Bringing a checklist when you shop around for a CRM is a good idea, but not when the checklist is too short and vague. The devil, as they say, is in the detail. To help out, we've compiled a list of important features that you should look for in a CRM system.
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The Ultimate CRM Checklist
2. CREATING YOUR
ULTIMATE CRM CHECKLIST
A checklist with only ten or so items on it isnt going to help
you find the perfect CRM for your needs. Its too basic, too
vague, and doesnt really give you a good overview of critical
system features like navigation and customizability.
What businesses dont realize until it is too late is that it is the
teeny, tiny details that will make or break your CRM
implementation.
As youll see, the devil really is in the detail.
3. ALL-IN-ONE SYSTEM
Find, sell to, implement projects for, support, and hopefully
sell more products and services to your customers using a
single system
Consolidate business-critical data instead of leaving them
strewn across different apps
Easily access and manage almost all aspects of your business
4. FAST, INTUITIVE NAVIGATION
Bookmarks lists let you immediately access the information
you feel is important
Breadcrumb trail lets you jump to higher page levels without
having to keep pressing the back button on your browser
Recent pages and activity list lets you get back quickly to
whatever page you were on before
5. COLLABORATE & DISCUSS
Start an online, threaded discussion using any project, sales
lead, support case, or even a tricky customer
Upvote comments and suggestions that you like
Use Requests to ensure the person you need answers from is
immediately notified of your post
6. EMAIL INTEGRATION
Create a new sales lead
Update a project or task
Assign a support ticket
Log a timesheet
Attach new notes and details to your customers record all
without leaving your email inbox
7. WEB FORMS ON STEROIDS
Build your contact database automatically from web form
submissions
Turn web form data instantly into contacts and support cases
Customizable web forms can be as simple or as detailed as
you want
8. SELF-SERVICE CUSTOMER PORTAL
Customers can view projects, tasks, and support tickets as well
as paid and unpaid invoices
Clients can pay invoices using the customer portal
Customize the portal and make it look more in line with your
companys overall branding
Increase collaboration between you and the client
9. GRANULAR PERMISSIONS
Set user permissions individually, by workgroup, or by role
Control access to any project, activity, module, or information
within the system
Restrict who can view and/or modify private sales leads,
specific projects, etc.
10. TIME TRACKING
Attach timesheets to projects to make sure everyone is putting
in the hours
Automatically calculate project budgets by linking them to
timesheets
Enter timesheet data using a mobile app when out on the field
and a desktop widget when at the office
11. CUSTOM FIELDS
Add any kind of info no matter how niche or esoteric
Extend usability of built-in modules
Ensure standardization of data entered
Customize modules to handle future expansion / service &
product offerings
12. CUSTOM SALES PROCESSES
Create and associate different sales processes tailored to
specific products and services
Set specific processes for different teams in your company or
even those in different regions
Easily make necessary changes to evolving sales processes
13. PROJECT TEMPLATES
Manage and deploy projects faster
Cuts down on time spent creating new projects
14. CUSTOM PROJECTS
Control every aspect of any given project
Add sub-projects, tasks, timesheets, and completion stages
Add a near-infinite number of sub-projects and tasks
15. MULTIPLE PROJECT VIEWS
Switch between different views quickly and easily
Use in conjunction with filters to find info faster
Sort activity according to priority, progress, budget, etc.
16. REAL-TIME PROGRESS TRACKING
Get a bird's eye view of the status of the companys projects
Drill down deep into sub-projects and sub-tasks and check
their status
Cut down the need for progress report meetings
17. AUTOMATIC REPORTS
Any and all of the data you enter into the system will be used
to generate a range of reports
Reports include financials, timesheets, projects progress, and
more
Bookmark important reports for quick and easy access.
18. WORKGROUPS & ROLES
Assign tasks or projects to a team rather than selecting the
same set of individual employees.
Share contacts with a workgroup
Set access privileges according to workgroups and roles
19. SOCIAL MEDIA INTEGRATION
Get updated contact info by linking to their social media
profiles
Filter contacts according to social media profiles
20. CONTACT SYNC
Two-way syncing of person-type contacts ensure that you can
access all of them through either app
Sync acts as a backup system; accidentally deleting a contact
in one system doesnt delete it in the other
Contact updates made in one system carry over to the other
Fix incorrect contact detail updates easily by reverting to a
previous version of the contact
Access contact information in the CRM through your iOS or
Android device
21. DEPENDENCIES & TRIGGERS
Set requirements for specific project stages like obtaining
permits, finishing reports, etc.
A task that has dependencies on an earlier task wont start
until the task before it is completed
Keep your to do list uncluttered by making sure it contains
only the tasks you need to work on right now
22. SAVED FILTERS
Remove unneeded items and entries from view and focus only
on what currently need.
Save filtering parameters to access the results you need most
often with a single click
Use search filters on any module contacts, leads, activity
history, projects, communication logs, and even files and
attachments.
Break down project data and see whats relevant to you at that
time.
See active tasks assigned only to you and filter them further
into tasks that fall within a certain date range
23. SMARTVIEWS
Use and save customized searches through all of your data
and access them with a single click
Quickly see a list of items that fit a certain criteria (location,
current tasks, etc.)
Mark items with custom tags (a good customer tag for a
preferred client, perhaps) to facilitate quicker searches
Filter for any employees tasks to check how many tasks he or
she has
Build complex marketing lists by filtering contacts through
granular variables
24. ACTIVITY HISTORY
Attach new leads, projects, invoices, support cases, and other
activities to a contact
View every activity associated with any and all of your contacts
in an easy-to-digest format
Filter and sort activity history according to employee, activity,
or time period
Search for specific data be it an amendment to a recent
project or an email from three months ago