Avoiding Vendor Lock-In: Top Tips for Choosing the Right CRM

Choosing the right CRM provider is a bit like dating: it pays to know how to spot red flags before committing to a relationship.

Select the right vendor and you can have a seamless long-term business partnership. Get caught up with the wrong vendor, and you can find yourself locked into a messy arrangement that costs your organization time and money.

There’s a reason for this: big CRM vendors like it this way. These brands are more focused on pushing clients into buying unnecessary features and add-ons than supporting them in getting real value from their CRM.

It doesn’t have to be this way. Spot the warning signs early (and ask the right questions) and you can protect yourself from the underhanded tactics that dominate the CRM market.

6 CRM provider red flags to watch out for

Here are the biggest signs of CRM provider danger you should be wary of:

1. Unclear pricing

If you can’t get a clear idea of how much a CRM provider wants from their website, consider this a major red flag.

This is a common tactic used by big vendors to get you on the phone with one of their sales reps.

A transparent vendor like Workbooks will offer clear, affordable pricing from the word go, with no third-party or hidden costs during implementation.

2. Incentives and discounts

If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

Another way big providers manipulate their clients is to provide an attractive offer with an initial discount or even an incentive.

These discounts don’t last. It’ll seem like a great deal at first, but once you factor in hidden fees and implementation costs, you’ll be spending far more than you ever planned to.

Instead, it’s wise to work with a provider that aligns with your budget and can offer a fixed price.

3. Capped functionality

It gets worse. As your business scales, you’ll incur another one of the biggest hallmarks of CRM bullsh*t: capped functionality.

Large vendors will often place restrictions on CRM functions like dashboards, lists and reports. Getting the extra functionality you need comes at a price, and businesses that fail to account for these add-ons find the cost of their CRM actually becomes a burden that holds them back as they grow.

If you’re at all familiar with Workbooks, you’ll know we’re not a fan of the BS. That’s why our CRM will give you the unlimited functionality you need all in one package.

4. User license fees

One nasty tactic among big providers is charging you to add users to your CRM.

Even if a team member only needs access to specific features, you may have to provide them with a full license, which can be extremely expensive.

You shouldn’t have to pay to give team members access to functions they won’t ever need. With Workbooks, you can mix and match licenses and only pay for what each user needs.

5. Poor customer support

A reliable partner will be invested in helping you maximize the value you get from CRM, not maximizing their profits.

How their customer support works can give you a steer on this. Do they offer in-house implementation? What support is free and what will they charge you for? And will they put you on the phone with a robot when you’re having challenges?

A survey of CRM providers found that Workbooks was rated higher than other larger CRM vendors for three key areas of customer support:

• Direct access to human contact
• Access to a consistent named contact during sales
• Implementation training support

6. Multi-vendor solutions

Not all CRM providers are created equal.

There are two types of vendors: single-party and multi-party. However, many brands don’t make this distinction clear.

You can form a direct relationship with single-party vendors like Workbooks, while multi-party vendor arrangements have significantly more constraints. In fact, our research found that:

• 75% of CRM users using multi-party vendors incurred unexpected additional costs
• Single-party vendors do more to set their customers up for success and rate their providers higher
• Single-party CRM deployments were rated higher on almost every aspect than multi-vendor deployments

A CRM provider checklist: 5 questions to ask potential vendors

Knowing the red flags is all well and good, but being able to spot them is the way to filter through the BS and find a provider worth partnering with.

If you’re in a conversation with a vendor, ask them the following questions:

How much does it actually cost?

It sounds like a simple question, but how a provider answers this will be very telling. If they can’t give you a clear idea of how much something costs, there’s probably a reason why.

Can I lock in my price?

This question will help you identify the BS early on before getting involved with a provider. How transparent a provider is will tell you if it’s a good deal.

What additional costs are there after the initial purchase?

Don’t be afraid to push a sales rep hard on this point. Post-purchase CRM expenses are unavoidable, but if they’re not fully transparent on what you should expect, they’re not the provider for you.

What customer support do you offer?

Try and hone down on whether it’s really them or another third-party that’s providing the support, what support comes for free as part of the deal, and what sort of response time you should expect.

Which features do I actually need?

This is the big one. How a salesperson answers this will be indicative of how much they understand your business and whether they’re focused on what you need (or what they need you to buy).

Workbooks: The transparent alternative to big CRM

Once a CRM is embedded into your organization’s ecosystem, breaking up with a provider is far from simple. We’ve spoken to many organizations who feel stuck with their vendors and locked into an overpriced platform that’s gradually costing them more and more money over time.

By partnering with Workbooks, you can bypass all of the unnecessary BS and profiteering and focus on onboarding a CRM solution that delivers real results for your business.