Contact Management Database Research
Currently I’m using a database called Top Producer for realtors. It’s a great program and has lots of features. Now that I am starting my own consulting business, I don’t need Top Producer anymore.
The three things I did right when I started in real estate that made me successful was joining the Chamber of Commerce, getting involved with a BNI chapter and immediately setting up Top Producer as my database. After 5 years in real estate, I can say that having and maintaining a database was paramount to my earnings.
Recently I met with another agent to discuss her business and she said she didn’t utilize a database to manage her leads, clients or past clients. It got me thinking about what else is out there that small business owners can use easily to track and manage their business.
Microsoft Outlook (not Express) and Google immediately came to mind for a contact management database. They both email and have an address book. The problem is they don’t connect the email to the contact record for tracking. They also can’t do action plans with automatic email campaigns. You can create folders for clients but this will get cumbersome.
A CRM program that I am looking for should have easy-to-use contact records, email integration so the email is attached to the contact record, action plans (email campaign) attached to the contact record, customizable categories & lead source for contact records.
It needs to be inexpensive and have online access (cloud computing) so I don’t have to back up data and worry if my laptop crashes. I want access to my data on the road with my netbook or laptop.
Open source CRM software allows developers to customize the program for a specific company. For the average small business owner, they do have the ability to use as is. However, it is a hosted database on your computer that will need to be backed up.
Zoho CRM It’s free but won’t email unless you purchase the email add-on for $3/month.
Zoho CRM Software
It doesn’t do:
action plans and automatic emails
can’t categorize contacts into groups
can’t customize the lead source
description doesn’t automatically date/time stamp notes
The campaign section is tracking leads from PPC campaign, webinar, etc. which is a nice feature.
The web-to-lead form was easy to use and the lead went into the database.
I successfully imported a csv file of contact records and the information was organized into the correct fields. One interesting feature is the accounts and contacts records. When I imported the data, it created an account record. My concern is the contact record is just that, someone I know. It doesn’t necessarily mean they are a client and need an account. Overall it is a generic-type database that can serve a limited purpose for the right type of business.
Free CRM Software
is free but ads will be displayed. If you pay $14.95/month for a Pro Account, you will have access to technical support and remove the advertisements. Other enhanced features are audit tracking, more storage capabilities, synchronize with outlook and Palm handhelds, Blackberry and PocketPCs.
The features I liked were:
Tagging which allows you to group records together – can assign keywords to each contact in order to sort them,
Can source, categorize, status and tag each record – very customizable,
Can do an SMS/Text campaign (only one I found that has this),
Can customize a web-to-lead form (note on the free account, lead doesn’t automatically get entered into database),
Email Campaigns.
Overall, I like how Free CRM handles records and you can set up email with either POP3 or Gmail & Yahoo accounts.
Exchange Wise is a Microsoft add-on that allows you to use your Outlook as both your email and contact management. It is free but if you want to add on the Marketing Module, then you can include Event and Campaign management as well as a survey function. There is a one-time charge of $50 for the license. The sales module offers opportunity management, projects, account management plans, and orders details. Again there is a $50 license fee.
This software is not cloud computing but hosted on your computer.
James Maurer’s CRM Solution is free. You can manage your contacts, leads, marketing campaigns, sales and customer service online just by following the license agreement. This one seems a little too generic for my needs.
vTiger is an open source program that is free but you download onto your computer. It is not cloud computing but hosted on your server or computer. There is an Outlook plug-in that allows you to use your Outlook for the email platform but connects the contact record with the email. I am choosing not to go with a hosted database just in case my computer crashes. I really like the cloud computing idea for a database.
Some of the top Open Source CRM programs are:
Free CRM,
Saas Light, vTiger,
Open CRX, Splendid CRM, Sugar CRM,
Concursive.
Here is the cost of the CRMs based on the least expensive to most expensive that I came across:
Free CRM $180
Calc List $295
CRMtrak $360
Office Interactive $480
SugarCRM $500
Splendid CRM $500
Concursive $600
AutoTask $1188
Snap CRM $5500
After playing around with both Zoho CRM and Free CRM, I think I’m going to start migrating my data to Free CRM and give it a real try.
I’d like to know if there are other software programs for small business owners to use that are easy to set up, low-to-no cost, slightly customizable, and web-based (cloud computing).
