Contact management solutions for small businesses enable the storage and organization of lead and customer data as well as supplier data, but that's not all: their use allows you to make the most of various business opportunities, as well as reduce the time you have to spend on more repetitive marketing and sales activities.
If you, too, would like to free your sales reps from such occupations as data entry, centralize information in one place, and use the power of automation to your advantage to increase your company's performance, read on: below you will find the 12 best contact management solutions on the market.
FAQ
What are contact management tools?
Contact management tools allow you to centralize the contact information of customers and suppliers, as well as the company's leads. Such software facilitates interactions between these parties and the company by storing exchanges that have occurred. They also facilitate sales pipeline tracking and automate a variety of tasks.
Why should small and medium-sized enterprises use a contact management tool?
Small and medium-sized businesses should use the contact management tool to effectively administer customers and leads, centralize all data, automate the sales funnel, improve customer understanding, and create targeted marketing campaigns and personalized customer service.
What features should contact management solutions for small and medium-sized businesses exhibit?
Features that contact management solutions for small and medium-sized businesses should exhibit include the ability to easily administer leads, customers and suppliers, the ability to record every interaction, automation of marketing and sales, analytics and reports, integration with both social networks and the company's management software, and scalability.
1. Bitrix24
Bitrix24 touts itself as the best contact management software on the market because of its great potential and the many integrations available. Its CRM allows you to get a complete view of your interactions with customers and leads as well as with suppliers, but you will also be able to view activities regarding sales and drive leads faster and more easily through the sales funnel. Its functions are also of great help in increasing marketing and, indeed, sales opportunities: through email automation, each lead will receive a personalized response to their interactions, and it will also be possible to generate targeted ads and discounts for each occasion.
In terms of tools, the platform's Sales Intelligence gathers the information needed to make decision making more efficient, but that's not all: Bitrix24 enables the generation of reports of all kinds, from employee performance reports to sales reports, from promotion channel reports to advertising ROI (return on investment).
The software provides a complete contact center, which includes social networking services. But that's not the end of the story: in fact, you will have a project, task and personnel management tool, and you can automate assignments, workflows and sales processes, all in one platform.
You can take advantage of Bitrix24's tools in a completely free version, but to access exclusive features such as total monitoring of the sales pipeline and generation of quotes and invoices directly from the CRM, you will need to subscribe. If you are looking for multifunctional software at a competitive price, you have found what you need!
2. BIGContacts
Among the contact management solutions for small businesses, BIGContacts is certainly one of the most widely used. In fact, it is a software that organizes customers and leads through an easy-to-understand interface: contacts are sorted by activity, so you can view them by last interaction, next to-do or pending task. It also offers custom fields to enter the information you deem most important and allows you to create roles, users and permissions to organize your work teams even more efficiently.
Among the most interesting features certainly includes the ability to create e-mail marketing campaigns: once you set custom rules, e-mails will be sent automatically. Tracking the sales pipeline, its stages and commissions is intuitive, and you can also manage tasks, calendars and contacts on one software.
BIGContacts features a free version, but again, to create custom reports on employee performance or access the platform's analytics tools, you will need to subscribe.
3. Hubspot
Another of the most popular contact management solutions for small businesses is certainly Hubspot, which presents a real-time view of the sales funnel. The software allows you to easily view conversions and contracts and scheduled appointments, as well as the performance of your employees. Thanks to a filter system you can also sort the data as you like, so you can analyze it more easily.
Hubspot's CRM can automatically keep track of customers' interactions with your company, whether they happened through e-mail, social networks or even phone calls. In addition, every interaction with leads will be archived on a timeline, allowing you not to miss the most important details. However, those who wish to take advantage of the helpdesk integration, as well as the customer scoring feature, will need to take advantage of the monthly subscription.
4. Bigin
Among the cloud-based contact management systems, it is necessary to mention Bigin, which helps to segment contacts based on their behavior: in this way, it will be possible to customize subsequent interactions to get a positive response. Segmentation is done automatically, after certain rules are set. In addition, the software allows you to create campaigns across different channels and analyze the source of incoming traffic.
You can integrate Bigin with apps such as Facebook, Sendgrid and Slack, as well as create and manage targeted ads to improve your company's reach. You will also be able to automate workflows and manage the sales funnel with specific triggers and rules in a snap. Unfortunately, it does not have the feature for adding custom fields to contacts, but paid versions offer the ability to install CRM-related modules in the website.
5. Streak CRM
If your business uses Gmail and the other tools provided by Google, Streak CRM proves to be the best choice among contact management solutions for small businesses. It actually acquires data right from Gmail and also works within your inbox, so you never lose track of interactions with your customers, potential and current. Its features also help centralize documents, notes, e-mails and calls with contacts in one place to filter and display them more effectively.
Those who use Streak CRM can create and manage custom workflows and track assigned tasks, but to receive notifications of contact interactions in real time, a monthly subscription must be paid. However affordable the base price proves to be, it is a software that has few native applications.
6. Pipedrive
The best contact management systems should always facilitate the centralization of lead and customer data, their segmentation and classification. If you are looking for software that offers these benefits, you can opt for Pipedrive: its visual sales pipeline actually allows you to drag and drop information to push leads from one point to another, making the whole operation much more intuitive. It also offers custom field entry and the ability to track all interactions between people and the company.
Like many other software in the same category, you will also be able to monitor the sales funnel in real time, set reminders, and rely on automation of the most repetitive tasks. If you wish to try it out before purchasing, you will have a 14-day free period, but remember that only paid plans give you access to detailed analytical tools and reports.
7. Zendesk
Zendesk is a perfect software to keep your contacts' data up-to-date: it actually stores their database to manage them even more effectively. Its most interesting feature, however, is the ability to automatically track and capture data from e-mail and other channels, as well as the creation of intelligent contact lists, based on segmentation and focused on different targets.
Receiving real-time information will also be significantly easier, thanks to the configuration of activity alerts for contacts. All of the proposed plans allow pipeline configuration, obviously with different functionality. If you then wish to work anywhere with the software, Zendesk offers a mobile app that allows you to monitor performance metrics and works via a drag-and-drop interface. Those who choose the paid version will also have access to a number of advanced reporting features.
8. Monday.com
Those looking for contact management solutions for small businesses with a wealth of available integrations will turn to Monday.com: this software allows data capture from Excel, Facebook, LinkedIn and many other applications. You will be able to centralize information and communications with customers in order to establish a long-term relationship with them and store all interactions, documents or next steps within contact sheets.
Monday.com is also a highly customizable software that can be effortlessly adapted to your needs. With its tools you will be able to create workflows and processes, add columns and information, manage multiple flows simultaneously, and automate repetitive tasks such as lead capture. In addition, you will have the ability to set up a reminder system for meetings and events. Its free plan is for 2 users and up to 1,000 contacts.
9. Covve
Covve is perhaps the simplest of the small business contact management solutions, ideal for companies that want to organize data functionally and communicate easily with each of them. It stands out among other alternatives because of its business card scanner: in fact, it will be enough to read one with the app to immediately store the data within the software.
The app allows you to keep contact data synchronized with those on your phone and to create smart reminders to identify the most appropriate time to communicate with those you care about. Security is also held in high regard, with data stored using encryption. A free and a paid plan are available: the latter additionally offers access to performance tracking tools.
10. Salesforce
Salesforce must also be included in the list of contact management solutions for small businesses. Cloud-based and highly customizable, it allows you to manage contact data from multiple channels in one place.
If one of your goals is to increase the productivity of your sales team, you'll be able to automate repetitive workflows and tasks to gain much-needed time to occupy in more challenging tasks. In addition, you will be able to set up a series of notifications to receive whenever your contacts perform a specific activity, such as clicking on your website or opening emails. Salesforce integrates with a variety of applications and offers a free trial, which is useful for deciding whether to purchase the subscription version later.
11. Insightly
Insightly, like other contact management solutions for small businesses, also focuses on optimizing data management. Its tools will allow you to track lead information, activities and marketing campaigns, as well as manage emails, phone calls, meetings and assignments associated with each contact in one place.
With workflow automation, productivity will increase exponentially and you won't miss a single sales opportunity. Insightly also allows you to create and send bulk e-mails while still ensuring some customization, as well as get real-time information on the actions taken by contacts. The software presents only paid options.
12. Freshsales
As a contact management solution for small businesses Freshsales provides a good system for qualifying contacts, allowing you to classify them according to the opportunities of greatest value to your business. Like other software, it has the virtue of collecting contact data from e-mail and storing all communications in one place.
This software proves to be a good choice for anyone wishing to make detailed schedules of their activities. Among other options, it includes a system of reminders and alerts and the automation of contact progress through the sales funnel. It can also be integrated with other apps, such as Slack, and features both a free version and several paid plans.
Discover the contact management solution for small businesses that best suits your needs
There are indeed many small business contact management solutions available on the market, all of which are different and have features that set them apart from each other. You should always make sure that the one you are choosing is compatible with your business management software to maximize efficiency and get terrific results.
Of all those listed, Bitrix24 proves to be the best solution for managing contacts. In fact, it is a complete and functional software that centralizes all your company's needs in a single platform, from organizing and storing customer, lead and supplier data to managing tasks and projects, human resources, marketing and sales, and generating invoices and documents. As you can see, the potentials are many and perfect for your small or medium-sized company: all you have to do is try it immediately!
If you, too, would like to free your sales reps from such occupations as data entry, centralize information in one place, and use the power of automation to your advantage to increase your company's performance, read on: below you will find the 12 best contact management solutions on the market.
What are contact management tools?
Contact management tools allow you to centralize the contact information of customers and suppliers, as well as the company's leads. Such software facilitates interactions between these parties and the company by storing exchanges that have occurred. They also facilitate sales pipeline tracking and automate a variety of tasks.
Why should small and medium-sized enterprises use a contact management tool?
Small and medium-sized businesses should use the contact management tool to effectively administer customers and leads, centralize all data, automate the sales funnel, improve customer understanding, and create targeted marketing campaigns and personalized customer service.
What features should contact management solutions for small and medium-sized businesses exhibit?
Features that contact management solutions for small and medium-sized businesses should exhibit include the ability to easily administer leads, customers and suppliers, the ability to record every interaction, automation of marketing and sales, analytics and reports, integration with both social networks and the company's management software, and scalability.
1. Bitrix24
Bitrix24 touts itself as the best contact management software on the market because of its great potential and the many integrations available. Its CRM allows you to get a complete view of your interactions with customers and leads as well as with suppliers, but you will also be able to view activities regarding sales and drive leads faster and more easily through the sales funnel. Its functions are also of great help in increasing marketing and, indeed, sales opportunities: through email automation, each lead will receive a personalized response to their interactions, and it will also be possible to generate targeted ads and discounts for each occasion.
In terms of tools, the platform's Sales Intelligence gathers the information needed to make decision making more efficient, but that's not all: Bitrix24 enables the generation of reports of all kinds, from employee performance reports to sales reports, from promotion channel reports to advertising ROI (return on investment).
The software provides a complete contact center, which includes social networking services. But that's not the end of the story: in fact, you will have a project, task and personnel management tool, and you can automate assignments, workflows and sales processes, all in one platform.
You can take advantage of Bitrix24's tools in a completely free version, but to access exclusive features such as total monitoring of the sales pipeline and generation of quotes and invoices directly from the CRM, you will need to subscribe. If you are looking for multifunctional software at a competitive price, you have found what you need!
2. BIGContacts
Among the contact management solutions for small businesses, BIGContacts is certainly one of the most widely used. In fact, it is a software that organizes customers and leads through an easy-to-understand interface: contacts are sorted by activity, so you can view them by last interaction, next to-do or pending task. It also offers custom fields to enter the information you deem most important and allows you to create roles, users and permissions to organize your work teams even more efficiently.
Among the most interesting features certainly includes the ability to create e-mail marketing campaigns: once you set custom rules, e-mails will be sent automatically. Tracking the sales pipeline, its stages and commissions is intuitive, and you can also manage tasks, calendars and contacts on one software.
BIGContacts features a free version, but again, to create custom reports on employee performance or access the platform's analytics tools, you will need to subscribe.
3. Hubspot
Another of the most popular contact management solutions for small businesses is certainly Hubspot, which presents a real-time view of the sales funnel. The software allows you to easily view conversions and contracts and scheduled appointments, as well as the performance of your employees. Thanks to a filter system you can also sort the data as you like, so you can analyze it more easily.
Hubspot's CRM can automatically keep track of customers' interactions with your company, whether they happened through e-mail, social networks or even phone calls. In addition, every interaction with leads will be archived on a timeline, allowing you not to miss the most important details. However, those who wish to take advantage of the helpdesk integration, as well as the customer scoring feature, will need to take advantage of the monthly subscription.
4. Bigin
Among the cloud-based contact management systems, it is necessary to mention Bigin, which helps to segment contacts based on their behavior: in this way, it will be possible to customize subsequent interactions to get a positive response. Segmentation is done automatically, after certain rules are set. In addition, the software allows you to create campaigns across different channels and analyze the source of incoming traffic.
You can integrate Bigin with apps such as Facebook, Sendgrid and Slack, as well as create and manage targeted ads to improve your company's reach. You will also be able to automate workflows and manage the sales funnel with specific triggers and rules in a snap. Unfortunately, it does not have the feature for adding custom fields to contacts, but paid versions offer the ability to install CRM-related modules in the website.
5. Streak CRM
If your business uses Gmail and the other tools provided by Google, Streak CRM proves to be the best choice among contact management solutions for small businesses. It actually acquires data right from Gmail and also works within your inbox, so you never lose track of interactions with your customers, potential and current. Its features also help centralize documents, notes, e-mails and calls with contacts in one place to filter and display them more effectively.
Those who use Streak CRM can create and manage custom workflows and track assigned tasks, but to receive notifications of contact interactions in real time, a monthly subscription must be paid. However affordable the base price proves to be, it is a software that has few native applications.
6. Pipedrive
The best contact management systems should always facilitate the centralization of lead and customer data, their segmentation and classification. If you are looking for software that offers these benefits, you can opt for Pipedrive: its visual sales pipeline actually allows you to drag and drop information to push leads from one point to another, making the whole operation much more intuitive. It also offers custom field entry and the ability to track all interactions between people and the company.
Like many other software in the same category, you will also be able to monitor the sales funnel in real time, set reminders, and rely on automation of the most repetitive tasks. If you wish to try it out before purchasing, you will have a 14-day free period, but remember that only paid plans give you access to detailed analytical tools and reports.
7. Zendesk
Zendesk is a perfect software to keep your contacts' data up-to-date: it actually stores their database to manage them even more effectively. Its most interesting feature, however, is the ability to automatically track and capture data from e-mail and other channels, as well as the creation of intelligent contact lists, based on segmentation and focused on different targets.
Receiving real-time information will also be significantly easier, thanks to the configuration of activity alerts for contacts. All of the proposed plans allow pipeline configuration, obviously with different functionality. If you then wish to work anywhere with the software, Zendesk offers a mobile app that allows you to monitor performance metrics and works via a drag-and-drop interface. Those who choose the paid version will also have access to a number of advanced reporting features.
8. Monday.com
Those looking for contact management solutions for small businesses with a wealth of available integrations will turn to Monday.com: this software allows data capture from Excel, Facebook, LinkedIn and many other applications. You will be able to centralize information and communications with customers in order to establish a long-term relationship with them and store all interactions, documents or next steps within contact sheets.
Monday.com is also a highly customizable software that can be effortlessly adapted to your needs. With its tools you will be able to create workflows and processes, add columns and information, manage multiple flows simultaneously, and automate repetitive tasks such as lead capture. In addition, you will have the ability to set up a reminder system for meetings and events. Its free plan is for 2 users and up to 1,000 contacts.
9. Covve
Covve is perhaps the simplest of the small business contact management solutions, ideal for companies that want to organize data functionally and communicate easily with each of them. It stands out among other alternatives because of its business card scanner: in fact, it will be enough to read one with the app to immediately store the data within the software.
The app allows you to keep contact data synchronized with those on your phone and to create smart reminders to identify the most appropriate time to communicate with those you care about. Security is also held in high regard, with data stored using encryption. A free and a paid plan are available: the latter additionally offers access to performance tracking tools.
10. Salesforce
Salesforce must also be included in the list of contact management solutions for small businesses. Cloud-based and highly customizable, it allows you to manage contact data from multiple channels in one place.
If one of your goals is to increase the productivity of your sales team, you'll be able to automate repetitive workflows and tasks to gain much-needed time to occupy in more challenging tasks. In addition, you will be able to set up a series of notifications to receive whenever your contacts perform a specific activity, such as clicking on your website or opening emails. Salesforce integrates with a variety of applications and offers a free trial, which is useful for deciding whether to purchase the subscription version later.
11. Insightly
Insightly, like other contact management solutions for small businesses, also focuses on optimizing data management. Its tools will allow you to track lead information, activities and marketing campaigns, as well as manage emails, phone calls, meetings and assignments associated with each contact in one place.
With workflow automation, productivity will increase exponentially and you won't miss a single sales opportunity. Insightly also allows you to create and send bulk e-mails while still ensuring some customization, as well as get real-time information on the actions taken by contacts. The software presents only paid options.
12. Freshsales
As a contact management solution for small businesses Freshsales provides a good system for qualifying contacts, allowing you to classify them according to the opportunities of greatest value to your business. Like other software, it has the virtue of collecting contact data from e-mail and storing all communications in one place.
This software proves to be a good choice for anyone wishing to make detailed schedules of their activities. Among other options, it includes a system of reminders and alerts and the automation of contact progress through the sales funnel. It can also be integrated with other apps, such as Slack, and features both a free version and several paid plans.
Discover the contact management solution for small businesses that best suits your needs
There are indeed many small business contact management solutions available on the market, all of which are different and have features that set them apart from each other. You should always make sure that the one you are choosing is compatible with your business management software to maximize efficiency and get terrific results.
Of all those listed, Bitrix24 proves to be the best solution for managing contacts. In fact, it is a complete and functional software that centralizes all your company's needs in a single platform, from organizing and storing customer, lead and supplier data to managing tasks and projects, human resources, marketing and sales, and generating invoices and documents. As you can see, the potentials are many and perfect for your small or medium-sized company: all you have to do is try it immediately!