helps to keep you organized and can really save you time.

 — Apptivo CRM marries contact and lead management with project management and marketing software to help your business connect better with customers. Apptivo CRM is s part of Apptivo’s suite of business solutions, which you can find here:

 — Use Outlook as your CRM software with Avidian. The company’s own Prophet CRM can turn your inbox into a full-featured, mobile-friendly CRM solution. From contacts to emails, tasks, notes, appointments and meetings, Avidian also syncs all your data in a familiar platform you likely are already using every day.

— Dubbed an “intelligent productivity platform,” Base CRM is all about using data to help your business make wiser, more informed sales decisions. It closely monitors your sales pipeline, sales rep activities, goals and quotas to make sure your team is productive and succeeding.

 — Bluenose combines big data analytics with powerful technology for customer-success management. Known as a “Customer Success” platform, the software empowers software-as-a-service (SaaS) businesses to proactively manage and engage their customers through its insight-driven toolkit, built-in playbooks and more.

— Created for real estate agents, BoomTown’s predictive CRM software is specifically for agents, teams, brokerage firms and other real estate professionals. Services include lead generation, a website builder, success management and the ability to manage multiple offices. If you’re in the real estate industry, this is definitely the system we recommend.

— Bullhorn CRM is designed to help service-oriented businesses to strengthen relationships with customers while improving sales productivity and driving growth. There are also dedicated CRM software offerings for niche businesses, such as staffing and recruitment firms and PR agencies.

 — Campaigner offers two types of CRM software. One is for a business that deal with shorter, simpler sales processes, while the other combines CRM with sales-process management to help companies with longer, more complex sales processes. The latter option offers more advanced functionality, such as reporting, customization, and a sales process API.

 — Capsule aims to make CRM as simple as possible by offering six core capabilities to help you run your business: managing relationships, managing the sales pipeline, organizing emails, saving contact histories, performing task management and completing customization.

— Specifically designed for small to midsize businesses, Commence is a Web-based CRM software that’s both powerful and affordable. It’s also designed for fast deployment, meaning it’s easy for you to implement so that you can get started right away. If you’re just starting out and have no time to wait, this is a great system to use.

— Need a premise-based CRM software? Unlike cloud-based CRM software, GoldMine is installed on your own servers and infrastructure to give you more control over your software. In addition to its many CRM features, the company also offers one of the best rated customer support systems, so you can get help right when you need it.

 — GreenRope combines the best of CRM with robust marketing automation to help you save time and dedicate more resources to closing sales. Additional features include project management, collaboration tools, e-commerce, event management and more.

— Hatchbuck is an all-in-one marketing and sales tool built with small businesses in mind. It focuses on simplicity, ease of use and affordability, while giving you all the tools you need to organize your customer data and automate your marketing processes.

— Also a top contender on our list of best CRM software, Highrise focuses on helping you manage three key areas of your business: contacts, tasks and communications. You can maintain and share contacts with your team, create tasks and set reminders, and even keep track of your emails, notes and other forms of correspondence.

— A popular inbound marketing and sales platform, Hubspot’s CRM software streamlines your sales process across multiple channels in your organization. It works in the background to save you from wasting time manually performing repetitive sales and marketing tasks. The software also specializes in automatically logging and syncing data from different sources of communication, such as your website, phone calls, emails, social media and much more. While Hubspot is newer to the CRM game compared to some of the others on this list, the platform is robust with extensive features for your marketing automation needs.

Infusionsoft — Infusionsoft is a favorite among many small business owners we’ve worked with, because of its ease of use and because it offers a comprehensive set of CRM tools at a small-business-friendly price. Particularly for the businesses in the eCommerce industry, this platform offers just about everything you could need to sell, track, and follow-up with eCommerce website sales and leads. Users particularly liked its automation features, ability to nurture leads all the way to closing the sales and extras like email marketing, billing and project management.

Insightly 

— Insightly is a simple, innovative solution that grows with your business. It offers both basic and advanced capabilities, so you can start with a free or super-affordable standard plan, then upgrade your package as your business expands.

LeadMaster 

— If you’re looking for a very simple way to gather, manage and convert leads, LeadMaster may be it. First, the software aims to save you hours of time spent looking for high-quality leads by automating your marketing system. Next, its sales lead-management tools helps you turn those leads into sales by making it easy for you to track, analyze and communicate with those prospects.

Maximizer 

— Maximizer is an all-in-one and flexible CRM solution that can be completely customized to cater to your business’s unique needs. In addition to offering three robust CRM tools — sales management, marketing automation and customer service — the software also gives you a choice of using the cloud-based version of the software or an on-premise version hosted on your own servers.

Method:CRM 

— Are you using QuickBooks as your accounting software? Intuit-approved Method works with QuickBooks to integrate your customer data with your financial data. This software links and syncs everything from contact information to invoices, purchase histories and much more to give you a complete view of customers in one, easily accessible place.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 

— Microsoft Dynamics CRM takes a different approach to CRM. The software uses social insights, business intelligence and campaign management to help your business strengthen relationships with customers, improve marketing campaigns and, ultimately, boost sales. It is available in the cloud, on premise or a combination of both, and you can integrate the software with Office 365 for even more productivity.

NetSuite CRM 

— NetSuite CRM lets you track leads through each step of the customer lifecycle, from lead generation to prospect nurturing, sales ordering, fulfillment and support. It also will show you opportunities for up-selling and cross-selling, as well as renewals to boost sales and maintain customer loyalty. It’s other features include order management, commission management, sales forecasting and e-commerce.

Nimble 

— Does your business rely heavily on social media marketing? Known as an Intelligent Relationship Platform, Nimble automatically syncs all types of contact data across multiple channels, including social media. It uses “social listening” to filter contacts and prospects on sites like Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn to help you find and close high-value opportunities. The software also syncs emails, direct messages and @mentions, making them easily accessible straight from your dashboard.

Related: Social Media Marketing Topics

Nutshell 

— Specifically built for small businesses, Nutshell helps you close sales fast. In addition to standard CRM features like contact and lead management, Nutshell also offers collaboration tools, custom reporting and third-party integrations. The software also automatically imports Gmail messages, events and meetings into your Google Calendar. In addition, it promises fast deployment, so you can get started in no time.

Odoo 

— Odoo is an open-source software that focuses on tracking leads, closing opportunities and generating accurate forecasts. And because it’s open source, it lets you customize the software to your exact needs and add on a wide range of apps. Supported apps include marketing, project management, e-commerce, Website building, billing, accounting and even human resources. Odoo is a little on the pricier side, however. It requires a monthly per-user fee in addition to a monthly per-app fee, though you get two free users to start. You can also use the software on multiple companies for an additional fee.

 — PipelineDeals doesn’t just help you boost sales; it also helps you and your staff be more productive. What makes it stand out from other CRM software is that it really goes the extra mile. For example, it can send snapshots of your pipeline to your inbox every morning so that you know exactly how your business is doing before you even open the software. Plans also come with premium support, so you can reach a real, live PipelineDeals representative any time to help resolve any issues.

— Sage CRM is an all-in-one solution that lets you do more with your CRM. In addition to your contact and lead management, Sage CRM offers targeted marketing, email marketing, social CRM and much more. It also comes with a built-in customer-service portal to help you deliver excellent customer support.

— Our top pick for the best CRM software for small business, Salesforce has everything you need in a cloud-based CRM software. It’s affordable and easy to use, and offers a ton of features at a small business price point. It also comes with top-notch customer support, so you can get help any time you need it. In addition, their App Exchange has a huge variety of different apps for third party integrations, additional features, and more. We’ll share more thoughts on Salesforce at the end of this article.

— Salesnet takes CRM to the next level by pairing it with Microsoft Office. Besides Salesnet’s native CRM features, the software integrates with Outlook to automatically sync contacts, meetings and tasks; Excel to view and edit reports; and Word to merge data and attach files to the software. It’s pretty sweet!

— If you want a truly comprehensive CRM solution, check out Snapforce. This CRM software eliminates the need to use multiple tools to manage your business. In addition to core CRM features, Snapforce offers cloud-based file storage, calendars and event management, email syncing with your email client, and case management via a ticket system. It also comes with a complete call center software, so customers can reach you with a simple phone call.

— Another favorite among small business owners, SugarCRM is a powerful CRM software that integrates sales, marketing and employee tracking. The base plan comes with a robust set of features, such as sales automation and forecasting, lead management, call-center automation, reporting, unlimited customizations and unlimited online support. SugarCRM is available as a cloud-based or on-premise software.

 — Known for its high level of customer satisfaction, Workbooks is one of our runner-ups for the best CRM software for small business. It focuses on four core areas of CRM: sales to boost your business’s growth, highly targeted marketing to help you get the most ROI, order fulfillment to streamline your sales processing, and customer support to help keep your customers happy. A free version is available for up to two users, and it also comes with free online support.

— One of our top pick for best free CRM software, the Zoho CRM is packed with features, despite its free price tag. Unlike other free CRM software, Zoho CRM offers a ton of premium capabilities and lets you add up to 10 users at no extra cost. If you’re just getting started, Zoho literally has a ton of options and features that you can add once you need them. For example, as your business grows and you begin to receive more and more leads, you can connect to Zoho Campaigns to nurture your leads with email automation. If you need project management, customer service systems, online meeting capabilities, or even client invoices, Zoho offers pretty much everything you could need at a pretty reasonable price. And the best part is, you can tailor it to your business needs, and your businesses timing.

We personally used Zoho here at our small business marketing company for years, and loved every aspect of it – Adding features that we needed as we grew. It’s a favorite among our staff, and we highly recommend them.

And the winner is…

Salesforce Automation. It’s really not about what Salesforce can do, but more what can’t you do with Salesforce. The answer is nothing based on this extensive platform, plus the integration of hundreds of third party apps and scripts – It can handle every marketing, sales, or customer service need that you might have. For example:

• Salesforce Marketing: Salesforce professional edition helps the marketing team of your business create and track various marketing campaigns to measure the success rate and automatically provide leads to the sales team of the company, complete with notes and action points to help move a prospect through your sales funnel.
• Salesforce Customer Support: Salesforce also keeps  track of various customer issues and tracks them for resolution based on various escalation rules such as the importance of the client and elapsed time. This improves your client satisfaction levels as the issues won’t fall through cracks and are directly escalated to the next level.
• Salesforce Management: With visual dashboards and extensive reporting features, Salesforce provides the management of a company with visibility on what is happening in different teams throughout your company.
• Salesforce for Training: Salesforce has very robust training and support features that are way above the industry standards. Salesforce users can easily find answers to their questions from the extensive online help manual and the video walk facility. In addition, the App Exchange sections show user reviews and experiences to help you with the third party integrations.
• Application Integration: Salesforce can be integrated with other systems to extend its functionality through the Salesforce business app store – the AppExchange.

Salesforce CRM was awarded as the World’s Most Innovative Company by Forbes Innovators for 4 continuous years (2011-2014). Salesforce also featured in FORTUNE’s 100 Best Companies to work for in 2012-2014.

With over 2 million customers; which include popular data giants namely Fujitsu, Facebook, Coca-Cola, L’Oreal, Sony, and Vodafone; Salesforce CRM is truly the clear market leader in the CRM Software market. 

Now it’s your turn. Did we forget someone from our list? What have your experiences been with CRM systems, and which was your favorite?