Top 14 CRM Packages Experts Recommend For Medium Sized Businesses 2021

Peter Lim [Public domain]
4 years ago

Customer relation managing software is a powerful tool that lets you understand your customers. Their priorities, what they expect from your services are incredibly valuable if you want to improve your business.

Many of the experienced experts that we reach out to use these CRMs for their own businesses. These CRMs are proven to be effective components for their operations, so why not take their advice and trial one of them?

#1 Zoho Desk

Zoho Desk
Who suggested this product?
The Zoho Desk was recommended by Will Hatton from Hotel Jules. You can find out more about Will Hatton here or read their product recommendation below.

Easy to setup and use from the get go. The reports are great and we found it integrated with our other software issued free,, saving us a lot of time and potential headaches. We found it excellent in comparison to two others we tried – Salesforce and Zendesk.

It used to lose track of customer issues once raised, but this has been solved with an update or bug fix from them. Top marks all round.

We look for ease of use, good technical support and good onboarding for new staff – perfect for a medium sized business.

#2 HubSpot CRM

HubSpot CRM
Who suggested this product?
The HubSpot CRM was recommended by Lance Thompson from Idea Rocket Labs Marketing. You can find out more about Lance Thompson here or read their product recommendation below.

HubSpot CRM is an excellent solution for medium-sized businesses for several reasons.

First, it’s clean and uncluttered interface makes it fast and easy to learn. Other CRM solutions can be overwhelming with too much data in a cluttered interface with steep learning curves. The easier to learn the faster you get a return on your money.

Second, it’s intuitive and easy to use making it far more likely that it will actually get used by your sales teams. There’s nothing worse than paying a lot of money for software that no one uses. It also connects into your Gmail or Outlook, putting tools right in your email program, which is where many people spend the majority of their time.

Third, it ties your sales and marketing together into one cohesive solution. The benefit is that it lets you measure your ROI across all your sales and marketing channels.

#3 Velocify

Velocify
Who suggested this product?
The Velocify was recommended by Danny Ray from PinnacleQuote Life Insurance Specialists. You can find out more about Danny Ray here or read their product recommendation below.

I have used more than a few CRM’s in my day. In my opinion, the best one available to consumers is Velocify. I have used their LeadManager and Dial-IQ in addition to their software CRM. I recommend this as it will increase productivity and conversion over 200%.

#4 Pipedrive

Pipedrive
Who suggested this product?
The Pipedrive was recommended by John Hill from Adapted Growth. You can find out more about John Hill here or read their product recommendation below.

I have played with many CRM’s, as that is what I do for most of my clients, but the one I keep coming back to as my primary recommendation is Pipedrive. There are a couple of reasons why it is my favorite:

  • It helps you create good sales habits. When you complete an activity, it will prompt you to create a new activity. Always get a follow up activity.
  • It integrates very easily with email. Being able to track emails as part of a deal reduces the amount of manual typing and that keeps salespeople happy while giving managers tracking.
  • It is very easy to track what is happening with your sales results on a short or long term basis. You can’t improve if you don’t know where you are. As an owner or sales leader you know that your pipeline is the lifeblood of your business.
  • Makes email automation approachable. Many salespeople wish that they could shorten or automate their sales cycle, Pipedrive makes it easier than any other CRM I have used.

#5 Regpack

Regpack
Who suggested this product?
The Regpack was recommended by Samantha Avneri from Regpack. You can find out more about Samantha Avneri here or read their product recommendation below.

Regpack is an online onboarding and payment tool that allows small and medium sized businesses onboard and manage clients easily. A back end portal allows for easy and powerful filtering, email functionality, reports, payments, if needed, and more. Regpack is the tool every organization needs to manage their data!

#6 Vtiger CRM

Vtiger CRM
Who suggested this product?
The Vtiger CRM was recommended by Kirsty Englander from Englander Davis. You can find out more about Kirsty Englander here or read their product recommendation below.

I have used vTiger CRM for just over 6 years now, after being Salesforce trained and using a number of different systems, vTiger stood out as the best and most cost-efficient for me and my companies, all my businesses entailed a lot of clients and staff and therefore the systems we used had to be right. Vtiger is a growing business and therefore they allow your business to request changes and customisation that you need. The system helps you streamline your work and allows you to see developments quickly. I have been able to customise almost everything needed into the system and the automation is a real lifesaver. It is easy to schedule through the system and the interface is easy and simple to use. vTiger is in our opinion the best all-in-one solution.

#7 Podio

Podio
Who suggested this product?
The Podio was recommended by Neeta from Chennai Dream Homes®. You can find out more about Neeta here or read their product recommendation below.

There are a lot of plug n’play CRM solutions on the market targeting specific industries such as retail/e-commerce, real estate, etc. however for a medium sized business that stores a lot more customer, marketing and business data, it’s important to have the best features of a CRM, along with the flexibility to make it your own, according to your own business workflows.

Podio shines in this respect – it allows you start quickly with pre-built apps in the marketplace, while also being able to build your own apps, workflows and relationships using simple drag and drop. Any good CRM worth its salt should ofcourse also offer tasks, calendar, and email automation, and Podio does that very well. There is a small learning curve, but the efficiency you gain from this initial investment is priceless.

#8 Salesforce

Salesforce
Who suggested this product?
The Salesforce was recommended by Fiona Kay from Nigel Wright Group. You can find out more about Fiona Kay here or read their product recommendation below.

Salesforce gives us the ability to share information between seemingly disparate teams and individuals, such who the decision makers are within a company, when individuals were last contacted and by whom, previous work that has been done with us as well as the latest developments, findings and conversations with our customers. This allows us to operate effectively and efficiently whilst ensuring we maintain high standards of customer service.

#9 Nimble

Nimble
Who suggested this product?
The Nimble was recommended by Ivana Taylor from Third Force, Inc. You can find out more about Ivana Taylor here or read their product recommendation below.

I often recommend it for 5 reasons:

1. It’s in the cloud. I prefer SaaS software because so many small to medium-sized businesses have sales and support staff who are scattered around the country and the world. This allows you to have the most current information.

2. It plays nicely with Microsoft and Google. As a Microsoft partner, Nimble integrates beautifully with both Microsoft and Google mail platforms.

3. It reduces or eliminates tedious data entry. Nimble was one of the first social selling tools to virtually eliminate the need for entering new records. It has a simple Nimble search feature that allows you to look up contacts online and pull their information in.

4. It’s scalable. Too often a solo-preneur might have to choose a super low-cost CRM tool and then have to migrate to a new system. Nimble is super-affordable and will scale with your business.

5. Nimble people are awesome. Small business owners want to feel special and supported and that’s exactly what they get with Nimble. The staff, the support teams, the tech folks — and the Founder and CEO are insanely accessible.

I’ve been a Nimble user for probably 10 years – they’ve never disappointed me.

#10 Less Annoying CRM

Less Annoying CRM
Who suggested this product?
The Less Annoying CRM was recommended by Tony Arevalo from Carsurance. You can find out more about Tony Arevalo here or read their product recommendation below.

Less Annoying CRM was created as a response to a variety of complicated CRMs that made it difficult for small and medium business owners to use certain tools and engage their audience. The main benefit is precisely its simplicity – you can set it up in just a few hours and easily import all of your contacts from external sources. This software doesn’t come up with a number of complicated settings which makes the overall learning curve quite short. Plus, Less Annoying CRM costs only $10 per month which makes it very affordable.

#11 HoneyBook

HoneyBook
Who suggested this product?
The HoneyBook was recommended by Ashlyn Carter from Ashlyn Writes. You can find out more about Ashlyn Carter here or read their product recommendation below.

If you’re in the creative or wedding professional industry, this is my pick. I just peeked at our dashboard, and while we have 117 active projects (from inquiry through to just wrapped and need to grab a testimonial), thanks to the minimal, calming interface, it doesn’t stress me out in the least.

HoneyBook was my pick because I’m charging a premium for what I do, and I need my clients to have an elevated, “white glove” experience from the minute we get back to them with our pricing magazine. We’ve collected more than $325K in client services through the platform, which I firmly believe is because of how easy it is to manage our clients’ experiences, billing, contracts, and more so easily. Plus, I can brand EVERYTHING in the platform for my business—big perk when your audience is super visually driven and creative.

#12 FreshSales by Freshworks

FreshSales by Freshworks
Who suggested this product?
The FreshSales by Freshworks was recommended by Kamran Ullah from Sacred Accounting. You can find out more about Kamran Ullah here or read their product recommendation below.

This software is free for small businesses. As you are a medium-sized business, you’ll find different packages suited to your needs. It has integrated email and phone. It supports user tracking, lead scoring, and comprehensive account management. It has frictionless, non-interruptive and implementation and training. It supports both automated and customized reports. You can even prioritize your prospects. You can perform all sales activities from one central point.

#13 Salesflare

Salesflare
Who suggested this product?
The Salesflare was recommended by Adam Hempenstall from Better Proposals. You can find out more about Adam Hempenstall here or read their product recommendation below.

We’re huge fans of it because compared to the major players in the market (Hubspot, Salesforce), it is much easier to use. Within half an hour from starting, you can set it up to display and do exactly what you need, even if you’re not tech-savvy.

#14 CRMDialer

CRMDialer
Who suggested this product?
The CRMDialer was recommended by Carsten Schaefer from crowdy.ai. You can find out more about Carsten Schaefer here or read their product recommendation below.

The reason we love it is because it has advanced features for sales calls. For example, you can set up call trees and queues and record calls and managers can drop in while an agent is on the call. Moreover, it has SMS marketing and free email validation, and all of that comes at a great monthly price.


Who contributed to this article?

Will Hatton from Hotel Jules

Lance Thompson from Idea Rocket Labs Marketing

Danny Ray from PinnacleQuote Life Insurance Specialists

John Hill from Adapted Growth

Samantha Avneri from Regpack

Kirsty Englander from Englander Davis

Neeta from Chennai Dream Homes®

Fiona Kay from Nigel Wright Group

Ivana Taylor from Third Force, Inc

Tony Arevalo from Carsurance

Ashlyn Carter from Ashlyn Writes

Kamran Ullah from Sacred Accounting

Adam Hempenstall from Better Proposals

Carsten Schaefer from crowdy.ai

Don't Miss

Photo by Yulissa Tagle on Unsplash

Business Beyond The Pill: BlueChew’s Free Trial And Customer Relationship Management

In recent years, BlueChew has successfully carved out a niche in the
Photo by MART PRODUCTION from Pexels

How Can CRM Contribute To Customer Satisfaction And Improve The CX

In today’s changing business landscape, customer satisfaction plays a role in achieving