Did you or do you use Mailchimp? Looking for a free alternative for your email campaigns?
Well I have the solution for you. Not only is Agile CRM a CRM but you can also use it to create email campaigns like you would normally in Mailchimp. Mailchimp used to offer with its free version the ability to segregant your lists so if you only wanted to send an email mailout to say your clients you could but now you can’t unless you upgrade to a paid version.
Add your contacts to the CRM, apply tags to separate your list, create your email template, set your automation triggers and away you go! BUT their email templates don’t stop there you can use it for everyday use to with your GMail account. Create a template with all the bells and whistles, add the Agile CRM extension to Google Chrome and you can import and use your templates in your GMail account without having to send your emails from Agile CRM.
With the free version of Agile CRM you get 500 free branded emails per month to use so if you don’t intend to send out heaps of emails then this is quite sufficient for a small business.
I’m not affliated with Agile however after testing many CRMs I have found this program by far the best CRM on the market.
Want more information about Agile CRM, read our previous article.
If you are anything like me you are pretty specific about what you want when it comes to a CRM. I spent a lot of time researching and trialling different CRM’s. Ideally as I’m a small business I was looking for a cheap or free version, I tried many like Hubspot for instance but then I stumbled across Agile CRM and what a find it was.
Agile CRM offers a free version and with that free version you actually get quite a lot.
What you get;
free for up to 10 users
50,000 contact & companies
custom data fields
lead scoring
unlimited deals, tasks and documents
appointment scheduling
custom deal milestones
email tracking
2 way email integration
custom deal tracks
2 way telephony
In my experience the deals, email tracking and 2 way email integration are what I use the most. It just means if I send an email from my gsuite account it will also show up against the client in the CRM which makes it easy to track emails back and forth.
The deal tracking is great as you can see what your estimated sales are and it allows you to maintain a sales funnel, you can use this as a Kaban board view.
Agile CRM is a much needed addition to my list of programs that I use in my business.
I created my website about 5 years ago when I first started my business. I had a basic site through GoDaddy that just had some contact info so potential clients could contact me and some info about my services and myself. Even though this was a basic site I got my first client from there I taught myself how to use and navigate WordPress and built a new and improved website, it has been the best thing I did. WordPress the .org version not the .com version has so many free plugins that you can use to enhance the functioning of your website.
I’m lucky enough to say that I’ve reached a point in my business that I don’t have to constantly market myself and get a lot of clients through word of mouth or through networking events. Lately though I have seen a dramatic increase in the number of visits to both my Facebook page and website. In this week alone I have had 3 new enquiries and of those I have now signed a client up for a website.
You don’t realise the huge benefit a website can bring to help you generate more leads sometimes without even trying. There are definitely a lot of factors that can contribute to the increase in the traffic it doesn’t necessarily mean that people are finding you through Google. You could have met them in a networking event and they wanted to know about your business so visited your website. I would have to say though a lot of the traffic comes down to the blogging I have done over the years. Many of the articles I wrote and published 3-4 years ago are still getting a lot of traffic and once they have reached the article they are interested enough to explore the rest of my website. So I have to say blogging is a big contributing factor to increasing website visitors, but so is Facebook and sharing those articles through Facebook and other social media platforms.
Don’t do yourself an injustice by not covering all your avenues, make the choice to invest in your business and get yourself a website. In my opinion I advise to stay away from free sites like Wix and WordPress.com who will only charge you every time you want to add an extra feature that does not come with the free version. WordPress.org is a brilliant platform that will grow with your business and set up right will help you generate more leads.
