Business management software should make it easier to run your business, providing everything from a single point to access your contacts and lead information to task tracking to metrics that facilitate employee evaluations. That all sounds great, but with so many options out there, how do you find the best one?

First and foremost, you want business management software CRM that grows with you and provides a unified solution to put all the features and tools you need for success right at your fingertips. Even better, you want a CRM that delivers all that — and more — in a single platform that eliminates the need to log in and out of multiple systems by providing a power-packed toolkit and an awesome set of seamless integrations. But enough about CRMDialer; let’s take a closer look at the top 10 features you need in 2018.

Telephony for Enhanced Communication

In 2017, Forbes published an article about the trends that would shape businesses in 2018. One of the first mentioned in the piece was the consumers’ preference for live interactions over social media. At first, it seems counterintuitive, right? Social media is everywhere, and it plays a pivotal role in building strong businesses. But it can’t top the value of person-to-person interactions. For some businesses, that might mean hosting live events. For others, a simple phone call could make all the difference in building your brand and encouraging customer loyalty.

That’s why you need business management software with telephony bundled right in. With CRMDialer, for example, you get a power dialer CRM that replaces your phone system and your CRM. You and your employees can make phone calls right from your browser with speedy, simple click-to-call functionality that saves time dialing so you can devote more time to getting down to business. And that’s not all this system provides. You also receive:

• Local presence dynamic dialing, which has the potential to increase answer rates exponentially when making cold calls,
• Interactive voice response (IVR) for automated call routing so every call goes to the most appropriate and available agent — no extra employee needed to man the phones,
• Voicemail drop, which can save hours otherwise spent listening to pre-recording messages and leaving voicemails for increased efficiency,
• Whisper and barge, two key features that let supervisors, trainers and colleagues listen in and lend a helping hand when needed on a call.

Email for Winning Outreach

Email marketing is a powerful tool that certainly should be a part of any business management software. The inbound and outbound email that syncs with your Google and Outlook accounts gives you the added edge of being able to access all your mail in one single spot instead of logging in and out of multiple systems. That’s a serious benefit all on its own, but when you consider the power that email has in any successful branding and marketing campaigns, you’ll wonder what you ever did without having it seamlessly at your fingertips.

For example, did you know that every $1 you spend on email marketing yields an average return on investment (ROI) of $44? That’s huge! But to really leverage the power, you need a system with the right email tools in place, including:

• Templates that allow you to create branded messages with a personal touch — which is key to getting people to open the email and generate interest in your offers,
• Metrics that provide insight into how each template and campaign is performing so you can adjust and revise as needed to maximize your outreach and your success
• Tracking and notifications that let you know when a lead opens your email so you can reach out at the ideal time
• Automated email sending with scheduling that saves you time without sacrificing customer engagement

SMS to Pick up Where Email Leaves Off

For those looking to grow their business, email isn’t always enough. Although it offers an awesome ROI, SMS actually has a higher rate of engagement. Text messages are opened and read approximately 98 percent of the time while emails have an open rate of only around 20 percent according to Business 2 Community. And not only that, email response rates hover around 6 percent, while a whopping 45 percent of people respond to text messages. Think about it — if you aren’t using SMS, you could be sacrificing the number of people who see and respond to your messages, leaving a significant number of potential customers out in the cold.

Back in the day, that meant whipping out your business or personal phone to send messages. Not anymore. With the right platform, you can send texts right from your browser, even while you’re on the phone.

Chat for an Amazing Company Culture

Part of your business management strategy should be fostering an environment built on strong teamwork and collaboration. Having a CRM with integrated chat makes that easier than ever. Your employees can still use it to shoot quick questions to colleagues and have short conversations without having to leave their desks, but even more exciting is the ability to create channels for groups and topics. In those channels, employees can share information, files and images — all of which can later be searched for when someone needs the details. That means everyone has lightning-fast access to all the information they need to be as successful as possible. It also creates amazing teamwork, which enhances your company culture.

Strong Database for Better Organization

Leads, prospects and customers (oh my). If you want to feel less like a confused version of Dorothy, then you need a way to harness all the data you have flooding your business every day, week and month. No matter the size the company, having a good database on your side can keep everything in its proper spot. Plus, when you choose the best CRM, you also get integrated duplicate checking to avoid doubling up, unlimited leads and contacts, user assignments to spread the work out among your team and a view that each user can customize.

And you know what else? With CRMDialer’s database, the lead or customer record will automatically pop up when they call in. That enables anyone answering the phone to provide excellent service. Without this feature, employees unfamiliar with the person could unwittingly harm the customer relationship and cost you a loyal consumer. With it, your customers get friendly, calm and knowledgeable service from anyone on the team because everyone has access to vital details right from the source — your database.

Email Validation to Reduce the Dreaded Bounce Rate

If you’re unfamiliar with bounce rates, here’s a quick overview. This is the percentage of emails that are returned as undeliverable. Most email service providers monitor this number, and the higher the percentage, the more likely your emails are to be restricted or labeled as spam (gasp!). Now think about this. Your business uses email for things like marketing, newsletters, communications, invoicing and more. What would you do if your business was blacklisted as a spammer and the people you’re sending emails to never receive them?

With email validation, you can take a lot of the worry out of the whole bounce rate debacle. CRMDialer partners with ZeroBounce to remove duplicates and invalid email addresses using a secure, GDPR-compliant integrated platform. Validate a single email address right in the lead record, or perform bulk validation while importing lead and contact lists. Either way, your business benefits and you can rest easy knowing that your emails are going to the right place.

Real-time Visitor Tracking

Once upon a time, when website visitor tracking was new on the scene, businesses had to log out of one system to log into another, where they could access data and information that was already old news. But today’s systems are far more sophisticated, and they provide real-time information for valuable insight. Once a lead or client clicks onto your website, you — or a member of your team — are notified immediately. You can see the pages they’ve visited and the length of time they spent there, giving you information about their interests and potential pain points. That also lets you reach out with perfectly timed emails, calls or SMS messages to meet their needs head-on.

Calendar Integrations to Keep You on Top of Tasks and Reminders

The right software is all about streamlining everything you do. Everything. Having fewer systems to log in and out of saves you time. It also minimizes the chances that you’ll miss important dates, reminders, tasks and details while you’re in the middle of a busy workday. That’s why integration with your Google or Outlook calendar is so helpful. No need to check multiple sources — you’ve got it all right at your fingertips. Schedule tasks and reminders, note important appointments and manage your time like a boss.

Built-in Helpdesk for Efficient Customer Service

Happy customers are repeat customers. Not only that, efficient employees who value customer service are keepers, right? Having a helpdesk built right into your business management software CRM gives you the ability to monitor how problems are handled. You can keep an eye on things from any device and from anywhere in the world. You set internal SLAs and receive valuable insight into the speed and efficiency with which your team is handling incoming issues. Watch from the time a ticket comes in until the moment it’s received to ensure timely customer service that builds brand loyalty and, ultimately, boosts your customer base.

Simple Customization and Implementation

All too often, businesses choose what they think is the ideal business management software only to find that the end-users struggle with it. Implementation takes too long and customizing the platform with its branding requires a developer. When you choose the right option, none of that is an issue. With CRMDialer, you sign up in about 60 seconds, and you’ll be up and running in no time. Even though it’s among the relative newcomers to the CRM market, this unlimited user CRM has won over many businesses with its intuitive interface and user-friendly operations. Not to mention, this white label CRM lets you brand your platform and customize it however you see fit with simple drag-and-drop tools — no developers required!

Now that you know a little more about some of the top features to look for, what are you waiting for? Sign up now!