I have tried each of the Free CRM's out there as well as the pay for salesforce.com and I can say without a doubt that ZOHO CRM is the easiest and most user friendly CRM on the market.
I would have gladly paid ZOHO what I paid salesforce.com, especially after my frustration with the pay for service that was supposed to have a better product.
Oh well, sometimes you have to try everything before you know how to compare them.
Thanks for your contribution. Maybe you would like to write some CRM reviews for us, considering you seem to have some experience of various CRM products. For money, of course! Drop me a mail on smallbizcrm AT gmail.com or through the site here if you (or anyone) are interested.
CRM Options that Make Sense for Small Business by: Sarah R. T.
Hi Lisa,
There are some great options out there and Salesforce is definitely over-rated. In selecting a solution, a small business must take into account many options including current needs as well as future needs...
Some other great options are from:
www.Rightnow.Com -- great online and on-premise solutions. Has been in the market for sometime.
www.SuradoCRM.com -- you can start with online and easily migrate to on-premise. Also has a great offline CRM product. One of the early CRM market introductions.
www.SugarCRM.com -- open source... only atttempt this option if you are into programming.
www.NetSuite.com -- offers both CRM and ERP integration. May not be suitable for small business since implementation is not exactly easy. But may be a great tool for larger organizations.
There are some great articles or white papers for small bussinesses looking to adopt CRM applications... one that come to mind is Got CRM? Small Business Guide for Small Business.
Note: CRM is not just software implementation. It requires a mindset change to put the customer at the center of the operations -- absolutely needs a champion and buy in from all employees.