Selecting the right CRM for your growing business can feel overwhelming. With dozens of CRM solutions promising to streamline your sales and customer management, how do you cut through the noise and pick the right one?
Method has been providing customer relationship management solutions to businesses like yours for more than 14 years, and we’ve put together a 6-step checklist to help you find the CRM system that suits your business best.
BONUS: At the end of this article, we’ve included a easy-to-use template you can copy-paste and evaluate which CRM best fits your business needs. ➡️ Get the template here.
In this article:
- Step 1) Identify your business needs and goals
- Step 2) Create a CRM evaluation checklist
- Step 3) Add fit and future-readiness of vendors
- Step 4) Build a CRM scoring system
- Step 5) Test drive and score your shortlisted CRMs
- Step 6) Make your decision and plan next steps
Ready to dive in? Consider this your roadmap to the evaluation process and finding the best CRM that meets your business objectives.
Step 1) Identify your business needs and goals
Ask your teams what they need
Your sales, marketing, and customer support people will be the ones using the CRM system, so find out what they want.
You can bet that your sales team needs customization, integration with QuickBooks, and better functionality when it comes to lead management. And customer support is looking for automation and ease-of-use to optimize customer satisfaction. Take the time to understand all their pain points and use cases as a starting point on your CRM evaluation journey.
Weigh your must-haves vs nice-to-haves
Once you have everyone’s input, balance that against your business goals. What CRM functionality is most important to your success? For example, if growing your customer base is a key goal, being able to track leads from inquiry to close in one system might be essential—while having social media integration for additional context would be more of a nice-to-have. Make sure this guides your decision-making.
Step 2) Create a CRM evaluation checklist of features and functionality
Take all the information you gathered in Step 1 and use it to develop a checklist of key CRM system criteria – including all the key features and functionality that you’ve deemed essential.
This CRM evaluation checklist will be unique to your business but here are some categories that you’ll likely want to include.
Integration capabilities
Verify the CRM can integrate with your existing software stack. Does it integrate with your accounting software, for example? Other high-priority integrations often include email, calendar, e-commerce or ERP, and marketing tools. Does the CRM offer native integrations or a robust API for custom integrations?
At minimum, you should be able to import your current customer data from spreadsheets or other systems easily and export data out if needed. For example, a lot of businesses choose Method when having a deep QuickBooks integration is at the top of their list.
Invoicing
Can the CRM create invoices instantly, emailing them directly to your customers for faster payments? This is where software integration capabilities really matter. Look for a CRM platform that offers instant, bi-directional integration with QuickBooks for invoicing, and also receipts, estimates, transactions, and more. Method simplifies billing processes by sending invoices directly via email, and enables automated payment reminders to ensure you receive timely payments.
Customization and flexibility
Can the CRM adapt to your workflows? Does it allow custom fields, custom modules or apps, and configurable pipelines or stages? Your business isn’t like anyone else’s, and you don’t want to be stuck with rigid software. At Method, for example, we have a team of expert consultants who can customize your CRM so it’s just right for you.
We have done this for countless companies—like Vintage Makers, a New Hampshire-based business that specializes in the design and installation of custom wine cellars. As the company expanded into selling cigar humidors to retail clients, it required a flexible CRM solution that could customize reports and dashboards, simplify job scheduling and dispatching, and manage customer relationships. Method’s customizable and cost-effective platform has helped Vintage Makers succeed and grow. Says owner Darren Wood, “The simplicity in creating work orders and field service texts that tie back to QuickBooks is fantastic.”
Lead management
Does the CRM have robust contact management and lead management capabilities? Can it capture leads from your website or import from spreadsheets? Does it track calls and emails in the sales pipeline? Is there a way to segment contacts by industry or lead source for targeted follow-ups? Method helps small and mid-sized businesses like yours get new prospects into their lead management system quickly, and then track the process throughout.
Remember, without solid lead management, you’ll struggle to get value from any CRM.
Sales opportunities
Are you able to see your sales opportunities all in one place so you never miss out on a potential deal? Look for features like deal tracking, task management, and sales pipeline automation. Can the CRM predict revenue or generate sales forecasts based on pipeline data?
For instance, Method CRM allows you to create custom workflows – such as automatically sending a thank-you email and creating a follow-up task when a new lead is added. This kind of sales automation ensures no prospect falls through the cracks.
Customer interactions and activities
Will the CRM keep all your customer interactions in one place, with automated follow-ups and reminders?
Email marketing and web-to-lead forms
Can you send email campaigns, or at least segment and export lists to an email marketing service? If marketing automation isn’t built-in, ensure the CRM has APIs or integrations with popular tools. If social media engagement is important, see if the CRM can log or integrate social interactions. And, look for web-to-lead functionality so you can capture leads directly from your website and turn them into customers faster.
Proposals and estimates
Will the CRM automate the process of getting your customers to receive (and accept) your proposals and engagement letters? And can you use the CRM system to create estimates in seconds and send them to customers in as little as one click, to close deals quickly?
Customer portals
Does the CRM system include a self-service customer portal where your customers can easily approve estimates, access order details, and pay invoices in one place? Method offers a self-service CRM portal that provides 24/7 access to your business so your customers’ needs are met instantly – and it is fully customizable so you can tailor it to match your brand by adding your logo, customizing the color scheme, and choosing which services to offer your customers.
Reporting and dashboards
Does the CRM provide real-time dashboards and reports on your KPIs? You should be able to easily view metrics like sales pipeline value, conversion rates, and activities. Ensure the CRM has customizable reports or templates that match your business goals, such as a dashboard for sales performance, or reports for customer service metrics. Also consider if it has forecasting reports and whether dashboards can be tailored.
User experience and ease of use
Is the interface clean and intuitive? Will your team need a lot of training or is it straightforward? Consider navigation, search function, mobile app usability, and any other day-to-day tasks that are necessary in your business.
Step 3) Add fit and future-readiness of vendors to your CRM evaluation checklist
Beyond features and functionality, consider the vendor and platform aspects – and add that to your checklist.
Pricing and total cost
Will you be charged per user per month? Are there different tiers and will you need a higher tier for certain features? Any hidden costs like setup fees, support fees, or limits on data/storage or API calls? Of course, cheapest isn’t always best – but you’ll want to ensure the CRM system you choose is within budget and scales cost-effectively as you add users or contacts.
Scalability and growth
Will the CRM grow with you? If you plan to double your team or expand to new markets, can the CRM handle more contacts, more deals, or additional modules? Include a question about limits because some CRMs cap the number of contacts or users on certain plans. Also be ready to check if the vendor has solutions for mid-market, in case you outgrow the small biz version. Does the CRM vendor offer add-ons or integrations that you might need in future, like project management, advanced analytics, or AI capabilities. You might not need them now, but it’s good to know you won’t have to switch systems in a couple of years.
Cloud vs on-premise
For the majority of SMBs, a cloud-based CRM is the best option because it provides much easier maintenance, anywhere access, real-time updates, and easier integration with other cloud apps. You’d only need on-premise if you have strict compliance requirements and a dedicated IT staff. If you’re planning to go with the cloud, check uptime and data ownership policies; if on-prem, look closely at costs of IT maintenance and updates. And, no matter what, make sure the CRM has solid data security measures such as encryption and regular backups.
Vendor support and training
The level of customer support the CRM vendor provides can be a deciding factor. Do they offer onboarding help or CRM implementation assistance? Is there 24/7 support, and via what channels (phone, chat, etc.) for when you have issues? Do they have a knowledge base or community forum for self-help? Also, check if there are local partners or consultants. A vendor that provides training resources such as videos, webinars, or one-on-one onboarding sessions can dramatically increase your team’s successful adoption.
Method, for example, not only provides a dedicated support team, we also have an internal customization department – meaning that if you don’t want to go the DIY route, you can customize your CRM by using our team of experts.
References and reviews
What are other companies like yours saying about their experiences with the different CRM platforms? You can get a lot of good information from reviews. We at Method are proud to be top-rated on QuickBooks’ app store, indicating strong satisfaction among SMB users. You can ask CRM vendors for references like this, or customer success stories in your industry, to help validate their claims.
Step 4) Build in a CRM scoring system
Introduce a grading system to keep the evaluation objective.
Give each criterion a score
Take your key criteria from Steps 1-3 and give each one a score (1-5 or 1-10).
Weight criteria if some are more important
For instance, if “integration capabilities” and “invoicing” are critical, they would weigh more in your decision than, say, “email marketing.”
Here’s a snapshot of what your scorecard could look like. This is an example—your own criteria and weighting would be based on what is most important to your business:
| Criterion | Method CRM | CRM B | CRM C |
| Integration capabilities(out of 10) | |||
| Invoicing (out of 10) | |||
| Customization and flexibility (out of 10) | |||
| Lead management(out of 10) | |||
| Sales opportunities(out of 5) | |||
| Customer interactions and activities(out of 5) | |||
| Email marketing and web-to-lead forms(out of 5) | |||
| Proposals and estimates(out of 5) |
Step 5: Test drive and score your shortlisted CRMs
Once you have your criteria locked down in your requirements checklist, it’s time to try out the top 2-3 potential CRM systems on your list and measure them on your scorecard. This hands-on phase is vital. It often reveals differences that you can’t tell by just reading about CRM features and comparing claims – like performance speed and UI quirks – and it lets you assess each platform against your CRM requirements.
Take advantage of free trials or demos
Sign up for free trials, and keep each test consistent. Add some of your data – input a few contacts, create an opportunity, and run a sample report. Pro-tip: create a sandbox environment if possible, or ensure you can cancel before being charged.
Most trials are 14-30 days so plan enough time with each. Be sure to schedule live demos with vendor reps as well – they can answer questions specific to your needs. Take everything you learn from the trials and demos, and give each CRM a score based on your evaluation checklist.
Involve your team in scoring
After trials, meet with the key stakeholders who gave input in Step 1 to discuss the findings. Sometimes a CRM might score great on paper but an actual user raises a concern (or vice versa). Ask questions like, “Did it feel easier than our old system? Did it meet your expectations from the checklist?”
Make sure everyone’s feedback is accounted for before the final decision. A key reason why CRM implementations fail to meet expectations is user adoption issues. Ensuring user voices are heard during evaluation mitigates that.
Step 6) Make your decision and plan next steps
By now, your checklist and scoring should reveal which CRM best aligns with your business needs. Trust the process and the data you gathered.
Get everyone onboard and excited
Before signing the contract, present the chosen CRM and rationale to leadership and the wider team. This could be informal if yours is a small business, but the idea is to get buy-in from everyone. Emphasize the benefits that convinced you – such as, “This CRM will save us five hours per week in manual tasks and it integrates with our email – meaning we’ll close deals faster.”
If anyone is hesitant, address their concerns with what you learned during the evaluation. Because of your clear evaluation checklist, you can confidently say, “Yes, it does X” or “We verified it solves problem Y.”
Plan the implementation
A CRM isn’t useful until it’s implemented and adopted. Designate a project owner for the rollout, migrate data carefully, configure the system with fields and workflows, and schedule training sessions for users. Take advantage of any vendor onboarding to ensure a smooth start.
And be sure to set KPIs to measure success post-implementation – for instance, user adoption rate, number of deals logged vs before, and improvement in follow-up times – to validate that the CRM is delivering value. Then gather feedback after a month of use and tweak processes or get additional training as needed.
Checklist your way to the right CRM
Choosing a CRM doesn’t have to be daunting. A clear checklist—covering your business needs, key features, vendor considerations, and trial scoring—can help to make the decision easier. It can give you the confidence to evaluate CRM software logically rather than emotionally or by brand hype.
As you evaluate options, you’ll discover there’s no one-size-fits-all: the right CRM is the one that aligns with your needs. If you’ve gone through this checklist process, you may already have a strong contender in mind. If not, consider giving Method CRM a look—it’s built for small businesses like yours, hits all the marks from powerful automation to easy QuickBooks integration, and comes with a friendly team ready to help you succeed.
Armed with your new checklist, you’re ready to make a confident, informed CRM choice that will fuel your business growth.
Next step: You can schedule a free demo of Method CRM to see how it measures up to your checklist in real time.
