CRM Demo: Assure Business Success after the First Run

Due to a variety of CRM systems on today’s market, finding a right platform for your business turns out a challenging task. In case the desired solution lacks the features to fit your business requirements or is under-adopted, an implementation of the wrong tool can become a costly and time-consuming mistake.

In order to avoid the unexpected pitfalls, preparing to and running CRM demo should be the critical steps of your buying cycle. So, let’s identify a vital role of the free test version in the CRM selection process, as well as help you ensure how to get the most from it.

CRM Demo Hacks: Do’s and Dont’s

CRM demo is a preview or trial version of the platform. Usually, it is free and either without some of the critical functions or is programmed to work only for few days after the first run. Besides, the demo provides with the opportunities to:

• discover how your business can benefit from the solution;
• learn more information about the platform’s interface, configuration, and customization tools;
• develop a closer relationship with the vendor’s team;
• indicate how CRM system can solve your business issues;
• find out if the software is flexible enough to continue addressing the problems in the future;
• understand that CRM can resolve the business troubles at an affordable price and in a reasonable time frame.

CRM Test Run: Actions Ahead

The CRM demo should be taken in the procurement stage when the business needs have been researched and identified. If the demo runs too early, a number of further questions and discussions can arise to find out a real value of the desired solution. In other words, the time will be wasted. Besides, it is challenging to narrow down a list of functionality options that are suitable and should be demoed.  

After assembling the business requirements, there are other things your team can expect during CRM demo:

• spending the maximum time covering the company specific demands;
• skipping over the areas and features of the CRM offerings that do not apply to your business;
• viewing a demo that addresses the functional areas and interests of all users.

Beyond the above-mentioned preparation steps, here are some of the extra activities to take before scheduling CRM demo:

1. Get in touch with the stakeholders, representative users, and sales reps. For example, you should ask the questions that are specifically related to your business unique business goals. Furthermore, try to find out their experience with other customers in your industry and learn the case studies highlighting previous success stories.

2. Gather and analyze the information from the interviews;

3. Define a short list of CRM vendors;

4. Evaluate and score the chosen CRM systems, as well as their capabilities. For example:

• search for efficiency and logic in the functionality, considering aspects like as how many clicks it takes to complete basic activities and the ease of the data entry process;

• assure you assess the specific features that are relevant to your business processes. The added-value tools are only worthy if you can guarantee the basics are excellent first.

CRM Systems: Try and Prove Your Right Choice

From the dozens of CRMs available, there can be expensive, complicated and frustrating to set up platforms. Moreover, if you are the startup or small business and the time, as well as resources are in high demand, running an edition at no cost can become inevitable. So, let’s look closer at some CRMs and explore how your organization can benefit from the platforms to fit the budget and requirements.

Bitrix24

Most paid platform with free, basic subscriptions only let you bring a couple users along, but not Bitrix24. The platform lets you obtain the beneficial features like social network with video chat and document management up to 12 users for free. Besides, you can run a 30-day free trial.

Insightly

If you are looking for a way to manage the contacts and projects, Insightly is a system to consider. Even though a free edition only allows you to store the up to 2,500 contacts, and won't let you sync with Google Contacts or Quickbooks, you still can keep track of your contacts and projects together. Insightly offers you to test the Professional plan during your 14-day trial, as well as switch to any subscription at any time.

HubSpot CRM

When you are looking for a free tool crowded by the expensive choices, the last thing you would expect is a full-featured application without a price tag. That’s exactly what makes HubSpot CRM so special. The solution is free forever for all your users with an opportunity to store as many as 1,000,000 contacts, companies, deals and tasks.

With all being said, if you are looking for a new CRM and getting interested in one of the systems, you can get advantage of Trujay for smooth data import. An automated migration service offers you to run a free Demo Migration to see the process in action, as well explore the functionality of the future solution. The SaaS allows you to map the fields on your own in accordance to your business needs and exclude any interruptions of the business processes.

Final Lines

Ultimately, the CRM demo is a significant component on the path to selecting the CRM system. However, it is not the be-all and end-all. The best CRM trial isn’t necessary the appropriate fit your business requirements. So, keep in mind the essential above-mentioned factors that can help you choose the right platform and win from the CRM investment.