Best CRMs for solopreneurs

As a solopreneur, you’re managing every aspect of your business, from client relationships to sales processes, all on your own. Staying organized and efficient is key to your success, and a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system can help you achieve that. With a CRM, you can keep track of leads, automate follow-ups, and manage customer interactions—all from one central platform. The right CRM will save you time, help you stay on top of tasks, and allow you to focus on growing your business.
In this blog post, we’ll explore the best CRM options for solopreneurs like you, highlighting tools that offer simplicity, functionality, and efficiency to streamline your workflow.

Why one person businesses need a CRM

As a one person business, you're handling everything without the help of co-founders or an employee. Which means that you need to have the right tech stack to help you prioritize the tasks that need your attention, and stay on top of your business relationships.

Challenges without a CRM

If you're on the fence about investing in another tech platform on top of your existing one – we get it. But a bigger expense comes with not having the right CRM in place. Chances are, you might already be facing these challenges, without realising how much time it takes up in your day.

• Disorganization: Manually tracking customer interactions can lead to scattered information and missed details.
• Missed opportunities: Without a system to track leads and follow-ups, potential sales can slip through the cracks.
• Inefficient processes: Time-consuming manual tasks reduce productivity and can lead to errors.
• Lack of insight: Difficulty in analyzing customer data results in poor decision-making.
• Inconsistent communication: Without a CRM, maintaining consistent communication with clients and prospects becomes challenging.

Benefits of a CRM

If you're able to find the right CRM that fits your business goals, you can expect the following benefits from it.

• Centralized information: All customer data is stored in one place, making it easily accessible and manageable.
• Enhanced efficiency: Automating routine tasks saves time and reduces the risk of errors.
• Improved customer relationships: Better tracking of interactions leads to more personalized and effective communication.
• Better decision-making: Access to detailed analytics and reports helps in making informed business decisions.
• Increased sales: Efficient lead management and follow-up processes boost conversion rates.
• Consistent communication: Automated reminders and follow-ups ensure no client is overlooked.

How to evaluate and choose a CRM

With a lot of CRMs to comb through, and not enough time to do so – it can be challenging to figure out which CRM is right for you. To help you with your decision making process, we've rounded up some tips you should consider.

1. Define your requirements

While this might be an obvious one – sometimes, it's often skipped. For solopreneurs, it's crucial to identify the key features that align with your business needs. Do you need something that just brings all your contacts together? Or are you after a marketing or sales-focussed CRM? For those who need a bit of everything, there are also all-in-one CRMs to consider. Start with figuring out your requirements, then look for CRMs that offer key features that suit your needs. To get you started, we've rounded up some key features that might be useful for you in day-to-day tasks.

Key Features of a CRM for Solopreneurs

• Automated processes: Streamlines tasks by automating repetitive workflows.
• Contact enrichment: Automatically finds Leads, Customers email addresses and contact information, enhancing efficiency.
• Contact management and sync: Bring all your contacts together from social media platforms and inboxes including Gmail and Outlook.
• Structured pipeline: Create multiple pipelines to tracks leads and customers from different projects through defined stages, ensuring process clarity and effectiveness.
• Mail merge and email sequences: Increases communication efficiency with follow-up templates and automated sequences.
• LinkedIn Connection: Seamlessly imports leads and customers from LinkedIn and leverage your network within a CRM.
• Analytics: Provides essential data analysis and predictive insights for better planning to help you create consistent communication for your outreach.

2. Budget considerations

Balancing cost and return on investment is vital for solopreneurs. Affordable CRMs for solopreneurs often come with a free tier or a low-cost subscription. Evaluate if the features provided justify the cost and if they contribute to business growth and efficiency.

3. Selection process

Research is key in choosing the right CRM vendor. Start by reading reviews and testimonials from other solo entrepreneurs. Compare the features, pricing, and support options. Look for vendors that offer flexible plans and excellent customer service.

4. Get a demo

Trial periods are invaluable for solopreneurs. A demo allows you to explore the features, interface, and ease of use of a CRM on your shortlist before making a commitment.  Pay attention to user interface, ease of use, and feature set. Compare how each CRM performs in real-world scenarios specific to your business before making a final decision. Get started with a demo of folk to see why it's loved for its user friendly interface.

3 tips for implementing a CRM

At this stage, it's time to get excited to fully introduce your new CRM to your techstack and workflow. To help you out, we suggest keeping these tips front of mind to make the most of your first few weeks with it.

1. Import your data in your new CRM

Transitioning to a new CRM can be seamless if you start by importing your existing data. Most CRMs allow you to export your current data as a CSV file, which can then be imported into your new system. For instance, if you're moving from HubSpot, you can follow their guide to export records. Similarly, if you're using Pipedrive, you can refer to their instructions for exporting data. This step is essential to ensure all your contacts, leads, and customer information are transferred accurately.

2. Create your first pipeline

Once your data is imported, the next step is to create your first pipeline. For solopreneurs, this pipeline should reflect the stages of your sales or project management process. Common stages might include Lead Generation, Initial Contact, Proposal Sent, Negotiation, and Closed Deal. Customizing these stages to fit your specific business model will help you manage your workflow more effectively and keep track of your progress.

3. Explore its integrations

To fully personalize your CRM to your needs, explore what integrations it comes with. A lot of CRMs now have a Chrome extension that helps you import contact information from your webpage directly into your CRM so that you don't have to put up with context switching or disrupt your workflow.

The 5 best CRMs for solopreneurs

1. folk

folk is a modern CRM platform for managing contacts, workflows, and relationships, offering customizable pipelines, AI-driven tools, and integrations to enhance deal management and prospecting.

Key features

• Contact management and sync: Bring all your contacts together from social media platforms and inboxes including Gmail and Outlook.
• Multiple pipeline managent: Create multiple pipelines to tracks leads and customers from different projects through defined stages, ensuring process clarity and effectiveness.
• Contact enrichment: Automatically enriches contact details by finding emails and LinkedIn URLs, enabling efficient outreach without manual data entry or additional costs for email services.
• Social media integration: Seamlessly import contacts from LinkedIn, Sales Navigator, Instagram, X and more to bring all your contactswithin folk, and use templates for quicker, streamlined communication.
• Mail merge and email sequences: Full email sync compatible with Gmail and Outlook, access to templates, and tracking features, enabling users to manage all communications directly from the CRM.
• AI-powered features: AI tools assist in managing contacts and relationships, automating routine tasks, and suggesting actions to improve productivity.
• Integrations: folk integrates seamlessly with over 6,000 apps, including Gmail, Zapier, and Make, allowing users to centralize their workflow and reduce manual data entry.

Pros

• Ease of use: folk is praised for its intuitive interface, making it accessible even to non-technical users with quick onboarding and a minimal learning curve.
• All-in-one: folk streamlines your workflow by allowing you to import contacts from LinkedIn, automatically find their emails, reach out through customizable email sequences, and track interactions in a pipeline, eliminating the need for multiple tools and saving time and money.
• LinkedIn integration: Seamlessly import search lists from LinkedIn, and access your template library directly to save time and create consistency in your communication.
• Integrations: folk integrates seamlessly with over 6,000 apps, including Gmail, Zapier, and Make, allowing users to centralize their workflow and reduce manual data entry.

Cons

• Reporting: Currently lacks reporting features, but there are plans for future implementation.
  

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

HubSpot CRM is a user-friendly, scalable platform offering integrated tools for managing sales, marketing, customer service, and operations efficiently.

Key features

• Marketing Hub: Includes essential tools for email marketing, ad tracking, landing pages, and lead generation, helping solopreneurs attract and nurture leads effectively.
• Sales Hub: Provides deal tracking, pipeline management, sales automation, and reporting, making it easier for solopreneurs to manage customer relationships and sales processes.
• Service Hub: Offers customer service tools like ticketing, live chat, and knowledge bases, ensuring solopreneurs can provide top-notch support to their customers.
• Operations Hub: Syncs and automates business processes across different systems, streamlining operations for solopreneurs.
• Lead scoring: Prioritize leads with predictive scoring to improve sales efficiency, helping solopreneurs focus on the most promising opportunities.

Pros

• User-friendly interface: HubSpot is known for its intuitive and easy-to-use interface, making it accessible for solopreneurs with varying levels of tech expertise.
• Comprehensive free plan: Offers a robust free version that includes essential CRM features, making it ideal for solopreneurs on a budget.
• Seamless integration with marketing tools: HubSpot integrates smoothly with its marketing, sales, and service hubs, providing a unified platform for managing leads and customers.
• Automation capabilities: Provides powerful automation tools for tasks like email marketing and lead nurturing, helping solopreneurs save time and improve efficiency.
• Extensive learning resources: HubSpot Academy offers a wealth of free courses, certifications, and resources to help solopreneurs get the most out of the platform.

Cons

• High cost at higher tiers: HubSpot’s pricing can become expensive as you move to higher tiers, which may be prohibitive for solopreneurs as they scale.
• Limited customization in free plan: The free plan and lower tiers have limited customization options, which can restrict flexibility for solopreneurs looking to tailor the CRM to their needs.
• Complexity in advanced features: Some advanced features, such as custom reporting and workflows, have a steep learning curve and may require additional training.
• Email marketing limits: Email marketing functionality in the free plan is restricted by limits on the number of emails you can send, which can be a drawback for solopreneurs with larger lists.
• Additional costs for add-ons: Many useful features, like advanced CRM capabilities and integrations, come as paid add-ons, increasing the overall cost for solopreneurs.
  

Price and plans

HubSpot has a free forever plan, but if you're after more features that can help with automation, marketing and more. You'll want to upgrade. The CRM Suite annual subscription is as follows.

• ‍Starter: $15 per user, per month.‍
• Professional: $450 per user, per month.‍
• Enterprise: $1,500 per user, per month.

3. Capsule CRM

Capsule CRM is a user-friendly customer relationship management platform designed for small and medium-sized businesses. It offers a clean, intuitive interface that helps users manage customer relationships, track sales pipelines, and organize tasks and communications efficiently.

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Key features

• 1 sales pipeline,
• 50 custom fields,
• 30,000 contacts,
• Task management,
• Workflow automation.

Pros

• User-friendly interface: Capsule CRM offers a clean and intuitive design, making it easy for solopreneurs to navigate and quickly access important features, reducing the learning curve.
• Contact and sales management: Robust tools for managing leads and customers help solopreneurs maintain a clear view of their relationships and sales pipeline.
• Customization options: Allows users to customize fields, tags, and pipelines to fit their specific business needs, offering flexibility in managing data and processes.
• Integration capabilities: Integrates with popular third-party applications like G Suite, Mailchimp, and QuickBooks, creating a seamless workflow across business tools.
• Affordability: Competitive pricing with affordable premium options makes it accessible for solopreneurs and startups.

Cons

• Limited advanced features: Lacks more advanced features like in-depth analytics and comprehensive automation, which can be a limitation for solopreneurs with more complex CRM needs.
• Basic email marketing capabilities: Built-in email marketing features are relatively basic, requiring reliance on third-party integrations for more advanced needs.
• Limited customer support: Primarily offers support through email and an online help center, lacking live chat or phone support for immediate assistance.
• No built-in phone or SMS integration: Does not have built-in phone or SMS functionality, which could be a disadvantage for solopreneurs relying on direct communication with clients.
• Scalability concerns: While suitable for small businesses, rapidly growing solopreneurs might find the platform less scalable as they expand.

Price and plans

• Starter plan: Starts from $21 per user, per month.
• Growth plan: Starts from $38 per user, per month.
• Advanced plan: Starts from $60 per user, per month.
• Ultimate plan: Starts from $75 per user, per month.

4. Pipedrive

Pipedrive is a web-based CRM for small businesses, offering lead management, automation, email integration, and customizable pipelines to optimize sales.

Key features

• Lead and deal management: Centralized tools to manage customer data, interactions, and sales pipelines, helping solopreneurs act quickly on opportunities.
• Sales automation: Workflow automation to handle repetitive tasks, such as lead routing, follow-ups, and email sequences, allowing solopreneurs to focus on closing deals.
• Email integration: Full email sync, templates, and tracking features, enabling users to manage all communications directly from the CRM.
• Advanced reporting and analytics: Real-time data analytics and custom reporting tools to track sales performance, forecast revenue, and gain actionable insights.
• Customization and security: Options to customize pipelines, fields, and user permissions, with robust security measures to protect data.

Pros

• User-friendly interface: The intuitive and visually appealing interface makes it easy for solopreneurs to navigate and manage their sales pipelines.
• Sales pipeline focus: Designed specifically for managing sales pipelines, offering a visual approach that helps track deals and activities effectively.
• Customization: Allows for a high degree of customization, enabling solopreneurs to tailor the platform to their specific sales processes with custom fields and workflows.
• Affordability: Competitive pricing makes it accessible to solopreneurs without sacrificing essential CRM features.
• Automation features: Includes automation tools that help streamline repetitive tasks, such as sending follow-up emails and moving deals through the pipeline, saving time and boosting productivity.

Cons

• Limited advanced features: Lacks some of the more advanced CRM features, such as extensive marketing automation and AI capabilities, which are available in other platforms.
• Basic reporting in lower tiers: The reporting and analytics features in the basic plans are somewhat limited, requiring upgrades to access more in-depth insights.
• No built-in email marketing: Does not include built-in email marketing features, requiring users to integrate with third-party email tools for such functionality.
• Price increases with add-ons: The cost can increase quickly when additional features or integrations are added, making it less cost-effective for solopreneurs with growing needs.
• No free plan: Unlike some other CRM platforms, it does not offer a free version, which may be a barrier for very small businesses or startups with limited budgets.

Price and plans

An annual subscription plan basis is as follows.

• Essential plan: Starts from $24 per user, per month.
• Advanced plan: Starts from $44 per user, per month.
• Power plan: Starts from $79 per user, per month.
• Enterprise plan: Starts from $129 per user, per month.

5. Zoho

Zoho is a CRM system with a strong sales focus. Its got features such as journey orchestration, sales process management and workflow automation. There's also something for marketing teams, including lead hurting, event management and customer segmentation.

Key features

• Sales automation: Automates sales tasks like lead management, deal tracking, and follow-up actions.
• Customizable dashboards and reports: Allows users to create and customize dashboards and reports for in-depth analytics.
• Multi-channel communication: Integrates with email, phone, social media, and live chat to manage customer interactions.
• Lead and contact management: Manages customer information, tracks interactions, and segments contacts for targeted campaigns.
• Workflow automation: Automates routine tasks and processes to improve efficiency and reduce manual effort.

Pros

• Affordability: Zoho CRM offers competitive pricing with various tiers, making it accessible to solopreneurs and small businesses.
• Customization: Extensive customization options allow solopreneurs to tailor the CRM to their specific needs, including custom fields and workflows.
• Integration with Zoho suite: Seamless integration with other Zoho products (like Zoho Books and Zoho Campaigns) creates a comprehensive ecosystem for managing different business functions.
• Mobile accessibility: Zoho CRM offers a robust mobile app, allowing solopreneurs to manage customer relationships and access data on the go, with offline capabilities.
• AI-powered features: Zia, the AI assistant, provides intelligent insights, predictive analytics, and task automation, helping to improve sales and marketing efficiency.

Cons

• Steep learning curve: The extensive customization options can be overwhelming for new users, requiring a significant time investment to master the platform.
• Complex setup: Initial setup and configuration can be complex, particularly for solopreneurs without technical expertise or dedicated IT resources.
• Performance issues: Occasional reports of slow performance, especially with large datasets or complex operations, can hinder productivity.
• Limited third-party integrations: While Zoho integrates well with its own suite of products, integration with third-party applications can be limited or require additional effort.
• Data migration challenges: Migrating data from other CRMs to Zoho can be difficult and time-consuming, often requiring manual adjustments.

Price and plans

Zoho's free plan limited to three users. For access to more features an annual subscription plan is as follows.

• Standard: $20 per user, per month.
• Professional: $35 per user, per month.
• Enterprise: $50 per user, per month.

Conclusion

Choosing the right CRM can significantly enhance your efficiency and productivity as a solopreneur. Whether you prioritize ease of use, affordability, or advanced features, there's a CRM out there tailored to your needs. Folk stands out with its intuitive interface and robust LinkedIn integration, while HubSpot offers a comprehensive free plan and extensive learning resources. Capsule CRM provides a clean, user-friendly experience, and Pipedrive excels in sales pipeline management. Zoho impresses with its affordability and customization options. Take advantage of free trials and demos to find the CRM that best fits your business requirements. Try folk for free here and see why its loved by one person businesses.

Frequently Asked Questions

What do one person businesses use as a CRM?

One person businesses often use CRMs like folk, HubSpot, Capsule CRM, Pipedrive, and Zoho to manage their customer relationships, streamline operations, and enhance productivity. These platforms offer various features tailored to the needs of solopreneurs, such as contact management, task automation, and sales pipeline tracking, making them popular choices.

Do I need a CRM?

Yes, depending on the complexity of your process. A CRM can significantly enhance your efficiency by centralizing customer data, automating routine tasks, and providing valuable insights. It is particularly beneficial if you manage multiple leads, clients, or projects and need to maintain organized and consistent communication.

How much does a CRM cost?

The cost of a CRM varies widely, typically ranging from $20 to $129 per user per month. Some CRMs offer free tiers or trials, while others have premium plans with advanced features. It's crucial to choose a CRM that fits your budget and provides the necessary functionalities for your business.

Does folk’s CRM respond to solopreneurs' needs?

Yes, folk’s CRM is well-suited for solopreneurs. It offers an intuitive interface, customizable pipelines, and AI-driven tools that streamline contact management and deal tracking. The seamless integration with LinkedIn and over 6,000 apps, along with features like contact enrichment and automated email sequences, make it an all-in-one solution that saves time and enhances productivity.