We are always asked, what is the best CRM system? There are now over 400 CRM systems on the market. Which does not simplify a selection. We spent over 40 hours and took a closer look at 50 CRM and marketing automation systems. There is no such thing as the best CRM; it always depends on the requirements. The following is intended to shed more light on a dark chapter.

The first step is to check which basic requirements a company has for a CRM system. That sounds logical at first. We experience in more than 95% of companies that before selecting a CRM system, there is no exact business case on how a CRM system will increase profit and/or growth. There is a persistent idea that a CRM system increases customer loyalty and thus profit increases almost automatically. In this context, the great strength of customer relationship management lies in cross-selling. However, this places enormous demands on the strategic level, on data acquisition and on implementation by the sales team or at the various touchpoints. For our assessment of Best CRM, the focus is on cross-selling.

In addition, it must be clarified whether a company needs a classic CRM system and/or a marketing automation system. A CRM system is primarily intended as a controlling tool for sales staff. “Deals” are created and reviewed to see how they develop over time. The control of sales activities is also possible with such a system. The system is primarily used by the management to get an up-to-date overview of the order situation and the pipeline as well as the activities of the sales department. In addition, some systems support zoning and route planning. At the individual level, all emails and calls with customers are synchronized or recorded, if possible. Employees can enter tasks and notes in the CRM system. Thus, a CRM system is fundamentally a database with strong controlling or reporting functions.

Marketing automation systems put customers at the center. Customers are communicated with via emails, SMS, chat bots and other digital channels. The focus is not on the employees, but on the customers and their reactions to the various activities. Many marketing automation systems now have basic CRM functionality built in. So deals can also be created, emails can be synchronized, notes and tasks can be created for the contact. Specific B2B sales support functions, such as. However, route planning, territory planning, automatic telephone log or comprehensive reporting on sales activities are not possible.

In addition to system selection, there is another point to consider. Existing systems are hardly capable of converting customer data into valuable customer insights. Therefore, it is often necessary to establish middleware between the CRM and ERP systems to further process the existing data. Customer scoring or a more complex customer value calculation are not supported by the systems. In most cases, customers are managed via a points system in the individual systems. But with 5 points to give most of the time, you quickly run out of points. Also, this classification is very unspecific and hardly relevant for control in the case of a larger customer base. Thus, the data intelligence of most systems is manageable and offers only limited added value for an individualized customer approach. It should be developed, before the acquisition of a CRM system, the data structure and especially a concept for gaining customer insights for a differentiating customer relationship management, before a software is purchased. This is especially true for the topic of cross-selling. This requires customer insights to uncover cross-selling potential and leverage it for sales/marketing. The larger vendors are touting AI capabilities. In our tests, the artificial and not the intelligence is currently still predominant.

It is therefore necessary for a company to decide which goals are to be achieved. As described, most companies lack a clear strategy in terms of customer relationship management with a target system and a concept of how to gain and use valuable customer insights. Nevertheless, “wild” decisions are made on the basis of bogus criteria as to what is the best system.

We divide the selection for the Best CRM into two categories. Extensive skills and resources and low skills and resources. For us, it is not the size of the company/industry that is decisive, but the number of employees and their competencies that can be used for the topic of CRM.

Best CRM system with extensive skills and resources