My SalesForce CRM 14 Day Free Trial Review

Lately it has become very time consuming tracking leads/contacts/opportunities from all of the different sources, and I have been in desperate need of a real CRM solution. The Microsoft Excel/Outlook/Business Contact Manager mess just isn’t cutting it anymore.

So recently I started researching what similar companies were using to capture and track web leads and conversions. In doing so I stumbled across the SalesForce CRM solution, and it appears to be exactly what I am looking for.

After reviewing the features, I decided to sign up for a 14 day free trial of their Group Edition. It is $25/mo thereafter. You can get a 30 day free trial on some of the other editions.

Some of the key features I was looking while reviewing CRM solutions:

• Automatically record web-leads to a database
• Easier way to manage and follow-up with leads in a centralized location
• Custom return URL to allow conversion tracking using analytics
• Way to mass-mail my contacts and/or leads

I am happy to say I think I’m pretty sure I found my CRM solution. Unfortunately the Group Edition doesn’t allow for mass-mailing; however, apparently you can easily export your contacts, then import them into Outlook and do your email broadcast from there. But I haven’t tried it out yet. I could do mass email through their web-based CRM if I wanted to upgrade to their Professional Edition, but overall I think the Group Edition is a better fit for me.

I’ve only been testing it for a few days, however I’ve already uploaded all of my leads and am currently testing an implementation of their web-to-lead form.

I am very pleased with the results so far!

If you are thinking about a new CRM solution, I recommended testing out one of the SalesForce CRM free trials. I’ve barely begun to touch all of the available features here. Just be sure you install the Outlook integration plug-in. It’s great for adding new leads and contacts when they email you directly; that is, if they email you without using the web-to-lead form first.