Using Asana as a CRM vs using dedicated CRM softwares?

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What’s up everyone! So I watched this dudes YT video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwdm6a1FwVM) and in the “Adoption Management” software category he doesn’t mention Salesforce or Asana?? Instead mentions Pendo etc. I’m trying to find an ideal CRM software to management the entire customer lifecycle but the more research I do the more it’s starting to seem like different software’s are better for different sections of said lifecycle like the “pre-customer phase” vs the “customer phase” and that perhaps I could use Asana for the entire thing?

  1. Has anyone out there used Asana to manage the entire lifecycle of customers from sales to engagement to upsells etc.?

  2. Is there actually a difference between “sales focused” and “experienced focused” CRM software’s or is that just a utility nuance I’m making up in my own head haha :slight_smile:

  3. Has anyone directly compared using Asana vs Salesforce or Asana vs Pendo etc on their own? How’d it go? Any big ideas I should be thinking about?

I’m small business owner trying to figure all this stuff out by myself for my non-SaaS business so any knowledge bombs someone can drop on me are very welcome and highly appreciated :slight_smile:

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Hello @Sam_Leahey

Interesting topic!! I have not used Salesforce and am not aware of Pendo (will def look it up).
As a small business owner, keep in mind the tool should work for you and not vice versa.

Asana is not a CRM. It is a project management tool with collaboration at its heart. Having said that, with a bit of creative thinking, you can def make Asana work for you if you are looking to keep the same eco system.

Keep in mind though that at some point as you are scaling up, you will need to use a dedicated CRM software where it can be integrated with your calls, emails, documentation, quotation, invoicing etc…

If you are still in a postion where your pipeline is managable, you can certain build ypour CRM workflow in Asana using custom fields, rules, forms and further integrations, dependencies to have your CRM visible in one place along with action items for each of the lifecycle a prospect is at.

Hope this helps!
Rashad

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Hi . . . I feel like those different tools have very different purposes. We use all three at the moment, in different ways:

  • Salesforce for CRM (like you said), opportunity & contact management as well as contract and entitlement management
  • Pendo is a very useful tool to track & see HOW people use your software. OOB, it tracks ‘clicks’ and helps you understand how the end users are using your stuff.
  • of course, Asana: we use that mostly for project management & implementation focused items or information. It is probably flexible enough to use as a basic CRM, as Rashad said, but I think it may get pretty cumbersome, pretty quickly.
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Hi Sean I’m Steve ball, the Process Guru, and I see you are having the same dilemma that most business owners face. I’ve been working with Asana since it was first conceived and I love it and recommend it to all me customers.

But its not a CRM system. I don’t know what your business is, that actually would be helpful, I would suggest that you try using Agile CRM if you want to dip your feet in the world of CRM - your CRM system is for automation, doing things in the background automatically, That’s not Asana, but I would advise that you should get your business stuff in Asana, your processes, then use a CRM to manage automated emails and for customer interaction related to tasks use asana - Hope this helps.

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For project management, I like Asana. For time tracking, I like Toggl. We are mainly a design and development company and use Zendesk for the management of customer communication. In this respect, it’s great. To track its awful task management and time. Reports are annoyingly complex and as soon as my subscription is ready for re-service, I cancel my subscription to everything but the basic helpdesk product.

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