Red flags when looking for a new CRM provider
Your provider won’t implement your CRM themselves
The bullsh*t: Many CRM providers don’t get involved in your implementation. They pass you on to a third-party consultant instead.
You may have to pay for support from both the CRM provider and the consultant
The risk of overspend increases when a third-party is involved – often they’ll try and sell extra add-ons during the implementation phase
The support process is more convoluted when you’re working with two separate teams
The solution: Workbooks carry out your implementation ourselves and you can choose the level of support you need. We also run Shared Success workshops where we’ll scope out the work you need and give you a defined cost before you commit to signing a contract.
No consultancy before committing to the contract
The bullsh*t: Most CRM providers expect you to sign the contract before helping you work out what you need from your implementation. It’s a big risk as you won’t know what outcomes you’re likely to get until well into the implementation, after you’ve committed your money.
The solution: Before you commit to a contract, the consultants at Workbooks will help you map out what you need from a CRM and how you’ll reach those outcomes. You’ll get a clear idea of how much it will cost, the functionality you need and the results you can achieve – all with Shared Success.
Very complicated pricing
The bullsh*t: Finding it hard to work out how much a CRM should actually cost? Red flag alert. CRM pricing isn’t that complex.
Many CRM providers deliberately make pricing hard to understand. Why? Because there’s a much higher chance of them securing a sale if you commit to meeting face-to-face.
And if you can’t understand pricing on your own, you’ll be more open to the meeting in the first place.
If you're faced with lots of packages and add-ons, varying baseline user numbers, and pricing that’s impossible to compare with other CRM providers, it’s time to do a runner.
The solution: Check out our no bullsh*t pricing calculator. It takes two minutes to complete, and you’ll get a quote based on your needs straight away.
Capped functionality
The bullsh*t: Lots of CRM providers cap functionality so you have to pay more for the features you thought came with your CRM. These often go up in increments. As an example, you may need to pay for 10 additional fields in an audit, each time you need them – the costs quickly add up.
The solution: With Workbooks there aren't field limits for audits – you can keep costs down with no limits.
No demos until you book a sales call
The bullsh*t: Can’t get hold of a demo without talking to a salesperson? Another red flag. You should easily be able to view the product and have a go yourself.
The solution: You can check out our demo without even sharing any details. It’s ready to go. No sales calls. No commitments. No catches.
Requiring all users to be on the same edition
The bullsh*t: A surprising number of CRM providers force you to buy the same edition for every user.
If you’ve got a lot of users that need a basic edition and a few that need a more expensive one – you have to pay for everyone to be on the expensive version.
The solution: Workbooks mix and match licenses so you can give each user the edition they need without spending any additional money.
Charging extra for basic functionality
The bullsh*t: If you need basic functionality like testing sandboxes, be prepared to pay extra with some of the popular CRM providers. By withholding the functionality you need, they hope you’ll pay for more expensive editions.
The solution: Workbooks gives you all of the standard functionality that’s needed in our most affordable editions. This means you don’t have to pay extra just to get up and running.
