Remember how in spy movies, when the hero or heroine walked up to a member of the bourgeoisie elite and a tiny bud in their ear ran them through the skinny on who they were talking to? Customer Relationship Manager (CRM) software is kind of like that—a supercharged way to understand your client relationships quickly and centrally.

The name of the game is aggregation—collecting parts of a business that can quickly become disparate and bringing them together so teams may more easily capitalize on leads and less quickly become bogged down by admin work. For many small businesses who cannot afford a full-time office manager, this software becomes indispensable. The same goes for teams whose staff often go into flex roles, such as field staff acting as salespeople or owners taking on tasks on the floor.

Wherever a business can be streamlined, whether through smart invoicing, pipelining of sales leads, or consolidating communications, a CRM can often make a world of difference.

Below are a few top CRM’s for the businesses of today:

Streak for Gmail

Google may have gone the “don’t be evil” route for a while, but their CRM software is still wicked.

Most CRM’s will require a level of technical fluency to optimize. What sets Streak apart is that it is built into Gmail itself, which most, if not all, business users are familiar with.

Streak makes Gmail a CRM powerhouse with plenty of templates to get you started. Just install the extension, and you’re ready to grow. Streak adds collaboration to your email workflow and allows you to share everything from emails to notes with a single click.

Hubspot

With experience going all the way back to 2006, Hubspot is a top choice for organizations of any size in need of a CRM. Best of all, it’s totally free! Grow your business with scaleable tools suited for all members of your organization.

Hubspot offers a clean visual dashboard, up to one million contacts, analytic insights, sales pipelining and more. This is a great option for businesses that are exploring what a CRM offers without having to commit to a limiting contract. If you like the services, it’s easy to upgrade to a premium subscription!

Jobber

For businesses in field service, managing leads, client details, invoicing, optimized routes, and consumer feedback can feel almost as overwhelming as managing the jobs themselves. That’s where Jobber shines—it is a CRM built for field staff that optimizes every step of the process, allowing your sales and field teams to better focus on what they do best.

With mobile integration of payment, scheduling, notes, route-planning, and reporting, Jobber makes growing without an expansive admin team simple across a wide range of applicable settings. The CRM aspect is integrated seamlessly with the back-end supporting software, making this an excellent option for businesses that feature more moving parts than static ones. Their superb customer service is just a bonus!

Monday

I am a big fan of services that combine sales pipelining, customer management, lead management, onboarding, and team projects. Monday’s CRM offers all of these features and more, all with an easy-to-use interface that can seamlessly integrate with every team member’s workflow.

Customize a CRM solution for your business using ready-made templates, or tailor any sales pipeline, workflow, and process you need from the extensive list that comes packaged with the subscription. From lead to landing, manage every step of the sales lifecycle. This might be the first Monday I’ve actually enjoyed!

While CRMs certainly take the pressure off of building a business, nothing can beat thoughtful planning, goal-setting, and project implementation.

Now that you’ve got the tech, you’ll want to know what to do with it and when it makes the most sense to grow or pivot. MKC Agency can help you with your big picture projects and help you get back on track. Book a meeting today to get started!