Best CRM for sales teams

As a sales team, staying organized, tracking leads, and managing customer relationships are critical to hitting your targets and closing deals. A robust Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system can help you streamline your sales process by organizing contact information, automating follow-ups, and providing real-time insights into your pipeline. With the right CRM, your team can work more efficiently, collaborate better, and boost overall performance.
In this blog post, we’ll explore the best CRM options for sales teams like yours, highlighting tools that will enhance your sales strategy and help you close more deals.

Why you need a CRM

In a fast-paced sales environment, a CRM is essential for managing your sales team effectively and driving business growth across your sales cycle.

Challenges without a CRM

Without the right CRM in place, you're likely to experience challenges that can take your team away from important priorities.

• Disorganization: Without a centralized system, tracking customer interactions and sales activities becomes chaotic.
• Missed opportunities: Leads can fall through the cracks, resulting in lost sales.
• Inefficient processes: Manual data entry and tracking consume valuable time and resources.
• Lack of insight: Without analytics, it’s difficult to measure performance and identify areas for improvement.
• Inconsistent communication: Sales teams may struggle to maintain a consistent message across all customer interactions.

Benefits of a CRM

Fortunately, the right CRM can address these challenges. You can also expect extra benefits.

• Centralized information: All customer data and interactions are stored in one place, improving organization.
• Enhanced efficiency: Automation of repetitive tasks frees up time for more critical activities.
• Improved customer relationships: Better tracking of customer interactions leads to personalized service.
• Better decision-making: Access to real-time analytics helps in making informed decisions.
• Increased sales: Streamlined processes and better lead management boost sales performance.
• Consistent communication: Ensures the sales team delivers a unified message to customers.

How to evaluate and choose a CRM

1. Define your requirements

For sales teams, it's crucial to identify the key features that will drive performance and efficiency. Look for functionalities like lead and contact management, sales pipeline tracking, task automation, and robust reporting tools. Consider integrations with other tools your team uses, such as email marketing platforms or customer support software. Tailoring your CRM to fit your sales processes will ensure it meets your team's specific needs. Look out for these key features.

Key features of a CRM for sales teams

• Automated processes: Streamlines tasks by automating repetitive workflows.
• Contact enrichment: Automatically finds Leads, Customers email addresses and contact information, enhancing efficiency.
• Structured pipeline: Tracks Leads, Customers through defined stages, ensuring process clarity and effectiveness.
• Mail merge and email sequences: Increases communication efficiency with follow-up templates and automated sequences.
• LinkedIn connection: Seamlessly imports Leads, Customers from LinkedIn and tracks conversations within the CRM.
• Analytics: Provides essential data analysis and predictive insights for better planning.

2. Budget considerations

When evaluating CRMs, balance between cost and return on investment (ROI). While some CRMs offer extensive features, they may come with a hefty price tag. Consider affordable CRM solutions that still provide essential features for tracking and managing sales activities. Assess the potential ROI by considering how the CRM can improve sales efficiency, close rates, and customer satisfaction.

3. Selection process

Start by researching reputable CRM vendors known for their sales-focused solutions. Read reviews, request demos, and seek recommendations from other founders or industry peers. Shortlist vendors that align with your requirements and budget. Engage with their sales teams to understand the level of support and training they offer, which can be crucial for a smooth implementation.

4. Get a demo

Don't purchase a CRM without trying it out first. Make sure you use free trials or book demos to evaluate how well each CRM integrates with your existing processes and tech stack. Compare features, ease of use, and customer support. Gather feedback from your sales team to ensure the chosen CRM will be adopted smoothly and effectively. Making an informed decision will set the foundation for improved sales performance and growth. Get started with a demo of folk to see how it can support your sales team.

3 tips for implementing a CRM

At this stage, it's time to get your team onboard with your new CRM system! To help you make the most out of the implementation process, we suggest making sure you tick off these three things during the first couple of weeks with your new CRM.

1. Import your data in your new CRM

Transitioning to a new CRM can be seamless if you import your existing data correctly. Start by exporting your data as a CSV file from your current CRM. This way, you won't have to manually add new contact information which can be too time consuming.

2. Create your first pipeline

Once your data is imported, the next step is to create your first sales pipeline. This pipeline should include stages that are relevant to your sales team's process, such as Lead Qualification, Proposal Sent, Negotiation, and Closed Won/Lost. Customizing these stages to fit your team's workflow and sales cycle will enhance efficiency and tracking.

3. Onboard your team

Effective onboarding is key to successful CRM implementation. Ensure that all team members are trained on how to use the CRM, understand its features, and are aware of best practices. Regular training sessions and a comprehensive onboarding guide can help your team quickly adapt to the new system, ensuring that everyone is on the same page and can make the most out of the CRM.

The 5 best CRMs for sales teams

1. folk

folk is a modern CRM platform for managing contacts, workflows, and relationships, offering customizable pipelines, AI-driven tools, and integrations to enhance deal management and prospecting.

Key features

• Sales cycle and pipeline management: Manage your entire sales cycle on folk and create a space for your team to collaborate on and close deal faster.
• User permissions: Have control over what each user sees.
• Notes and reminders: Attach notes directly to a contacts profile, make notes collaboratively and assign reminders to colleagues so the right person follows-up in time.
• Contact enrichment: Automatically enriches contact details by finding emails and LinkedIn URLs, enabling efficient outreach without manual data entry or additional costs for email services.
• Social media integration: Seamlessly import contacts from LinkedIn, Sales Navigator, Instagram, X and more to bring leads and leverage your network within folk, and use templates for quicker, streamlined communication.
• Email integration: Full email sync, templates, and tracking features, enabling users to manage all communications directly from the CRM.
• AI-powered features: AI tools assist in managing contacts and relationships, automating routine tasks, and suggesting actions to improve productivity.
• Integrations: folk integrates seamlessly with over 6,000 apps, including Gmail, Zapier, and Make, allowing users to centralize their workflow and reduce manual data entry.

Pros

• Ease of use: folk is praised for its intuitive interface, making it accessible even to non-technical users with quick onboarding and a minimal learning curve.
• All-in-one: folk streamlines your workflow by allowing you to import contacts from LinkedIn, automatically find their emails, reach out through customizable email sequences, and track interactions in a pipeline, eliminating the need for multiple tools and saving time and money.
• Full customization: Make folk work for you with its custom fields, pipelines, dashboards, automation and workflows.
• Integrations: folk integrates seamlessly with over 6,000 apps, including Gmail, Zapier, and Make, allowing users to centralize their workflow and reduce manual data entry.

Cons

• Reporting: Currently lacks reporting features, but there are plans for future implementation.

Price and plans

You can try folk for free with a 14-day free trial. After that, a monthly or annual subscription plan is as follows.

• Standard: $20 per user, per month.
• Premium: $40 per user, per month.
• Custom: Starts from $60 per user, per month.

2. HubSpot

HubSpot CRM is a user-friendly, scalable platform offering integrated tools for managing sales, marketing, customer service, and operations efficiently.

Key features

• Sales Hub: Provides deal tracking, pipeline management, sales automation, and reporting, essential for managing leads and customers efficiently.
• Lead scoring: Prioritize leads with predictive scoring to improve sales efficiency and focus on high-potential prospects.
• Marketing Hub: Includes email marketing, ad tracking, landing pages, and lead generation tools to support sales initiatives.
• Service Hub: Offers customer service tools like ticketing, live chat, and knowledge bases to maintain strong customer relationships.
• Operations Hub: Syncs and automates business processes across different systems, ensuring seamless sales operations.

Pros

• User-friendly Interface: HubSpot is known for its intuitive and easy-to-use interface, making it accessible for users of all skill levels, which is ideal for sales teams.
• Comprehensive free plan: Offers a robust free version that includes essential CRM features, perfect for small sales teams and startups.
• Seamless integration with marketing tools: Integrates smoothly with its marketing, sales, and service hubs, creating a unified platform for managing leads and customers.
• Automation capabilities: Provides powerful automation tools for tasks like email marketing, lead nurturing, and sales workflows, helping sales teams save time and improve efficiency.
• Customizable dashboard and reports: Allows users to create customized dashboards and reports to track sales metrics and gain insights into performance.

Cons

• High cost at higher tiers: HubSpot’s pricing can become expensive as you move to higher tiers, which may be prohibitive for small businesses as they scale.
• Limited customization in free plan: The free plan and lower tiers have limited customization options, which can restrict flexibility for growing sales teams.
• Complexity in advanced features: Some advanced features, such as custom reporting and workflows, have a steep learning curve and may require additional training.
• Email marketing limits: Email marketing functionality in the free plan is restricted by limits on the number of emails you can send, which can be a drawback for sales teams with larger lists.
• Additional costs for add-ons: Many useful features, like advanced CRM capabilities and integrations, come as paid add-ons, increasing the overall cost.

Price and plans

HubSpot's prices and plans on the sales hub for an annual subscription are as follows.

• Starter: $15 per user, per month.
• Professional: $90 per user, per month.
• Enterprise: $150 per user, per month.

3. Pipedrive

Pipedrive is a web-based CRM for small businesses, offering lead management, automation, email integration, and customizable pipelines to optimize sales.

Key features

• Lead and deal management: Centralized tools to manage customer data, interactions, and sales pipelines, helping teams act quickly on opportunities.
• Sales automation: Workflow automation to handle repetitive tasks, such as lead routing, follow-ups, and email sequences, allowing sales teams to focus on closing deals.
• Email integration: Full email sync, templates, and tracking features, enabling users to manage all communications directly from the CRM.
• Advanced reporting and analytics: Real-time data analytics and custom reporting tools to track sales performance, forecast revenue, and gain actionable insights.
• Customization and security: Options to customize pipelines, fields, and user permissions, with robust security measures to protect data.

Pros

• User-friendly interface: Known for its intuitive and visually appealing interface, making it easy for users to navigate and manage their sales pipelines.
• Sales pipeline focus: Specifically designed for managing sales pipelines, offering a visual approach that helps sales teams track deals and activities effectively.
• Customization: Allows for a high degree of customization, enabling users to tailor the platform to their specific sales processes with custom fields and workflows.
• Affordability: Offers competitive pricing, making it accessible to small and medium-sized businesses without sacrificing essential CRM features.
• Automation features: Includes automation tools that help streamline repetitive tasks, such as sending follow-up emails and moving deals through the pipeline, saving time and boosting productivity.

Cons

• Limited advanced features: Lacks some of the more advanced CRM features, such as extensive marketing automation and AI capabilities, which are available in other platforms.
• Basic reporting in lower tiers: The reporting and analytics features in the basic plans are somewhat limited, requiring upgrades to access more in-depth insights.
• Restricted customization options: While customizable, it does not offer as many advanced customization options as some other CRMs, which can be a drawback for businesses with complex needs.
• No built-in email marketing: Does not include built-in email marketing features, requiring users to integrate with third-party email tools for such functionality.
• Limited customer support hours: Customer support is not available 24/7, which can be inconvenient for businesses operating in different time zones or needing immediate assistance.

Price and plans

Pipedrive's annual subscription plan basis is as follows.

• Essential plan: Starts from $24 per user, per month.
• Advanced plan: Starts from $44 per user, per month.
• Power plan: Starts from $79 per user, per month.
• Enterprise plan: Starts from $129 per user, per month.

4. Zoho

Zoho is a CRM system with a strong sales focus. It has journey orchestration, sales process management, and workflow automation features. There's also something for marketing teams, including event management and customer segmentation.

Key features

• Sales automation: Automates sales tasks like lead management, deal tracking, and follow-up actions.
• Customizable dashboards and reports: Allows users to create and customize dashboards and reports for in-depth analytics.
• Multi-channel communication: Integrates with email, phone, social media, and live chat to manage customer interactions.
• Lead and contact management: Manages customer information, tracks interactions, and segments contacts for targeted campaigns.
• Sales pipeline management: Visualizes and manages sales pipelines with drag-and-drop functionality.

Pros

• Affordability: Zoho CRM offers competitive pricing with various tiers, making it accessible to small and medium-sized businesses as well as larger enterprises.
• Customization: Extensive customization options allow businesses to tailor the CRM to their specific needs, including custom fields, modules, and workflows.
• Integration with Zoho suite: Seamless integration with other Zoho products (like Zoho Books, Zoho Projects, and Zoho Campaigns) creates a comprehensive ecosystem for managing different business functions.
• Multi-channel communication: Zoho CRM supports email, phone, social media, and live chat, enabling businesses to manage all customer interactions from a single platform.
• AI-powered features: Zia, the AI assistant, provides intelligent insights, predictive analytics, and task automation, helping to improve sales and marketing efficiency.

Cons

• Steep learning curve: The extensive customization options can be overwhelming for new users, requiring a significant time investment to master the platform.
• Complex setup: Initial setup and configuration can be complex, particularly for businesses without technical expertise or dedicated IT resources.
• User interface: Some users find the interface to be outdated or cluttered compared to other modern CRM platforms, which can affect usability.
• Performance issues: Occasional reports of slow performance, especially with large datasets or complex operations, can hinder productivity.
• Limited third-party integrations: While Zoho integrates well with its own suite of products, integration with third-party applications can be limited or require additional effort.

Price and plans

Zoho's free plan is limited to three users. After that, for more features and seats, an annual subscription plan is as follows.

• Standard: $20 per user, per month.
• Professional: $35 per user, per month.
• Enterprise: $50 per user, per month.

5. Salesforce

Salesforce is a robust CRM platform for large enterprises, offering tools for sales, marketing, service, and analytics, with extensive scalability.

Key features

• Lead and customer management: Salesforce offers robust tools for tracking and managing leads and customers, essential for sales teams to streamline their sales processes.
• Customization and scalability: Salesforce is highly customizable, allowing sales teams to tailor the platform to their specific workflows and scale as the business grows.
• AI-powered insights: Salesforce Einstein provides AI-driven analytics and automation, offering valuable insights to help sales teams optimize their strategies.
• Integration capabilities: Salesforce integrates with a wide range of third-party applications, ensuring seamless operation across different business systems.
• Advanced analytics and reporting: Salesforce provides powerful analytics and reporting tools, enabling sales teams to gain deep insights into their performance and make data-driven decisions.

Pros

• Comprehensive feature set: Salesforce offers extensive features covering sales, service, marketing, and more, making it a powerful tool for managing all aspects of customer relationships.
• Highly customizable: Salesforce allows sales teams to tailor the platform to their specific needs with custom fields, objects, and workflows.
• Extensive integration capabilities: Salesforce integrates with a wide array of third-party applications, enabling seamless data flow across platforms.
• Scalability: Salesforce is highly scalable, suitable for businesses of all sizes, from small startups to large enterprises.
• Advanced analytics and reporting: Salesforce provides powerful analytics and reporting tools, allowing sales teams to gain deep insights into their data and make informed decisions.

Cons

• High cost: Salesforce can be expensive, especially for small to medium-sized businesses, with high licensing fees and additional costs for add-ons and customization.
• Steep learning curve: Due to its extensive feature set and complexity, Salesforce often requires significant time and training for users to become proficient.
• Complex setup and customization: Initial setup and customization can be challenging and often require expert help or certified consultants, which adds to the overall cost.
• User interface: Some users find the Salesforce interface to be outdated and not as intuitive as other modern CRM platforms, which can hinder usability.
• Overwhelming for small teams: Salesforce’s robust features may be overkill for smaller teams or businesses, leading to underutilization of the platform’s capabilities.

Price and plans

• Starter suite: $25/user/month provides basic CRM features for small businesses.
• Pro suite: $100/user/month includes advanced tools for growing businesses.
• Enterprise plan: $165/user/month offers extensive customization and automation for large companies.
• Unlimited plan: $330/user/month provides comprehensive features for large enterprises.
• Einstein 1 Sales: $500/user/month provides AI-driven insights and advanced features for large enterprises.

Conclusion

Choosing the best CRM for your sales team is a critical decision that can significantly impact your business's efficiency and growth. Whether you're a small business founder or a startup leader, the right CRM will streamline your processes, improve customer relationships, and boost sales performance. Folk stands out for its ease of use, LinkedIn integration, and AI-powered features, making it a strong contender for sales-focused teams. HubSpot offers a comprehensive suite with robust automation and user-friendly interface, while Pipedrive provides a visual sales pipeline and affordability. Zoho's extensive customization and multi-channel communication make it versatile, and Salesforce's scalability and advanced analytics cater to larger enterprises. Each CRM has its unique strengths, so consider your specific needs, budget, and team size when making your decision. Start by exploring free trials and demos to find the best fit for your sales team. Try folk for free here.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What do high performing sales teams use as a CRM?

Sales teams often use CRMs like folk, Hubspot, Pipedrive, Zoho, and Salesforce. These platforms offer a range of features tailored to sales teams, including lead management, sales automation, and advanced analytics. For instance, folk is known for its intuitive interface and LinkedIn integration, while Salesforce provides extensive customization and scalability for larger enterprises.

Do I need a CRM?

Yes, depending on the complexity of your sales process. A CRM helps organize customer interactions, track leads, and automate repetitive tasks, which is crucial for managing sales teams effectively. If your sales process involves multiple touchpoints and extensive follow-ups, a CRM can significantly enhance efficiency and improve sales performance.

How much does a CRM cost?

CRM costs vary widely, typically ranging from $15 to $500 per user per month. For example, Hubspot offers a starter plan at $15 per user per month, while Salesforce's advanced plans can go up to $500 per user per month. Folk offers plans starting at $20 per user per month, making it a cost-effective option for small to medium-sized businesses.

Does folk’s CRM respond to sales teams needs?

Yes, folk’s CRM is designed to meet the needs of sales teams. It offers features like contact enrichment, LinkedIn integration, and customizable pipelines, which streamline the sales process. Folk also provides AI-powered tools and seamless integration with over 6,000 apps, making it an all-in-one solution that enhances productivity and reduces the need for multiple tools.