These 4 CRM Tools Will Make the Management Part Effortless Socedo, Ontraport, Agile CRM and vCita will help you sail through customer relationship management.
By Jeff Boss •
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
There's nothing worse than feeling overwhelmed with work. If you have your hands in more than one pot -- that's job pot for all you Coloradoans out there -- then you know that managing the mountains of leads, prospects, follow-ups and tasks for simultaneous projects is enough to turn your naturally dark hair into something, well, gray.
With added work comes added stress, with stress comes overwhelm (among other things) and with overwhelm comes a willingness to cut corners simply because the deadline is approaching.
Related: 4 Ways Entrepreneurs Are Getting Customer Relationship Management All Wrong
Don't do it. Don't let overwhelm creep into your calendar. If it does, it won't only be your clients and customers who suffer but also your brand, personal health and relationships (nobody likes being around "grumpypants").
Managing different customers for different projects is a job in itself -- and one that needs to be executed flawlessly. After all, you need to capture their names, emails, goals, progress and lessons learned, not to mention assess their potential for an upsell and project the likelihood of conversion. If customer relationship management (CRM) is something you want to improve upon for your small (or large) business, check out how these tools can help.
1. Socedo
This is still my number one go-to for generating leads through twitter. Socedo lets you target twitter handles based on profile keywords, location and mentions as well as automate direct messages upon connecting with a new person. Here's socedo's secret advantage. You connect your LinkedIn account with socedo, and the powers that be will automatically reach out to that person with a linkedin request -- a powerful way to build your network fast (and effortlessly). You can also connect hubspot, salesforce or marketo accounts and export your followers' contact details, to include name, email, location and more.
Related: 5 Tips for Building Strong Relationships With Clients
2. Ontraport
This is the mecca of online management. Ontraport is the one-stop-shop for small business needs. Building landing pages, create a members only area, setup email marketing automation -- you name it. Their Ontrablog offers a consortium of relevant topics for every entrepreneur, ranging from email copywriting strategies to recruiting interns to how to choose the best wordpress theme. They even host a secure online store where you can sell your awesomeness to the world. Disclaimer: I'm not a client, but probably should be.
3. Agile CRM
This is not as robust as ontraport but still a good platform. With Agile CRM, you can set up automated email marketing campaigns, schedule appointments and integrate with a whole slew of different online platforms such as woocommerce, shopify, twilio, magento, zapier, and, of course wordpress. Agile provides the biggest bang for the buck (if you're into that kind of thing), because it's cost effective yet robust enough to make all your sales and marketing wishes come true -- or at least close to coming true.
4. vCita
Scheduling really can't get any easier using this bad boy. Integrate vCita with wordpress and create an immediate call to action button, where you can share white papers, schedule appointments or accept payments. vCita will also text you when a new appointment is made as well as send SMS messages to you and the client for appointment reminders. If you've ever missed an appointment, this one's for you.
Related: How to Pick a Customer Relationship Management Tool That Fits Your Business
There ton of new CRM tools arising all the time, each one better than the last. The good news is that they all offer free trials, so test out which one works for you based on your company's goals.
