Best CRM for Small Business: CRM that Automates Your Business Operations

Originally published June 19, 2025, updated June 20, 2025

Here is how a small business CRM like NetHunt automates your sales and helps you grow faster.

If your customer data lives in inboxes, spreadsheets, and scattered notes, you're not alone. Most small businesses lose deals simply because their sales process is disorganized. Without a clear view of your pipeline, it's hard to follow up, close leads, or track your team’s performance.

If you can’t keep your deals straight, your leads never convert. Therefore, it’s time to invest in a sales CRM for small business and bring everything under one roof — from contact details and customer interactions to ongoing sales activities.

TL;DR: NetHunt is the best CRM for small business owners, and we’re happy to prove it 😉.

What is a CRM for small business and why is it so important?

CRM software for small business is a customer relationship management solution. The best CRM system for small business helps you gather client information and interactions in one place, track deals, set up workflow automation, establish smooth communication, and organize important tasks to close deals faster.

Enterprise-level CRMs often come with advanced features aka AI-powered reporting tools. However, for small business owners, a CRM solution is necessary when you notice you spend more time sorting through the inbox and spreadsheets than making money.

Instead of hiring more people, with a CRM tool for small business, you can automate follow-ups and lead nurturing processes and leverage task distribution and notifications to improve sales productivity.

The instant value of adopting CRM software for small business

I don’t need a CRM system because…

…it’s too expensive

…I don’t have enough clients

…it takes too long to learn and set up

We’re sorry, but you’re wrong on all counts! Because the best CRM tools for small business are essential, especially when your customer base grows.

Small businesses survive thanks to higher quality and superior customer service. Even if you can handle a few dozen customers, once their numbers reach hundreds (or thousands), you’ll start losing track of timely follow-ups and tasks to close the deals effectively. Before you know it, customers will switch to competition that meets their needs better (and probably uses the right CRM to do that 😏).

CRM systems are critical for managing customer relationships, improving sales, and boosting productivity. If you're unfamiliar with what a CRM solution is and why it’s important, we have an in-depth article explaining CRM and its benefits here: What is a crm system?

Here’s a brief glimpse at agile CRM benefits for small businesses:

• Centralized, high-quality, and up-to-date customer data
• Automated multi-channel capture of new leads and optimized contact management
• Increased sales team productivity and sales numbers; a shorter sales cycle
• Improved customer service and retention rate
• More accurate sales reports and forecasting
• Improved data-driven decision-making
• Better cross-team communication and alignment

Now, let's explore why NetHunt CRM stands out as the best customer relationship management software for small businesses.

Here is why Nethunt CRM is the best CRM software for small business

How do you know NetHunt is the best CRM tool for small business? We understand your struggles and tailor our CRM solution to your everyday business needs. Here are some ways we help your business grow.

Native Google Workspace integration

If your business runs through your Gmail Inbox, NetHunt CRM offers seamless integration with your inbox (NetHunt CRM solution is actually built right inside your familiar Gmail environment). Thanks to our Chrome extension, you'll get all the features of a powerful CRM in your inbox without switching tabs.

Instead, you can segment the customer base, build sales pipelines to track deals, create workflows that suit your business needs and operations, and track the sales team’s performance.

NetHunt also integrates with Google Calendar and other software to share files, access customer details from calendar events, and send notifications to Google Chat. All with a no code interface and no need for IT support.

User-friendly interface

NetHunt is a cloud-based simple CRM for small business. You don’t need to buy server equipment or hire an IT maintenance team to run it.

It’s instantly available on any device and you can run NetHunt CRM in any browser on a desktop or laptop.

You can test NetHunt with a free demo before committing to the paid version and set up your first sales pipeline within minutes after registration.

The clean user interface removes the learning curve. But if you need help, we offer detailed tutorials and guides on our blog, Help Center, and webinars.

Flexible startup-friendly pricing

NetHunt offers five monthly and annual plans, ranging from $24 to $96 per user per month — everything is transparent on our pricing page.

With flexible pricing and cloud-based solutions, you can decide which toolset you need and only pay for what you use. For example, the Basic plan will work for you if you only need CRM’s basic features aka CRM essentials. However, a Business Plan would suit you better if you want VoIP integration (for instance, most of your new leads might come from phone calls) or more integrations with other channels for lead generation.

Meanwhile, if you’re the only person on the sales and marketing teams and want to leverage the core features without switching to upper tiers, NetHunt CRM will cost you less than $300 annually.

Multi-channel lead capture and nurturing

Beyond GSuite integration, NetHunt CRM supports multiple integrations with popular social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, messengers, and even VoIP. You can easily connect your business social media accounts with the system and automatically capture more leads.

By aggregating all customer conversations within the top CRM for small business, you can improve customer satisfaction through a more personalized approach to communication.

Plus, you can communicate with all your leads and manage inbox without leaving the CRM space.

Easy pipeline management

With NetHunt CRM, you can set multiple pipelines and customize them to fit distinctive sales processes for individual niches or client base segments. Easy pipeline management lets you keep track of deal priority, develop forecasts for individual team members, locations, or products, and see revenue stack at every pipeline stage.

Robust sales automation

NetHunt’s sales automation works at every stage of the sales cycle, from automatic lead capture & lead scoring to lead distribution among managers, setting up drip campaigns for nurturing, updating pipeline statuses, and sending notifications.

The CRM system for small business will automatically link conversations through multiple channels to client profiles and let you set up algorithms for moving leads through the sales pipeline.

Team performance tracking

Flexible NetHunt CRM dashboard layout and convenient visualizations let you track sales managers’ activity. You can set up custom views and use filters to assess managers’ deals and revenue generation. It helps you understand how far they are from achieving quotas so you can incentivize employees and adjust your sales strategy (CRM strategy included).

Ultra customization

NetHunt simple CRM is a perfect tool for small businesses because it’s fully customizable. It fits any industry, from consulting to retail, and any team size. You can work alone or with a team of ten and adjust NetHunt Workflows to satisfy your needs.

For example, when you open an online storefront, NetHunt will adjust to process web form data input, emails, and social media platform or messenger conversations. Once your client base and sales team grow, you’ll appreciate contact management and customizable reporting.

How NetHunt CRM improves small business efficiency and productivity

CRM applications for small business often promise a lot. But do those CRM features actually help in the real world? Let our customers show how NetHunt — one of the best CRM tools on the market — delivers measurable results for new business growth and helps increase efficiency.

• Recom increased its client base by 5x, generated 20 to 25 high-quality leads per month, and saved up to 2 hours weekly per employee thanks to NetHunt automation.
• iPlan has increased its customer base by 18x since 2019 (from 53 to 968). The sales team's motivation also increased thanks to transparent KPIs, other metrics, and sales data available via the CRM dashboard.
• PowerGlide leveraged NetHunt automation to save up to 60 hours per month. The elevator manufacturer improved cross-team communication and generated 5 additional orders per month.
• Hurma uses NetHunt to improve lead management and establish omnichannel communication with customers. Customer segmentation helped the company develop region-specific offers, while automation sped up lead distribution among team members.

Whether you’re looking for essential CRM functionality to save time on admin tasks or advanced sales automation and sales reporting, NetHunt CRM clients will testify to its efficiency.

How to choose the best CRM for small business: Checklist

Everyone and their dog convinces you to use online CRM software for small business, but with so many platforms out there, how do you choose the right CRM that fits your unique needs? We came up with this checklist to help you pick the best online CRM for small business.

• The best CRM takes you less than one workday to set up and start using
• You don’t need extra training beyond quick tutorials
• It has a beginner-friendly user interface and no steep learning curve
• You should be able to import data and create contacts easily, without relying on tech support
• You can test the CRM’s key features for free without any commitment
• The CRM investment fits within your sales budget and scales per user
• You don’t have to pay for the bells and whistles you don’t use
• It offers robust features like an ability to manage unlimited contacts, create custom reports, and use email templates to save valuable time
• The CRM support team is easy to reach and happy to help
• The CRM provider handles sensitive data properly and ensures the system is up to date
• You can see real-life implementation examples and follow their lead

A CRM on the cloud that checks most of these boxes (like NetHunt does) suits small businesses.

Getting started with NetHunt CRM for small business

Getting used to new CRM tools for small business is a chore. But NetHunt is designed to make small business owners’ lives easier. Here are the first five steps you can take with NetHunt CRM, and they’ll take you less than a day:

1. Set up your NetHunt ecosystem

You can log into the web app account, download and install mobile apps across all devices, and install a Chrome extension for Gmail integration. This step is critical if you prioritize response time and customer experience.

You’ll be able to communicate with leads coming from multiple sources, including social media accounts and phone calls, instantly via the mobile interface and foster brand loyalty, which is critical for small business success.

2. Bring in your customer data from the spreadsheets

NetHunt will automatically process your inbox conversations, create contacts in the form of customer records, and add them to the system. But if you’ve been using spreadsheets to keep track of leads and deals, you can bring the data over to NetHunt too as the CRM will automatically map the data. You can import comments along with data points, add new fields, and check for duplicates and mismatched data.

You’ll effortlessly uncover more data and eliminate duplicates while maintaining clean contact management. This lays the groundwork for advanced marketing campaigns, lead tracking, and personalized outreach.

3. Add NetHunt CRM to your business routine

Check the integration options and find your most used communication channels. Ideally, you want messages from all channels, including social media, messengers, and email, to go through your new agile CRM.

4. Customize NetHunt to suit your unique business needs

As your business scales, you can tweak and personalize the CRM to handle projects, clients, and workflows.

By default, the NetHunt small business CRM software will have Companies, Deals, and Contacts folders, but you can adjust them and add new ones. For instance, you can track Projects or other business processes with NetHunt CRM. Fields are also customizable, so you can group and reorder them. You can just as easily reorder and customize dashboard widgets and customize and save views.

5. Pick the pricing plan that suits you best

Check out the full feature breakdown and consider your business priorities. You can start with a Basic plan for a single user to test the waters after your free trial. Once you’ve set up the workflows and pipelines, you can add new users to your team.

NetHunt’s pricing adjusts per user and gives you only what you need without costly add-ons or multiple service hubs.

As you can see, none of these first steps require in-depth technical knowledge or skills. So, if you’re ready to try NetHunt CRM, start a free trial or schedule a demo.

Final thoughts

NetHunt CRM dispels all your biggest fears as a small business owner. It’s easy to use even if you have no technical skills. Plus, it doesn’t take months of training to set up and import your customer data.

Other perks to recap? NetHunt CRM offers powerful sales and email marketing automation tools and smooth integration with all your favorite business tools. Best of all, you can test it for free and choose one of five business plans that suits your needs.

Start using the NetHunt CRM platform for small business today to boost your business efficiency and growth.

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