What are the top CRM apps available?

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is the management of all communications with customers. The goal of sales CRM is to increase sales and to automate the entire process.

At the top end of sales CRM software packages are bespoke computer systems networked throughout the sales office. The computer-based software usually links to mobile applications. This means that sales reps out on the road can keep abreast of all the latest developments.

What if you are a start-up? What if you are the only sales resource in your team? There are still CRM options available to you. We have looked at 7 mobile stand-alone iOS and Android apps that are out there to get you started.

A very simple free contact recording and scheduling app that has a series of more sophisticated add-on modules that you pay for. Does the job.

Very good on maps to help you plan sales visits. It also offers business card scanning for quick updating of contact details. Has all the usual features but you'll need to pay for a PC-based Nutshell software system to get the app free.

Pipedrive is very popular with users, but it does have a reputation for being a bit slow at times out on the road. It uses Google Maps to show where customers are and has a great calendar view that lets everyone in the team see what CRM activities everyone else is up to.

All the usual call and meeting logging, calendar views and scheduling are included in Freshsales. Users also liked the quick voice recording feature for easy note taking.

This is at the expensive end of the mobile app at $79 per month! When compared to hiring a sales administrator or a full sales CRM software package it is cheap though. You have also got to factor in the incremental value of every new customer and the long-term value of the sales. Keap integrates to your website to gather contacts as well as providing the usual automated emails, calls and schedules.

A quirky name that will certainly resonate with some users! It is simple to set up and operate and costs $10 per month per user. It does suffer a little on features though - quick and easy but you may grow out of it.

Again, you'll pay $10 per month for your mobile CRM. There are customizable dashboards, a tag system to group contacts and customers and multiple sales funnels. We found this a little limited, but the funnel (or pipeline) visualizations are good.

As usual, the only answer we can give is that you should try a few until you find one that you feel comfortable with. Every business and every salesperson sees things in different ways. It is unlikely that an app could ever be perfect for anyone but there will be one out there that best fits the way you work. If pushed, we would say Hubspot is a good starting point. It has a lot of decent features to get you started and it is free! Anything beyond basic will end up costing you though - the first step is $43/month for basic automation and customized pipelines (funnels). This option also adds in detailed reporting and analytics and gives you 'live chat' to talk to your website visitors in real-time.

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