CRM recommendations for small company

[craigap]

I'm looking for CRM recommendations. We use QB, but not overly concerned about linking them together.
We are looking to start working on outbound lead generation for our own company use and will only be 1 or 2 staff, never growing beyond 4. Its likely that staff will be working from home. Call volumes aren't going to be 100+ per day as we are concentrating on researching and validating potential clients as part of the process rather than 'phone bashing'. Outside of recording customer details, conversations, calls made and follow up scheduling probably via outlook, not sure what else we would need.

I'm trying to avoid too large a service and spending lots of time setting up features we don't need, and in turn paying for them.

Any recommendations on what systems to look at?

 

[PatrickStephen]

In the past, we have used OnePage CRM and Bigin/Zoho.

We are currently using HubSpot

 

[tony84]

I like zoho, easily customisable.

 

[pentel]

I have used "Less annoying CRM" in the past and found it easy to use with great support for a very reasonable cost. It really is less annoying!

Less Annoying CRM | Simple Contact Management for Small Businesses

Thousands of small businesses use Less Annoying CRM to manage contacts, track leads, and stay on top of follow-ups.

www.lessannoyingcrm.com

 

[Ozzy]

My brother called me asking me this same question for his employer, and I found this thread. I've just had a look at Less Annoying - it does look pretty good so sent this thread to my brother to look at.

 

[ThatDevAaron]

github freeware on top

 

[fisicx]

github freeware on top

What does this even mean?

 

[SimpleCRM]

Recently posted about Simple-CRM.org
Hope this helps

Under /is-anyone-else-getting-fed-up-with-how-complicated-crms-have-become.430705/

 

[Kate Parker]

I'm looking for CRM recommendations. We use QB, but not overly concerned about linking them together.
We are looking to start working on outbound lead generation for our own company use and will only be 1 or 2 staff, never growing beyond 4. Its likely that staff will be working from home. Call volumes aren't going to be 100+ per day as we are concentrating on researching and validating potential clients as part of the process rather than 'phone bashing'. Outside of recording customer details, conversations, calls made and follow up scheduling probably via outlook, not sure what else we would need.

I'm trying to avoid too large a service and spending lots of time setting up features we don't need, and in turn paying for them.

Any recommendations on what systems to look at?

For a small setup like yours, HubSpot free tier is worth looking at first — contacts, deal tracking, call logging, email integration and follow-up scheduling all work out of the box without touching half the features.

If you want something even lighter, Pipedrive is cleaner and more focused on the actual sales pipeline without the bloat. Not free but cheap for 1-2 users and very quick to set up.

Both integrate with Outlook for follow-ups.

I'd skip Salesforce, Zoho or anything enterprise-level entirely — you'd spend more time configuring than selling.

 

[Jordan Lopez]

I recently came across Popcorn CRM too, a lightweight CRM made for small businesses. Might be worth a try.

(Not affiliated)

 

[David Pate]

Worth thinking about what you actually need the CRM to do before picking one. From what you have described - outbound prospecting, call logging, follow-up scheduling for a team of 1 to 2 - you really do not need much. The risk with most CRMs is that you end up spending more time updating the system than actually selling. The one question I would ask yourself: do you need to be able to look at your pipeline at any point and know which deals are overdue for a follow-up and which are genuinely progressing? If yes, make sure whatever you pick makes that view easy to get to without clicking through five menus. HubSpot free tier handles that reasonably well for a small team. What does your outbound process actually look like at the moment?

 

[Data Swami]

Stay away from Hubspot and Salesforce probably plenty of stuff in there that you wont need. Pipedrive is a decent option. TwentyCRM is another good option and its opensource too so you can host it yourself if you are that way inclined so you dont have to pay for a subscription and plenty of integrations available.

From what you said pipedrive and twentyCRM will fit the bill

 

[David Pate]

Yesterday I suggested HubSpot Free Tier, and I still think that's a good call (Free is useful in smaller teams). Thinking about this question again last night I thought Pipedrive might be a good fit as well. For 1-2 people doing research-led outbound, Pipedrive works in small teams - setup takes an afternoon, it won't tempt you into building workflows you don't need.
One thing worth thinking about before you pick the tool though: what does a "qualified" prospect look like for you, and how long does it typically take from first contact to a decision? Even a rough answer to that shapes how you set up your pipeline stages, and it means the data you collect from day one is actually useful for spotting which deals are going stale.
Are you starting completely fresh with outbound, or do you have some existing contacts you're moving across?

 

[Yulia]

CRM is pretty commoditised at this point, so it’s hard to give meaningful advice without context. In threads like this though - small outbound setups, 1-2 people, low volume - the conversation almost always collapses into follow-ups, reminders, and "not losing leads". For some reason, there’s very little mention of anything tied to delivery, or what happens after someone actually converts.