There many options out there for a business owner looking to adopt a formalized approach to capturing customer information and creating a comprehensive database for retention and outreach purposes such as marketing offers, sales acquisition programs and so on. For the average small business owner, however, choosing the right automated customer management software can be truly daunting. But as most sales people know all too well, a good CRM program is usually the cornerstone of a successful B2B business development and customer management process – and therefore essential to building business. So, where does one start? This post should help to put some of the choices in perspective for anyone looking for direction on CRM software.

Under a Cloud?

As stated, when it comes time to start looking at these programs, the options and choices can be quite simply, mind-boggling. There are dozens of features common to all, and then you have project management, social plug-ins, analytics, billings, and e-mail integration. It really requires a careful analysis of integral business processes to establish the right choices – this is something beyond the scope of this post. I can’t stress enough: do your homework first before you buy.

OK, but what about the choices? Well, certainly, Salesforce is a brand leader, but there are many players on the market with attractive free features to test drive before you buy. While consulting last year, I reviewed a bunch of the latest CRM software programs. I compared them for ease of use, features, calendar sharing, social integration and more. To get a big picture of the comparisons, check my nifty chart. My experience with CRMs dates back to the early days of ACT! (now re-named Sage ACT!), and then I experimented with a Mac-based software called Daylite. But that all was pre-cloud. Imagine that! More on cloud VS software later.

The CRM Players: A Sampling

Besides ACT, I also reviewed Bantam (recently acquired by Constant Contact), Glasscubes which had a particularly nice interface for group collaboration, Daylite Productivity Suite (Mac only, but excellent consideration for the creative types and studios that are locked in to the Mac environment), Pipeline Deals which offered an interface that really focused on closing deals, and Worketc. which handles the triple-play of CRM, Project Management and Billing. I have to say this a very competitive field, and the company reps and product managers really reach out to try to engage the prospective buyers. I had the head of sales for Glasscubes, Nick Foggin directly answering my product queries, and the Bantam people picked up my tweets and replied to me via Twitter, which was helpful and timely.

Don’t Wait to Adopt

There are far too many reasons to not act and install a CRM program. I can testify that for productivity’s sake, a dedicated CRM can make the prospect of managing a sales pipeline far more efficient when it comes to categorizing business accounts, targeting vertical industries and just keeping on top of the game. But, the most critical reason to install and manage a database is to protect lifeblood client accounts accumulated over time – just as important as any tangible asset and a vital part of any business’s valuation. In other words, your 20 years of files folders sitting in the cabinet drawer just doesn’t cut it today.

Above all, when looking at these software solutions consider these two choices first: desktop software solutions, or cloud-based services (Saas.) Both have advantages, particularly if you have an outside sales force. When you take a look at the chart you’ll see I grouped the applications by these two criteria first. Compare the features and prices for yourself (note: this comparison is from 2010, features and rates may have changed.)

Obviously, once the learning curve has been overcome any of these of products should get a small business in the CRM game and really help control the sales and marketing process.