When strategizing on your sales strategy, you could be looking at the need to automate some of the activities you and your sales team are doing to close those deals. Picking the automated tool to assist you may be a daunting process. There is a plethora of sales software out there.
The sales process has multiple stages, and you will need various tools to assist you. From a general Customer Relationship Management platform, Sales Enablement Automation, and Sales Scheduling software, to Video Calling and Conference software.
To narrow the options, we have gathered the best software to help you with which tool would be best for you and your team. We have divided your options into segments, depending on your needs that need addressing.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
Customer Relationship Management(CRM) refers to systems that help connect customers to the company, streamline various processes, and improve profitability. You may have come upon this term before used to refer to a tool. Though there is a broader meaning to it, it is often common that it refers to the software tool that aids in the management of customer relations. What it does is help connect the clients with management, the marketing team, the sales team, etc…
Management of customer relations can be daunting, but technology makes it simpler. We have collected the best CRM tools to aid in that endeavor. Below, we have listed the best 6 CRM tools. We hope that these help you in managing your customer relations.
6 Best CRM Tools in Comparison:
XYNCDRIVE CRM
Overview: XYNCDRIVE CRM is a comprehensive lead management and marketing automation platform that drives your outsourced lead generation program with its powerful Omnichannel marketing capabilities. Equip your team with the tools to closely monitor campaigns, analyze key metrics, and make strategic, data-driven decisions.
Pros:
Account-based marketing approach
Data-driven Marketing Software
Omni-channel Marketing
SmartTalk auto dialer software (Smart Dialing, Custom Triggers, Call Queues, Lead Scoring)
Software navigation is user-friendly
Clients can access the CRM for monitoring
Cons:
Price: XyncDrive CRM is a Proprietary software that is privately owned, controlled, and distributed under specific licensing terms that restrict users' rights to modify, distribute, or access its underlying source code.
SALESFORCE CRM
Overview:
Salesforce CRM is a leading cloud-based CRM software that provides CRM solutions that are used by companies from start-ups to high-scale enterprises.
The CRM software is easy to use, customizable, and a platform that facilitates growth and upgrades. It helps recognize customer requirements, solves issues faster, and delivers a fast and clean deployment. The software is mobile adaptive as well.
Features:
Produces real-time visualization, chatter, and analytics.
Allows email integration and helps run applications.
Yields markets and communities for sales and leads.
Aids in forecasting and keeps customers engaged.
Pros:
Cloud-based and provides efficient management through business automation.
Software navigation is user-friendly.
Provides a custom dashboard.
Adaptive to Social Media.
Cons:
Technical Support Staff is poor and has a complex process of generating reports.
Costly customization and needs a dedicated team to handle its complex environment.
Upgrades create issues with clients as some functionalities get hidden.
Price:
Open Source: Free
Lightning Essentials: $25 and increases per added requirements.
HUBSTOP CRM
Overview:
It is a leading CRM with wide usage and is largely free. Its platform is simple and allows for a quick start. Because it is simple, it is fast, while having most of the features that other CRMs provide. It provides flexibility and is a well-used software.
Features:
Provides a customization board for tasks and synchronizes the marketing dept.
Automatically logs every activity, and all information about the contacts can be seen in one place.
Pipeline management has total visibility.
Has good integration with cell phones, websites, and mail.
Pros:
You can read feedback from clients and client records are in one place.
Uses famous Google features such as Google Drive, Calendar, and Gmail.
Has a feature that is excellent for searching for companies.
Works continuously in the background without disrupting other tools.
Cons:
The free version does not have all the features.
No auto-update on Sidekick, you have to do it manually for existing companies.
Using Hubspot you cannot send emails to multiple companies at the same time.
Price:
Has a free version but lacks features.
Starter: $50
Basic: $200
Professional: $800
Enterprise: $2400
MONDAY.COM CRM
Overview:
Monday.com CRM keeps all data protected and allows you to capture leads online through an integrated contact form. Can automatically insert leads that were captured in other forms. It also allows the import of leads from various tools.
Features:
Has Advanced Account Permissions
Provides an audit log
Provides Session Management
Allows dashboard customization as to your requirements in gaining insights.
Provides an overview of processes, performance, sales, etc…
Has automation for repetitive tasks.
Provides automatic reminders, from assigning new tasks for teammates to due date notifications.
Pros:
Has advanced search capabilities.
Has an all-in-one solution and is user-friendly.
Customizable to fit the sales workflow.
Provides time tracking, private board features, and a chart view.
Cons:
Toggling between the project and views is difficult.
No free plan.
Price:
Basic: $17.00
Standard: $26.00
Pro: $39.00
Enterprise: This one provides extra security features and personal assistance. Custom Price.
ZOHO CRM
Overview:
This cloud-based CRM system caters to enterprise customers, SMBs, and various types of businesses. It has around 40 in-house business apps that support mobile and integrate with popular business apps.
Features:
Provides sales automation tools to manage leads, deals, contacts, and accounts through workflows and macros.
Uses an Omnichannel Platform.
Provides customizable dashboards and reports with options to compare, contrast, and draw insights from data.
Provides internal chat features, notes, forums, and groups to facilitate team collaboration.
Provides insights into the distribution of campaign budgets with corresponding ROI data through marketing attribution tools.
Provides AI sales assistant “Zia” that helps detect anomalies, identify email sentiments, predict sales outcomes, enrich data, and the best time to contact someone.
Has a Mobile CRM app to schedule tasks, record data, update the information when you are offline, and connect with customers.
Has various software such as REST API, deluge functions, widgets, web and mobile SDKs, sandbox, and developer edition.
Pros:
24-hr support for premium users.
Provides advanced security features such as encryption, IP restrictions, audit logs, and two-factor authentication with customizable access.
Contracts are flexible, and pricing may be annually, or monthly for the things you need, and no hidden costs.
Has a Mobile CRM app to stay in touch with customers, and to stay ahead of the competition.
The Switch Migration system easily helps bring existing sales data into Zoho CRM, making it fast and easy for onboarding.
Cons:
UI is not very intuitive.
The free edition is limited to 3 users.
Free support is only 5 days a week.
Price:
Standard: $14.00
Professional: $23.00
Enterprise: $40.00
Ultimate: $52.00
Custom: On request, along with enhanced security, implementation, onboarding, and training.
PIPEDRIVE
Overview:
CRM tool built for minimum input and maximum output. Helps organize business through a superb view of sales leading to improved workflows and increased productivity.
Features:
Provides setting of goals, history, API, and mobile App.
Customizable, and supports multi-environment with 24/7 support.
Provides good email integration and pipeline.
Provides good reporting, email tracking, data import and export, and map integration.
Pros:
Provides customization, pipelines, and email integration of apps.
Has a simple UI.
Flexible in modifications and graphics.
Cons:
No inbuilt phone system and no feature to track customer responses on apps.
Within PIPEDRIVE, there is no provision to send mail.
Features like email, phones, etc.. have additional charges.
Automation is lacking in creating customized reports and is generally poor.
Price:
Essential: $11.90/user/month
Advanced: $24.90/user/month
Professional: $49.90/user/month
Enterprise: $74.90/user/month
SALES ENABLEMENT AND AUTOMATION
Let us now look at sales enablement. Sales enablement is the act of helping your sales team close more leads by providing them with the resources and support they need. This usually comes in the form of a sales platform, as the process will involve a lot of automation. The tools help keep your sales team organized, keep track of the sales process, and allow for smooth communication between your marketing team and sales team, as well as track and guide the movement of leads through the customer journey. Below we have 3 sales enablement platforms for comparison in hopes that one would best fit your needs.
Best 3 Sales Enablement Platform
OUTREACH
A sales engagement platform that helps sales teams automate and personalize their sales outreach. From prospecting to deal management to forecasting, using automation and artificial intelligence to help increase efficiency and effectiveness across the revenue cycle.
Features:
Can create automated sales sequences that include different types of channels based on prospect behavior and engagement, such as email followed by a phone call.
Allows the sending of personalized social media messages, emails, and calls to prospects.
The tool provides optimization and analytics features to help track and improve the performance of your campaigns.
Can be integrated with popular CRM tools.
Pros:
Provides automation and personalization features
Can work with popular CRM tools.
Has multi-channel outreach capabilities
Provides analytics and optimization features for improving and tracking sales performance
Cons:
May be costly for small and medium-sized businesses.
It may not be ideal for highly personalized sales outreach.
Some may find it not as user-friendly as they are used to.
INSIDESALES PLAYBOOK
A sales platform that helps sales teams optimize and automate their sales processes. Helps sales teams increase productivity, connect to the right buyers, and optimize customer interactions.
Features:
A tool that provides analytics and optimization features to help you track and improve sales performance.
Uses machine learning algorithms to prioritize leads based on their likelihood to convert into a customer.
Allows the creation of personalized sales cadences based on a prospect's preferences, behavior, and engagement level.
Can be integrated with popular CRM tools.
Pros:
Has analytics and optimization features to improve sales processes.
Uses learning algorithms to lead personalized engagement and prioritization.
Provides a set of sales acceleration features, including task automation,
cadence management, and email tracking.
Can be integrated with popular CRM tools.
Cons:
Unable to undo emails sent through InsideSales.com Predictive Playbooks.
May need comprehensive setup and customization effort to use effectively.
May be costly for small and medium-sized businesses
The interface may not be user-friendly to some.
LINKEDIN SALES NAVIGATOR
This is an exclusive LinkedIn sales tool that allows sales and marketing teams to find and reach out to potential prospects on LinkedIn.
Features:
Can be integrated with other CRM tools such as HubSpot and Salesforce.
The tool allows you to save leads and accounts, track your interactions with them, and take notes.
The tool provides suggestions for potential leads based on your past interactions and search criteria.
LinkedIn Sales Navigator offers a variety of search filters to help find relevant prospects based on factors such as job title, location, and company size.
Offers real-time updates on key actions taken by your prospects, such as engagement of content, job change, and company updates.
Has features such as shared insights, notes, and lead and account lists.
Pros:
Access to LinkedIn's data on its network with all its accounts.
Has real-time data on prospects, such as content engagement and job changes.
Provides features for team collaboration for sharing leads and account lists.
Provides search filters for finding relevant prospects.
Can work with popular CRM tools.
Cons:
Only works with LinkedIn's network.
Needs some manual effort to find and connect with prospects
Not ideal for high-volume prospecting.
SALES SCHEDULING SOFTWARE TOOLS
Sales Scheduling Software is just what the name implies. It is an app that helps organize and keep track of appointments. It also adds support, such as some would include automation in things such as replies, shifting and prioritizing appointments, helping organize team schedules through polls, and so on. As such Sales Scheduling Software can be vital to running a business. Below we have one of the best 5 Sales Scheduling Tools. We have put them up for comparison for your consideration.
Best 5 Sales Scheduling Tools
CALENDLY
A leading Sales Scheduling Software tool that allows you or your sales teams to share their schedules, allowing prospects to appoint a meeting time that they prefer. Calendly smoothly works with other popular calendar platforms, making it flexible.
Features:
Works with Outlook, iCloud, and Google Calendar.
Automated follow-up emails and reminders
Customizable meeting availability and types
Pros:
Provides automated follow-up emails
Integrated with various calendar platforms
Customizable schedule meeting options
Cons:
The free Version is limited
No group meetings into specific time blocks
Price:
Basic – Free
Essentials – $8/month
Professional – $12/month
Teams – $16/month
Enterprise – Custom
SQUARE APPOINTMENTS
This is a scheduling and payment processing tool that is tailored generally for small businesses. With Square Appointments, you can do custom booking pages that allow your clients to set up appointments with you, pay for the services, and get email reminders. It also features the ability for clients to pay using the app. It also has features like client management, automated appointment confirmations, and easy rescheduling options.
Features:
All-in-one platform for scheduling and payment processing.
Automated appointment confirmations.
Provides team scheduling features.
Custom booking pages.
Provides analytics to track meeting metrics.
Pros:
Easy to use and mobile-friendly.
Integrates with popular e-commerce, marketing, accounting, and tax apps.
Ability to change or cancel at any time.
Unified scheduling and payment.
Automated confirmations for appointments.
Integrated with popular marketing, accounting, e-commerce, and tax apps.
Cons:
May be costly to some, as the price is per location.
Heavily reliant on other Square products.
Some alternatives have more specialized features.
The free plan allows for only one location.
Price:
Free Plan: Free
Plus Plan: $30/month/location
Premium plan: $69/month/location
Custom plan: Quote-based pricing
CLARA LABS
Clara is an AI virtual assistant that schedules your meetings. When you start a conversation with a prospect for setting up a meeting, you CC Clara on the email. Clara then removes you from the process of setting up a meeting and converses only with your recipient. This will save you time and effort in getting back to that conversation you initiated.
Features:
Prompt response to emails and automatic follow-ups.
Has a range of customizable email templates.
Can handle the entire scheduling process for you.
Works with popular calendar apps.
Uses Natural Language Processing for its automated responses.
Has time zone detection in setting up schedules as well as in its automotive responses.
Pros:
Can do the entire scheduling process for you.
Is an AI-powered scheduling assistant with natural language processing.
Provides analytics to track meeting metrics
Works with other popular calendar apps
Cons:
Limited customization options for scheduling pages.
May be a bit expensive even with the cheapest plan.
Pricing:
Clara Essential: $99/month
Clara Professional: $199/month
Clara Executive: $99/month
Clara for Teams: Custom Pricing
ACUITY SCHEDULING
With the Acuity Scheduling tool, you may make personalized schedule pages, receive payments online, and provide gift cards and bundles. Additionally, it can arrange group meetings, personalized intake forms, and appointment reminders.
Features:
Real-time calendar availability
Fully customizable
Auto notifications and reminders
Open API
Auto time zone adjustment
Event and group scheduling
Team calendars
Activity tracking
Pros:
Good scheduling tools
Custom intake forms
Arranging group meetings
Provides meeting metrics tracking analytics
Cons:
Fewer choices for personalization on scheduling pages.
Higher pricing tiers might be costly.
Price:
Freebie: Free
Emerging Plan $16/month
Growing Plan $27/month
Power House $49/month
DOODLE
Doodle, an appointment-scheduling cloud-based software, helps small and large size enterprises schedule appointments and meetings.
Using the scheduling tool Doodle, you can make polls and distribute them to your clients to determine the most effective times for meetings. Such as one-on-one meetings, group meetings, and even recurring meetings. Doodle can also interact with Google Calendar, Outlook, and iCloud to name some of the popular calendar software.
Features:
Can make and send polls that include suggested meeting or event timings.
Doodle sends reminders to those who have not confirmed availability who will be attending.
It's simple to add events to your calendar with Doodle because it connects with widely used calendar software like Google Calendar and Outlook.
Pros:
Has a user-friendly interface.
Eliminates the need for tedious efforts with communication when scheduling meetings and events.
You can tailor your polls to the precise days and hours that are most convenient for you and your participants.
Doodle works with popular calendar apps.
Cons:
Limited features for complex scenarios.
Impossible to tell if recipients would attend or not the meeting unless they touch the poll.
Doesn't have automatic time zone conversion.
Price:
Free: Free
Pro: $14.95/month/user
Team: $19.95/month
Enterprise: Custom pricing
VIDEO CALLS AND CONFERENCING
Video conferencing has grown to be a crucial tool for many in the era of remote business and studying from home. Choosing an app might be challenging because there are so many choices. We will be comparing five of the most popular video chatting and conference programs which are Zoom, Microsoft Teams, GoToMeeting, Google Meet, and Cisco Webex.
5 Top Video Call and Conferencing Apps
ZOOM
This highly popular video conferencing app, Zoom has swiftly gained popularity in part because of its simple interface and functionality. It can record meetings for later viewing, share its screen, and host meetings with up to 100 attendees. Additionally, Zoom provides customers with the option to modify their background to something more amusing or professional.
Pros:
Generous free account.
User-friendly interface.
Can host meetings with up to 100 participants.
Offers virtual backgrounds.
Screen sharing and recording capabilities.
Good track record for prompt support resolution.
Cons:
No toll-free dial-in numbers for the US or the UK.
No description or meeting agenda in an invitation from the app.
Mixed track record for company response to privacy and security concerns.
Limited meeting time for free users.
Price:
Free Version: Free
Pro Plan: $14.99/month
Business Plan: $19.99/month
Business Plus: Custom Pricing
Enterprise: Custom Pricing
MICROSOFT TEAMS
Microsoft Teams, is Microsoft's response to Zoom, being more and more effective. There are several interesting features in Microsoft Teams. For instance, you can have conferences with up to 10,000 attendees, and each conference call includes breakout rooms, screen sharing, configurable and obscured backdrops, and recording. Transcribing meetings and live captioning are one of Teams' useful accessibility features. Also, Teams is integrated with other Microsoft Office apps.
Pros:
It is very simple to use and set up.
Integrated into other Microsoft Office programs.
The free version can host meetings with up to 1000 attendees.
Allows for instant file sharing and messaging.
Cons:
Can be overwhelming for new users.
Needs Microsoft Office 365 subscription to access all features.
Uses lots of computational resources while running, thus slowing down the system sometimes.
Price:
Microsoft Teams Free
Microsoft Teams Essentials $4.00/month/user
Microsoft 365 Business Basic $6.00/month/user
Microsoft 365 Business Standard $12.50/month/ user
GOTOMEETING
This video conferencing app has been around for a while, they geared it toward high numbers of participants. Users can host meetings with up to 3000 attendees, with premium, using GoToMeeting, and they can share their screen or even a specific program. Additionally, GoToMeeting has options for transcription, recording, and meeting diagnostic reports.
Pros:
Specially designed for larger businesses.
Works well with conferences with large attendees.
Data security and information privacy offered help meet security compliance policies.
Very high-quality audio for clear communication.
Capabilities for recording and sharing your screen.
Cons:
May be a bit expensive for some.
Design is geared towards larger organizations.
Features are limited in web browsers.
Pricing:
Professional Plan $14.00/month
Business Plan $19.00/month
Enterprise Plan Custom Pricing
GOOGLE MEET
Google Meet is part of the Google Workspace family tree. Users can host meetings for up to 100 people and share their screens or a certain window. Video conferences using Google Meet are only free for an Hour. If you need more time, you need to subscribe to Google Work Space through its various plans. Google Meet also has great audio, such as its background noise canceling. Guests can also directly join through a calendar event, email invite, or Gmail.
Pros:
A part of the Google Workspace series of apps.
Can host conferences with up to 100 attendees for free.
Has noise cancellation.
Advanced Screen sharing options.
Blurs background.
Cons:
Limited features for free users such as video conferences only up to 60 min.
Not as user-friendly as some other options.
You will need a Google account to use Google Meet.
To upgrade you will have to subscribe to the Google Workspace plan.
Does not have offline platforms.
Only paid users are allowed to record.
Price:
Business Started $6.48/month/user
Business Starter $12.96/month/user
Business Plus $21.60/month/user
Enterprise Custom Pricing
CISCO WEBEX
A video conferencing tool designed for business, Cisco Webex, has functions like screen sharing, recording, and virtual backdrops. The free plan is one of the most comprehensive, having up to 100 participants per meeting for a max of 50 minutes. The app also features reduced disruptions with background noise removal and voice enhancement. It has real-time language translation of up to 100+ languages.
Pros:
Specially created for businesses.
Provides recording, screen sharing, and virtual backgrounds.
The free plan allows up to 100 participants for up to 50-minute meetings.
Cons:
UI may not be user-friendly to some.
Maybe more costly than some other options.
The app needs to be downloaded for offline use.
Price:
Free Plan Free
Meet Plan $14.50/month
Enterprise Custom Pricing
After checking this various software for different uses. You are now equipped with what would be your probable choices for the different needs that your company may have regarding sales. Even when your brand may not be struggling with sales, the use of additional tech should help increase your sales thus improving your return on investment.
Growth is always a goal of any brand. Don't miss out and start using additional technology to automate your activities and improve your business. Now we know it can still be a bit daunting to choose what works for you among even the fewer options we already have presented here. We here at XYNC are focused on helping our clients grow. Take advantage of our skills and expertise and contact us.
We, here at XYNC as a sales and marketing agency, have the business of finding leads and converting them into customers for our various clients. We take good care of the relationships we create for our clients and the leads we provide for them. All the functions done by the various CRM tools, sales enablement and automation tools, and sales scheduling tools, are all incorporated by our teams. Rather than go about, and pay for these various tools, as well as your staff, we invite you to take advantage of our service and let us handle a large part of your marketing and sales effort.
