Full disclosure, I work for a CRM startup called Attio,. This is my (slightly bias) opinion on the CRM landscape.

The 'best' CRM really depends what you want to achieve. First, Salesforce is built to work for large-scale sales enterprises that have teams of hundreds and the resources to plow into a dedicated maintenance team. If that's you, then there is no better option. Since that's not 90% of the teams looking for a CRM, a couple of other variations have caught on.

The first type is Salesforce-lite. These are tools like Pipedrive or Hubspot. They do the job of being able to track your relationships but there's a ton of admin involved in keeping it up to date, and very little room for bells and whistles. They work because they're cheap and have achieved a large enough market penetration that people looking for a CRM hear about them frequently. If you need very basic CRM functionality and don't want to spend a lot, this is for you.

The second type is the niche CRM. Regardless of your industry, you'll no doubt find very specific CRMs built for your very specific tasks. They have very specific tooling that very specifically works better than Salesforce and Salesforce-lites for your problems. With these you'll get a tool that works out of the box (and that's a big draw for a lot of people) but unfortunately if you ever want to stray off the beaten path, you'll be either looking for a new tool again or forcing your workflow into an unsuitable one. If you know you'll only be ever doing a niche task, this is for you.

The lack of CRM that delivers an experience that feels completely customisable to your problem, has all of the bells and whistles, and doesn't need an army of consultants to implement it, is why we're building Attio. We're currently in closed beta but either sign up on our webite or send me a DM and we'll try to get anyone interested in asap!

I second this question!!!!

I believe one should always play to the audience. Meaning right now business is experiencing what I call a Pandemic Influencing Business Narrative. Under a PIBN things are consistently changing. One could say it is important to understand the narrative of a startup as we have all are being faced with the vision that is limiting and inexperienced, plus as I see it, there is nothing wrong with having fresh "eyes" with your vision especially when you are trying to navigate your dream through a potential nightmare. I find that Pipedrive and Zoho CRM are my go-to choices now and Ill briefly explain why?

Pipedrive has ease of use that is very important. Team members are a volatile thing in these times and we just can not accommodate lengthy learning curves. Pipedrive being so easy to use and its API being "refreshing" such as it is is vital to the flexibility required for any business to "Stay Alive".

We all know Zoho CRM is for small businesses. My company has been in operations since 2012. Its always a preferable trait to be flexible in business and sometimes starting over is required multiple times. Zoho CRM keeps us in the game while allowing for small infrastructures that have the ability to navigate its adaptable infrastructure.

So there it is. Business right now is being redefined based on how we deal with the current climate. But We are crazy aren't we. We are "entrepreneurs", "Pioneers", Technoartist who have chosen this path no matter how insane it may appear, This is who we are and these are some of my tools I keep in my utility belt. #HeruVision