The Best CRM for Franchises: Improve Your Business Growth and ROI

Greetings, business owners and entrepreneurs! If you’re looking to expand your franchises and improve your business growth, you came to the right place. In this article, we will explore the best CRM solutions for franchises, emphasizing how they can help you increase your ROI and gain greater control over your franchise network.

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Introduction: The Importance of CRM for Franchises

If you run a franchise, you already know how challenging it can be to manage multiple locations, employees and customers, deal with marketing and sales, and maintain a consistent brand image. That’s where Customer Relationship Management (CRM) comes into play. CRM technology enables you to automate and streamline your business processes, track customer interactions, nurture leads, and improve the overall customer experience. In addition, a good CRM tool can help you:

Centralize your data and gain real-time insights into your franchise performance
Optimize your communication and collaboration with your franchisees, managers, and staff
Monitor your sales and marketing activities, and identify areas for improvement
Enhance your customer engagement, loyalty, and retention

However, choosing the right CRM software for your franchise can be overwhelming, given the numerous options available in the market. That’s why we’ve done the research for you and compiled a comprehensive guide to the best CRM solutions for franchises. Let’s dive in!

The Best CRM for Franchises: Our Top Picks

After analyzing the features, pricing, user reviews, and industry reputation of various CRM systems, we’ve selected the following five solutions as the best fit for franchises:

CRM Solution	Advantages	Pricing
Salesforce CRM	Customizable, scalable, intuitive, cloud-based, AI-driven, integrable with other tools	Starting at $25/user/month
Zoho CRM	Affordable, feature-rich, flexible, user-friendly, automation-friendly, mobile-friendly	Starting at $12/user/month
HubSpot CRM	Free, all-in-one, powerful, easy-to-use, customizable, integrated with marketing tools	Free
Insightly CRM	Small business-oriented, affordable, collaborative, project management-friendly, integrable	Starting at $29/user/month
Pipedrive CRM	Sales-oriented, visual, user-friendly, automation-friendly, integrable, affordable	Starting at $15/user/month

Salesforce CRM: The Enterprise-Grade CRM for Franchise Leaders

As the world’s #1 CRM software, Salesforce CRM is an ideal choice for franchises that need a high-level, all-in-one platform to manage their sales, marketing, service, and operations. With Salesforce CRM, you can:

Create and customize your business processes, workflows, and data models with clicks, not code
Manage your customer journeys and touchpoints from lead to loyalty, using AI and analytics
Collaborate and communicate with your franchisees, managers, and team members in real-time, using Chatter
Track and analyze your franchise performance, using dashboards, reports, and KPIs
Integrate with other Salesforce products, such as Marketing Cloud, Commerce Cloud, and Community Cloud

Salesforce CRM offers various editions and pricing plans, depending on your franchise size, needs, and goals. Here are the main options:

Editions	Pricing	Features
Essentials	$25/user/month	Basic CRM features, including contact management, lead capture, opportunity tracking, and email integration
Professional	$75/user/month	More advanced CRM features, such as sales forecasting, territory management, collaborative selling, and API access
Enterprise	$150/user/month	Full CRM and platform features, including workflow automation, custom apps, custom objects, and advanced reporting
Unlimited	$300/user/month	Unlimited CRM and platform features, including unlimited custom objects, data storage, and sandbox environments
Custom	Variable	Customized CRM and platform features, pricing, and support, tailored to your franchise requirements

Overall, Salesforce CRM is an excellent choice for franchises that need a robust, scalable, and flexible CRM solution that can grow with them. However, note that Salesforce CRM can be complex and expensive, especially for smaller franchises or startups. Also, some users may find the learning curve steep, especially if they’re new to CRM technology. Therefore, make sure you evaluate your needs and resources carefully before choosing Salesforce CRM as your preferred CRM solution.

Zoho CRM: The Affordable, Agile CRM for Growing Franchises

Zoho CRM is a popular CRM system for franchises that need a cost-effective yet powerful platform to manage their customer relationships, sales, marketing, and beyond. With Zoho CRM, you can:

Automate and streamline your workflows and processes, using Zia, Zoho’s AI-powered assistant
Track and engage your leads and customers across multiple channels, including email, social media, phone, and chat
Collaborate with your franchisees and staff, using team management, roles, and permissions
Generate reports, analytics, and KPIs to monitor your franchise performance and identify trends and opportunities
Integrate with other Zoho products, such as Campaigns, Desk, Books, and Inventory

Zoho CRM offers several pricing plans, depending on your franchise size, needs, and preferences. Here are the main options:

Plans	Pricing (paid annually)	Features
Free	$0	Basic CRM features, including lead management, contact management, deal tracking, and email integration. Limited to 3 users.
Standard	$12/user/month	More advanced CRM features, such as sales forecasting, workflow automation, web forms, and reports. Limited to 3 users.
Professional	$20/user/month	Full CRM and sales features, including territory management, sales signals, document library, and custom dashboards. Unlimited users.
Enterprise	$35/user/month	Advanced CRM and analytics features, including advanced customization, sandbox, webhooks, and Zoho Analytics integration. Unlimited users.
Ultimate	$45/user/month	Complete CRM and multi-channel engagement features, including social media, telephony, SMS, and mobile. Unlimited users.

Zoho CRM is a top-rated CRM solution for franchises that want a flexible, intuitive, and affordable software that fits their specific needs. However, note that some users may find Zoho CRM’s design and navigation not as modern and smooth as other CRM systems. Also, Zoho’s customer support can be inconsistent, depending on your location and plan. Therefore, make sure you test Zoho CRM’s features and support before you commit to it and ensure that it aligns with your franchise objectives.

HubSpot CRM: The Free, Easy-to-Use CRM for Small Franchises

HubSpot CRM is a popular CRM system for small franchises and startups that need a simple, free, and all-in-one platform to manage their sales, marketing, and customer service. With HubSpot CRM, you can:

Organize and manage your contacts, deals, and tasks in one place, using a visual drag-and-drop interface
Track and analyze your emails, meetings, and calls with customers, using a built-in inbox and communication log
Automate your sales and marketing workflows, using free, pre-built templates and sequences
Collaborate and communicate with your team members, using team email, templates, and live chat
Integrate with other HubSpot products, such as Marketing Hub, Service Hub, and CMS Hub

HubSpot CRM is entirely free, regardless of your franchise size, industry, or usage. That said, HubSpot offers several paid plans for more advanced tools, such as marketing automation, sales analytics, and custom objects. Here are the main options:

Plans	Pricing	Features
Free	Free	Basic CRM features, including contact management, lead capture, deal tracking, and email integration. Limited to 1 million contacts.
Starter	$45/month	More advanced sales features, such as custom fields, quotes, eSignatures, and email scheduling. Limited to 1,000 contacts.
Professional	$450/month	Full sales and marketing features, including marketing automation, lead scoring, attribution reporting, and custom objects. Limited to 1,000 contacts.
Enterprise	$1,200/month	Advanced sales, marketing, and customer service features, including custom workflows, partitioning, and SLAs. Unlimited contacts.

HubSpot CRM is a great option for franchises that want an affordable, easy-to-use, and scalable CRM software that can help them grow their business. However, note that HubSpot’s free version has some limitations in terms of contacts, storage, and features. Also, HubSpot’s paid plans may be costly for smaller franchises or those that don’t need all the bells and whistles. Therefore, make sure you evaluate HubSpot CRM’s pros and cons before you decide whether it’s the right CRM solution for your franchise.

Insightly CRM: The Collaborative, Project-Friendly CRM for Small Franchises

Insightly CRM is a popular CRM system for small franchises and businesses that need a collaborative, project-oriented, and affordable platform to manage their sales, marketing, and projects. With Insightly CRM, you can:

Manage your projects, tasks, and milestones, using a flexible project management tool
Track and score your leads and opportunities, using lead routing, lead capture, and deal pipelines
Collaborate and communicate with your franchisees and employees, using team email, comments, and mentions
Integrate with other Insightly products, such as Marketing and Sales Insights, and third-party apps, such as QuickBooks and Xero

Insightly CRM offers several pricing plans, depending on your franchise size, needs, and features. Here are the main options:

Plans	Pricing	Features
Plus	$29/user/month	Basic CRM and project management features, including contact management, opportunity management, project templates, and email tracking. Limited to 100,000 records.
Professional	$49/user/month	More advanced CRM and project management features, such as custom fields, custom objects, task dependencies, and project status reports. Limited to 250,000 records.
Enterprise	$99/user/month	Full CRM and project management features, including workflow automation, advanced permissions, custom branding, and priority customer support. Unlimited records.

Insightly CRM is an excellent choice for franchises that want a project-friendly, collaborative, and budget-friendly CRM software that can help them manage their sales and projects seamlessly. However, note that Insightly’s interface and navigation may not be as intuitive and modern as other CRM systems. Also, Insightly’s customer support can be slow or unresponsive in some cases. Therefore, make sure you test Insightly CRM’s features and support before you commit to it and ensure that it aligns with your franchise goals.

Pipedrive CRM: The Sales-Oriented, Visual CRM for Fast-Growing Franchises

Pipedrive CRM is a popular CRM system for franchises that want a sales-oriented, visual, and user-friendly platform to manage their sales pipelines, activities, and insights. With Pipedrive CRM, you can:

Visualize and manage your sales pipelines and activities, using a drag-and-drop interface and customizable stages
Track and score your leads and deals, using customizable fields, filters, and tags
Automate and streamline your sales workflows, using email templates, sequences, and triggers
Collaborate and communicate with your team members, using team email, activity feeds, and mentions
Integrate with other Pipedrive products, such as LeadBooster,