Customer data is a critical asset for agencies across various industries. However, it can only be useful when organized effectively. If your customer data is all over the place, inefficiencies, missed opportunities, and client dissatisfaction are the only possible outcomes.
Luckily, there’s a simple solution for this challenge – a robust customer relationship management (CRM) platform. This helpful software stores, manages, and tracks your agency’s interactions with clients (both current and future). On top of that, some of these software tools have evolved to include additional features, helping you navigate sales, accounting, and even project management.
However, the sheer number of options (and features) available, makes choosing the right agency CRM quite a daunting task. But given that this decision can make or break your agency’s success, this task is one you must undertake (and approach strategically).
But don’t worry; you won’t be all alone in this. This guide will walk you through the process of choosing an agency CRM step by step. Even better, it’ll highlight the top 10 CRMs specifically tailored to elevate an agency’s operational efficiency. Follow this guide, and you’ll find a CRM that aligns with your needs, preferences, and goals in no time.
If you’re new to the business world, you might not be familiar with an agency CRM or CRMs in general. So, let’s start by defining a CRM and explaining why your agency needs it.
As mentioned, CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management. Generally speaking, CRM denotes the set of practices and principles guiding an organization’s customer interactions. However, this guide will focus on the technological aspect of CRM – the CRM software tools.
A CRM software tool is a centralized repository consolidating all customer information, such as contact details, purchase history, and prior interactions with the organization’s customer service representatives. The same goes for agency CRMs. The only difference is that an agency CRM offers features specifically tailored to the unique needs and workflows of agencies.
But what does this mean in practice? How can your agency benefit from a CRM?
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Let’s say multiple employees from your agency are engaging with the same prospect. In this scenario, data duplication, inconsistent messaging, and miscommunication between team members are almost unavoidable. That is if there’s no centralized system.
With a CRM, all customer-related information will be consolidated and organized in a single, up-to-date platform accessible to all team members. This minimizes the risk of errors while preserving your agency’s credibility and customer trust.
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According to a survey, 74% of CRM users say CRM platforms provide improved access to invaluable customer data. Using this data, agencies can gain a deeper understanding of prospect behavior, enabling them to optimize their outreach strategies. The result? A more meaningful and relevant engagement with potential clients.
There isn’t a single department in your agency that won’t benefit from the cross-functional efficiency a well-implemented CRM brings. Marketing, sales, finances, business development, customer service, talent acquisition… you name it — every facet of your agency stands to gain from streamlined processes and centralized data. No more silos of disconnected data or disjointed communication, just a cohesive and synchronized operation.
One of the most significant benefits of CRMs is their ability to automate repetitive and mundane tasks. This means you (and your employees) can bid farewell to time-consuming data entry, manual email tracking, and tedious follow-up processes. The same goes for informing other team members (and departments) about every new update in the customer journey.
Instead, all this time and energy can be redirected to the high-value and creative aspects of running an agency. After all, these aspects are what truly drive innovation, growth, and customer satisfaction.
Having an agency CRM means access to key metrics, customer preferences, and performance indicators at your fingertips. With this valuable data, you and other decision-makers within the agency will have no issues identifying new business opportunities and promptly addressing challenges. The result is a more agile agency, where decisions are grounded in data-driven intelligence rather than guesswork.
The combined effect of the benefits discussed above will eventually lead to what most agency owners desire the most – a significant increase in profitability. Thanks to a CRM, the agency becomes more agile, responsive, and capable of delivering exceptional value to clients. This ultimately translates into a healthier bottom line and sustained business success.
CRM is the fastest-growing software market, expected to hit a $114.4 billion global valuation by 2027. In other words, if your agency doesn’t have a CRM, it risks falling behind in a highly competitive environment.
Of course, your choice of agency CRM will also affect your chances of staying competitive, so choose wisely. Only an all-encompassing CRM platform like Bonsai will help you keep up and, better yet, excel in this competitive landscape.
By now, it should be perfectly clear why your agency needs a CRM. The next step is choosing a CRM platform to serve as your trusted ally in achieving your business goals. Given the importance of this business decision, it shouldn’t be surprising that the selection process involves quite a few steps. Or it should, at least. After all, this isn’t a casual choice but a strategic decision impacting your agency’s efficiency and growth.
With this in mind, let’s break down the critical steps in choosing the right CRM for your agency.
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There are over 1,500 CRM providers in the U.S. alone. But remember – not all of them offer what your agency needs. So, the first step in narrowing down this staggering number of options is to thoroughly assess your agency’s needs (and pain points).
To do so, you should talk to all the team members and identify each department’s specific challenges. Which tasks take up the most time? Are there communication bottlenecks within and between departments? Which processes can be improved? These are just some of the questions that can help you pinpoint the key requirements for your agency.
In Step 1, you’ve established where your agency currently is. Step 2 is reserved for defining where you want your agency to go. In other words, it’s time to set the goals the CRM software should help you accomplish.
These goals might concern improving productivity, boosting lead generation, or enhancing customer relationships. Either way, ensure these goals are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-based, or the so-called SMART goals.
Ideally, money wouldn’t even be a consideration. You’d list your agency’s needs and find a CRM that best matches that description. But realistically, your budgetary constraints will be a huge part of your decision-making process, especially if you run a smaller agency.
So, before you start narrowing the list of agency CRM platforms, consider which ones you can afford in the long term.
These platforms come with varying prices, depending on their features, number of users, and deployment type (e.g., cloud-based). Generally speaking, you’ll need a monthly subscription to operate a CRM. Since these subscriptions are typically based on the number of users, make sure to evaluate how many team members within your agency might need access to the CRM software.
If you aren’t familiar with CRMs and their offerings, keeping up with any of the following steps will be challenging. So, before continuing, research the CRM space to see what options are available and explore their features and pricing. Afterward, you’ll better understand what your agency truly needs.
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Step 3 involves identifying the non-negotiable features of your agency CRM. Of course, these features should directly address the needs, challenges, and goals outlined in the previous steps.
For instance, let’s say you want to make client interaction more personalized. In that case, you’ll need a CRM like Bonsai that lets you create unique client profiles filled with internal notes, tags, and customizable fields. If your goal is to improve your lead generation efforts, your CRM should include integrated forms that seamlessly capture prospect information. And finally, for increased productivity, workflow automation should do the trick.
Of course, these are just some agency CRM features you might want to prioritize. Others include the following:
When making a must-have list in Step 3, it’s easy to get carried away. You might get tempted to include numerous advanced must-have features and toss in a few nice-to-haves for good measure. But remember – an overly complex agency CRM can do more harm than good.
Such a system can lead to resistance and hinder adoption among your team members. After all, a CRM is meant to make their lives easier, not more complicated.
So, during this stage of the selection process, prioritize solutions that strike a balance between advanced functionalities and ease of use. An intuitive interface, quick installation, and a low learning curve are key factors to keep in mind here.
Customer relationship management is an extensive process. This means that a standalone tool might not be able to fully support all the current and future intricacies of this process. So, when comparing your CRM options, consider only those that can seamlessly adapt to your agency’s evolving needs.
Of course, your CRM should also be able to integrate with your existing systems. These systems can range from basic communication tools like Slack and productivity suites like Google Workspace to specialized tools your agency uses daily. Whatever the case, assessing integration capabilities before committing to an agency CRM will minimize custom integration efforts, saving you time (and money) and boosting operational efficiency.
Your CRM will be at the heart of your agency’s operations. This makes ongoing support from your vendor a crucial aspect. From clarifying how to use specific features to solving unexpected issues, your vendor should be with you every step of the way. To assess vendor support, look into the following aspects:
Sometimes, the CRM’s features and functionalities might look great on paper. But when you start using the tool, you soon realize that it might not be the right fit for your agency. The solution? Apply for a free trial for your desired platform.
During the free trial, pay attention to the following aspects:
By Step 10, it should be easy to tell which option(s) will work for your agency in the long run. So, narrow down your list of agency CRM platforms until you’re left with a winner.
If you find this 10-step process too time-consuming and overwhelming, don’t worry. This guide has done the work for you, bringing you right to the final step – choosing the right agency CRM. Here are the top 10 contenders for you to consider.
Bonsai is an all-in-one business management solution consolidating client, project, and financial management. Its unique suite of features is especially beneficial for freelancers, small businesses, and, of course, agencies.
In terms of industries, there’s virtually no agency type that Bonsai CRM isn’t suitable for. Whether you run a marketing, consulting, or accounting agency, this agency CRM will be able to meet your needs.
The best thing about Bonsai CRM is that this tool will be your trusted partner every step of the way, from finding prospects to billing them for your services. Think of Bonsai as your command center for managing (and growing) your agency hassle-free.
As mentioned, the CRM functionality is just a part of Bonsai’s all-encompassing platform. Here are the key features that make this platform stand out.
Bonsai CRM checks all the boxes for the best agency CRM you can invest in.
For starters, it has a clean and minimalistic interface that prioritizes user experience, thus ensuring that navigating through the platform is completely intuitive. This allows even the less tech-savvy team members to quickly adapt and use the platform effectively.
Bonsai also allows white labeling options for numerous aspects, from invoices to emails. This allows your agency to maintain a consistent and professional brand image across all communication channels.
And let’s not forget about the variety of tools Bonsai offers under one subscription. Sure, you might get this tool for your CRM needs, but it’ll easily replace your project management software, scheduling app, and accounting platform, too. Talk about cost-effectiveness!
Throw frequent product updates and incredible customer support into the mix, and it’s easy to understand why Bonsai should be your agency’s partner in growth and success.
When subscribing to Bonsai, you’ll be able to choose between three plans:
The last tier, the Business plan, has been exclusively designed for agencies, making it the best choice for you. If you need to invite more team members to collaborate with you on specific projects, you can do so for an additional $10 per seat per month.
Salesforce is a widely used CRM platform that can easily accommodate larger agencies with numerous projects and extensive customer data. This software can help your agency handle customers, partners, and employees, all within a unified platform. Salesforce is secure and adaptable and guarantees a customer-centric approach to every interaction.
This popular CRM is also highly customizable, essentially allowing you to build a custom platform for your needs. Depending on the features you need (and can afford), you can use Salesforce to seamlessly connect your sales, marketing, customer service, and IT departments into a unified whole. All data from these areas can later be analyzed through Salesforce reporting features.
Salesforce offers quite an extensive suite of features, to the point these can get overwhelming to new users. That’s not to mention constantly adding new CRM features to address the evolving needs of users. So, let’s list only the key ones that you might need for your day-to-day operations.
There’s no doubt about it – Salesforce is a CRM powerhouse. As such, it doesn’t have any limitations per se. However, this can also be a bad thing, especially for smaller agencies.
Since Salesforce is constantly introducing new features and adjusting its existing ones, it can be challenging to keep up with its pace. To make matters worse, these changes often come with bugs that can significantly disrupt your workflow.
The many features also translate to a steep learning curve, making this CRM far from beginner-friendly. Of course, these features also come with a hefty price tag, placing Salesforce outside the budget of many small agencies.
Given how many different features and platforms Salesforce offers, it shouldn’t be surprising that its pricing strategy is also quite complex. The exact cost of your monthly (or, more commonly, yearly) subscription will depend on the agency’s type, size, and business goals. An entry-level Starter plan with a simple CRM suite starts at $25 per user per month.
Productive markets itself as a “one-stop shop for agencies of all types and sizes.” But what does this entail?
With this versatile tool, you can tackle virtually any aspect of running an agency, from sales and resource planning to reporting and billing. This makes it ideal for small- to medium-sized businesses looking to streamline their operations with an integrated platform.
Productive offers a solid range of features, all packed within an intuitive interface. Let’s explore the most crucial among them.
Productive aims to be a one-stop shop for all things agency-related. As a result, the platform has seemingly spread itself too thin in some areas. For instance, its project management features could definitely benefit from more depth and specialization (à la Bonsai’s project management suite).
Also, many users complain that the software (and its individual features) can be difficult to understand. At the same time, specific processes (e.g., task management) can be too convoluted.
Productive offers four subscription plans to agencies:
Pipedrive is a unique CRM platform built from a salesperson’s point of view with a simple goal – to close deals and boost sales. According to the platform, close rates for all users increase by 28% on average within the first year. These impressive figures likely have to do with the platform’s ease of use and features tailored specifically for sales professionals.
If boosting sales is your primary goal, setting up custom pipelines and stages of the buyer’s journey will take you minutes. With the ability to also automate your workflows and track revenue, new customers will keep pouring in with little initial effort on your behalf.
Given Pipedrive’s sales-first approach, most of its key features involve enhancing the sales process and supporting sales professionals.
Pipedrive makes no effort to hide that its CRM was built "by salespeople, for salespeople." But what if your agency doesn’t need a sales-first approach? If that’s the case, Pipedrive’s features and functionalities won’t serve you as well. The sales-first approach unintentionally excludes other relevant agency departments, such as marketing and customer service.
But even if your agency appreciates this approach, it must subscribe to one of the more advanced plans to access many key features (e.g., automation). This automatically limits the platform’s accessibility for smaller agencies with limited budgets.
Pipedrive offers quite a segmented approach to features and tools with as many as five different subscription plans.
Freshsales is a cloud-based CRM designed for high-growth sales teams. Its primary goal is to help organizations across different industries manage interactions with existing and potential clients. With options like one-click phone calls, lead tracking, and automation, this task becomes a breeze for most agencies.
Like Pipedrive, Freshsales is primarily focused on boosting sales via improved customer relationships. To this end, you’ll use the following key features:
Freshsales might excel in some regards, but customer support certainly isn’t one of them. Many users complain that the platform’s customer support is often delayed and needs to be significantly improved.
Other relevant limitations of Freshsales pertain to its customization options. These options are severely limited, so if your agency needs a highly specialized CRM, Freshsales probably isn’t for you.
Freshsales offers one free plan (up to three users) and three paid subscriptions:
Zoho is a popular agency CRM platform focusing on lead generation, sales, and analytics. This platform is ideal for agencies whose team members primarily work remotely for several reasons.
One, Zoho offers an effective mobile app that facilitates collaboration and productivity on the go. Two, there are numerous built-in communication features that make remote collaboration seamless. And three, Zoho can integrate with hundreds of popular software tools and apps, providing extensive flexibility and adaptability to your agency’s unique workflow.
But does this mean only remote agencies can benefit from Zoho? Absolutely not. Zoho’s versatile features cater to various agency structures (and sizes), promoting collaboration, productivity, and adaptability for both remote and in-office teams.
Zoho sets out to transform the way your agency works. To do so, it relies on the following key features:
Unfortunately, you’ll have to pay extra for many of Zoho’s features that other CRMs offer for free. For instance, you’ll pay an additional charge to get customer support beyond weekdays, and this goes for any plan.
Similarly, Zoho’s helpful AI-powered assistant, Zia, is only included in the two most expensive plans – Enterprise and Ultimate. This is only one example illustrating Zoho’s massive gap between more affordable and more expensive plans. Others include data limits, file storage, and other helpful advanced features like email parsing.
If Zoho is your CRM of choice, you’ll be able to subscribe to one of the four following plans:
There are also two bundles that let you add other Zoho products to your plan (e.g., Zoho Desk, Zoho Social, or Zoho Survey).
Monday.com stands out as a highly adaptable CRM solution suited for running all aspects of work. However, this CRM excels at tracking leads, managing sales pipelines, and onboarding customers.
With Monday.com, you receive a streamlined dashboard with dozens of folders (up to 50) for organizing data. You also gain access to extensive integrations with tools like Outlook, Gmail, and Mailchimp, making this software a highly versatile choice.
These third-party integrations can be easily automated, helping you save time and effort in virtually countless ways. For instance, you can automate the MailChimp integration to track and organize email data in real-time. Though automation is in no way unique to Monday.com, this CRM makes it exceptionally easy to achieve, thanks to the straightforward trigger and action template combination.
Sales CRM is just one aspect of the Monday.com suite of tools. However, it still offers a solid choice of features for managing and optimizing your customer relationships and sales processes.
Some of the lower-tier plans have limitations imposed on specific features. For example, the Standard plan only allows 250 automations per month. Even when you subscribe to the top-tier plans, there will still be a limit, just a higher one.
This discrepancy between lower- and higher-tier options is also evident in other aspects. Some of the most desirable CRM features, such as work performance insights, are only available with the most expensive plan.
And finally, Monday.com dictates how many seats you can buy, starting at three. So, if you have a smaller team or a team that doesn’t fit into the predefined seat bracket, you’ll still have to pay for the extra seat(s).
Besides a basic free plan, Monday.com offers four paid plans.
Teamleader is cloud-based CRM software that can benefit businesses of all sizes. Like Bonsai, this platform goes beyond just a standard CRM, offering tools for project management, billing, and sales. These tools are constantly updated and tweaked based on customer needs and the latest market trends so your agency can stay ahead at all times.
As mentioned, Teamleader’s features concern several crucial aspects of running a successful agency. Here are the features that should help you the most on the daily:
Though Teamleader offers a wider selection of tools than a standard CRM, they are all pretty basic in nature. In other words, the platform’s individual components, like billing and project management, aren’t robust enough to cover all the needs of a larger agency.
Also, Teamleader doesn’t offer an option to pay for its services on a monthly basis. So, even if you realize that the platform isn’t the right fit for your agency, you’ll have to use it for at least a few more months.
Finally, Teamleader subscriptions are rather pricey. Even worse, you have to pay extra for some advanced features (from $20 to $50 per month per feature).
With Teamleader, you can choose between three paid plans:
Teamwork is primarily a project management platform (and an excellent one at that!). However, it also offers numerous CRM features that can streamline your daily client operations. Billing and invoicing are also included, so this platform can handle your client needs from beginning to end.
Here are Teamwork’s key features that make this agency CRM exceptionally helpful:
Since Teamwork primarily focuses on project management, some agencies might find its CRM features lacking. If you’re a smaller agency at the beginning of its journey, these features should work just fine. But as soon as you start growing, you’ll probably require more specialized tools, such as those Bonsai CRM offers.
Teamwork offers a free plan ideal for small teams just getting started. In addition, there are four paid plans:
HubSpot is an all-encompassing customer platform that offers numerous integrations and resources for connecting customer service, marketing, sales, and content management departments. As a CRM, Hubspot offers a robust feature set that enables agencies to manage and nurture customer relationships effectively.
As a CRM, HubSpot excels in several regards. Here are the key features of this popular platform:
Unfortunately, HubSpot makes some commonplace CRM features only available for higher-priced tiers. This makes the platform virtually inaccessible for smaller agencies with a tight budget. In addition, some of these features (e.g., Analytics) have an unusually steep curve, making it impossible to use them “right out of the box.”
HubSpot’s core CRM is free to use, which is also one of the main selling points of this agency CRM. However, for more advanced features and functionalities, you’ll have to subscribe to one of these two plans:
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