If you are on the fence about which CRM to use for your business, hopefully this article will assist you with making your decision. And if you are on the fence about using a CRM, I will go over the reasons why you will love switching to a CRM platform.
Are you on the fence about using a CRM for your business?
Learning Curve
You will have a learning curve with switching over to a CRM, and it doesn’t matter which software you are using. But do not let this technology gap stop you from making this decision for your business. There are experts, like myself, who can help you. Honestly, I will give you free advice, and help set you up with someone who can help you. No excuses!
Too Expensive
Before I starting using a CRM, I was using WordPress and other free tools (some cheap plugins too), to implement my systems and process credit cards. At one point, I had 50 credit card payments on file running through WordPress which was connected to Paypal. Without getting too technical, the issue was that each time WordPress systems updated, my plugin systems were failing.
I spent time each month with my developers working on my systems that cost me far more than the cost of my CRM now. Cost / benefit is the peace of mind that my credit card payments are processed without fail every month. And all my email automation is delivered to the inboxes of my customers. I was losing money without a CRM system.
Confused on Which to Choose
Confusion can really hold your business back from success, which is why you need to reach out if you have any questions. I am more than willing to point you in the right direction. As for this article, I would like to give you some pointers on the experience that I have had with different CRM systems.
Quick Look: Different CRM Systems
Infusionsoft: Awesome for small business marketing, eCommerce processing, contact databases, automated followups, email broadcasting and reporting. Affordable solutions.
Salesforce: Great for larger businesses, mobile application integrations, massive network of add-ons, and awesome for large corporations with millions of contact records. Can get expensive.
Hubspot: Awesome for inbound marketing integration, SEO, Social Media, Blogging, Analytics, and has awesome add-on widgets that can be part of day to day workflow. Not as expensive as Salesforce, but more expensive than Infusionsoft and Ontraport.
Ontraport (formerly OfficeAutoPilot): Good for small businesses, and easy to start using. Less marketing automation control than Infusionsoft, pretty good broadcast email system, can collect eCommerce payments. More expensive than Infusionsoft.
Various other software systems: SugarCRM, ZohoCRM, and there a more listed here in the Forbes article about terrible CRM systems for your business.
Why I choose Infusionsoft
Cost: It is the most affordable CRM solution that accomplishes everything I need to do for my business and for my client’s businesses. So far, I have not come across an issue that I cannot figure out how to program.
Ease of Use: Yes, I am a programmer. But I have clients who work on Infusionsoft without knowing programming. The Infusionsoft Campaign Builder tools are an easy drag and drop to create sequences. Once you understand the basics, you will be able to create campaigns by yourself!
Credit Card Processing: The ability to lock credit cards into the contact records has been very beneficial for my consulting business. Clients are auto-charged for monthly billing, and if additional services are purchased, I can use Infusionsoft as a terminal to bill the card on file.
One Click Upsells: For online marketing, this is the holy grail of eCommerce. I use WordPress plugins to sync with Infusionsoft so customers who have a credit card on file can make one-click purchases from my site. This boosts conversion rate and improves customer experience.
Marketplace: Infusionsoft has an excellent selection of add-on applications that are easy to install. Then also there are other 3rd party services like Zapier that integrates with Infusionsoft.
Thinking Bigger!
I have never met a client who does not want to expand their business, growing customers, leads and sales. In my experience, working with proprietary systems and having experience with all the CRM systems mentioned in this article, I can say that Infusionsoft has been the easiest tool to use for implementing marketing strategies for my clients.
Typically, I will start clients with Mailchimp or Aweber for email marketing and beginning to grow their list. However, there are so many disadvantages of using these mailing systems as your revenue is weakly tied back to your business. Meaning, you can track revenue through Google Analytics, which is great, but this does not show you historical data for users.
Know who your BEST customers are!
Lead scoring is an easy algorithm that you can setup through the Infusionsoft systems. This will assign a “flame” or remove one when an action happens on your site. If a contact opens an email, clicks, makes a purchase, visits back to your site, or makes any action that you are tracking, your lead score can increase for that user based upon your settings.
Beyond scoring, you can setup email automation that can send the user an email based upon the actions they are taking on your site. This is putting an email in the inbox, or even a phone call if you would like, at the right time. You can physically catch a lead on your website and call them on the phone. The power of a CRM can increase sales 400% if you use it properly!
Discount Opportunity
I have been working with Infusionsoft for quite some time now, and I work in the platform everyday for my business and for my clients. If you are interested in learning more about what this tool can do for your business, contact me. If you are qualified, I might even be able to get you a discount on the product as listed on the Infusionsoft site. Just let me know if you are interested in my discount!
If you are using Infusionsoft, or any other CRM, tell me about your experience in the comments below!
