Sales database CRM recomendations

[strath44]

Hey folks, we have an in house built Access based database. I think we are at the point of needing something better.

I had a look at Microsoft Dynamics as it looks quite good but welcome any other suggestions.

We are an SME and have approx 500 current clients and a database containing a further 5000 potential clients who we market to.

As with most SME budgets mine is minimal so looking for something creative!

ps apologies missed a letter 'm' in the title!

[strath44]

Hey folks, we have an in house built Access based database. I think we are at the point of needing something better.

I had a look at Microsoft Dynamics as it looks quite good but welcome any other suggestions.

We are an SME and have approx 500 current clients and a database containing a further 5000 potential clients who we market to.

As with most SME budgets mine is minimal so looking for something creative!

ps apologies missed a letter 'm' in the title!

Edited by strath44 on Thursday 14th January 11:44

[Vaud]

Would the budget stretch to Salesforce?

Otherwise, have a look at these:

http://blog.capterra.com/9-cheap-salesforce-altern...

[zarjaz1991]

Ultimately Salesforce or Dynamics. Others are generally poor imitations.

Salesforce is expensive but does about the best job there is and has a huge market for add ons and customisations, but it is not cheap.

Dynamics can be slightly cheaper, personally I find it slightly less user friendly but it does everything required and integrates well with Office.

[strath44]

Thank you for the quick replies and that link is very interesting!

My knowledge of CRMs is a steep curve right now, what are there limitations - I assume we would still use a (in our case access) database to manage orders?

In basic terms can we take all of our current leads and easily integrate them via access or excel into a new CRM?

[BGARK]

Capsule, connected to Xero. There is a reason they are expanding exponentially at the moment.

[fatjon]

We use and install for customers a very heavily reworked VTiger. Off the shelf it's buggy half arsed and incomplete but we've spent 3 years fixing it and have thousands on it now.

[andy-xr]

I like Pipedrive and WebCRM but they're basic capture / pipeline things on the surface. There are more features you can use and plugins/APIs to look at

I guess it'd come down to what you want where

Dynamics is good but its a 200mph car in Jersey for some people

[strath44]

Thanks for the help folks much appreciated!

[Candellara]

OP, Take a look at this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEEUQjTNxjM

[Treemonkey]

We use PipeDrive, coupled with Zapier to shift data around. Works really well for us. I spent time customising and adding events, posting messages to our messenger (Slack which is ace) sending emails when deals reach certain stages and sending accounts stuff to our accounts system. For us its works as CRM, process control and a workflow system for £50 a month.

If you want to try it, send me your email and I'll add you on the refer a friend thing, you get a longer free period and we get a month free or some such.