Method CRM vs EngageBay CRM: Which is a better fit?

Speaker 1: Hi, my name is Joe. I work in healthcare and sales operations. I give Method a three out of five, for more reviews like this click below. So before we looked into using Method CRM, we were using Infusionsoft CRM, currently that's actually now called Keaps CRM. And the reason why we actually made a move was because we needed something that had better integrations with some of our other softwares, mainly QuickBooks for accounting. And that was one of Method's biggest strong suits. So the biggest reason we chose Method CRM was the fact that it had a really great integration with QuickBooks. We were already using QuickBooks at the time, and so it was just perfect to be able to have a really fluid integration with QuickBooks. Also, the entire customization of the Methods CRM dashboard is actually really great. You can add custom fields, custom objects, the entire layout can be totally customized. You can also customize all the automation. That being said, there are a few issues with it, that we ran into glitches that should be resolved. So getting started with Method CRM was actually pretty difficult. There's definitely a learning curve in terms of building the automation yourself. Now Methods CRM does offer their own consulting services, where you can hire a consultant to do some of the automation and customization for you. However, I felt it was overpriced. And so, a lot of the customization fell on my sales operations team to build out. So I would say it was pretty difficult. So I would recommend considering Methods CRM only if you require it for QuickBooks integration or you have a very simple business without a lot of complexity. I think that it's a great CRM, as long as you don't have tons of complexity that you need to throw at Method CRM. It's great for QuickBooks and accounting, but it's a little bit more difficult as far as integrations. In order to integrate you have to use... go through Zapier, or there's maybe a slew of others that might be actually integrated, but without doing a Zapier integration, you're kind of out of luck. So that's one thing that you should really consider, is how many integrations do I need to do? And am I willing to go through Zapier to get to those. Otherwise, I think that's really all of the considerations you should have.

Kurt: Hi guys. My name is Kurt. I am a licensed insurance agent with American Income. I am self-employed, so it's just myself. I would give EngageBay a five-star rating. Awesome program. I've actually used multiple CRMs. I have a pretty diverse background in sales, including working as a business development manager for a company. But the most recent CRM before EngageBay was Zoho. Reality was that was just not meeting the needs of what I wanted out of it for what I was paying for between the scheduling, the calendar links, and just the overall flexibility of the program. EngageBay met those needs. I use EngageBay to do a lot of text and email communications where I'm sending out my calendar links so people can schedule directly with me. That was one of the huge features. The other feature that was really critical for me was effective tracking of my clientele, combined with just that ability to have everything there in one spot, both the marketing and the sales. When I made the decision to go with EngageBay, I had been looking at a lot of different CRM options. One of the challenges, going into life insurance sales is a new business venture for me, so I really didn't want to spend a lot of money on a CRM in the beginning, even though it's really critical to have a CRM that can grow with you as your business grows. A lot of times that means they spend a lot of money. I think, ultimately, the decision for me with EngageBay was it was inexpensive to start out and I don't see any real limitations to the growth potential with it as I've been using it. Getting started was actually really easy with EngageBay. They actually give you a checklist to go through as you log in of things to do to get it set up, so that was great. The only, I guess, real challenge with getting started is some of the features, particularly the email templates, are a little complex. They do have some good help tutorials for that as well. I did have to talk with them on chat a few times. But overall, really easy to set up. I guess thinking about advice for somebody that's going to get EngageBay, I would tell you to do your homework first and look into reviews, look into what specifically you want from a CRM. I would say of the CRMs I used, it is definitely one of the most expansive CRMs I've used in terms of its abilities to do different things. They call themselves the all-in-one suite. For me, that all-in-one feature really has been a huge benefit. It allows me to do all the different things I want with a CRM, but I would say make sure it goes deep enough in the areas that you're looking for. If you're looking for super in-depth customer tracking, this may or may not be what you want. I would say make the decisions of what you need from your CRM first.