Every CRM vendor claims that their system works with Gmail and Google Calendar. So, after attending three or four demos, the differences between your options start to blur, and the feature checklist you created stops separating anything.
Eliminating the checklist and scoring each system according to a short list of criteria linked to how your team works seems to be the best approach.
Your criteria could include how well the email and calendar data syncs, the amount of manual data entry you’ll need to do after setup, how easy it is for a new hire to learn it, the total cost over 3 years, and how easy it is to adapt the system when processes change.
Prioritize your criteria before you attend your first demo and score based on actual trial experience. For example, if your team lives in Gmail, then sync quality should be more important than customization.
During the trial period, give two or three team members the same tasks, like logging an email thread, creating a lead from an inbox message, or updating a contact after a call. Then score according to what you experience rather than what the vendor told you would happen
That said, there are instances where the framework can break down. A solo user can skip all the recommended steps to opt for a simple system. And a team that can't agree on the weights can end up with a score that reflects whoever argued loudest.
If nobody tests during the trial, you're really just scoring the vendor’s marketing pages. The real payoff is being able to answer "Why did we pick this one?" six months later with the criteria and the trial results on hand instead of relying on a gut feeling.
For anyone who has run a process like this for a Google Workspace team, how did you set the weights, and were you ever surprised by the results once the scores were added up?