Best CRM for solo entrepreneurs in 2024

As a solo entrepreneur, managing your business effectively can be challenging without the right tools. One critical tool in your tech stack should be a CRM system. The right CRM software can streamline your operations, help you stay organized, and enhance your customer interactions, all of which are important for business growth. In this blog post, we unpack the features you need to look for as you consider the best small business CRM for you and reveal the best CRMs on the market.

7 features a small business CRM should have for solo entrepreneurs

As a busy solo entrepreneur, we're sure you don't have time to implement a new CRM platform just to spend days training so you can fully use it. Some of the best, simple CRM systems on the market have the following features.

1. User-friendly interface: A CRM should be intuitive and easy to navigate. Solo entrepreneurs often wear many hats, so a system that simplifies tasks is crucial.
2. Sales and marketing automation: Automating repetitive tasks such as follow-up emails, data entry, and scheduling can save valuable time.
3. Customization: The ability to tailor the CRM to your specific business needs ensures it fits seamlessly into your workflow. This should include dashboards, custom fields, workflows and sequences.
4. Integration: A CRM that integrates with other tools you use, such as email clients, marketing platforms, and invoicing software, can create a more cohesive system. This way you can fully tailor it to your needs.
5. Affordability: Budget-friendly options are important for solo entrepreneurs who need to manage costs carefully.
6. Mobile accessibility: A mobile-friendly CRM allows you to manage your business on the go.
7. Customer support: Reliable customer support can help you troubleshoot issues quickly, ensuring minimal downtime.

4 Best CRM platforms for solo entrepreneurs

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1. folk

Best for: Customization and ease of use – a truly personal CRM that can scale with you when you're ready.

folk is designed to be a flexible CRM solution, making it ideal for solo entrepreneurs who need a system that adapts to their unique processes. It's user-friendly and focuses on simplifying customer management.

Key features

• Customizable and multiple pipeline management for lead generation and sales cycle overview
• Custom fields and dashboards, de-duplication and data migration
• Contact management and contact sync
• Multiple business function support including sales, fundraising, recruitment
• Integrated calendar
• Sales and marketing automation
• Mail merge with AI assistance
• Mobile app

Pros

• Customization: Folk allows you to create custom fields and workflows, which means you can tailor it precisely to your business needs. This flexibility is great for solo entrepreneurs who need a system that grows with their business.
• Ease of use: The interface is user-friendly and intuitive, making it easy to get started without a steep learning curve. This is crucial for solo entrepreneurs who need to hit the ground running.
• Mobile access: The mobile app ensures you can manage your contacts and tasks on the go, which is perfect for busy entrepreneurs.
• Sales automation for founder-led sales: Make use of free Chrome extensions including folk X, and LinkedIn social listening tools that can turn your social media engagement into warm leads, and help to keep track of lead activity, create a messaging template library and import search lists directly into your folk CRM.
• Marketing automation: Including AI assistance to personalize bulk email campaigns using custom variables.
• Contact sync: So you can bring all your contacts into one place and keep them updated without switching context every time.

Cons

• Reporting isn't available in folk yet but is coming soon.

Price and plans

You can try folk for free with a 14 day free trial. After that, a monthly or annual subscription plan is as follows. 

• Standard: $20 per user, per month. 
• Premium: $40 per user, per month.
• Custom: Starts from $60 per user, per month.

2. HubSpot CRM

Best for: Basic free CRM software

HubSpot is a well-known CRM platform that offers a robust set of tools even in its free version. It’s designed to grow with your business, making it a great choice for solo entrepreneurs planning to expand.

Key features

• Basic contact management tools
• Email tracking and templates
• Meeting scheduling
• Task automation
• Sales and marketing workflow automation
• Comprehensive reporting

Pros

• Free Plan: HubSpot's free plan is one of the most comprehensive on the market, offering tools that many other CRMs charge for. This is ideal for solo entrepreneurs on a budget.
• Integration: HubSpot integrates with a wide range of other tools, allowing for a seamless workflow across different platforms.

Cons

• Cost of advanced features: While the free plan is excellent, some of the more advanced features come with a higher price tag, which might be a stretch for some solo entrepreneurs.
• Scalability: Once you're ready to scale, or need access to more of HubSpot's advanced features, it becomes a steep investment.

Price and plans

Once you're ready to scale, HubSpot becomes an expensive option. Price and plans depend on whether or not you're after their marketing, sales, customer service, content or CRM suite.

CRM suite

Starter: $15 per user, per month.

Professional: $450 per user, per month.

Enterprise: $1,500 per user, per month.

Marketing

Starter plan: Starts from $15 per user, per month.

Professional: Starts from $800 per user, per month

Enterprise: Starts from $3,600 per user, per month.

Sales

Starter: $15 per user, per month.

Professional: $90 per user, per month.

Enterprise: $150 per user, per month.

Customer service

Starter: $15 per user, per month.

Professional: $90 per user, per month

Enterprise: $130 per user, per month

3. Less annoying CRM

Best for: Simple CRM option

Less annoying CRM is designed to be simple and easy to use, making it a great option for solo entrepreneurs who need an agile CRM solution that is straightforward to set up.

Key features

• Basic contact management features
• Calendar and task management
• Email logging
• Simple customization

Pros

• Simplicity: The straightforward interface means you can start managing your contacts and leads without any hassle, which is perfect for solo entrepreneurs who need to focus on their business rather than figuring out a complex system.
• Affordability: At $15 per user per month, it’s one of the most affordable CRMs, making it accessible for solo entrepreneurs who need to keep expenses low.

Cons

• Limited features: It offers fewer features compared to more comprehensive CRMs, which might be a limitation if your business needs grow significantly.
• Lack of integrations: The range of integrations is more limited, which might pose challenges if you rely on various other tools for your business operations.

Price and plans

On a monthly plan, Less Annoying CRM offers one price plan at $15 per user, per month.

4. Zoho CRM

Best for: Sales-focussed solopreneurs

Zoho CRM is part of the Zoho suite of business applications. It's more for mid-sized businesses, but can be used by a sales-focussed solo entrepreneur who just needs access to sales automation tools and pipelines.

Key features

• Contact and lead management
• Sales automation
• Workflow automation
• Email marketing integration

Pros

• Integration with Zoho Suite: As part of the Zoho ecosystem, Zoho CRM seamlessly integrates with other Zoho applications like Zoho Books, Zoho Campaigns, and Zoho Projects. This integration enables a more streamlined and cohesive business operation.
• Versatility: Zoho CRM’s extensive range of features allows solo entrepreneurs to manage various aspects of their business from a single platform. This versatility is excellent for entrepreneurs who need a comprehensive tool that goes beyond basic CRM functionalities.

Cons

• Complexity: While Zoho CRM’s extensive features are a significant advantage, they can also make the system appear complex and overwhelming for new users. Solo entrepreneurs might face a steep learning curve when first adopting the platform.
• Limited free plan: The free plan, although useful, has limited features and is only suitable for very basic CRM needs. Solo entrepreneurs who require more advanced functionalities will need to upgrade to a paid plan.
• Customer Support: Some users have reported that Zoho’s customer support can be slow and less responsive, which could be a drawback for solo entrepreneurs who need prompt assistance to resolve issues quickly.

Price and plans

There is a limited free plan available. After that, an annual subscription plan is as follows,

• Standard: $14 per user, per month.
• Professional: $23 per user, per month.
• Enterprise: $40 per user, per month (Zia AI tier)

Conclusion

As a solopreneur running a (or several) small businesses, client relationships are at the centre of your customer experience. Making the customer relationship management you choose crucial. It's got to be able to help you manage your business effectively. HubSpot provides a basic free solution, Less annoying CRM is a simple solution but might not be able to help beyond basic contact management and recording. folk offers great customization including multiple custom dashboards and ease of use, making it suitable for businesses that require tailored solutions across multiple functions including digital marketing campaigns, sales pipeline and customer service. All wrapped up in a friendly user interface. Zoho CRM is more for a sales process focus so it might not have all the essential features you need. Try folk's free option today for 14 days and see how its key features can help you do the heavy-lifting and bring all your client management needs in one place.

More resources

• folk price and plans

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