Search for a CRM and you will be shown software built for companies with a sales team, a marketing department and somebody whose actual job is to administer the CRM. If that is not you, most of what you are being shown is not for you either.
Here is how to narrow it down without sitting through six demos.
First, decide which problem you are solving
“We need a CRM” almost always means one of three different things, and they lead to different software.
- We keep losing enquiries. You need lead management — capture, ownership, follow-up dates.
- We cannot remember what we promised which customer. You need a contact history and shared notes.
- We do not know what is happening in the business. You need reporting, and you will not get it until the first two are solved, because reports come from data somebody entered.
Almost everyone starts with the first. Buy for that.
The four kinds of product you will be shown
| Type | Suits | The catch |
|---|---|---|
| Global full-suite CRM | Companies with someone to configure and maintain it | Priced per user in dollars, and set-up is a project in itself. |
| Indian SMB CRM | Businesses that want local payment, local support, GST | Varies enormously. Check whether the mobile screens were designed or merely shrunk. |
| WhatsApp-first tools | Shops that sell almost entirely on WhatsApp | Often no idea what to do with a phone call or a walk-in. |
| Industry-specific software | Trades with an unusual lifecycle — AMC, rentals, service contracts | Fits beautifully or not at all. Worth trying before it is worth arguing about. |
Six questions that separate them quickly
- Show me a lead arriving from IndiaMART. Not a slide. The actual thing, during the demo.
- How does my technician mark a job done? On his own phone, on mobile data, in under ten seconds.
- What arrives on my phone tomorrow morning? If the answer is “you log in and check”, expect it to be checked on the organised days only.
- What does it cost when I add three people? Per-user pricing discourages exactly the people who should be updating job status.
- Free plan or free trial? A trial ends right around the time your team finally starts using it.
- How do I get my data out? Ask to see the export button. There should be one.
Three things that matter more in India than the brochures suggest
WhatsApp is not a feature, it is the channel
If your customers message you, your CRM has to live with that. That means a conversation attached to the lead, and a way to send a quotation where the customer will actually read it. Software that treats WhatsApp as an integration you bolt on later has the wrong shape for this market.
Mobile-first means usable on a five-year-old Android
Not “responsive”. Your technicians do not have new phones and they are not on wi-fi. Ask for the demo on the cheapest phone in the room.
Someone has to answer when it breaks
Support in your timezone, in a language your staff speak, on a channel they will actually use. A ticket portal that answers in two working days is not support for a business that sells by ringing people back.
When the honest answer is “not yet”
If one person handles every enquiry, never forgets one, and you are not trying to see what staff are doing, then a notebook and a phone are doing the job and software will feel like a tax.
The moment it stops being true — a second person shares enquiries, or you start paying for leads and want to know which source pays back — that is when this becomes worth an hour.
Try the one built for this exact problem
LeadFlow does the front half properly: every enquiry in one list, an owner and a date on each, and the morning call list on WhatsApp. Free plan, no credit card.
Start free →