The business of sales is all about maintaining relationships. Loyal customers are hard to come by, but the key to winning them over is exceptional customer service.
However, the more clients you earn, the more complicated this work becomes. How do you maintain relationships with hundreds or thousands of clients? This is where client management systems come in.
Modern solutions to the client management problem come in the form of software. These programs aren’t just a searchable list of your clients, either. Here you will have everything from client birthdays to payment information and purchase histories. A good client management program will even keep track of these things intelligently and suggest well-timed actions to take.
Since we live in a time where online technologies are flourishing, finding the right client management software for your business can be a real challenge. There are many options to choose from with their own strengths and weaknesses, and the stakes are high. Making the right choice can mean the difference between retaining and losing clients.
To help you pick the best-fitting solution, we’ve compiled a guide on the top 10 client management software of 2021. In this guide, we give a detailed explanation of this type of software to help you make an informed decision. Whether you’re starting out in the world of client management, or you just need an upgrade, we’ve got you covered. Read on to discover what client management really means.
Client Management Explained
Proper client management means keeping your customers happy and keeping them coming back to your business. With a well-designed system in place, you can make a large client base feel like a small one. What that means is, your clients always feel like they’re valued and recognized where other companies treat them like numbers.
On the more technical side, client management involves a lot of planning. Your system needs to be efficient, especially if you have a lot of clients to manage. You need to keep track of important dates, sales, history, notes, and the client’s life cycle.
All of this is impossible for a single salesperson to handle, even when they’re only dealing with a few clients. The solution is a client relationship management system— commonly known by its acronym CRM.
The Client Management System
Client management systems often have extensive features. Provided they’re also user-friendly, they are a lifesaver for sales reps as they allow them to accomplish complex tasks with ease. Most importantly, client management systems also give your sales team the ability to manage thousands of clients.
This means they will be able to communicate with and keep track of your clients and their needs. The system will also act as a guide for interactions with clients in real-time.
For example, a salesperson can get a reminder to send out branded birthday cards to clients in your database. This action serves dual purposes: The client feels delighted and impressed that your company remembered and celebrated their birthday, and they will keep your business in mind.
A lot of businesses send birthday cards or emails, though. So the right system can allow for even more personal client interactions.
Whether or not it’s related to the business, most systems have a feature that keeps notes on clients. Any sales rep that interacts with the client can see their child just graduated or they don’t like small talk. These notes guide the rep’s interaction with the client and foster a positive experience on both ends.
Of course, there’s more to these systems than just interaction prompts and reminders. There are four primary features that any good client management software should have:
1. Automated Workflows
Automated workflows ensure none of your meticulously crafted sales processes get forgotten. Businesses most often use this feature for automatically assigning tasks and providing prompts to guide customer interactions. Automated workflows are especially helpful for a growing business or one that frequently trains new hires.
2. Activity Tracking
Activity tracking provides valuable insight into what customers are doing. Businesses can use this insight to improve processes or fix glitches. This feature also helps sales reps identify possible pain points and informs their interactions with customers.
3. Data and Analytics
Keeping track of data and analytics is extremely important for any business with an online presence. This feature records everything about client interactions with your website and self-service features. It also provides metrics for customer interactions to help improve processes and train sales reps.
4. A Communication System
Having a communication system feature means consolidating all communication methods in one place. Not only does this feature make customer interactions more efficient, but it also acts as a guide. You can easily integrate templates so that your messaging is uniform across the board.
Why Client Management is Important for Your Business
Why Client Management is Important for Your BusinessWe’ve discussed what client management software can do for your business; now let’s take a look at why it’s important.
The main goal of any client management software is to improve efficiency. The side effects of that are increased sales and client capacity, a better and more uniform customer experience, and easier relation of client management skills. Ultimately, client management retains clients by keeping track of your customer base and client needs.
The more loyal customers you have, the more new customers they’ll bring in through word of mouth. Your business’s relationships with clients are the key to gaining and maintaining those loyal customers. How often do you hear people wholeheartedly recommend a big corporation with disjointed customer service that treats them like just another number?
Client management prevents that situation. With proper use of client management software, clients know what to expect from your business. Ideally, they know they will be getting the best possible care and service.
2021’s Top Client Management Software
Without further ado, let’s move on to our picklist. In no specific order, here are our top 10 client management programs:
1. Pipedrive
Pipedrive is a feature-heavy but user-friendly client management program. It uses artificial intelligence to allow for smart automation and increased productivity. It also allows integration with other popular apps and is available for all operating systems.
Features
- Unlimited contacts list with syncing from outside sources
- Contact history gathering and storage
- Lead management tools
- A variety of productivity and communication tracking tools
Pipedrive offers a two-week free trial and four affordable plans after that.
2. Keap
Keap features its integration and usability. You can use it with many other applications while maintaining a clean and simple interface. Keap’s main focus is on efficiency in interacting with and keeping track of clients.
Features
- Captures all kinds of data including internal interactions like meetings
- Higher-level plans offer more features such as automation and more customization tools
- Automatically captures and saves contact information from all communication sources
Keap offers a two-week free trial and three subscription-based plans.
3. Zendesk
Zendesk has multiple products for a variety of needs and uses. Its primary client management software is split into two programs: Zendesk for service and Zendesk for sales, or Zendesk Sell.
Both offer a high level of customization with lots of built-in solutions to common problems. They are designed to increase productivity and have a clean, easy-to-use interface.
Features
- Contact management through helpdesk tracking
- High degree of integration
- Customizable and insightful reports
- Real-time customer interaction reporting and tracking functionality
- Quick access to all sorts of information in the database
Zendesk offers a free trial of its software and five plans billed annually.
4. Workflow Max
Workflow Max is all about having easy access to information. It has many organizational features and it’s all designed to be available instantly. This is a great option for industries where sales reps are in the field or on the phone and have to work, keep notes and find information quickly.
Features
- Functional for fieldwork and production
- Covers all stages of sales and service
- Searchable and filterable client managing tools
- Premium plan has more productivity and invoicing features
Workflow Max offers a free trial period and has both a standard and premium pricing plan.
5. Salesforce
Salesforce is a brand of software with several programs for different business needs. It has a bold and clean user interface with many customizable features and tools. Salesforce boasts users in tons of different industries and the ability to increase productivity in many environments.
Features
- Workflow automation systems
- Artificial intelligence-driven features
- Automatically captures data
- Call center software to improve customer service efficiency
- Portals for customer self-service
- High level of customization for both client-facing and non-client-facing structures
Salesforce has a variety of plans and a two-week free trial for its Sales Cloud software.
6. Monday.com
This client management software features its usability and simplicity. You can use monday.com with all kinds of applications. It integrates all your data in one place with a high level of customization.
Features
- Client-facing project roadmap functionality
- Note-taking and task tracking tools
- Unified communication platform for working together with clients
- Individualized read receipts
It has a two-week free trial and four plans for five or more users.
7. Insightly
Insightly is a very client-oriented software designed to help improve the customer experience. It has a variety of tools to help understand your customers and how they relate to your business, other customers, and your products or services. It has a clean, modern user interface that is easy to understand and use.
Features
- Visual representation of the customer journey
- Highly detailed and insightful reports
- Intelligent lead routing
- Features for workflow automation including complex systems
Insightly offers a free trial for its software and has three affordable plans.
8. Zoho CRM
Zoho CRM is an award-winning software that boasts big users like Netflix. It offers easy access to analytics reports, an AI sales assistant, and features for remote work and collaboration. It also has great options for customization.
Features
- Integration with multiple communication channels
- Built-in workflow automation and lead management tools
- High level of customization
- Internal chat for increased productivity
- Tools backed by artificial intelligence
Zoho CRM is affordable and even has a free account option.
9. AllClients
AllClients offers easy-to-use software with a simplified look and feel. It has several options for customization without a lot of tinkering. Its other main feature is its support services. This software is designed to be accessible to everyone without a lot of time spent in training.
Features
- Contact management and productivity tools to manage schedules
- Features for advanced customization
- Ideal for people without a lot of experience working with technology
- Usable for a variety of fields
AllClients has a two-week free trial and three super affordable plans.
10. Freshworks CRM
Freshworks CRM is another award-winning software that seeks to eliminate having to use multiple tools at work. It has an AI assistant, a detailed yet clean interface, and lots of integration options. It is designed to be a unified platform for all your sales and marketing needs.
Features
- Tools for prioritizing and organizing leads including auto profile enrichment
- Outbound calling directly from the software
- Highly detailed reports for a variety of data points
- Sales pipeline visualizations and functionality
It has four plans and a three-week free trial
Conclusion
Client management is an important part of your business’s sales and service strategy. It involves setting expectations for customers, planning the sales cycle, communicating with customers, and improving efficiency.
To practice client management effectively, especially with a high volume of clients, you need client management software. Client management software allows your team to collaborate and better understand your clients. This software gives access to analytics, data, automation, and communication systems to track client activity and gain valuable insights from it. It also works as a guide to client interactions and gives the ability to use templates when communicating with customers.
At Selling Revolution, we can help you improve your business. Whether that means implementing new systems, hiring the best people, or changing the way you train, we do it all. Book a call with us today and learn what we can do for your business.