This article will learn about CRM, its types, benefits, features, and many more. This article will benefit you if you switch from traditional marketing trends to the latest, like CRM. It will make you able to decide whether to adopt this software or not. Let’s get started with the definition of CRM.

What is a CRM?

Khalid Rababah said that CRM is about knowing the customers who can help you serve in the best manner, making them loyal to your firm [1]. CRM is the short form of Customer Relationship Management. It is a software system that enables marketers and business owners to better their relations with their customers and clients. Not only this, CRM enables the owners to manage their time efficiently, make the right decisions, and guide clients at every step. CRM supports a robust system that is proficient at collecting the data of sales and customers in one place without any difficulty. According to Gartner, in 2021, CRM will be the top revenue spending area [2].

A CRM system can record all the meetings, calls, and emails to improve customer services and increase revenue. It also enables the owners to send messages to the customers personally. As every organization desires to make their business intelligent and efficient, so here CRM system gives help by tracking each segment and part of the data to improve it when needed. You cannot say that Customer Relationship Management is just a game of these three words. It’s a broad concept, and it has proved a great help for small businesses to make their relations with the contacts, clients, and prospects better. And it’s an exciting fact that you will have access to the sheer volume of data as a business owner while using a CRM software system. According to [3], CRM is a mixture of marketing potential, business, and technology to understand customers and organize them deeply.

How does a CRM work

A CRM has many functions that make it popular for business owners to build a strong relationship between clients and the organization, whether a cloud-based CRM or a CRM on your server. It allows storing any data from the leads and other contacts. Many small businesses are using old ways to manage relationships like spreadsheets and other tools like this. But they fail to cope with a large number of contacts; here comes CRM into the picture that permits businesses to use thousands of contacts and their data to store on cloud or self-hosted servers.

If you are running a small business, you should try this software system to help take your business on top.  Because the old tracking system like spreadsheet allows only tracking basic info like name, email, address, phone number, customer type, website, and purchase data. But when you update your organization to CRM, you can track history, contact title, current sales, brief reports, other company contacts, lead scoring, and many more. You can add activities, and it keeps a record of the completion of the past activities and reminds you about the upcoming activities.

Who can use a CRM?

The best thing about Customer Relationship Management is that it is not limited to a part of an organization or requires a specific organization size to use it.  Any organization can use it, no matter it is small or big, and a single unit of the organization can also use a CRM system without any restrictions. The business development, sales, customer service, and recruiting department can benefit from CRM. The business that needs to store the info about customers and companies should use CRM for higher efficiency. It is straightforward to use, gives easy access to the stored data, and efficiently deals with it. It can help improve your business and relationships [4].

Types of CRM

Companies always decide the type of CRM according to its goals and sales etc. CRM system divided into three types that decide where the collected data should store. It is up to you which CRM you want to use. Let’s dive deep into its types.

Self-Hosted

A self -Hosted CRM system is a type of CRM in which data stored on the local servers is run only by the business. The companies are required to purchase the license before starting using CRM. In this system, you need to take your hardware for running the system. There is no limitation on the size of the database to store the collected data. It is an open-source CRM that does not demand any cost to store data. You are free to change the system’s source code if required; you will not need to take permissions before performing any modifications. You can download this system without any cost, but all the maintenance of the servers is your responsibility. You have to work for the data stored on the servers to make sure they are secure. Furthermore, it is right to say that the server is yours in the self-hosted CRM, and you are responsible for it. It can be very beneficial for the companies as the company can deploy it with a strict policy.

Following are the best self-hosted CRM software.

• Grow CRM
• Sugar CRM
• Monica CRM
• Splendid CRM
• Treo CRM

If you want to use a self-hosted CRM, you can choose one from the software mentioned above. All the responsibility of software maintenance and data security is up to you in this software system.

SaaS/Cloud

Cloud CRM is also known as SaaS CRM or on-demand CRM. SaaS is known as Software-as-a-Service. The data of the Cloud CRM on the vendor’s servers. The good thing about this system is that the users have full access to their data stored on it at any time. And the most important fact about a cloud CRM is that the users are not responsible for maintaining servers and data management. The vendor’s responsibility to provide is the required to provide all the upgrades and support to the system. It is a highly scalable system that allows business owners to expand their business functions when needed. And can do it without any difficulty. It is the reason that the Cloud CRM system has become the favorite of all marketers. To use it, you want to pay a monthly or annual fee and connect with a strong internet connection. And then you are good to go.

Following are the best Cloud/SaaS CRM that provides the best business solutions and improves the shortcomings of a business to take it on a higher position.

• Zendesk Sell
• Freshsales
• Keep
• Simple Systems
• Hubspot CRM

These apps provide the best features, and you can use a free trial of any of the above and then decide which one is suitable for your organization.

Open-source

Open source CRM is a type of system in which the original design is open to the public and used by anyone for any purpose. The users can change the source code of the system without paying any fee. It provides complete control over the CRM system, allowing the business to change the design according to their needs. Open source CRM system is used in all the vertical markets by almost any of the organizations. No matter these are small or big. The self-hosted CRM software is also known as open-source CRM. The organization that modifies the source code of this system will have to declare all the modifications in public. So this CRM software system is not developed by one developer. A group of developers develops it. It is considered an ideal solution as it leads to innovative ideas to grow business. But it might need the expertise to customize the software according to needs.

Features of a Good CRM

To use new technology, you have to first look at the features which that application or tool offers. CRM has numerous features, but this article has presented the most awaited features of the CRM system. It can be more than just managing and organizing contacts and data. You will be able to boost the sales of your product when you have got the convenient feature in your CRM. By reading the following features, you will choose the right CRM software that offers all the necessary features. Let’s get started.

Contact Management

The vital capability of a CRM is its contact management facility. In this element, you will be able to collect essential data about the customers that will help you to introduce your new product. You will have the right product according to the interest of your clients and contacts. It takes care of customer satisfaction and lets them feel that they are essential. And more importantly, the contacts are stored in a manner that can access it easily. Furthermore, it allows personalization on all the contacts.

Lead and Opportunities Management

This section covers two features of CRM that are lead management and opportunities management. Opportunities management is the essential feature of CRM in that it quantifies all the opportunities that a sales team has with their clients. It is called lead scoring. In this feature, the convert customers identify it to help the sales team improve the products and sales process.

Any CRM system cannot be complete if it does not contain lead management features. In this feature, the sales team can look upon the best customers and follow them. Overall, it increases the team’s efficiency to show them the right way to campaign their products at the right time. It converts the prospects into latent customers that is a great help to your business.

Sales Management

As you know the companies adopt modern means of marketing to increase their sales. CRM keeps track of all the sales, estimates and gives proposals about future marketing.

• Invoices: It takes all the sales, whether small or big and then shows the products according to customer interests.
• Estimates: CRM predicts the sales of the future according to the collected data. It is known as sales forecast. You might need to change your previous marketing plan and make a new one by seeing this forecast. You can make campaigns accordingly.
• Proposals: it also allows the sales team to create suitable proposals for the right customers at the right time. It tracks the sales process across the organization and makes you make the right decision as an owner. It creates and sends the proposals to customers.

Project Management

Project management is an essential task of CRM. It makes sure that the project finishes in the given time. It includes all the processes of a project like the manufacturing process, product release and marketing, etc. it reminds you about the last dates because the delay in the project can damage the trust between the organization and the clients. It can help you to build strategic alignment between the different processes of the project. It permits the managers to see the processing of the project and can see the activity of customers while working on the project.

Task Management

CRM will also keep track of a small module of a project. The manager will check the status and guide the team according to it. The sales analytics will also depict the future of the product so that the team leader might ask the team for some alteration according to sales depiction. The leader will also be able to check that whether a particular task is applied right. If it is wrong, they can repeat the task.

Time Tracking

Time is an essential resource for any organization. A suitable CRM should hold the feature of time tracking in which it can monitor the daily progress of the team and then look to the time spent on each task. The leader can keep an eye on the task, which takes more time to do it in less time next time. It also boosts up the efficiency of employees and can use their employees in productive activities.

Messaging and Communication

A CRM system also supports personalization in which you will be able to send a message and communicate with a specific group of contacts or an individual contact. According to the study of Infosys, 86% of users of CRM said that personalization plays a vital role in purchasing [5]. A business can build a strong relationship with its customers through unique communication features that significantly impact sales. It helps the customers not to confuse with the mixed messages. In this way, they will show more interest in your product. In [6], the author said that CRM is a great way to communicate with customers via different channels.

Knowledgebase

A good CRM permanently stores the info about the info of products businesses. It is a repository that includes every concept of the business. This feature of CRM allows reducing the redundant and unnecessary calls done with the customers. They can make a bad relationship, so knowledgebase helps the organization build the right relationship with prospects and potential customers. It only sends the relevant info to the customers. It also makes the customers able to troubleshoot in case of any problems. According to Sunil Mithas [7], CRM can use the knowledge of customers in different ways.

Support Tickets

Now the world is going online, and that is why businesses are also going online. There is an online marketing and product release on different platforms of social media. The right CRM system provides a support ticket to increase customer retention by making them closer to the company. It includes a form embedded with the system, and the customers can get access to it. They can fill out the form and submit it to help your organization work according to the customers’ interests.

Benefits of Using a CRM

CRM is a great software system to collect customer interaction in one place to make customers satisfied. People are adopting it in their business because it leaves several benefits and has proved valuable for the growth of the business. Any size of organization can use it. If you want to use CRM and drop the old ways of data collection, then the following benefits will wipe out all the confusions you have before switching. And after adopting it into your business, you will say that this is the proper management tool for your business as it works for all aspects of the organization. Let’s have a look at the benefits of this excellent productivity enhancement software.

Improve Customer Relationship

The first and foremost benefit of a CRM is that it improves the customer relationship by providing the right services. It collects customer data, makes contacts with similar interests, and sends only relevant emails to the customers. In this way, you can tell your employees what the customer’s requirements are, working accordingly to increase productivity and increase productivity. A report by Software Advice claims that more than 70% of the people said that the customer relationship improved with CRM usage. Customization of communication can be the best option for improving customer relationships [8].

Save Time

With the automotive marketing features of CRM, it has become possible to do many tasks with the technology that happen rapidly. It has saved a lot of time. The employees are involved only in the tasks of the interest of the company’s potential customers. It has reduced time to work on the paper to interact with the customers [9].

Increase Revenue

With the right CRM, one can increase its revenue by 29%. It is all due to the CRM features that allow getting to know all about the customer interests that increase the customer’s trust, and it comes with an increment in revenues.

Increase Productivity

As told you, CRM uses Automation technology for marketing, so it will free up the employees who can engage in some productive affairs. The drip campaigns are a typical example in this context. It can take your employees to the task that needs more human focus than technology, like creating content. This way also makes it possible that there are no cracks; all the emails deliver to relevant clients. It is a fact that the business that leverage CRM see 34% in productivity.

Get Paid On Time

CRM also supports instant payments; there are no delays. So it is recommended to use productivity software for your organization. The payments will also increase because you are working according to a proper plan.

Better Collaboration between Team Members

With the sales analysis and product forecast feature of the CRM, marketer understands the marketing trends, and then they can tell the sales team to work accordingly. It will prevent them from any mess.

Better Collaboration with Clients and Other Stakeholders

As the CRM has converted the people into groups of related people, the automation marketing technology will send the relevant email to the customers. In this way, the customers cannot feel annoyed. You can be working more closely with the interest of the customers and other stakeholders.

Monitor Employee Productivity

As told you, automation marketing technology has made it possible to use the employees in productive tasks. The team leader can monitor the activities of the employees using CRM and then order to change the duties if required.

The Bottom Line

CRM is a great marketing tool that helps marketers and businesses to keep an eye on the growth of the business. It stores data of the customers at a central place where the decisions took. In every business, customer satisfaction is necessary, so CRM is a sales tool that predicts the future of a product, finds out the customers’ interest, divides the customers into related groups, and arranges the marketing campaigns according to the analytics.  You should use this modern tool in your business, even if you are running a small business. This article has discussed all CRM software systems. Hopefully, it will be beneficial for you.

References

1. Khalid Rababah, H.M., and Huda Ibrahim, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Processes from Theory to Practice: The Pre-implementation Plan of CRM System. International Journal of e-Education, e-Business, e-Management and e-Learning, 2011
2. crm-software-market
3. Chang, H.H., Critical factors and benefits in the implementation of customer relationship management. Journal of Total Quality Management and Business Excellence, 2007.
4. what-companies-use-crm
5. The Top 5 Time-Saving Benefits of CRM. 2011

The post What is CRM? first appeared on Grow CRM - A Self Hosted CRM & Project Management Software.

Why Freelancers Need a CRM

Freelancers are known for their hectic schedules and unpredictable workloads. A freelance can find themselves having
a sudden influx of new work, which must all be completed by set deadlines. Having this unpredictable work load and
working with multiple clients at the same time, it becomes very imperative to use the little time that you have
available very productively. Having the right tools can significantly improve your productivity and allow you to
meet your deadlines, all whilst avoiding burnout.

In this article we will look at 6 ways in which using a CRM can save you time

• Project Management
• Task Management
• Client Billing
• Easy Collaboration
• Workflow Automation
• Work Remotely

Due to the nature of the work, freelancers usually need effective and reliable project management
tools. This will help them organise their projects and enable track all client activities accurately and
more closely. A project management tool is beneficial for the following reasons:

1. Project Management

The best way to make a client happy is to finish their projects on time and according to their needs. A good project
management tool will help you create a project from scratch easily and will also allow you to track the project.
Many of such applications come with tools for time tracking on projects as well as activities up to the final
payment.

2. Task Management

An agile task management tool loge Grow CRM allows you to break up your projects requirements into smaller, “bite
size” chunks that you aim to complete in a short space of time, usually a few days to a week. These bite size chunks
are commonly referred to as sprints. A popular way to arrange these tasks is to place them on a Kanban board. This
board quickly gives you a bird’s eye view exactly how well you are progressing with your tasks.

You are able to prioritise and schedule each sprint, giving you complete control on how to complete your project. If
you are working in a team, each user is able to see if they are progressing at the expected pace.

3. Client Billing

Most of the time, many clients will tell you to send them your invoice before paying you. Compiling an invoice for
your payout is not difficult but it can be a time-consuming process. The time used to compile an invoice can be used
for other meaningful activities. With a reliable project management tool, you can simply compile all invoices and
send the amount that is billable for every task independently.

The software comes with simple mathematical functions that allow you to sum up all necessary figures. After this, it
then generates the invoice automatically. The project management tool will usually come with an email functionality
that allows you to easily customize a message and send it through to the client.

4. Easy Collaboration

Apart from collaborating with your client, you might sometimes need to work in a team and collaborate often with
other creatives or stakeholders. Having a CRM with to get a project management features will create a platform for
seamless collaboration among the members of the project team.

This means that you can easily add people to the project and remove them when they are done. When you add people to a
project, this makes it possible for better coordination, and the ability to complete various task dependencies
together in real-time. Project management tools for freelancers, also make it possible for users to share a whole
host of project  assets and resources.

5. Workflow Automation

A CRM will help you to automate your work flow. You can specify what needs to happen once one step has been
completed. This can all happen automatically. An example is that you have a task that once it is completed, you want
the client to be notified. Having workflow automation means you do not have to spend time manually drafting an email
to the client, the CRM will do it all automatically in the background.

You can take advantage of this feature to free up some of your time, which you can divert to other productive tasks.

Below is an example of workflow automation that is available in Grow CRM

• You create a leads web form which you embed on your website
• A user fills in the form
• The form is automatically submitted to the CRM
• A new lead is automatically created by the CRM
• The lead is automatically assigned to a team member
• An email is sent to the team member to notify them of the new lead

6. Work From Anywhere

Being able to work from anywhere is a definite time-saver. You can quickly respond to your team members and your
clients, all from within your mobile CRM. Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, most businesses have had to
adapt to the reality that remote work is the new normal. Any business that does not have a remote working strategy
will struggle to survive in this new normal.

According to Global Work Analytics, 25-30% of the US workforce will end up working from home for at least one day a week.

This is a significant statistic that every business must be geared and ready for. If you consider the time that is
wasted by commuting to and from work, the argument for using a CRM as a time-saving tool becomes even more
convincing.

The post 6 Ways That A CRM Saves Freelancers Time first appeared on Grow CRM - A Self Hosted CRM & Project Management Software.

Self-hosted CRMs are known to come with many benefits to businesses and the organisations that adopt them. They get to enjoy the same features as a cloud hosted solution, but with some extra benefits on top. If you are considering opting for a self-hosted CRM, the following 7 reasons are why you need to consider this option.

1. Faster maintenance

One of the reasons you will need to choose the self-hosted CRM applications is because maintenance is solely your responsibility. This means lesser downtime due to maintenance tasks. Businesses that choose self-hosted CRMs will be able to carry out their maintenance on-site. This means that it can be done quickly without unnecessarily depending on any third-party vendors to do this on your behalf.

2. Can easily be scaled up and upgraded

Many organisations usually opt for self-hosted CRMs because they do not have any limitations in terms of the resources that can be used. With the problem of resource limitation out of the way, businesses can upgrade their CRMs easily. Self-hosted CRMs also make it easy for businesses to scale up their CRM solutions to any capacity they prefer. The server provider can easily and quickly scale up resources such as hard drive storage and memory.

3. Enhanced security

Self-hosted CRMs make it easier for your business to have an enhanced security network. This is because you are not entrusting the security of your data to a third-party company. The information of your company and customer is fully confidential. This information will be kept safe and secured since your data will not be sent across to an external party.

This is particularly important for organisation that are required by the law to apply particular security measures with regards to user data. Many countries have data protection laws that are intended to regulate any organisation that is handling and storing sensitive user data such as medical and financial records. If the EU for example, there are strict privacy laws that organisations operating within the EU or in some instances organisations whose customers are in the EU, are required to be compliant.

A self hosted CRM enables an organisation to put in place data privacy frameworks that ensure that they are compliant with the regulatory requirements of their jurisdiction.

4. Easy customisation

It is not always possible to find a CRM solution that ticks all the boxes of an organisations requirements. Having a self hosted, open source application allows an organisation to  custom develop those features that meet their specific use-case. Using in-house or third party software developers, a solution can be  developed on to of the CRM, to meet the specific needs.

5. Independence

One of the many reasons companies opt for self-hosted CRM applications is the independence that this system offers. Whereas cloud-hosted CRM applications enable you to depend on the vendor for full support, the self-hosted CRM applications offer you the needed independence to perform any troubleshooting, modifications, upgrades by yourself. This means that you will not have to depend on any vendor or third-party company for support, or an upgrade in software and hardware.

6. No recurring payments

A self-hosted CRM once bought and installed, does not come with regular subscription and usage payments. This means that businesses using self-hosting CRM systems will not have to budget money for frequent subscription fees for their CRM applications. This cost certainty is critical for smaller organisations, freelancers and start-ups. Even as the business is growing, having a solution that does not charge you per user seat, allows you to spend your hard earned revenue in other areas of your business.

7. Cheaper costs in the long-term

The self-hosted CRMs have a strong potential in the future due to increased value and lower operational costs. With time, the self-hosted CRM application will reduce in terms of ownership costs. This cost usually reduces with time, because it only attracts only an initial cost. This benefit is usually useful for businesses that are growing rapidly and are financially stable.

The post 7 Reasons to use a self-hosted CRM first appeared on Grow CRM - A Self Hosted CRM & Project Management Software.

Freelancers are known for their hectic schedules and large workloads. In the daily life of a freelancer, a lot of things happen. Because they usually work for numerous clients at a time, it can be difficult to keep track of the status of each project. There are usually numerous things to be done at different times.

Due to the nature of the work, freelancers usually need effective and reliable project management software. This will help them organise their projects and enable track all client activities accurately and more closely.

A project management software is beneficial for the following reasons:

1. Create and track projects

The best way to make a client happy is to finish their projects on time and according to their needs. A good project management application will help you create a project from scratch easily and will also allow you to track the project. Many of such applications come with tools for tracking the time on projects as well as activities up to the final payment.

2. Generate instant reports

Clients are always happy to see that their projects are being worked on. You can easily update your clients about the project progress, if you have an integrated platform like Grow CRM. Many times writing reports and sending them through an email system takes a lot of time.

You need a tool that can help you compile and send project reports to your clients as the projects are being done. Doing this will keep your client happy and trust your work process for more project work.

3. A much easier way to bill your clients

Most of the time, many clients will tell you to send them your invoice before paying you. Compiling an invoice for your payout is not difficult but it can be a time-consuming process. The time used to compile an invoice can be used for other meaningful activities. With a reliable CRM, you can simply compile all invoices and send the amount that is billable for every task independently.

The software comes with simple mathematical functions that allow you to sum up all necessary figures. After this, it then generates the invoice automatically. The CRM will usually come with an email functionality that allows you to easily customize a message and send it through to the client.

4. Easy collaboration

Certain freelancers work on complex projects. For some complicated projects, you might be required to work in teams and collaborate often with other people. This means that you will need to get a project management tool that supports seamless collaboration among members of a project team. Grow CRM support advanced project collaboration.

This means that you can easily add people to the project and remove them when they are done. When you add people to a project, this makes it possible for better coordination, and the ability to complete various task dependencies together in real-time.

Using a CRM software like Grow CRM makes it possible for you to keep all your project-related documents in the cloud. This way all project team members can easily contribute to the main project work.

The post Why Freelancers Need Project Management Software first appeared on Grow CRM - A Self Hosted CRM & Project Management Software.

How do you know if your project management is on point? One way to tell is by checking the deadlines for each of your projects. If you have a self-hosted CRM, then this is easy to do and gives you instant feedback.

Deadlines are often hard to meet in projects, but using a CRM can make hitting them easier. Project management is not limited to construction and engineering, and it is a management discipline that can be used in any business. Project Management involves the effective planning, organising, and managing of resources to achieve specific goals and meet desired time frames.

There are several different ways you can use a CRM system with your project team to make sure you hit each deadline on time.

Here are Five Ways To Hit Your Project Deadlines Through CRM.

1. Collaboration & Teamwork

Using a CRM is an excellent way to keep everyone on the same page regarding all of your deadlines. When certain milestones are approaching, you should inform your entire project team that deadlines are coming soon.

You can then have everyone mark down their reminders directly into the CRM so no one will be surprised by anything they need to do. This kind of foresight is excellent for keeping everything organised and structured so all your projects will stay on track.

2 . Track Projects and Deadlines

A project manager should be very familiar with the entire process of their team’s work. This starts by tracking all of their projects in an organised system like a CRM. A project plan sheet helps you keep track of each milestone that needs to be completed before your project can move forward.

When deadlines are approaching, it is easy to look at this sheet and make sure everyone is staying on task while also keeping an eye out for any potential problems or mishaps along the way.

To ensure everything stays on track, a self-hosted CRM software helps your organisation increase work productivity through an optimised workflow management system.

By tracking all projects systematically using CRM, which provides task management capabilities, there will always be a record of sensitive information that can be referred back to in case of any questions or concerns.

3. Monitor Milestones & Timelines

Project managers often create project timelines to see precisely which milestones need to be achieved before the project is done. These timelines usually include everything from the start of a project to its final deadline and beyond.

This allows you to note when certain milestones are approaching and ensure that you don’t miss critical deadlines throughout your projects’ lifespan, which can often happen if an individual or team fails to keep track.

4. Set Up Alerts & Reminders

To make sure no deadlines are missed, project managers should set up alerts ahead of time so they will be notified as soon as one is coming up.

Even with a Grow CRM, it’s easy to forget about upcoming milestones without setting reminders beforehand. In addition to reminding yourself, you should also ensure you have reminded everyone else on your team who will be involved in the project.

5. Regularly communicating progress to team members 

A strong project manager should always meet with their team members to discuss their progress and go over how each milestone on the timeline is being achieved through CRM.

It’s easy for team members to get nervous when deadlines approach if they haven’t been updated recently. But a good project manager will keep everyone informed and give them information ahead of time, so no one gets surprised by anything.

How A CRM Can Helpful For Project Dealing 

A self-hosted CRM can be helpful to automate routine tasks like sending out emails about upcoming deadlines or notifying project members. This allows you to focus more on the high-level decisions that project managers need to make, like building new milestones or deciding how best to achieve each goal on your timeline.

Project teams need to cooperate with participants to be motivated and continue working together towards the same goals.

In short, 

•  By keeping everyone on the same page with a CRM
•  Creating project timelines that include all milestones ahead of time
•  Setting up alerts for each deadline
•  Communicating progress regularly through your CRM system,
•  Automating routine tasks like email reminders,

You can easily hit each of your project deadlines.

The post 5 Ways To Hit Your Project Deadlines Using A CRM first appeared on Grow CRM - A Self Hosted CRM & Project Management Software.

Why look for an alternative

The first thing that you will notice when first look at Perfex is that it looks like an application that has remained frozen in time. The general design looks exactly like what you would have expected an application from 6 years ago to look like. The dated user interface translates to an equally dated workflow, which ultimately translates to a very bad user experience.

If you are a user that is accustomed to modern applications like Trello, Monday or Pipedrive, then you will be very disappointed when using Perfex.  The whole interface is not very intuitive and finding what you need is a complex game of “where is Wally”. 

The new era of productivity applications has raised users expectations of what a tool that they will most likely be using for many hours each day, must look and feel like. 

Meet Grow CRM – A Perfex CRM Alternative

The first thing that strikes you when you first test drive Grow CRM, is the sheer beauty of the application. It has a clean interface that is a pleasure to use all day and every day. It is a beautifully crafted application that has put the user experience at the fore.

The workflow is very clear and intuitive.

A case-in-point is the task management interface. You are given the option to view your tasks in a list format or a Kanban board format. My personal favourite is the Kanban view. At a glance, you can see a lot of key information about your tasks, such as the due date, the task status, users assigned to it and much more. The ability to drag and drop tasks as your work through them is also a very handy feature.

When you open the task, you are presented with a workspace for managing the entire life cycle of the task. All your file attachments, your checklists, your comments and even your task reminders, are all presented in a single workspace.

No need to jump from one page to another.

Grow CRM is feature-packed

When you dive deeper into the application, you will be amazed at the sheer number of useful features that are packed into it. In this article, I will go through just a few of my favourite features.

Project Templates

If you have projects that are repetitive and with a common subset of requirements, then there is nothing more frustrating than having to recreate every new project from scratch. This is where the project templates feature shines. You start by creating a base template, complete with any common file attachments, tasks, milestones etc. Now every time that you have a similar project, you can create an exact copy of the project template, all with just a few clicks.

Cloning Projects, Tasks, Leads.

This is another essential time-saving feature. You can instantly make a copy of any existing project, task or sale lead. For complete control, you can specify which aspects of the source item you would like to include in the copy. Using this functionality will most certainly increase your productivity and allow you to focus your time more on doing the actual work that is required.

Reminders for everything

Do you need a reminder to call your client, or perhaps a reminder to email the latest estimate, or what about a reminder to switch to a new urgent task? The reminders feature has you covered. Almost every core feature of the CRM has a reminder option, which will help you to never forget to do those all-important tasks. When your reminder has fallen due, the application will send you an email, as well as an in-app notification.

Fixed, One-time Cost

Here is the best part. You do not need to pay monthly fees to use Grow CRM.

It is priced as a very low, one-time purchase of just $45.00.

If you are bootstrapping your business or startup, then not having to worry about never-ending monthly payments for your productivity application is a definite plus.

The post The Best Perfex CRM Alternative first appeared on Grow CRM - A Self Hosted CRM & Project Management Software.

As always, this new release is a free upgrade for all of our existing Grow CRM customers. Updating to this new version is a very easy process, simply login into your CRM and go to Settings > Updates. From there, you will find all the information you need, to update your CRM.

Lets take a look and see what is new in this latest release.

Reminder Alarms

Never miss a deadline again. This new features allows each user of the application (admin, staff, clients etc) to set reminders for various sections of the dashboard such as projects, estimates, invoices, tasks and Leads.

Each reminder is completely unique to each user. You are able to set both a due data and also a due time. The user is sent an email notification when the alarm falls due. The user will also receive a notification inside the dashboard.

Embed Youtube Videos

This improvement allows you to directly embed Youtube videos in your descriptions and knowledge base. This is particularly useful for providing tutorials, demonstrations or instructions.

Embedding a video is very easy and only take a few seconds. All you need is the embed code, which Youtube provides via their Share button.

App Modules Selection

This new feature allows you to enable only the features that you need. You are now able to remove unwanted features and only leave those that you are actively using. You are also able to limit features that your clients have access to (even if they are enabled for you and your team).

Task & Leads – Improved Interface

As we continue to add more features to task and leads, we have redesigned the interface to now include a tabbed menu. This tabbed menu will allow us to add more features which will be easily accessible. As an introduction, we have added a notes section and also an Information section.

The notes section allows each user that is assigned to the task to create their own private notes. This is a good place to store snippets and ideas about the task.

The information section displays additional task information that was collected via the Task Custom Fields.

The post Version 1.05 is now out! first appeared on Grow CRM - A Self Hosted CRM & Project Management Software.

As always, this new release is a free upgrade for all of our existing Grow CRM customers. Updating to this new version is a very easy process, simply login into your CRM and go to Settings > Updates. From there, you will find all the information you need, to update your CRM.

Right, let’s jump right into it……

Project Templates

This new feature is an absolute time-saver. Grow CRM is all about improving your productivity and this tool will help you to do just that. You can now create project templates that you can use to instantly create a new project (in the exact image of the template). Your templates can include tasks, milestones and files. Talk about a time-saver!!

We use Grow CRM ourselves and we are very excited about this new feature.

Managing your project templates is as intuitive as managing your regular projects. The look and feel are just the same.

Clone A Project

In addition to creating project templates, you can now also clone an entire project. This is yet another great time-saving tool. If you have many recurring/identical projects, you can use this tool to create exact replicas of your projects. You can even clone the tasks, milestones, invoices, estimates, files for that particular project.

With this new feature, your productivity just got a boost.

Time Tracking

It is very important for you to properly keep track of the time you spend working on your projects. This is why we are continually making improvements to the time tracking features of Grow CRM. In this new release, we have introduced an always visible timer, which is always visible, no matter what page or section of the CRM you are on.

This helps you to keep an eye on how much time you are spending on a task. It also helps you to remember to turn off your timer when you have finished working on your tasks.

Full Change Log

Below is a full list of all the features and improvements that are in this new release

• New Feature – Project templates
• New Feature – Clone projects
• Improvement – Time tracking
• Improvement – Invoice price adjustment
• Improvement – Estimate price adjustment
• Improvement – Show additional company information on invoices & estimates
• Improvement – Advanced text editor features for projects
• Fixed – Project payments summary
• Fixed – PDF showing ??? for non-Latin languages
• Fixed – Task checklist styling
• Fixed – Upload avatar error

The post Version 1.04 is now out! first appeared on Grow CRM - A Self Hosted CRM & Project Management Software.

As always, this new release is a free upgrade for all existing Grow CRM customers. Updating to this new version is a very easy process, simply login into your CRM and go to Settings > Updates. From there, you will find all the information you need, to update your installation.

Right, let’s jump right into it…….

Importing Leads – (CSV & EXCEL)

This new feature allows you to import leads from a CSV file or from a Microsoft Excel file. This means you can now add hundreds of leads in just a matter of seconds. Sample CSV & XLSX files can be downloaded via the import leads popup. Simply click on the import button to get started.

Importing Clients – (CSV & EXCEL)

This new feature allows you to import clients from a CSV file or from a Microsoft Excel file. This means you can now add hundreds of clients all in just a matter of seconds. Sample CSV & XLSX files can be downloaded via the import leads popup. Simply click on the import button to get started.

Convert An Estimate To An Invoice

Billing your clients just got easier. You can now convert an estimate into an invoice in just a matter of seconds. No more copying and pasting. You can set custom values such as dates when you are converting the estimate.

Clone An Estimate

We already had this feature for invoices, now we have extended it to estimates. You can now make an exact copy of an estimate in just a few clicks. We love introducing features that save you time and effort. You can even clone the estimate to a different client.

Mollie Payment Gateway

The Mollie payment gateway allows you to accept payments from just about any payment method out there. Credit cards, Apple Pay, Bitcoin, Paypal…to name just a few. Setting up Mollie is very easy and it can all be done in a matter of minutes.

Direct Time Tracking

You can now directly record the amount of time that you spend working on your projects. This allows you to keep track of your time, without having to use the start/stop timer. You can also manually edit previously record timesheet records. All this will help ensure that you are accurately keeping track of the time you spend working.

Dynamic Client Creation

We love creating features that allow you to work faster and intuitively. You can now create new clients on the go, as you add new content (Projects, Invoices, Estimates, etc). No more need to jump between forms.

Invoices & Estimates View Tracking

No more wondering whether your client has looked at your invoices and estimates. You can now easily see which invoices have been opened by your client.

Full Change Log

Below is a full list of all the features and improvements that are in this new release

• New Feature – Importing Leads – (CSV & EXCEL)
• New Feature – Importing Clients – (CSV & EXCEL)
• New Feature – Convert an estimate to an invoice
• New Feature – Clone estimates
• New Feature – Mollie payment gateway
• New Feature – Direct time tracking
• New Feature – Invoice and estimate opening tracking
• Improvement – Dynamic client creation
• Improvement – Allow/prevent clients from accessing the dashboard
• Improvement – Enable/disable all outbound client email
• Fixed – Updating lead status not refreshing table row
• Fixed – Login popup
• Fixed – converting leads error
• Fixed – Client category not working
• Fixed – Estimates menu not showing on the project page

The post Version 1.03 is now out first appeared on Grow CRM - A Self Hosted CRM & Project Management Software.

As always, this new release is a free upgrade for all existing Grow CRM customers. Updating to this new version is a very easy process, simply login into your CRM and go to Settings > Updates. From there, you will find all the information you need, to update your installation.

Right, lets jump right into it…….

Subscriptions

This feature has been requested by many of our customers. It adds another way for you to bill your clients and to get paid. Unlike the existing recurring billing feature, with subscriptions, your customer is automatically billed with no additional action being required on their part. This is great for services or products that you offer on a recurring basis.

You can set up daily, weekly, monthly, yearly or even custom recurring periods. All payments are automatically processed via your Stripe account. Currently, subscriptions are only available via the Stripe payment gateway.

RazorPay Payment Gateway

In the same spirit of making sure you get paid, we have added the very popular RazorPay payment gateway. This is a particularly important payment processor for our Indian users. It comes with a host of amazing payment options, such as credit cards, mobile payments, direct bank payments and many more.

Custom Form Fields

We appreciate that your business is uniquely different and so is the information that you may want to collect and store about your clients, projects and tasks. With custom form fields, you are now able to extend the default forms, to include your own data fields. You can add up to 10 new form fields. You can even specify whether they are mandatory of not.

28 New Languages

Yes, that’s right……we have added 28 new languages and we are just starting. Our aim is to translate Grow CRM into many more languages. If your language is not currently included, you can drop us an email and we will add it to our list. We have also given you to option to disable the ability of your users to change the language.

Archive Projects, Leads & Tasks

This feature allows you to remove from view, aged projects, tasks and leads. You will be able to toggle between hiding or showing archived items. This is particularly useful if you are creating many such resources and you just want to keep your CRM lite and clean.

Even more features

Below is a full list of all the features and improvements that are in this new release

• New Feature – Customer subscription billing
• New Feature – Create custom fields for clients, projects and task
• New Feature – Razorpay payment gateway
• New Feature – 28 language translations
• New Feature – Archive projects, tasks, leads
• New Feature – Email delivery testing using the….. “send test email” feature
• New Feature – Add custom javascript and CSS in <head> and <footer> (e.g. Google Analytics)
• Improvement – Allow multiple lines for invoice line item descriptions
• Improvement – Ability for the admin to update user passwords
• Fixed – Invoice & estimate email PDF attachments formatting
• Fixed – Support tickets title error
• Fixed – Currency symbol on payments section of invoices
• Fixed – Task and lead comments not fully displaying
• Fixed- Recurring invoices
• Fixed – Knowledgebase mobile view
• Fixed – Clients unable to create new tasks
• Fixed – Broken product items search
• Fixed – Broken file download links for Mac users
• Fixed – various other bugs

The post Version 1.02 is now out – what’s new first appeared on Grow CRM - A Self Hosted CRM & Project Management Software.