CRM Vendor Evaluation Checklist: 40 Questions to Score Before You Sign Anything
A weighted CRM evaluation scorecard covering the questions that actually separate vendors: API limits, SSO pricing, migration costs, and data export paths. Not a feature checkbox list.
Scoring Framework
Score each criterion 1–5 based on the vendor’s demo, documentation, and reference calls — not their slide deck. Weight by category importance, then compare totals. A vendor scoring 4.2 weighted average with transparent pricing beats a 4.5 who hides the implementation cost.
Evaluation Criteria
Core Features
30% weightDeal modeling, pipeline management, forecasting accuracy, and the specific workflows your sales team needs every day. Score based on the demo with your data, not the vendor’s sample dataset.
Sample Questions
- Can the CRM model your actual deal stages, including parallel approval tracks and multi-stakeholder deals? (Demo it, don’t describe it.)
- Does the built-in forecast use weighted pipeline math or AI? If AI, how many months of data does it need before producing useful predictions?
- Can a rep log a meeting note, associate it with a deal, and tag the relevant contacts in under 60 seconds on mobile?
- When two reps are working the same account, does the system detect and alert on conflicting activities?
- Can you build a report showing “deals that haven’t had activity in 14 days” without writing code or contacting support?
Technical & Security
20% weightAPI rate limits on your plan tier, SSO availability and cost, SOC 2 Type II certification, data encryption, and uptime history. Binary requirements that can double your cost if they’re gated to Enterprise.
Sample Questions
- What is the API rate limit on the specific plan tier you’re quoting us? (Not “up to” — the actual limit.)
- Is SSO (Okta, Azure AD) included on our plan, or is it an Enterprise add-on? If add-on, what’s the per-seat premium?
- Does the SOC 2 Type II report cover the platform, or only the Enterprise tier environment?
- Show the public status page with actual uptime over the last 12 months. (SLA target doesn’t count.)
Total Cost of Ownership
20% weightThe all-in cost including per-seat pricing, required add-ons, implementation, data migration, admin overhead, premium support, and renewal escalation. The sticker price is usually 40–60% of the real number.
Sample Questions
- Give us a written quote for 25 users with every feature discussed in the demo. Line items, not a lump sum.
- What is the annual price escalation clause at renewal? Is there a cap?
- What does data migration from [our current CRM] cost? Provide a scoped estimate, not “to be determined.”
- If we need to reduce seats mid-contract due to a restructuring, what are our options?
Vendor Stability & Trajectory
15% weightProfitability or funding runway, customer base at your company size, product roadmap direction, and how many of their reference customers are still on the platform after 2+ years.
Sample Questions
- How many customers are running at our team size (20–50 users) in our industry? Can we speak to 2–3 of them?
- Is the company profitable, or what is the remaining funding runway?
- What are the 3 biggest features shipping in the next 6 months? (Public roadmap preferred over verbal promises.)
Implementation & Ongoing Support
15% weightMigration timeline, onboarding quality, support responsiveness on your plan tier, and the CSM-to-account ratio that determines whether you get real help or an auto-reply.
Sample Questions
- What is the CSM-to-account ratio for customers on our plan tier? (Under 50:1 is good. Over 100:1 means self-service with a name attached.)
- If I submit a support ticket at 2pm on Tuesday, when should I realistically expect a human response? (Not the SLA target — the actual median.)
- Walk us through a recent migration from [our current CRM] for a similarly-sized team. What went wrong, and how did you fix it?
- What self-service resources exist? (Docs, video academy, community forum — show us, don’t list them.)
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