Contact management

For CRM tools, the most foundational functionality is that of collecting and organizing contact information. At the very least, it needs to be a step up from simply dumping leads into a spreadsheet only to immediately be forgotten. Spreadsheets have their place, but they aren't optimized for automation or to serve as living records. If a CRM can't improve on manual data entry, manual data scrubbing, and manual retrieval, then it's just Excel with extra steps.

Contact management features in CRM and sales software, it should be noted, vary widely from system to system. But the common upgrades to functionality will likely look familiar to anyone who's been using digital devices in the past two decades:

• Automated data importing
• Data export flexibility (via EDI, CSV, or other formats)
• Integrations with other platforms, apps, and databases
• Filters and search functions
• Analytics and reporting functions

Communication records

By now, nearly everyone is familiar with the "This call may be recorded for quality assurance purposes" line spoken to customers calling in to a business for support. Having a record of customer/client/lead interactions can be indispensable. And not just for maintaining excellent service, either.

Using recorded calls, chats, and other communication, businesses can achieve a multitude of important objectives, including:

• Improving effectiveness of staff training, onboarding, company policies, and more
• Compiling data for analytics (which can help identify patterns, predict trends, and even recommend strategies)
• Providing evidence to help navigate legal concerns and protect against loss

If benefits like these factor into your CRM and sales software choices, then be aware that some software includes functionality to support it, while some does not.

Integrations

Implementing new software systems can be difficult, and onboarding users only becomes more problematic when the system doesn't play well with existing solutions in the workflow.

Some CRMs are built as part of a larger platform of business solutions, and are intended to be used as a holistic unit. This is a bit of a trade-off, and some cost-benefit evaluations will be needed to determine if a complete workflow overhaul will net positive or negative returns for the trouble.

However, if maintaining the stability and functionality of other systems is of equal importance, then finding a CRM software that can integrate with them successfully is critical. Depending on what integrations are needed, there may be plug-ins or add-ons available already to users of the tool.

For less common integrations, some more code-heavy API customization may be necessary. In these cases, it's a good idea to ask which side of the client-vendor partnership will be building the integration.

What should be avoided is the addition of a CRM that only further complicates workflows and requires additional manual processes to hold the system together.

Marketing automation

Marketing automation is a specific example of the integration concerns above, but it merits its own spot on this list due to the amount of overlap between marketing and sales efforts. Like other sales-adjacent functions, there are a lot of advantages to having the CRM trigger automatic tasks such as sending confirmation emails, email nurture campaigns, and more.

Worst-case scenario, similar to what's mentioned above, is that the new CRM complicates already existing processes, rather than integrating or replacing them. If your CRM or sales software adds another step in the process of, for example, sending outreach emails because staff members have to manually dig for contact info in the database, that's a net loss.

At the very least, the CRM should leave any existing processes intact and unhindered. Most likely, however, your organization will benefit from some form of integration, or a CRM that includes marketing automation features natively.

Quotes and invoicing

Next in line for important functions in the sales process that may or may not be handled by sales team members are financials, such as quotes, invoices, and other AP/AR responsibilities. The same philosophy applies here as above. If an all-in-one solution upgrades your workflow, prioritize that aspect in your research.

If integration will suffice, then double-check with vendors for the specific platforms you need to be interoperable. Even if your current process is efficient enough currently, be sure that the CRM software doesn't create additional headaches for anyone in the workflow.

Data privacy

Cybersecurity is, arguably, a priority for every organization (or, at least it should be). Some verticals deal with higher risk than others, however, and may need additional security protocols for their CRM to protect themselves or even to comply with industry mandates.

This is one that may require consulting with IT, InfoSec, or other I&O staff in the organization. Many of the technical details that factor into whether or not a CRM software is sufficiently secure may be outside the expertise of anyone without a background in computer systems, and it's not one to leave to chance.

Check with internal SMEs, and leverage their experience to further vet your shortlist of CRMs. It may even be worthwhile to have a 3rd-party vendor risk assessment done for any that meet all other criteria, just to cover your bases.

Project management

This list of supplemental functions that might be relevant would be pretty long if it were comprehensive. All-in-one systems, analytics and reporting, ease of use, pipeline management, and many more might fit here. Many of these have been touched on above, and others are likely known quantities already.

So instead, this part of the list will finish with one final consideration: project management.

Organizations that have, until now, used less formalized workflow processes may not realize how much of an upgrade a well-designed project management strategy can be. As teams grow, workloads become heavier, and processes become more intricate and complex, tracking things on paper proves a substantial challenge.

With effective implementation, project management tools can provide visibility and accountability across the board. Better still, it can help staff achieve greater levels of autonomy by giving them the tools needed to stay organized and on top of their responsibilities. Some CRM and sales software tools include project management (PM) features in their toolset, while others can integrate with popular platforms via APIs. Either way, for any team larger than a handful of employees, it's worth discussing the potential value a CRM with PM enablement might bring to the table.