Remember Super Mario Bros. on the Nintendo Entertainment System?
As Mario, we fought through endless monsters and traps to save Princess Peach from the castle where evil King Koopa held her captive.
But, upon arrival, we learned that the Princess was in another castle.
Every. Darn. Time…
This is a little like your search for input on how to choose a CRM.
Here’s why…
How to Choose Input on Choosing CRMs
Look at Google’s page #1 for anything related to “how to choose a CRM.”
You’ll notice two things.
1. The articles are written either by CRM companies, or a marketing agency affiliated with CRM companies (I’m looking at you, HubSpot.)
That’s because their real goal is NOT to help you choose a CRM. It’s to get you to sign up for theirs.
2. The guides are extremely looooooooooong, presenting a lot of the same content.
That’s because they also have the goal to rank for the top keywords around choosing a CRM. So they copy each other and make articles as long as possible, hoping Google will think theirs is the best.
Don’t believe me? Just look at the phrases they hyperlink inside the post relating to CRM’s and you’ll see : )
This is called ‘skyscraper content’ because each article aims to one-up the other. Castles… skyscrapers… it makes no difference.
Neither have your princess.
What you’re reading right now may be the first “how to choose a CRM” article in all of humanity’s long and turbulent history written completely WITHOUT an agenda to sell you a CRM.
What a day…
The Only Thing That Matters
Your CRM is your link between marketing and sales. Quantitative data on the marketing side, and qualitative data from the sales side.For those who got this far and still wondering what CRM software is, it’s where companies manage and track customer interactions.
THAT’S what really matters. It’s like this:
Quantitative
- Traffic source
- Pages viewed
- Number of articles read
- Resources downloaded
- Links clicked
- Emails opened
Qualitative
- Prospect notes
- Next steps
- How close to buying
- Objections to handle
- General thoughts from salesperson
When a lead is in the early or middle stages of your funnel, they’re not ready for sales. When they’re at the bottom of your funnel? They are.
That’s why we have MQLs (Marketing Qualified Leads) and SQLs (Sales Qualified Leads). This distinction matters when choosing your CRM, and you can think of it kinda like the image below.
You’re just asking: is this lead close to buying, or not?
Many books have been written on CRM strategy. It’s DEEP.
But choosing a CRM can be simplified by focusing on the idea that a CRM links marketing to sales. And simple statements like that can be guiding lights when making complex decisions.
So, when assessing your CRM simply ask yourself:
Does this product simplify interactions between marketing and sales, or not?
If you walk away right now, and keep that question in mind while assessing your CRM options, you’ll make a better choice than you would have 60 seconds ago.
But… read on for more CRM decision-making flower power.
How to Choose Your CRM
Do you think you could choose the right CRM if you didn’t understand all the touch-points between your marketing and sales teams?
Probably not.
At a certain point in the set-up, you’d realize the thing(s) you’d overlooked and regret the subscription you’d signed up for.
My goal here is to help you avoid that scenario, making this article the one that truly helps your CRM decision. I suppose, metaphorically speaking, that would make ME Princess Peach.
But that’s a hit I’m willing to take.
So I created a masterpiece for you. I call it the CRM Choice Simplifier. Yes, it’s a terrible name, and it may not look like much, but it works like magic. Make a copy so you can use the drop-downs.
You’ll find a tab you can select at the bottom to see an example of how to use it. But before you click the link…
I’ll make you a deal.
You finish reading this article to the end, so Google is happy with our on-page behavior metrics, and I’ll tell you how to get the best results from the CRM Choice Simplifier.
Sound good?
Awesome. Here’s a step-by-step set of questions to help. It’ll make sense when you fill it in.
- What are the touch points for your leads?
- What steps nurture those leads after each event?
- What marketing actions happen next? (For MQLs)
- What sales actions happen next? (For SQLs)
- What are the potential outcomes of these events?
- What are the holes in your current process?
- What bottlenecks nurturing a lead to the next step?
- What bottlenecks your sales/sign-up processes?
NOW, you’re ready to determine what you need your CRM to do.
This process helps you decide on your “MUST-have” and “nice-to-have” features. Essentially, you’re mapping out the problem you’re actually trying to solve.
Invest a little time to figure that out, and your CRM choice will deliver those returns that somewhere deep down, you know you’re hoping for.
Here are a few other questions that can help fill out your template more effectively:
- Who will use the CRM and is ease-of-use important?
- Is there anyone on your team you should include in the decision-making process?
- What (if any) customer support features do you need?
- What are the most common ways your leads go cold and does this CRM help you address these issues?
- Do the pricing options fit with your scaling strategy?
- Do you need a lot of flexibility for software integrations?
So consider these questions and then fill in the CRM Choice Simplifier. It’s designed to help you consider each event because a flow chart (an “if this, then that” type of process) won’t allow you to dial in each item with enough detail to help with your choice.
But, when you document each of your lead’s touch points, you can.
And you’ll discover that there aren’t all that many touch points to document, so while there’s plenty of space to work with in the spreadsheet, you won’t need all of it.
Beware the Bells and Whistles
So often people tell me they’re looking at HubSpot or Infusionsoft because they’re the big players in the CRM space.
But does that mean they’re right for you?
Not before you thoroughly vet them.
It’s too easy to mess around with complicated tools and get distracted by “shiny-thing syndrome” instead of doing real work.
What if you buy a CRM with tons of bells and whistles but it doesn’t have one feature you really needed (but didn’t realize because you didn’t use the CRM Choice Simplifier linked above)?
Then it’s easy to blame poor results on something that was missing.
When you assess what you need, you won’t just sign up for a CRM with tons of arbitrary features. Instead, you’ll choose a CRM that fits with your business.
Excessive features means wading through a jungle of an interface, which can make your operations LESS efficient.
And that’s why it’s good to get advice on choosing a CRM from someone who doesn’t sell CRMs.
Got Questions or Think I Missed Something?
So let me know if you’ve questions.
This isn’t the “everything you’ll ever you need to know guide,” but it should help you cut through a ton of noise from CRM companies trying to get you to buy theirs.
The CRM Choice Simplifier linked above – it’s your Princess Peach. Take the time to fill it out, and you’ll see the results you’re hoping for.
