Best CRM's

[dogdon]

I'm a newbie here and have used SsalesLogix, ACT! and Saleforce.com in the past and wanted to get some feedback as to how many people were using any of these or others and why.

Thanks!

[theonlinedirectory.co.uk]

Hi Dog welcome to the forums! ACT! is used here for it's functionality and customisability (is that a word??)

[Sales Slut]

Hello there dogdon,
Nice to have you onboard.
This forum is used by the regulars and others on an ad-hock basis.
Not over popular but building slowly and surely.
Just needs more activity to keep things steaming on.

(Not like someone I know missing weekends!!!)

:lol: h34r:

[dogdon]

Thanks for the feedback here. Yeah, I like ACT! for the customisability as well. Online directory - Are you using any effective add-ons I should be aware of that may help improve my sales cycle?

[theonlinedirectory.co.uk]

Not really, the only one that has been handy in Lead Generation that will save you bags of time is ListGrabber. I forget what their site is but a Google search should bring it up. Integrates well with ACT! too

[dogdon]

I met the CEO of www.egrabber.com at the Sage Insights 2006 show and it seems to be an excellent way of transfering data into ACT! contact records. Much like CardScan.

[Kregg]

Hi Dog,

I have used ACT!, SalesLogix, and salesforce.com in the past as well as several homegrown CRM systems. Which is best? It all depends on your needs and in many cases the size of the organization, the skills sets available within the company, the budget available for CRM software, and the level of customization required.

ACT! is good as far as single user desktop solutions go. I have not heard any good things about the recently released online version. Most large companies and small businesses with more than one employee or partner, especially if they are in different geographic locations, will not be satisfied with ACT! or other desk top solutions if they want to share a common customer data base.

SalesLogix is a good on premise solution if you have an IT department to install, implement and maintain it.

Of course salesforce.com is the 900 lb gorilla of the online CRM space and have done extremely well in the Fortune 500 and mid-sized companies, but it is simply far too expensive for most small businesses.

SugarCRM has made a lot of news in the Open Source CRM market recently it is less expensive than salesforce.com, and they offer both a hosted and an on premise solution. You can also modify the source code if you know how to program in PHP.

We provide a hosted CRM solution designed specifically for small business. Most of our customers are either upgrading from Excel spreadsheets or a desk top solution like ACT!, and have compared us to either salesforce.com or SugarCRM. These are are our two most common competitors when the need is for an online solution as opposed to an on premise solution.

We consistently do quite well in these competitive situations based on several factors; 1) ease-of-use, 2) superior customer service and support, and 3) price (we offer the same basic functionality as the competition but at a fraction of the cost).

If you would like any further details on any of the solutions mention herein, or others, please let me know. We have been gathering a competitive data base that now contains analysis of over 50 CRM companies and products.

Regards,
Kregg

[ashleydrollinson]

A lot of people who use ACT swear by it and will not even consider other systems for any task. I say ACT is good at what it does - but you should look at other systems based on your requirements.

Don't rule out bespoke online internet/intranet applications. These can be tailored to your exact requirements, can be very easy to integrate and handle data and are particular useful with large forces that need to share up to the minute information without synchronising.

Bespoke systems can also be good for "on the road" where you can log in from any laptop anywhere in the world to find information etc.

[joe127]

Originally posted by dogdon@Apr 1 2006, 12:34 AM
I'm a newbie here and have used SsalesLogix, ACT! and Saleforce.com in the past and wanted to get some feedback as to how many people were using any of these or others and why.

Thanks!

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I uesd Wired Act for a very large company with a very large sales force and didn't care for it because it couldn't be used remotely possibly due to company regs and my data was frequently hacked by other sales reps without warning even with the logon.
I did like Salesforce.com because it was more user friendly and had much better security. It also had better tracking.