Best CRM for Consultants & Consulting Bussiness

If you are a consultant team or an independent consultant looking for CRM software for a consulting business, you are at the right address! We have taken a closer look at each of the CRMs to make your job easier.

No doubt that almost every customer-focused business’s primary concern is to provide impactful services to their customers. By doing so, they can build and maintain powerful relationships with their customers. The same thing goes for consultants as well. They need to be very selective in choosing CRM for their consulting business as they want to build interactive client relationships.

Loyal clients are the key element of every consultant. Not only does it mean that they work on building strong and long-term relationships with independent consultants or teams, but they also recommend their services to others. That’s where CRM for consulting business sparks! 

What is the Best CRM Software for Consulting?

CRM stands for customer relationship management and refers to all strategies, principles, and technologies that manage interactions and build strong relationships with existing and prospective customers. Although the needs of each business vary, the goal is the same. But in order to reach that goal, you should be aware of your core needs.

The best CRM for consulting business can be reshaped by the consulting firm’s unique needs. As each small business consulting has its own requirements, it would not be fair to point out only one CRM solution. However, the best CRM tool for consultants should provide some of the key features listed below:

• Manage the leads that come to your sales pipeline automatically,
• Track all of your client communications in one place to make the follow-up process easier,
• Create workflow automation for all repetitive tasks,
• Set notifications for follow-ups, upcoming tasks or meetings,
• Get an overall analysis of the business processes and sales pipelines anytime.

Why Do You Need a CRM for Your Consulting Firm?

As a consultant, you are probably dealing with a significant number of clients at a time. When some cause complex situations, you might miss some issues or even opportunities. Whether you just started consulting or are already a well-experienced consultant, you should keep track of all your clients and the services you provide them. You also should be aware of your client’s expectations and concerns to build strong relationships and maintain their effectiveness.

The key factor in building strong relationships with your clients is to be able to communicate interactively. By doing that, you will always be on track to build a lasting relationship with them. When the number of clients you deal with goes wider, using a CRM system will ease the process by;

• Providing support teams with past interactions and customer backgrounds to improve customer support,
• Automating repetitive tasks in sales processes and assigning leads to the specific sales reps in your team,
• Creating personalized email templates and saving them for future use to save time on sending them in bulk,
• Forecasting your sales and capacity each month and getting a high-level view of your sales pipeline,
• Providing advanced metrics, analytics and reporting to see which of your lead generation strategies work best,
• Defining what stage you are in the sales pipeline or which clients are close to closing the deal, the management tools will give you a comprehensive look all over the process. 

Below, we have drawn up a list of the best CRM software for consultants to keep on top of sales activities!

Top 10 CRM for Consulting Business

• HubSpot Sales Hub
• Copper
• Keap
• Salesforce CRM
• Zendesk Sell
• Bitrix24
• Capsule CRM
• Accelo
• HoneyBook
• Bullhorn

If you are ready, let’s dig into the arsenal of the CRM for consultants’ solutions:

HubSpot Sales Hub

Consultants can enhance their workflow with HubSpot’s CRM by centralizing client information in one place, automating tedious tasks, and prioritizing leads based on their potential. Its user-friendly interface and robust features make it an ideal choice for consultants aiming to enhance their client management processes. With an emphasis on simplicity and efficiency, HubSpot’s CRM allows consultants to effortlessly organize client interactions and sales data in one centralized location.

Consultants benefit from performance analytics, lead management & prospecting, email tracking, call tracking, and sales automation features. Seamless integration with various tools helps consultants to build streamlined workflows to enhance their productivity. Utilizing HubSpot’s resources for continuous learning ensures consultants make the most of the CRM’s capabilities, enabling them to deliver exceptional value to their clients.

According to their website:

• 12% more deals created by Sales Hub customers after 12 months,
• 24% more deals closed by Sales Hub customers after 6 months.
• 3.3x higher deal close rate by Sales Hub customers using the reporting feature.

Copper

Source: Copper

Copper CRM is a cutting-edge customer relationship management solution designed to streamline and enhance business interactions. With its user-friendly interface and robust features, Copper CRM empowers organizations to manage contacts, track leads, and nurture customer relationships effortlessly. Its seamless integration with G Suite brings efficiency to communication, making it a preferred choice for businesses looking to boost productivity and achieve a deeper understanding of their customers.

Keap

Keap (formerly Infusionsoft) is focused on helping all sizes of consultant businesses ease their sales and marketing automation processes. The CRM solution can provide an extensive platform for you to collect more leads and also convert more clients. The striking features of Keap are easy automation, personalized follow-ups, unlimited emails & invoices, appointment scheduling, a mobile-friendly app, custom reports, a contact management system and hassle-free integrations.

Even though there is a one-time set-up fee, it includes dedicated support from the start to finish of your implementation process. So, if you encounter any setting up or running issues, great customer support always be there for you!

As Keap’s CRM software for consultants is powered by customizable automation, it optimizes your customer experiences by ending the chaos while running your small business. The high-performing CRM solution does not let you miss any leads from landing pages, forms or social media.

Salesforce CRM

Salesforce is one of the most popular CRM tools for startups, small businesses and consultants. Salesforce services allow consultants to use cloud technology to better connect with customers.

Salesforce CRM’s CRM software for consultants provides comprehensive automation that helps collect more leads and convert them into customers. In this way, consultants can manage, monitor and customize their data. From the first touch-point to the follow-up, Salesforce takes control of your sales process.

Since one of the most important purposes of Salesforce CRM is to manage and grow customer relations, it creates a loyal customer portfolio for consultants. So, strong and loyal clients make the consulting firm more known.

Zendesk Sell

Another advantageous CRM tool for consulting business is Zendesk Sell. It helps consultants to shift their sales while organizing their client information. The platform lets consultants customize their sales pipelines, statutes, product updates and other details. With its product management feature, consultants can easily track each client’s project to take smart actions.

Communication and workflow tracking ability give consultants a consistent overview of statutes of deals, emails, calls etc. This plays a major role in increasing productivity. There is a notable thing about Zendesk Sell that provides mobile sales and contact management opportunities while on the go.

Bitrix24

Bitrix24 differs from other CRM software for consultants with its unlimited 100% free features. Most free versions of tools come with limited features but Bitrix24 destroys this perception. It provides a platform to keep all data of prospers and existing clients in one place. So, consultants can manage, track and customize the data.

Bitrix24 distinguishes its time and workload tracking, document management, project management and invoice tracking features. Consultants also can create a private communication line with their clients and work with them collaboratively on consulting projects.

Capsule CRM

Capsule CRM can store every single detail about clients and prospers to build a strong client base. It allows consultants to customize their sales pipelines. Consultants can tailor the CRM software with Google Workplace and Microsoft Outlook integrations depending on their unique needs.

The CRM system does not limit consultants while managing their projects, sales-related tasks or communications. They can always expand the CRM solution’s capabilities by upgrading their plans. The Capsule reporting suite will be the consultant’s main squeeze when it comes to making important decisions.

Accelo

If you work solo or in a small business team, Accelo can meet all your requirements from data collection to time tracking. Whether you work with large teams or a handful of clients, keeping track of client communications is a must. By using Accelo, consultants can track the progress of deals and projects, the statutes of invoices, emails and calls and much more. Further, the time tracking feature gives consultants insights into how they spend their time dealing with clients and projects.

In recent years with technological developments, mobile-friendly CRM software has come to the front. Accelo is one of the providers that has a mobile app to enable access to critical client communication.

HoneyBook

Another all-in-one CRM for consulting businesses is HoneyBook helps manage inquiries, client communication, payments and much more. Consultants can create email, proposal, and invoice templates to automate their business processes. The CRM system also sends automated reminders for follow-ups, upcoming meetings or calls. It also generates a client database to easily manage projects from the first to the final touch.

Consultants also streamline their communication workflow within one place. Not only does the CRM solution manage external communication with their clients but it also manages internal communication. Being able to manage inquiries and projects while on the go is a plus point.

Bullhorn

Lastly, Bullhorn offers a comprehensive and easy-to-use CRM for consultants. It streamlines client communication to boost up sales and overall business activity. The Bullhorn CRM system organizes all client data and lets you segment it by roles, industries, revenue etc. The reporting dashboard gives consultants real-time insights into clients and projects.

Bullhorn helps accountants easily set up alerts about client issues, upcoming meetings, follow-ups and calls. So, they can be more proactive with the clients. The platform also allows some customizations depending on its capabilities.

Concluding Remarks About CRM Tools for Consulting

Before moving on with a CRM solution, there are a few steps you should follow. First, you need to define your requirements as both an independent consultant and a consulting firm. Then, you can go forward with your budget. You should find an answer to how much you are willing to pay for a CRM solution. When you decide on these requirements, you can think of possible vendors. 

After you finish the vendor evaluation process, you are ready to go!

Using a CRM for a consulting business does not provide just a one-time profit, it affects the whole sales process in the long term. That’s why you should be picky while investing in CRM software to skyrocket your sales and business growth. 

Check out the best CRM tools for consultants and choose the one to power up your client relationship.