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The Best CRM Software for 2021: Small Business

The Best CRM Software for 2021 is displayed against a rendered PC computer.
October 03, 2021
CRM Advisor

Sales executives are always on the lookout for the latest and greatest software solutions that will drive their sales and marketing teams to success.

To ensure your sales teams don’t miss out on the next big opportunity, we’ve compiled a list of the top CRM software solutions available. In this post, we’ll discuss the top CRM software options and highlight the features that sets each apart.

What Small Businesses Need in a CRM:

  • Affordable pricing, free version, free trial
  • Expandable tools and features
  • Sales and leads pipeline
  • Contact management

Veloxity: Best CRM Software For Small & Growing Businesses

Summary

Veloxity CRM gets the gold medal for small business customer relationship management software because of its flexibility and expandability of its features. Many CRM platforms, like HubSpot and Salesforce, offer small business versions of their monolithic platforms, but what Veloxity does better is grow with your business. 

Small business owners can pick and choose the features that make sense to them and utilize Veloxity’s powerful rules automation engine to eliminate administrative tasks, thus giving your sales team the time to do more. 

Best Veloxity Features:

  • Visual sales pipelines 
  • Self-defined sales stages and stage requirements
  • Multi-level sales division management
  • Email template builder
  • Third-party integrations
  • Forecast automation
  • Veloxity AI
  • Product and product bundle management
  • Free trial

Benefits:

  • Adaptable, flexible platform that grows with your business
  • The Rules Automation Engine eliminates repetitive tasks by doing the work for you
  • CRM learns and adjusts sales stage probability-to-close over time
  • Free edition comes with many robust features for startups and small businesses
  • Support Center features helpful video tutorials, Ask the Community pages, and responsive customer support.

Cost (Paid Annually):

  • Free edition
  • Basic: $7/user/mo.
  • Professional: $54/user/mo.
  • Enterprise: $94/user/mo.

Zoho: Best CRM Software For Remote Workers

Summary

Zoho is a feature-packed CRM software with loads of functionality and 45 other SaaS platforms to bulk out your business productivity, such as Zoho Social, Zoho Projects, Zoho Desk (to name just a few). 

Zoho offers a variety of features that simplify remote working. Whether you’re managing a global team or connecting with sales teams on the road, Zoho makes it easy to collaborate, communicate, and get to work from anywhere.

Zoho Features for Remote Workers:

  • Third-party integrations for easy conferencing (GoToMeeting, Zoom, etc.)
  • Zoho Cliq chat communication for sales teams
  • Real-time prospect alerts
  • CRM mobile app with sales analytics

Benefits:

  • Free version for up to 10 users
  • Intelligent email marketing
  • Popular performance management tools

Cost (Paid Annually):

  • Free version
  • Standard: $14/user/mo.
  • Professional: $23/user/mo.
  • Enterprise: $40/user/mo.
  • Ultimate: $52/user/mo.

Freshsales: Best CRM Software For Integrated Calling

Summary

Freshsales by Freshworks is a powerful but intuitive CRM software that gives users a 360-degree view of their customers to accelerate sales and develop long-lasting relationships. 

Like other CRM solutions on this list, Freshsales scales it back for small businesses with a platform with just the right amount of features and an easy-to-learn interface. Freshsales is especially appealing for its cloud-based telephony tool, which is available on all editions.

Freshsales Features for Integrated Calling & Communication:

  • Built-in phone dialer
  • Local and toll-free numbers for sale
  • Inbound caller ID
  • Chat widget
  • Facebook Messenger integration
  • SMS Integration

Benefits:

  • Long, 21-day free trial
  • Seemingly endless integrations
  • Extensive customization

Cost (Paid Annually):

  • Free edition
  • Growth edition: $15/user/mo.
  • Pro edition: $39/user/mo.
  • Enterprise edition: $69/user/mo.

Less Annoying: Best CRM Software For Startups

Summary

Startups and small-to-medium businesses are more likely to take the plunge and invest in CRM software if they see a CRM system that offers plenty of features at an affordable rate. Less Annoying has pretty much achieved that in its CRM software.

Many tools from other CRMs may seem like nice-to-have features to companies just starting out. That’s why Less Annoying is probably the winner to many new companies: it delivers everything you need in a CRM. 

A word of caution: if business expansion is on your horizon and you expect company growth, you may find that the simplicity of Less Annoying limits your options, especially when it comes to more detailed reporting. 

Less Annoying Features:

  • Contact management
  • Leads pipeline
  • Sales pipeline
  • Customization
  • Mobile-friendly
  • Calendars and tasks
  • Multi-user management

Benefits for Startups & SMBs:

  • Intuitive interface
  • Awesome customer service
  • Easy to use on mobile
  • Long free trial (30 days)
  • One flat rate

Cost:

  • $15/user/mo

Try Veloxity for Free

There’s no shortage of CRM systems available on the market today, and we’ve only scratched the surface. Honourable mentions are Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics 365, Hubspot, Oracle, Zendesk, and Pipedrive. 
When you look at the features of the CRM software solutions we reviewed today, there’s only one that combines affordability, ease of use, adaptability, and value: that’s Veloxity CRM. Start Veloxity today with our free version today!