How to handpick the most affordable CRM for your business

Imagine this, you are at a grocery store. You move ahead drifting a trolly with you. The first thing you want is a box of tissue. 

Someone with an OCD has arranged a hundred boxes of tissue in a fine manner. You can see so many brands, so many colors, so many designs of tissue boxes.

But, you pick one and turn it around…..

And look at the price tag.

The guy with OCD has tried so hard to arrange all the boxes facing front, but we are more interested in the backside. Because it is our natural instinct to look at pricing.

Obviously, we will think about pricing when it comes to business decisions. And without a doubt, we will think about money when it comes to one of the biggest business decisions – choosing the right CRM. 

Affordability is one of the most important factors while choosing a CRM for your business. If the CRM has everything you need but the price is at the rooftop, it won’t work out. The same way, if the CRM checks the pricing box and features don’t make sense to you, that won’t work out either.

You have to find the perfect balance between features and pricing when choosing a CRM. And this article is exactly about it. 

How to choose the most affordable CRM for your business?

In order to choose an inexpensive CRM for your business, you need to prepare a set of requirements – things that will be helpful to you while making a decision.

Here are some of the most common parameters to consider:

1. The primary features you are looking for.

2. The secondary features you are looking for.

3. No. of users of the CRM.

4. How much money are you willing to spend on CRM? (Minimum and maximum)

Now, primary features are the ones that you can’t afford to compromise. These are the features that will directly solve the problems your business is facing right now. Things like Pipeline Management or Workflow Management.

The secondary features are the ones that can enhance your CRM experience and offer advanced functionality. Things like Automated Sequences or Shared Team Inbox. These features will bring additional values to your business. 

Since every CRM comes with Dollar/User pricing, you need to consider every employee who will use the system. Some businesses make compromises here, but it will honestly make things hard for you. 

Lastly, pricing. How much money are you willing to spend on the CRM. People often decide the number of users after choosing the CRM, but it should be the opposite. After choosing the number of users, you can get a real-time idea of the pricing. 

So, a system that checks all these 4 boxes is the most affordable CRM for you. 

But the process is not that simple. You will get distracted in between.

Free CRM – Your distraction

Do not rush just because it’s FREE

Trust me, I am not trying to sell you anything! 

A free plan is a genius marketing strategy to make you familiar and habituate with a system. Once your information is stored in the free CRM, and you have already been using the system for a while, you will switch to the paid plan, rather than finding a new one.

As a marketing guy, I do appreciate this idea. But as a decision-maker, I may not like this. 

I won’t be choosing that free CRM because of its features and functionality. I wouldn’t stick to such CRM because it would cost me a fortune to migrate all the data to a new CRM.

The idea of free CRM is a marketing genius but can be a huge pain for the customers. That’s why most CRM has started providing free trials of their products. So, customers can check the system out, use every feature, and then make an informed decision.

The second problem with free CRM is its limitations. I understand the motive of providing a free CRM can be good – to help businesses get on their feet. But the limited features restrict them in more than one way. In some cases, businesses with potential can not grow because they are restricted by the limitations of the features.

It is a smart move to invest in a CRM rather than looking for a free one!

Simple process to choose an inexpensive CRM for your business

When you go for the hunt of the most affordable CRM for your business, you will end up with 3-4 options that look attractive to you.

Here is the most simple process you can follow to choose the best option for your business. Take a look at this table:

You have found 4 suitable options for your next CRM. Each one of these can be helpful to your business in different ways. But you should pick the one that can solve your problems and that is an affordable option.

Option 1 here fulfills each one of your primary feature needs. That means it will solve your pain points for sure. And it has to offer secondary features that will be a grand addition to your business process.

BUT, the cost is unbearable for a small business!

Considering 4 active users for your company, Option 1 will cost you $200 per month. 

That doesn’t sound affordable for a growing business.

Option 2 here has to offer 11 features in total and the price is also affordable. That’s promising. Let’s consider this CRM.

Option 3 here lacks offering the primary features, so it would be a waste of time to consider this CRM.

Option 4 covers almost every primary need and has to offer four secondary features.

Naturally, Option 2 and Option 4 seem like good options. 

Now, Option 4 covers one more primary feature than Option 2. If that feature is essential to your business and can make a real difference, you should go with Option 4. Because the pricing difference between these two is not that huge. 

But if Option 2 has everything you need, you can save a couple of bucks by choosing that option.

Why is Salesmate the most affordable CRM for you?

Okay. Now, I’m trying to sell you something. Guilty!

Salesmate is a perfect blend of features and affordability. We have covered every feature you need to run your business at the most affordable pricing.

Here are some of the primary features you will find in Salesmate CRM. These features will literally solve your pain points and smoothen your sales process:

1. Deal management

2. Multiple pipeline management

3. Contact management

4. Integrations with your favorite apps

5. Email and activity tracking

6. Sales reports

And here we have some secondary features that will add real value to your business:

1. Multiple workflow management 

2. Built-in phone system with text messages

3. Shared team inbox

4. Email & text sequences

5. Product and service management

6. Sales forecasting

7. Goal tracking

Affordability

Salesmate comes with two simple and affordable plans – Basic & Pro.

The Basic plan is designed for businesses that are just starting and need the most essential features. The Basic plan comes with $23/user/month only!

The Pro plan is designed for growing businesses. Companies that need more than essential features to grow at a better rate. The Pro plan comes with $39/user/month only.

You can know more about Salesmate pricing from our detailed pricing comparison.

Want to try Salesmate for free?

You can try Salesmate CRM completely free for 15 days. We don’t ask for any credit card information and it’s completely safe. The free trial comes with the Growth plan, which means, you can explore every bit of Salesmate, with no limits!

Try the most affordable CRM now!