Why Dubsado

You know you need a CRM. But which one, and how do you decide? I was there too.

Here’s how I decided on  Dubsado over others.

First I read lots of reviews.

Customization  and branded to me, not them, was important.

Flexibility for different options, types of workflows.

Total annual cost after initial promotion pricing.

Look and ease of use on the interface. I Didn’t want something that was too ugly representing me and my work.

Ease of use by  the client. ‘Cause duh, if they can’t figure it out who cares how nice it is on my end.

I looked at lots of CRMs and narrowed it down to Dubsado, Honeybook, and 17Hats as my final 3.

Honeybook

Honeybook cost the most after promo pricing expired. Honeybook also didn’t seem to let me remove their branding. Whaaaa?! I’m not paying them AND have to advertise for them?! I think they finally changed that, but not when I was shopping around.

Dubsado

Dubsado had the options to brand it to me. Had a lot of customization in everything, the proposal options were beautiful! The Custom CSS styling of proposals and forms to look really nice and on-brand is one of my favorite parts!

The interface seemed very intuitive. It also has a scheduler built in. I haven’t set it up yet, but at least I know I don’t need to pay for an additional scheduler.

17Hats

17Hats was a long standing industry CRM It even had a “buy for life” option. They almost had me then and there, cause Lord knows I hate subscriptions! …But the interface was so spreadsheet-ish. Also  I once worked with Another photographer who used 17hats and trying to view client info on the go was super confusing.

Maroo

TL;DR: I think it has potential but its not there yet as a full CRM

The good

Payments are free to use if you’re low volume

• The part I do like is the option to pass along credit card fees to the client when you choose.
• They claim to have payments setup in a way that minimizes the possibility for credit card chagebacks.
• Has a nice pay a vendor option already setup

The full CRM features are 600/yr like most CRMs.

What can you do with a CRM?

• Client management
• Forms
• Custom CSS styling of proposals and form to look really nice and on-brand
• Questionnaires
• Contracts
• Automation and workflows
• Sending invoices and getting paid
• Scheduling appointments
• Accounting and Reporting
• And more, if you take the time to set it up!

So if you decide on Dubsado you can use my code: nelya at checkout and receive 20% off your first month or first year.

Try it first

They have a free trial to test it out before you but it too! I didn’t actually use the trial first. I’m the type who does my research and then say ok this is what I need! Done!

Ballin’ on a budget?

If you just need basics without workflows Look at Cloudspot. It has contracts, payments, and questionnaires try out Cloudspot. With the basic plan I think it’s still about 12.00 per month.