Anyone have any recommendations for CRM providers/software ?

[autofocus]

Hi there,

Ok, currently putting together a business plan for a little sideline business in a similar field to the one I am in at the moment. Will not affect my current employer in anyway if anything it will enhance their business.

Need some recommendations for CRM software. Anyone have any they can share experiences of ?

Thanks in advance.

Regards

Tim

[autofocus]

Hi there,

Ok, currently putting together a business plan for a little sideline business in a similar field to the one I am in at the moment. Will not affect my current employer in anyway if anything it will enhance their business.

Need some recommendations for CRM software. Anyone have any they can share experiences of ?

Thanks in advance.

Regards

Tim

[miniman]

I've used various systems - Goldmine, ACT, Sugar, Highrise, Zoho... none of them are as good as Salesforce.

[jammy_basturd]

What are your requirements for CRM?

[eps]

I think we'll need a little more information..

Such as budget - i.e. are you wanting to do this for nothing or have a bit of money to spend?

What sort of CRM are you looking to implement, what sort of details or information are you looking to store and how are you going to use it?

Number of Customer records which are going to be stored and used?

I'd happily recommend Microsoft Dynamics CRM, but I don't think this product is quite what you're looking for but then again with only the minutest of detail it's a bit hard to recommend anything to you.

Revenue turnover or expected revenue turnover?

What are you expecting the CRM system to do for you? i.e. send emails out, automatically? To lists / groups of Customers or Mail Merge and so on? Stock lists? Prospects?

[autofocus]

eps said:

I think we'll need a little more information..

Such as budget - i.e. are you wanting to do this for nothing or have a bit of money to spend?

What sort of CRM are you looking to implement, what sort of details or information are you looking to store and how are you going to use it?

Number of Customer records which are going to be stored and used?

I'd happily recommend Microsoft Dynamics CRM, but I don't think this product is quite what you're looking for but then again with only the minutest of detail it's a bit hard to recommend anything to you.

Revenue turnover or expected revenue turnover?

What are you expecting the CRM system to do for you? i.e. send emails out, automatically? To lists / groups of Customers or Mail Merge and so on? Stock lists? Prospects?

Hi there,

Thanks for the replies.

In terms of requirements it's an idea at the moment so it's not easy to quantify exactly what I am looking for.

Essentially the business will be a middleman between producers and end users in the hospitality and food sectors.

The business will work with its staff to promote the products of the producers to the end users. The staff will be effectively become brand ambassadors for the small producers out and about amongst venues that the small producer doesn't have the staff, time or money to service themselves.

I would need the producer, my staff and myself to all have access to the CRM as it's key to the success of the business that all parties have visibility of the work being undertaken.

Does that make sense ?

Regards

Tim

[einsign]

http://www.sugarcrm.com/uk

[skwdenyer]

One of my clients has implemented Infusionsoft and is very happy. Not bargain basement, but the long-running process workflows are potentially very valuable on their own.

[jammy_basturd]

How many staff you likely to have (beginning, after year 1 or 2, etc if growing). What's your budget?

If you not looking for basic and cheap, then I'd fully recommend Base CRM as a great alternative to Salesforce. It's probably not as flexible, but then there is a learning curve to Salesforce to customise it to exactly how you want it, which can mean it can take a while to set up.

[mattdaniels]

miniman said:

I've used various systems - Goldmine, ACT, Sugar, Highrise, Zoho... none of them are as good as Salesforce.

Oh dear, that's damning with faint praise

[HenryJM]

jammy_basturd said:

What are your requirements for CRM?

That is the question. No recommendation is worth anything unless it is done with an understanding of what you need.