Breaking Free from a Mass-Market CRM with a Custom-Built Solution
Hubspot, Salesforce, Zendesk, etc., dominate the CRM market in enterprise business. Despite their extensive resources, clients are increasingly finding that these CRMs underperform relative to their high costs. Below, we explore the major issues with mass-market CRMs, why our company developed its own CRM, and why a custom-built solution might be the best option for your business.
The Paradigm of Rising Costs and Feature Bloat
Subscription costs for major CRM providers are steadily increasing, burdening businesses with escalating expenses. This financial strain is compounded by poor user experiences, which slow down routine workflows due to feature bloat, unintuitive interfaces, and the sheer size of these systems.
The feature bloat in major CRM products is initially appealing as it covers many use cases. However, problems arise when a business needs a CRM for its specific use case, often requiring only a fraction of the available features. Smaller consumers end up subsidizing larger companies, which use more features and have more leverage to influence the CRM’s roadmap. Despite the high cost of CRM implementations, smaller clients have little influence on product development unless they pay for customizations. These additional costs, along with rising subscription rates, diminish the value proposition of big CRMs. CRM sales teams increasingly push multi-year contracts to retain clients as many consider leaving.
The Alternative of Flexibility and Tailor-Made Software
A low-code solution offers a compelling alternative. Building a CRM on a low-code platform like Slingr provides flexibility and speed unmatched by market incumbents. Before ever working on another company’s CRM, Slingr actually built our own CRM, called HQ. Rather than paying tens, if not hundreds of thousands a year in subscription and customization costs, the Slingr team was able to leverage their own low-code tool to create a CRM tool that met the companies needs and preferred workflows, while also being delivered faster than the competitor that had reached out. Low-code CRMs are tailored to each client, allowing for extensive customizations delivered rapidly. Clients pay only for the features they use and are assigned their own product roadmap, ensuring that their needs are promptly addressed. Custom CRMs enable organizations to design workflows that fit their exact operational models without compromise. CRMs built on Slingr also benefit from other platform features, including performance monitoring, out-of-the-box tools, and QOL features like unlimited seating at all pricing tiers.
Overcoming Barriers to Exit
Leaving a CRM can be challenging. Even when a CRM hampers work quality and speed, it remains essential for tools and reporting, deeply embedded in daily operations. Some CRMs create technical obstacles, making transitions difficult. However, Slingr’s team has extensive experience with large-scale data migration and overcoming vendor lock-in mechanisms, ensuring smooth transitions. Slingr guarantees clients unlimited access to their data and data structures, ensuring that the decision to stay with Slingr is based on the benefits of freedom, utility, and cost reductions.
In conclusion, the advantages of custom-built CRMs include:
- Cost savings by avoiding rising subscription fees
- Elimination of unnecessary features and complexity
- Tailored workflows that align with specific business needs
- Rapid development and deployment using low-code platforms
- Seamless integration with existing systems
- Full ownership and control over data
- Greater transparency and flexibility in customization and repairs
Book a meeting here to talk with our team about painlessly replacing your CRM with something better.
