QuickBooks CRM Apps
The power of QuickBooks is leveraged by increasing numbers of apps. My experience has been that QB users often build a hodge-podge of notes, spreadsheets and informal systems over time to augment the flow of information into and out of the program. These often take time and are error-prone, and management should therefor always be on the lookout for new apps that may dramatically improve efficiencies and lead to better decision making – putting you ahead of the competition. Below are a few CRM (Customer Relationship Management System) apps that connect to QuickBooks that may be considered. These are listed in random order (as in, determined by a deck of cards).
QuickBooks – CRM Apps Overview
CRM’s have been around since the early 1990’s but were mostly available only to the largest organizations with battalions of IT technicians supporting multi-million-dollar data warehouses. But times have changed and these cloud-based apps are now commonly available and connect to both QuickBooks desktop and QuickBooks Online with just a browser. This means that they are “OS-agnostic” (I know, that’s an old term, out of fashion) and so the app can connect just as easily from Android, iOS, Windows or Apple desktops. – anything with a browser connected to the Internet. Supported Browsers for Windows usually include: Internet Explorer, Chrome and Mozilla FireFox, and for MAC OS X include Apple Safari and Mozilla Firefox. The seemingly simple setup is actually just the front door to rather complex IT hardware and software setups that you are accessing through the cloud, and that in turn find and connect with your QuickBooks installation.
OnContact CRM
The Developer (Workwise LLC) says that “OnContact CRM seamlessly integrates with QuickBooks, so you can easily access customer financial information without leaving our application.” (“Seamless” is another one of those words that IT marketers have always loved). Anyway once connected to QB, users can see customer accounting info through just about any mobile device. For example, maybe a customer wants to place a big order but before approving, the sales rep can see that the customer is getting special pricing but they are behind on payments.
Sales orders created in OnContact CRM can be optionally promoted to QuickBooks online and QB desktop to create estimates and invoices. Additionally, QuickBooks desktop supports the creation of orders from OnContact synch data. All sales orders created in OnContact use the latest, up-to-date product information pulled from QuickBooks.
Pricing is a simple $50 per user per month for everything.
Legrand CRM
LeGrand CRM connects to QB as well as MS Outlook, so notes and communications with customers and vendors can be seen along with accounting information, allowing faster and better decision making. For example, QuickBooks typically allows only one contact per vendor or customer and limited activity notes. In the real world, much more than that is needed. For example, what if customer Jim is called about a past-due invoice and says “We must ask Mark if your invoice was approved by Sarah when she returns from travel next week.” The names, contact information, responsibilities and relationships among all of these parties should be formally kept in a CRM, not QB.
The app also features a pipeline dashboard with visuals showing open opportunities and activity reporting to see what the sales team has been up to.
The developer, LeGrand Software Inc., says that its CRM provides “drag and drop customization that requires no coding.”
LeGrand humbly tells us that this CRM “is simply great at list management – segmenting your companies and contacts into multiple lists. Use the built-in email template editor to create a variety of standard response templates…” These can be used for purposes well outside of accounting such as targeted marketing emails, newsletters or large campaigns sent directly from Legrand or exported to email marketing service providers.
The pipeline dashboard gives you a great visual on active opportunities and activity reporting that let’s management monitor what the sales team is doing.
Pricing is from $12 to $16 per user per month.
Method CRM
This browser-based Customer Relationship Management System can be used for many purposes besides dealing with customer accounting issues. For example, managing the panoply of names, responsibilities and relationships among various parties who must approve your invoice and then pay (a powerful AR/collections tool). The sync engine here connects to QB and all data entered into any area is immediately updated in all other related areas. For example, an address change needs only to be entered in the CRM and is immediately seen in QB too.
Method CRM offers all of the usual tools such as contact reminders and lead tracking, and additionally features a “My Account” section where your customers can view outstanding balances, pay invoices, update their account details, and place orders at any time via direct telephone or email contact with your staff. This could be a big time saver and is a feature once offered only by large organizations. Of course customers, partners and vendors have only limited access to the system. For example, you might want to allow customers to see current product inventory counts pulled in real-time from QuickBooks.
The vendor (Method Integration Inc.) says that no user coding is required, and that this CRM is made for QuickBooks (in contrast with many other CRM’s that are not QB-centered).
Prices range from $25 to $65 per user per month depending upon add-on packages such as sales accounting, sales marketing management (create and send bulk emails), sales pipeline management, and help desk (help desk includes tracking supports issues and cases, and enabling customers to create their own support tickets).
Results CRM
Results CRM integrates with QuickBooks (QB Online and QB Desktop), Outlook, TSheets, Constant Contact, and other applications, allowing it to become the information hub for the organization by augmenting: new business relationships, customer service and project management; through more accurate billing, and as a tool in process automations.
Many duplicate entries are eliminated, and the bi-directional information flow between QuickBooks and Results means that all connected systems are updated with the latest information from customers, jobs, vendors and employees; products, estimates and orders; jobs and projects, invoices, payments and purchase orders.
Pricing starts at $19 per user per month billed annually, or purchase outright for $570 per user. In both cases there is a 5 user minimum which includes standard support and built-in integrations.
All of these app vendors offer a free trial. There are other QuickBooks CRM apps worth considering but that’s enough for today!
Keep an eye on https://apps.intuit.com for more info on these and other Intuit QB apps.
