- What is a personal CRM?
- What are the requirements for a personal CRM?
- What We Don’t Need in our CRM for Solopreneurs
- Best CRM Software – Who Did We Evaluate?
- Salesflare is the best personal CRM in 2022 so far!
- Brief Video Walkthrough – Salesflare inside of LinkedIn
- Streak CRM is Our Runner-Up
- Personal CRM Tools Comparison
- Other personal CRM apps we should consider?
Salesflare has been named the best personal CRM (and solopreneur CRM) of 2022 by the team at Trust Enablement!
After carefully evaluating many personal CRM systems, there is little doubt that Salesflare stands above the rest.
Before we dive into the details, let’s briefly ensure we are all on the same page.
What is a personal CRM?
A personal CRM is a customer relationship management system that helps individuals manage their relationships with all their contacts and customers.
Personal CRMs are excellent for early-stage entrepreneurs, solopreneurs, sole proprietors, 1 or 2-person sales teams, and most small business owners.
As a solopreneur myself, this is the solopreneur CRM of choice for me — my personal relationship manager.
What are the requirements for a personal CRM?
An effective personal CRM should provide the following core capabilities:
- Integration with your email system
- Storage of records for individual business contacts and the businesses with whom you work
- Tracking of emails, and phone calls
- Ability to add tasks, personal notes, and to-do lists
In addition, for B2B use cases, the right CRM must integrate with LinkedIn and have a simple interface to add business contacts to your system.
Here is a summary for those who don’t want to read the entire article.
| CRM | Ideal for Customers Like… | G2 Ratings | Pros of This CRM | Cons of This CRM | Pricing | Try Now |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Freshsales | Businesses making under $20M annually | 4.6/5.0 (958 Reviews) | Pricing from Free through $83/user/month Details | Try Now | ||
| Hubspot CRM | Businesses making under $50M annually | 4.4/5.0 (8277 Reviews) | Top of the line Marketing Automation Plus CRM | Free CRM is solid but the least robust of the three. Adding in paid features becomes expensive. | Pricing from Free through $120/user/month Details | Try Now |
| Membrain | 4.6/5.0 (145 Reviews) | |||||
| Pipedrive | Businesses making under $20M annually | 4.3/5.0 (1498 Reviews) | Easy to use Contact and Deal Flow | Fewest Integrations — Use solutions like Zapier to close the gap. | Pricing from $12.50/user/month through $99/user/month Details | Try Now |
| Salesflare Our Winner | Businesses making under $2M annually | 4.8/5.0 (196 Reviews) | Very easy to use the system and works well with Microsoft Outlook, Gmail, and LinkedIn | Only lightly customizable and with limited integrations. | Pricing from $29/user/month through $99/user/month Details | Try Now |
| Salesforce | Businesses making more than $100M | 4.2/5.0 (12308 Reviews) | Customizable and Scalable to meet the needs of the largest businesses | Most complex solution to learn. | A vast number of options. Details | Try Now |
| Snovio | Businesses making under $2M annually | 4.5/5.0 (169 Reviews) | Pricing from $33/user/month through $615/user/month Details | Try Now | ||
| Streak CRM 2nd Place | A solid personal CRM alternative | 4.5/5.0 (163 Reviews) | Very easy to use and highly integrated into Gmail | If you don’t use Gmail, this app will not work for you. | Pricing from FREE to $129/user/month | Try Now |
| Zoho CRM | Businesses making under $50M annually | 4.0/5.0 (2084 Reviews) | Pricing from $14/user/month through $52/user/month Details | Try Now |
What We Don’t Need in our CRM for Solopreneurs
As a one-person team, again as a solopreneur, individual seller, small business owner, or whatever, there are many bells and whistles we don’t want and need in tools to manage customer relationships.
We are viewing the following as non-requirements for selecting the best CRM for ourselves — and this category.
- We don’t need complex sales pipeline management — our sales process is not that complex.
- Project management is unnecessary — our own schedule is mostly managed via calendaring.
Note: If project management is essential to your buying decision, evaluate the monday.com CRM system. While we do not consider it a leading CRM for solopreneurs or individuals, it does provide these capabilities.
For most, the advanced features of various CRMs distract from our focus.
Best CRM Software – Who Did We Evaluate?
Hubspot CRM
Hubspot Sales CRM is an outgrowth of the inbound marketing platform.
Pipedrive CRM
Pipedrive is a sales-focused CRM with a standard CRM interface that is relatively easy to use.
Salesflare CRM
Salesflare is a personal CRM system with an interface that is designed to be easy to use.
Salesforce CRM
Salesforce is the most complex of the tools we evaluated and has been on the market the longest.
Freshsales CRM
Freshsales is a sales-focused CRM with an interface that is designed to be easy to use.
Zoho CRM
Zoho CRM has been on the market for a long time and offers feature-rich CRM for solopreneurs.
Salesflare is the best personal CRM in 2022 so far!
It’s only April, but in our testing of customer relationship management solutions, including Hubspot CRM, Pipedrive, Zoho CRM, Freshsales, and others, Salesflare delivers on ALL factors.
Ease of use
Let’s quickly review the user interface inside LinkedIn, noting that it’s the same treatment in your email clients — the window on the right side is the Salesflare Personal CRM solution.
As a business and personal relationship manager, it’s especially important that I don’t have to switch between applications.
And we all know that the majority of CRM tools are not user-friendly.
On the right side of your screen, you see all information you have and any existing on LinkedIn that you don’t yet have in your personal CRM software.
Finding potential business clients, and enriching the information you already have, is simply a matter of clicking Create or Add.
Even I can do it.
And the application itself is just as simple, with only a few screens to navigate and the everyday tasks right at your fingertips.
The ability to manage relationships is critical for any solopreneur, small business owner, seller, or human being, and keeping contact data and associated information up to date is essential for success.
We blurred some of the screens — where various accounts are listed.
The right side of the screen should look familiar; it’s the same as what you see on LinkedIn or your email client.
The middle of the screen shows all activities that have taken place with the account. This information includes emails that are flowing into your inbox.
And along the top of the window, switch between Tasks, Files related to the account, and their latest social media activity.
Adding business and personal contacts is easy, even if you don’t know their email address.
Let’s add a contact
Look at Adri’s LinkedIn profile, he is a product engineer at Salesflare, and I do not know him personally.
But, I’m impressed with Salesflare and want to connect with him eventually.
And thanks to LinkedIn and my personal CRM tool — I am on my way.
In the lower right of the screenshot, we see he is listed as a Suggested Contact (because we are on his profile), and we will click on the plus button next to his name.
Note that, after clicking the + button, the user interface updates to the Add Contact screen, looking like this:
Again, note that the email address is empty on the right side of the Salesflare chrome extension because Adri does not publish it on his profile.
But, despite the fact that he did not publish this on his social media accounts, we may be able to find it.
To try, choose FIND.
And Salesflare does reveal his email address — which we won’t share here.
That allows us to add Adri’s contact information into our Personal CRM software to use in the future.
Note: This is an excellent capability for a personal relationship management tool to have — please use it responsibly, ethically, and legally. The rules and regulations around personal information and how you are allowed to connect vary across the globe.
You can dig deeper into Salesflare in their Trust Enablement Vendor Profile.
What else do we love about Salesflare’s Personal CRM Software?
- Smart reminders can help you manage your calendar, as tasks are set up in Salesflare for your calendar entries.
- Key files can easily be added to accounts, which is great for keeping track of what is shared with prospective clients.
Using a Personal CRM like Salesflare is a powerful way for any business owner or sales rep to stay on top of essential activities.
Salesflare Personal CRM Pricing
Pricing is very reasonable, with their Growth Plan priced at $29/user/month if you pay annually or $35/user/month if you pay monthly.
What’s included with the Growth plan?
- Automate your CRM data input
- Track emails, links, and website visits
- Use a fully-featured email sidebar & mobile app
- Send personalized email campaigns
- 25 email finding credits
The email finding credits are helpful when you are in a pinch. If you don’t know the lead’s email address, you can use this functionality.
5 Tips for Success with Personal CRM Systems
-
- Keep your personal CRM updated – Schedule meetings and then update it with notes from the meeting when done. Take the time to capture all essential details in the system—one source of truth for all the information.
- Track your tasks and use reminders — don’t miss out on essential follow-ups.
- Integrate it with your email, so conversations and meetings for each account are available to you in one place — one source of truth for your communication history is critical.
- Ensure it replaces your address book — maintain information in one place. Losing touch is less likely to happen when organized in one location.
- Track professional and personal appointments — everything in one place is essential for maximizing your time.
These tools can help you focus on your schedule, personal, and business.
And the third-party integrations, where possible, can ensure that all the tools you use to feed data back into the system, simplifying your life and, again, increasing your focus.
What tips should we add?
Brief Video Walkthrough – Salesflare inside of LinkedIn
Created using Loom
Streak CRM is Our Runner-Up
Streak is our runner-up for best personal CRM of 2022.
The thing we love most about it, that it is deeply embedded in Gmail, is the only reason it is not our top choice.
While not as feature-rich as Salesflare, it is extremely easy to use as a personal CRM or personal relationship management software.
It has a FREE option, so if you are looking for a personal or solopreneur CRM, the price is right there too.
If you use Gmail and are interested in a free personal CRM, try it out today.
Personal CRM Tools Comparison
Let’s briefly compare the Personal CRM solutions for managing our business relationships.
| CRM | Ideal for Customers Like… | G2 Ratings | Pros of This CRM | Cons of This CRM | Pricing | Try Now |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Freshsales | Businesses making under $20M annually | 4.6/5.0 (958 Reviews) | Pricing from Free through $83/user/month Details | Try Now | ||
| Hubspot CRM | Businesses making under $50M annually | 4.4/5.0 (8277 Reviews) | Top of the line Marketing Automation Plus CRM | Free CRM is solid but the least robust of the three. Adding in paid features becomes expensive. | Pricing from Free through $120/user/month Details | Try Now |
| Membrain | 4.6/5.0 (145 Reviews) | |||||
| Pipedrive | Businesses making under $20M annually | 4.3/5.0 (1498 Reviews) | Easy to use Contact and Deal Flow | Fewest Integrations — Use solutions like Zapier to close the gap. | Pricing from $12.50/user/month through $99/user/month Details | Try Now |
| Salesflare Our Winner | Businesses making under $2M annually | 4.8/5.0 (196 Reviews) | Very easy to use the system and works well with Microsoft Outlook, Gmail, and LinkedIn | Only lightly customizable and with limited integrations. | Pricing from $29/user/month through $99/user/month Details | Try Now |
| Salesforce | Businesses making more than $100M | 4.2/5.0 (12308 Reviews) | Customizable and Scalable to meet the needs of the largest businesses | Most complex solution to learn. | A vast number of options. Details | Try Now |
| Snovio | Businesses making under $2M annually | 4.5/5.0 (169 Reviews) | Pricing from $33/user/month through $615/user/month Details | Try Now | ||
| Streak CRM 2nd Place | A solid personal CRM alternative | 4.5/5.0 (163 Reviews) | Very easy to use and highly integrated into Gmail | If you don’t use Gmail, this app will not work for you. | Pricing from FREE to $129/user/month | Try Now |
| Zoho CRM | Businesses making under $50M annually | 4.0/5.0 (2084 Reviews) | Pricing from $14/user/month through $52/user/month Details | Try Now |
Other personal CRM apps we should consider?
We continue to evaluate other personal CRM apps and CRM tools in general.
Have we left your favorite out of our evaluation?