Statistics show that Customer Relationship Management (CRM) yields an average return on investment of $8.71 for every $1 spent. This makes CRM a lucrative option, because it gives you multifold results as compared to the investment you put in. However, what if a small and growing business does not have enough to invest in CRM? To receive the return of $8, the $1 still must be invested.
In an attempt to resolve this challenge for small business owners, many CRM brands started having free versions of their tools. On the face of it, this is the perfect solution. A business can have CRM for free, which means they gain a lot of helpful features for their business by paying nothing. Is that truly the case though? Does a business gain a lot with a free model, or is an affordable CRM the better option? By the end of this blog, you will have a clearer answer to this dilemma!
FREE VERSION OF CRMs
Receiving anything free of cost always makes us very happy. We naturally think that we are receiving a very good deal with the free product/service, and that there’s no risk factor involved in it. For a business, CRM is perhaps the most important asset. Gaining it for free is nothing short of a dream come true, especially when businesses otherwise have to use around 12% of their marketing budget on CRM.
Though a lot of CRM brands today claim to have free versions of their product, the reality is slightly different. The term ‘free’ always has a small and invisible asterisk next to it. The asterisk would mean that either the ‘free’ CRM is not free at all, or that it does not have the complete functionality of a paid CRM. Let us understand both these types of free CRM:
- The free CRM that’s not free:
Let us imagine a situation faced by every business owner who adopts this type of CRM. On the face of it, he is told that he has received a free CRM, which would naturally make him believe that he does not have to pay anything. Soon enough he is told that he must pay a charge for implementation. He then realizes that most of the basic things that he wanted from a CRM must be added-on with extra charges. Then come the upgradation costs. At the end of all this, he is still left without a ‘free’ CRM.
These versions are the most unsuitable for your business, because they contain a lot of hidden costs.
- The lite version of paid CRMs
The other type of free CRM does not extract these hidden prices, but it is a lite version of paid CRM’s. This means that some features offered by brands in their paid plans are withheld from the free versions. If brands give away all their features for free, they will never be able to convince consumers to switch to their paid models and give them revenue. Usually in such versions, the basic features of CRM are given for free, such as:
- Lead management
- Mobile access
- Profile management etc.
The advanced features are reserved for the paid versions offered by brands. While this version is a better option to consider than the one elaborated above, is it the ideal growth companion for your business?
SHOULD YOU PAY FOR CRM?
Growing businesses are typically struggling with establishing themselves in the market and creating a steady source of revenue for themselves. Is it a viable investment for them to purchase CRM in this situation? Typically, 20% of growing businesses fail in the first year. A common concern for owners is hence whether they should pay for CRM or use a free version in the initial stages of their growth.
While making this choice, you must consider whether you are willing to compromise on the features that you receive in your CRM, or the costs that you pay for it. This is indeed a difficult decision, since both are equally important from your business’s perspective. If only there was a third option that combined the benefits of both these! However, that option does exist- in the form of affordable CRMs.
WHY AFFORDABLE CRMs ARE THE BEST FOR YOUR BUSINESS?
Affordable CRMs can give you the best features, at the best prices. Because they are a paid version, they do not have the feature limitations that are usually associated with free CRMs. Furthermore, a lot of brands have pricing plans that are accommodative for small businesses and hence you can find a lot of CRMs that fit your budget.
If you consider any CRM specifically designed for small businesses, you will surely find an affordable CRM with a robust feature set. For a sales CRM like Kylas, their pricing begins from as low as INR 9,999/ month, and this affordable plan too comes with a lot of beneficial features such as:
- Workflow automation, so that your salespeople can focus on closing of sales. Manual, repetitive and time-consuming tasks are taken care of for you by the CRM tool
- Lead management, which will ensure that you never lose out on a potential sale due to mismanagement of leads. You can capture leads from all sources, and manage them efficiently
- Deal pipelines through which you can visualize and track the journey of leads till the point that they close a sale.
You will lose out on a lot of such crucial features if you limit yourself to a free CRM. Instead, by investing a small amount in an affordable Sales CRM like Kylas, you can streamline your entire business operations. While a free CRM seems tempting for a short-term perspective, it will be a liability for your business later. Instead, an affordable CRM is a great long-term investment as it will give you great outputs for the money that you put in. Down the line, it will surely be a more cost-effective CRM model for your growing business.