Andrew MartinIn the fast-paced world of B2B commerce, success hinges on more than just delivering a great product or service. To truly thrive, businesses must forge strong client relationships, optimize their sales processes, and derive actionable insights from their operations. This is where a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system becomes indispensable. The right CRM doesn’t just help you manage customer interactions; it empowers your business to track leads effectively, enhance customer retention, and drive growth. But with countless CRM options available, finding the perfect fit for your B2B needs can be overwhelming.
In this article, we’ll explore the top CRM solutions tailored for B2B companies, guiding you to the one that aligns best with your business objectives.
Key Takeaways:
- According to Gartner, sales reps only have 5% of a customer’s time during their B2B buyer journey. A typical buying group for a complex B2B product involves six to 10 decision-makers.
- B2B buying journeys are long and complex, and reps have little time to influence the decision. The stakes are high, so you need an excellent sales strategy and a powerful CRM for B2B companies.
- The best CRMs for B2B companies help track customers at each stage of their long buying journey. A CRM helps you improve the customer experience and win more deals.
- When evaluating B2B CRMs, you must consider each platform’s feature set, configuration options, ease of use, integrations, and customer support options.
- Some of the top B2B CRMs include Teamgate CRM, Salesforce, HubSpot Sales Hub, Zoho CRM, Nutshell, Insightly, Pipedrive, Close, Salesflare, and NetSuite CRM.
Contents:
- What Is CRM for B2B Companies?
- How to Evaluate CRMs for B2B Companies
- 10 Best CRM for B2B Companies in 2024
- Teamgate
- Salesforce
- HubSpot Sales Hub
- Zoho CRM
- Nutshell
- Insightly
- Pipedrive
- Close
- Salesflare
- NetSuite CRM
- Making an Informed Choice
- FAQs: B2B CRM
What Is CRM for B2B Companies?
A CRM system tailored for B2B companies is a specialized software solution designed to effectively manage and enhance customer relationships. While the core concept of a B2B CRM is similar to that of a B2C CRM—guiding customers through the sales funnel and providing timely support to boost repeat business and foster brand loyalty—B2B customer relationships often involve greater complexity.
This added complexity makes it essential to choose a CRM with the right features. For instance, a B2B CRM needs to capture and analyze detailed sales data, offering deep insights into customer interactions. Additionally, robust reporting capabilities are crucial, enabling businesses to leverage this data to make informed, data-driven decisions that drive growth and optimize the sales process.
How to Evaluate CRMs for B2B Companies
Selecting the right CRM for your B2B business is a crucial decision that requires careful evaluation of several factors. Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you make an informed choice.
Identify Your Business Needs
Assess Current Challenges Before diving into the features of various CRMs, start by identifying the specific challenges your business faces. Are you struggling with lead management, sales forecasting, or customer retention? Understanding your pain points will guide you in selecting a CRM that addresses these issues effectively.
Set Clear Objectives Once you’ve pinpointed your challenges, set clear objectives for what you want to achieve with the CRM. Whether it’s improving sales efficiency, enhancing customer communication, or gaining better insights through analytics, having well-defined goals will help you narrow down your options.
Evaluate CRM Features
Lead and Contact Management A robust B2B CRM should excel in lead and contact management. Look for features that allow you to track customer interactions, segment leads, and automate follow-up processes. This ensures that your sales team can focus on high-value opportunities without losing track of important details.
Sales Pipeline Management Effective sales pipeline management is essential for B2B companies. Choose a CRM that offers visual pipeline tracking, customizable stages, and real-time updates. This will help you monitor the progress of deals and identify potential bottlenecks in your sales process.
Reporting and Analytics Data-driven decision-making is critical in B2B environments. Ensure the CRM provides comprehensive reporting and analytics tools that allow you to generate detailed reports, track key performance indicators (KPIs), and make informed decisions based on accurate data.
Consider Integration Capabilities
Compatibility with Existing Tools Your CRM should integrate seamlessly with the other tools your business relies on, such as email marketing platforms, accounting software, and customer support systems. This ensures a smooth flow of information across different departments and enhances overall efficiency.
Scalability and Flexibility As your business grows, your CRM needs to scale with it. Look for a solution that offers flexibility in terms of customization and the ability to add new features or users as your needs evolve. This will prevent the need for a costly switch to a different platform later on.
Evaluate Usability and Support
User-Friendly Interface A CRM is only effective if your team can use it efficiently. Choose a platform with an intuitive, user-friendly interface that requires minimal training. This will encourage adoption and ensure that your team can leverage the CRM to its full potential.
Customer Support and Training Reliable customer support is essential when implementing a new CRM. Opt for a vendor that offers comprehensive training resources, ongoing support, and a responsive customer service team. This will help you overcome any challenges that arise during the transition.
Consider Cost and ROI
Initial and Ongoing Costs Evaluate both the initial cost and any ongoing expenses associated with the CRM, such as subscription fees, customization, and training. Ensure the total cost aligns with your budget and provides a good return on investment (ROI).
Value for Money Finally, consider the overall value the CRM brings to your business. A higher upfront cost might be justified if the CRM offers advanced features, excellent support, and the potential to significantly improve your sales and customer relationship management processes.
10 Best CRM for B2B Companies in 2024
Teamgate CRM
Teamgate CRM is a highly configurable and easy-to-use CRM for B2B companies of all sizes. It offers an extensive feature set, including features like lead management, contact management, and native call management (SmartDialer). These features help nurture leads right from their first interaction with your company to the moment they complete the purchase.
Teamgate integrates with popular business platforms like Slack, Google Drive, and Quickbooks. Integrating these apps helps streamline and automate your sales processes. For example, suppose a customer pitches your product to the buying committee, and they send an email requesting help. Teamgate can alert your team about this email via a message in the relevant Slack channel.
Teamgate also offers a sales dashboard that helps track sales performance. The dashboard monitors sales targets, so you can always act quickly when needed.
The CRM’s extensive analytics and reporting capabilities help identify opportunities to improve customer journeys and internal processes. Optimize your sales strategy based on insights from analytics and reporting to improve conversions and retention.
Teamgate CRM Key Features
- Lead qualification and contact management
- Drag-and-drop sales pipeline
- Native call management feature called SmartDialer
- Built-in analytics and reporting
- Integrations for business apps like Slack, Mailchimp, and more
- Track KPIs like conversion and retention rates
Teamgate CRM Rating
Teamgate CRM Pricing
Pricing for Teamgate is a straightforward cost per user on either a month-to-month or annual basis. Subscription options vary from their FREE starter plan, to their $39.90 Team plan and finally their all-inclusive $59.90 Growth plan.
Salesforce CRM
Salesforce CRM is an excellent choice for large companies and enterprises. The cloud-based CRM offers an extensive feature set that helps improve B2B customer journeys, no matter how complex.
The CRM includes features like lead management, opportunity tracking, customer journey management, sales forecasting, and more. Salesforce also has built-in workflow automation features to make your processes more efficient.
However, the extensive feature set comes at the expense of ease of use. If you’re a large enterprise, Salesforce is a good option. Small and medium businesses may find Salesforce to be overkill.
Salesforce CRM Key Features
- Contact and account management
- Ability to create custom objects, rules, fields, calculations, and views
- Quote and order management
- Knowledge base
- Forecasting and reporting
Salesforce CRM Rating
- 4.3/5 (G2)
Salesforce CRM Pricing
Salesforce pricing will depend on the services you need. Sales Cloud pricing varies from $25 to $500 per user/month when billed annually, with potential additional costs for consulting, setup and training.
HubSpot Sales Hub
HubSpot Sales Hub is one of the most popular CRMs. It offers everything you need to manage B2B sales and customer relationships. Unlike Salesforce, HubSpot has an easy-to-use, intuitive interface.
The CRM offers a generous free version, which offers access to features like the email template builder, AI email writer, and live chat software. More advanced features available on the paid plans include conversation routing, predictive lead scoring, and recurring revenue tracking.
The HubSpot App Marketplace includes over 1,400 custom integrations. These integrations help connect the apps you use to manage your B2B company with your CRM.
Hubspot Sales Hub Key Features
- Contact management
- Live chat
- Reporting dashboard
- Rep productivity performance stats
- Custom objects
Hubspot Sales Hub Rating
- 4.4/5 (G2)
Hubspot Sales Hub Pricing
Pricing for the Sales Hub starts at $450/month when billed annually for up to five users. Other plans are available, including Enterprise.
Zoho CRM
Zoho CRM is a complete CRM solution for B2B companies looking for an established but pocket-friendly solution. The CRM has a free version that offers features like lead and contact management, deal management, custom list views, and Zapier integration.
The paid plans offer various advanced features based on your selected pricing tier. Examples of paid features include anomaly detectors, autoresponders, and field-level security. Zoho CRM also has built-in reporting and analytics tools that offer insights needed to optimize customer journeys.
Zoho CRM Key Features
- Predictive sales
- Omnichannel support
- Anomaly detectors
- Opportunity management
Zoho CRM Rating
- 4/5 (G2)
Zoho CRM Pricing
Zoho CRM offers a free trial, so you can test drive the CRM. The Standard pricing plan then starts at $14 per user/month when billed annually.
Nutshell CRM
Nutshell is a great CRM for small businesses looking for an affordable B2B CRM. The CRM doesn’t offer a free tier. However, all pricing tiers include unlimited contacts and data storage, live support, a suite of customizable reporting tools, and migration assistance from the Nutshell team.
Nutshell offers embeddable web forms that bring in leads from your website. Once leads roll in, the drag-and-drop pipeline board and interactive lead map enable you to manage and nurture leads efficiently.
The easy-to-use CRM integrates into popular business apps, including QuickBooks, Google Workspace, and Slack. The app is also available on iPhone and Android, so your team can stay connected and collaborate wherever they are.
Nutshell CRM Key Features
- Drag-and-drop pipeline board
- Sales and lead reporting
- Embeddable web forms
- One-click integrations with Slack, Mailchimp, Constant Contact, and more
Nutshell CRM Rating
- 4.2/5 (G2)
Nutshell CRM Pricing
Nutshell’s Foundation plan starts at $16 per user/month. There are three other plans to choose from, including Pro, Power AI, and Enterprise.
Insightly
Insightly offers customizability and scalability, allowing your B2B company to build sales pipelines, improve productivity, and deliver remarkable customer experiences.
The modern yet affordable CRM offers all the essentials, including the ability to centralize and manage customer and sales data and integrations. Insightly also offers enterprise-level products, price books, and quotes (PPQ) functionality. PPQ allows you to quickly search and manage a large product or service portfolio within the platform.
Insightly auto-connects products and services to specific opportunities, minimizing the risk of human error and improving efficiency. This can be a valuable proposition for companies with long and complex buyer journeys.
Insightly Rating
- 4.2/5 (G2)
Insightly Key Features
- Contract and account management
- Forecasting and reporting
- Web-to-lead capture
- Kanban view
Insightly Pricing
Insightly’s Plus plan starts at $29 per user/month when billed annually. Two other pricing plans are available: Professional and Enterprise.
Pipedrive
Pipedrive is a sales-focused CRM for businesses of all sizes. However, Pipedrive does offer other additional features as well, such as email tracking and reports, third-party integrations, and visual dashboards.
Pipedrive’s built-in marketing automation features help generate and nurture leads at scale. For example, you can configure rules on Pipedrive that trigger email and text campaigns based on their last interaction with your business.
Pipedrive offers comprehensive pipeline management capabilities. For example, you can add values, win probability, and estimate closure dates for each deal. Visualizing each deal with critical metrics helps track progress and determine the right time to reach out to a lead.
Pipedrive Key Features
- Customized pipelines
- Streamlined lead routing
- Drag-and-drop interface to manage sales opportunities
- Meeting, email, and video call scheduling
- Lead filtering and segmentation
Pipedrive Rating
- 4.2/5 (G2)
Pipedrive Pricing
Pipedrive Essential starts at $14.90 per user/month billed annually. There are a range of other plans available, depending on your specific needs.
Close CRM
Close is tailor-made for small businesses. It’s a powerful, easy-to-use CRM loaded with features. Close takes essential CRM features a step further. For example, the contact management features include the ability to communicate with contacts in multiple ways, such as through the Power and Predictive dialers and by building email and text message sequences.
The CRM integrates with many popular business apps, including Gmail, Zoom, and Zapier. However, Close has limited marketing features.
Close CRM Key Features
- Power Dialer
- Custom fields
- Opportunity funnel reports
- Integrations for Zoom, Zapier, Calendly, and more
- Call forwarding and call recording
Close CRM Rating
- 4.6/5 (G2)
Close CRM Pricing
The CRM doesn’t offer a free plan but does have a 14-day trial. After the trial, plans start at $49 per month for one user.
Salesflare
Salesflare is an intelligent, easy-to-use CRM. It offers a zero-input pipeline tool that eliminates the need for manual data entry by automatically filling out your address book and tracking interactions with people you contact.
Salesflare pulls data from company databases, email, calendar, phone, and social media. It uses this data to create automated customer timelines that keep you informed about everything you need to know to close more deals.
Salesflare Key Features
- Automate CRM data input
- Create custom dashboards
- Customer contract management
- Track emails, links, and website visits
- Personalized email campaigns
Salesflare Rating
- 4.8/5 (G2)
Salesflare Pricing
Salesflare pricing starts at $29 per user/month billed annually. If you need additional features, you can also choose between the Pro plan ($49 per user/month) and the Enterprise plan ($99 per user/month).
NetSuite CRM
NetSuite by Oracle is an advanced CRM system. It offers all the basics, including sales force automation, customer service management, and marketing automation. Plus, the CRM also offers the ability to manage sales commissions, revenue forecasts, and quotes from a single platform.
The CRM provides sales, marketing, and support teams with a unified view of customer interactions, transactions, and preferences. As a result, your teams can deliver consistent and personalized experiences across touchpoints.
NetSuite CRM Key Features
- Opportunity, upsell, and quote management
- Track and measure prospect activity to determine readiness to buy
- Automated case management
- Built-in reporting, real-time analytics, and role-based dashboards
NetSuite CRM Rating
- 4/5 (G2)
NetSuite CRM Pricing
As for pricing, you must contact the Oracle NetSuite sales team for a custom quote.
Making an Informed Choice
When it comes to choosing a CRM for your B2B company, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution. It’s crucial to thoroughly evaluate your business needs, consider the features that matter most to your operations, and choose a CRM that aligns with your long-term goals. By doing your research and selecting the right platform, you’ll be well-equipped to enhance your customer relationships, streamline your processes, and drive your business forward.
If you’re looking for a CRM that combines ease of use with powerful functionality, Teamgate CRM could be the perfect fit for your business. Start a free trial or schedule a free demo today to see how Teamgate can empower your team and transform your sales processes.
FAQs: B2B CRM
Q: What is a CRM for B2B companies?
A: CRM for B2B companies is a software solution that helps manage customer relationships. It guides customers through your sales funnel, offers prompt support to improve repeat sales, and cultivates brand advocacy. B2B CRMs are designed to handle the complexities of B2B customer relationships, collecting insightful sales data and providing extensive reporting features for data-driven decisions.
Q: Why is a CRM essential for B2B businesses?
A: A CRM for B2B companies is crucial because it streamlines and strengthens interactions between the business and its clients. It aids in enhanced communication, strategic decision-making, and tracking customers throughout their long buying journey, ultimately improving the customer experience and winning more deals.
Q: How do B2B buying journeys differ from B2C?
A: B2B buying journeys are longer and more complex, often involving 6 to 10 decision-makers. Sales reps typically have only 5% of a customer’s time during their B2B buyer journey, making it essential to have an effective sales strategy and a powerful CRM for B2B companies.
Q: What should businesses consider when evaluating B2B CRMs?
A: When evaluating B2B CRMs, businesses should consider the platform’s feature set, configuration options, ease of use, integrations, and customer support options.
Q: How does Teamgate CRM benefit B2B companies?
A: Teamgate CRM is highly configurable and user-friendly, suitable for B2B companies of all sizes. It offers features like lead management, contact management, native call management, and built-in analytics. Teamgate integrates with popular business platforms and provides a sales dashboard to track performance, helping businesses nurture leads and optimize sales strategies.
Q: Are there any specific features that a CRM for B2B companies should have?
A: A CRM for B2B companies should offer features like pipeline management, workflow automation, sales forecasting, extensive reporting, and omnichannel outreach capabilities. Customization and integration options, ease of use, and robust customer support are also essential.
Q: Why is ease of use important when selecting a CRM for B2B companies?
A: Ease of use is crucial because a complex interface can be time-consuming to implement and require excessive training. Even with training, complex solutions can lead to inefficiencies. Easy-to-use solutions ensure maximum productivity.
