Start A Crm Business - Business Ideas
A Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software keeps track of prospects, clients and their contacts and also helps you monitor your sales pipeline as well as to create reports for business intelligence.
The CRM market is a $50B and growing industry.
Starting a CRM business requires a great deal of effort, dedication, and most importantly passion.
If you're interested in how to sell CRM software, or selling CRM software online, you can use this page as a guide for everything you'll need to know.
Want to learn more? You can check out our full guide on how to start a CRM business ➜
Key Stats
Startup Costs
| Min Startup Costs | Max Startup Costs | |
|---|---|---|
| Office Space Expenses | $0 | $7,000 |
| App Creation Costs | $1,099 | $20,099 |
| Software Expenses | $162 | $2,894 |
| Advertising & Marketing Costs | $0 | $2,500 |
| Website Costs | $13 | $215 |
| Training & Education Expenses | $0 | $850 |
| Total Startup Costs | $1,274 | $33,558 |
Case Studies
•
$160K/mo
•
$30K/mo
•
$2.1M/mo
•
$60K/mo
Successful Businesses
| Business | URL | Rank | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Close | close.com | #8,007 |
|
FinancesOnline | crm.financesonline.com | #8,830 |
|
Insightly | insightly.com | #13,096 |
|
Pipeline Deals | pipelinedeals.com | #23,929 |
|
CRM Software | Customer Relationship Management System - Vtiger CRM | vtiger.com | #24,642 |
|
Copper | copper.com | #27,145 |
|
Redtail Technology | corporate.redtailtechnology.com | #31,122 |
|
Genesys | genesys.com | #32,074 |
|
Less Annoying CRM | Simple Contact Management for Small Businesses | lessannoyingcrm.com | #35,965 |
|
Capsule CRM | capsulecrm.com | #41,483 |
|
Efficy | efficy.com | #41,495 |
Pros & Cons
| Pros | Description |
|---|---|
| Flexibility | You can put as much time into the business as you'd like. If you like the work and have some initial experience, you can start small and manage all aspects of the business on your own. |
| Ability to start your business from home | It's not necessary to have a physical storefront or office space to get your business started. You can do everything from the comfort of your own home, at least in the beginning! |
| Rewarding work | Starting a CRM business can be really rewarding work. After all, you are solving an immediate issue for your customer and you're working on something you truly care about. |
| Scalable | With businesses and processes changing daily, there will always be demand for new features, products and services for your business. Additionally, there are several different business models and pricing tiers you can implement that will allow you to reach all types of customers. |
| Traffic to your website | A CRM business gives people a reason to visit your website and to keep coming back to you! |
| No overhead costs | To get your CRM business started, there are no costs associated with overhead, storage, packaging, etc. This will save you a lot of time and money! |
| Cons | Description |
|---|---|
| Crowded Space | Competition is high when it comes to your CRM business, so it's important that you spend a good amount of time analyzing the market and understanding where the demand lies. |
| Motivation of employees | If you plan to have a sales/content team on board, finding creative ways to motivate them can be a challenge. It's important that you're able to offer great incentives and a good work environment for your employees. |
| Longer Sales Process | A CRM business can be a big time and money investment for your customer, so it's important you plan and predict a longer conversion funnel and stay in communication with potential customers. |
| Security Issues | With any Saas business, data loss and security issues may arise throughout your process of building your product. It's critical that you understand exactly what you're responsible for and how to avoid potential issues down the road. |
| Isolation | Often times, as a CRM business, you typically work alone and do not have much face-to-face interaction with other team members. |
| Taxes | As a CRM business, you typically pay self-employment taxes which can be quite high. It's important to understand what you will be paying in taxes each year so you can determine if the work you're taking on is worth it. |
Marketing Ideas
-
1
Affiliate Program
Affiliate marketing is a great way to bring in a new revenue stream, especially when you don't sell products or services.
Simply put, an affiliate program is an agreement where a business pays another business or influencer ("the affiliate") a commission for sending traffic and/or sales their way.
The affiliate typically gets a unique link where clicks and conversions can be tracked.
-
2
Direct Sales
Direct sales strategy implies a direct contact between a seller and a consumer without the involvement of any third party. Direct selling is popular in sectors where sellers communicate with their clientele personally. The sales technique occurs at non-store locations which include at home, work, or online.
For direct selling to succeed, hire a few (or many) salespeople to support the sales conversion process. It's critical that you assign them specific roles and responsibilities to nurture the client and provide excellent support.
-
3
Word of mouth
Word of mouth is when a consumers reflects their interest in a company’s product or service in their daily dialogues.
Therefore, word of mouth advertising is essentially a free advertising triggered by the customers experience.
According to Nielsen, 92% of people trust recommendations from friends and family.
Therefore, in today’s hyper-connected world, a single recommendation through a word of mouth can have a huge impact to your business.
Hey! 👋 I'm Pat Walls, the founder of Starter Story.
Get our 5-minute email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
"An amazing network of founders that truly want to help each other grow their business."