If you’re reading this blog post, you likely know the importance of having a customer relationship management (CRM) platform for your roofing company. You know how vital CRMs are to managing your sales pipeline and helping you connect with your leads.
What you may not know is which CRM to get. After all, there are many options out there, and there aren’t just multiple CRMs—there are multiple kinds of CRMs. For instance, you might be torn between getting a roofing-specific or general-purpose CRM.
If you find yourself asking, “Should I use a roofing-specific CRM?”, you’re in the right place. We’ll answer that question by exploring the advantages of roofing CRMs and general CRMs.
A roofing-specific CRM is exactly what it sounds like—a CRM that’s designed specifically for roofing companies and not for businesses in other industries. Its features and overall design are crafted with roofers in mind.
Advantages of a roofing CRM
There are several notable advantages of using a roofing CRM, including:
They have roofing-specific features
They often come with a quicker setup time
They’re built with roofers in mind
We’ll go over them in more detail below.
1. They have roofing-specific features
The first—and biggest—advantage of using a roofing CRM is that it includes niche and specific industry features. After all, the roofing industry has unique aspects that differentiate it from other fields.
In a roofing-specific CRM, you can find built-in features that allow you to easily do things like:
Create roofing estimates and proposals
Track project attributes such as roof size and material type
And more!
With these features, you can do things a general CRM wouldn’t necessarily let you do.
2. They often come with a quicker setup time
A roofing CRM may be quicker to set up than a general CRM. With a general CRM, you must spend time setting up configurations and preferences that are specific to the roofing industry. A roofing CRM already has those configurations in place.
Of course, this isn’t always the case. There are roofing CRMs out there that are a huge pain to set up. Likewise, there are general-purpose CRMs that are a breeze to get started with. But in broad terms, it’s more common to have an easy setup process if you’re using a roofing-specific tool.
3. They’re built with roofers in mind
Finally, roofing CRMs come with the simple advantage of being built with roofers in mind. This is a rather vague benefit, we know. But there are all kinds of subtle aspects of the CRM that are slightly more tailored to roofers.
These aspects could be something as small as the specific terminology used—a general CRM would use universal terms, but a roofing CRM could use industry-specific lingo. Or, it could be something like pushing different features to the forefront that the CRM knows roofers are more likely to prioritize.
Whatever the specifics, the main point is that a roofing-specific CRM will be tailored to roofers in countless small ways because that’s who it was built for.
What is a general-purpose CRM?
A general-purpose CRM is designed for use across multiple industries. It doesn’t come with a focus on any specific field but instead includes universal features that work equally well for almost every business.
Advantages of a general CRM
Just as there are some advantages to using a roofing-specific CRM, there are also plenty of benefits to using a general CRM. Here are a few of the biggest ones:
They cost less money
They’re often more user-friendly
They have better integration options
We’ll explore each one in more detail below.
1. They cost less money
One of the best reasons to get a general CRM is that it typically costs less than a roofing-specific CRM. This might sound surprising, especially if you’ve read about how CRMs like Salesforce can cost thousands of dollars a month.
But here’s the thing—general CRMs cater to so many businesses that they usually offer different plans. So, while the most expensive plan might be high, the cheapest one could be affordable. That means you could have a range of pricing options for a single CRM.
In contrast, roofing-specific CRMs usually offer very few plans, sometimes only one. That means you have way less flexibility in your pricing. With a general CRM like Nutshell, you can choose a plan based on your budget and requirements.
2. They’re often more user-friendly
General CRMs tend to be far more user-friendly, and there are a couple of reasons for this.
Firstly, because general CRMs are targeting a wider audience, they need to put more thought into their design to make sure their platforms are usable across all industries.
Secondly, because general CRMs target more businesses, they tend to earn more revenue. That means they can afford the time and effort to fine-tune the layout and make it as user-friendly as possible.
Of course, just like with some of the other advantages listed in this article, this isn’t a hard-and-fast rule. Ultimately, it depends on the exact CRM you get. Still, it’s more common for general CRMs to prioritize ease of use than roofing-specific ones.
3. They have better integration options
Finally, general CRMs usually have far more integration options. This feature is important because integration is huge for CRMs. After all, they exist to gather customer data, and they often pull that data from other tools. To do that, they must integrate with those tools.
If your CRM doesn’t integrate with the other data tools you use, you’re in trouble. Unfortunately, many roofing-specific CRMs don’t come with a lot of integration options.
With a general CRM, you don’t have to worry about that. These CRMs typically feature tons of integration options, even with obscure tools you might not expect them to connect to. That means if you get a general-purpose option, you can breathe easy when it comes to integrations.
Should I use a roofing-specific or general-purpose CRM?
It depends.
Now that we’ve looked at the advantages of each type of CRM, we can finally come back to your original question— “Should I use a roofing-specific CRM or a general-purpose one?” The answer, of course, is that it depends on your priorities.
Roofing-specific CRMs will typically cost more and be trickier to use, but they’ll also offer some unique roofing features. So, if your top priority is to access those unique features—and you have a larger budget and the patience to work with a less user-friendly tool—then a roofing-specific CRM may be right for you.
If you don’t meet those criteria, you’re probably better off with a general-purpose CRM. The thing is, the most important CRM features are universal to begin with. A CRM doesn’t have to be tailored to the roofing industry to offer contact data management, pipeline management, and collaboration tools—any CRM can do that. So, why spend more money and effort on a roofing CRM if you don’t have to?
Nutshell is the perfect CRM for all your roofing company needs
If you’re interested in finding a good general-purpose CRM for your roofing business, Nutshell is the perfect option. On top of gathering and sorting your customer data, it offers sales automation features and in-depth, customized reports on your sales and customers. With Nutshell, you’ll also get access to a top-tier customer support team that can answer any questions about the platform.
