Choosing the right CRM
Which CRM to choose?
Six selection criteria and a five-step process to pick a CRM your team will actually use.
To choose a CRM, list what your team does every day, shortlist two or three tools, then test them on your real deals during their free trials. Judge them on six criteria: simplicity, onboarding, where your data is hosted and by whom, clear pricing, the features that move sales forward, and the fit with your size. The right CRM is the one your team actually uses.
1. Simplicity above all
A CRM no one fills in is useless. Choose a tool that surfaces the day’s actions right away. Lea gives you a “Your Day” page, a list of actions rather than a dashboard to interpret: you open it, you know what to do.
2. Onboarding
Count how long before the team is up and running on its own. A good CRM is usable from day one, with no heavy training.
3. Data sovereignty
Your customer data is strategic. Check where it’s hosted, and which country’s law the company hosting it is subject to. Lea is hosted in Amsterdam, in the Netherlands, and its hosting provider, Railway Corp., is an American company: ask every vendor the same question.
4. Clear pricing, no crippled features
Beware of “entry-level” offers where the useful features are reserved for expensive plans. Compare what each plan includes, at the price per user you will actually pay. With Lea, multiple pipelines and custom fields are unlimited from the first plan, at €14 per user per month billed annually; automated email sequences and the prioritized call queue start with Pro, at €29.
5. The features that truly matter
A clear pipeline, follow-ups, built-in booking, click-to-call, a capture extension, reports. Focus on what moves sales forward, not on the length of the checkbox list.
6. A fit for your size
An independent, a micro-business and an SMB don’t have the same needs. Lea is built for small sales teams who want to sell, not administer software.
The CRM selection process in 5 steps
Selecting a CRM takes five steps: list your needs, shortlist two or three tools, test them on your real data, check the export and the price, then decide with the team. Step 1, list your needs: what your team does every day (calls, emails, quotes, meetings), how many people will use the CRM, and which tools it must work with. Step 2, draw up a shortlist of two or three CRMs that meet the six criteria above. Step 3, test each one on your real data during its free trial: import your contacts and live deals, and let the team work in it for a week. Watch which tool they open without being told to. Step 4, check the export and the real price before you sign: export your data yourself, and work out the cost per user, at the size your team will be in a year, on the plan that includes what you need. Step 5, decide with the people who will use it every day, then move your data over.
Putting Lea through these 5 steps
You can run all five steps on Lea before paying anything: its free trial lasts 15 days, with no card required, enough to run real deals through it. Your data comes over in one click from Pipedrive, HubSpot, Zoho or noCRM, or from a CSV file. Every user can export contacts and organizations to CSV, and administrators can also export deals. Prices are public: €14, €29 and €49 per user per month billed annually, or €19 and €39 on monthly billing for the first two.
Frequently asked questions
How do you select a CRM?
In five steps: list your needs, shortlist two or three tools, test them on your real deals during the free trial, check the export and the price per user, then decide with the people who will use it. The tool your team opens without being told to is usually the right one.
What are the CRM selection criteria?
Six criteria cover most of the decision: simplicity, onboarding time, where your data is hosted and by which company, clear pricing per user, the features that move sales forward (pipeline, follow-ups, calls, booking), and the fit with your team’s size. Add one test before you sign: export your data yourself.
What’s the simplest CRM?
The simplest is the one that shows you what to do straight away. Lea was designed around a page of daily actions rather than dashboards to interpret.
Which CRM for a small business?
A lightweight CRM that’s quick to pick up and has no crippled features. That’s exactly where Lea sits.
Should you choose a European CRM?
It depends on where your company and your customers are. Wherever you are, ask two questions: in which country is the data stored, and which company hosts it? Lea is published by a French company and its database is hosted in Amsterdam, in the Netherlands, on servers operated by Railway Corp., an American company.
How long should you test a CRM before choosing?
Long enough to run real deals through it: a week of daily use by the team tells you more than a demo. Lea’s free trial lasts 15 days, with no card required.