Businesses are optimistic that more opportunities are becoming available especially to companies that can provide outstanding customer experience in the New Normal. Companies who made the right technological investments have increased their customer base and revenue. A sales team can effectively reach out to customers at the right time and the right place using the right CRM system. But which is right for your business’s needs?
This Freshworks CRM vs. Salesforce CRM article can help users choose the right tool to make the sale and reach targets.
Table of contents
- CRM Goals
- CRM Software Benefits
- Freshworks CRM Background and Approach
- Salesforce Approach
- Freshworks CRM vs. Salesforce Summary
CRM Goals
A CRM solution helps fulfill the purpose of a business by enabling companies to foster customer relationships through meaningful and profitable conversations. A CRM brings companies and customers together more closely. This Freshworks vs. Salesforce comparison looks at common features as well as different approaches of two leading CRM tools.
CRM Software Benefits
Businesses that invest in a CRM software gain access to the following:
- Collated, tabulated, and organized customer data
- Detailed reports on leads, opportunities, and sales
- Up-to-date visual information and metrics through dashboards
- Personalized messaging and outreach to customers and teams through various channels
- Increased productivity and revenue with automation and integration
- Opportunity to give useful customer support and proactive customer service
Freshworks CRM Background and Approach
Freshworks CRM, now known as Freshsales CRM, enables companies to find, engage, and nurture customers with its comprehensive offering of enterprise-class features. The Salesforce competitor was founded by Girish Mathrubootham with headquarters in San Mateo. The company boasts a global client base, and has recently concluded a successful IPO with JP Morgan and BofA Securities as lead book-running managers.
The cloud-based CRM is a Salesforce alternative that provides features to help users discover leads, boost customer engagement, drive deals to closure, and nurture existing customer relationships. Freshsales Suite is a unified solution for sales and marketing teams enhanced with artificial intelligence so users can take advantage of chatbots, smart leads identification, sales pipeline analysis, and other advanced functionality.
Built-in Communications
Freshworks CRM users can communicate with contacts and customers in various channel they are in with its built-in communication tools. Email integration allows teams to use the CRM as a central hub to manage email conversations and send outbound campaigns without having to switch between inbox and CRM. Sales reps can make calls right from the software and handle voicemails and messages so conversations come with full context of all recent activities. Other features include chat with website visitors, integration with WhatsApp, Apple iMessage, and SMS.
Workflow Automation
Freshworks provides tools to automate workflows so teams can focus more on their customers. Sales force automation tools help boost productivity by automating repetitive tasks and streamlining processes . Teams can create automated workflows so the CRM automatically follows up on leads, sends emails, creates invoices, and updates specific data fields. With simple if-then rules and triggers, workflows can activate a series of actions such as introduce a user to a new lead, update a contact status, set up an invoice, or qualify leads.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
A built-in artificial intelligence engine called Freddy AI enhances Freshworks CRM. It learns from the CRM data and makes predictions and recommendations to help users make better decisions. The smart feature identifies which contacts are a priority based on predictive scoring and star ranking. Freddy analyzes historical sales data, activities, and engagement to deliver insights that help closes deals. Other features include forecasting revenue, action suggestions, and schedule optimization.
Salesforce Background and Approach
Salesforce is a software company based in San Francisco. Its cloud-based CRM solution of connected products aims to improve marketing, sales, commerce, and service. A company can subscribe initially to a single product such as Salesforce Service Cloud for customer service or to several products. Salesforce is primarily for enterprises but now also offers products for small businesses such as Salesforce Essentials.
It is an integrated CRM platform with tools to help users provide personalized marketing, win more customers, and respond to customer issues on multiple channels. The platform allows users to add more apps, integrate all data, and add analytics to create a complete 360-degree view of customers and their journey. It also has integration capabilities, marketing automation, AI, and analytics with products that are now part of Salesforce.
Contact Management
Salesforce provides a complete view of customers with their contact data, activity history, communications, and internal account discussions. It collects publicly available social content and streams it to a feed to provide insights. The contacts database enables collaboration across the organization with social tools to easily share insights, documents, and other important information. All information is accessible from mobile devices, so teams can get updated before walking in to a customer meeting.
Lead Management
Salesforce has lead management and tracking features that enables teams to view contact information as well as read documents on best sales practices. The CRM lets users track leads and campaigns, write personalized emails, and track leads as they convert to opportunities. Salesforce lets users set up automatic lead scoring and routing so leads go to the right sales rep for followup. Teams can manage campaigns across all channels including social media, and track them from capture to close.
Workflow and Approvals
Salesforce simplifies process and workflows with workflow tools and approvals. Its Process Builder allows users to automate business processes such as creating automatic email alerts for deals or assigning tasks as the deal progresses with a simple point and click. Sales managers can create complex workflows that guide agents every step with recommendations and automate manual tasks such as putting together proposals. The platform lets users automate an approval process and to respond to requests via Chatter or by email.
Freshworks CRM vs. Salesforce Summary
Our review of Freshworks CRM vs. Salesforce shows similarities and differences. Both Freshworks and Salesforce have features for contact management, automated workflows, and AI assistance. They both have strong email integration and mobile apps for iOS and Android devices that can serve businesses of all sizes across industries.
Freshworks CRM is an affordable solution that offers an all-in-one product as well as marketing only or sales only product. However, Salesforce rival Freshworks has built-in communication features already available in the lower plan as well as 24×5 support. AI features are available in its middle or professional plan. It integrates readily with other Freshworks products and with other apps through its marketplace. The company offers a free 21-day trial of the CRM.
Salesforce is an integrated platform that continues to expand its features with its acquisition of other products and services such as Mulesoft, Tableau, and Slack. It is ideal with enterprises although a small business solution for sales and support is also available. The software is also highly customizable, allows users to build custom apps, and has direct integration to many apps and services.
Freshworks CRM vs. Salesforce is a popular comparison that companies evaluate to find the CRM with the highest overall rating for their needs. The CRM market is a large space and includes other popular solutions like HubSpot CRM, Microsoft Dynamics, Insightly CRM, Nimble CRM, and Netsuite CRM. Companies should understand their strategy, clients, and teams to find the best solution that fits their CRM needs.
Read also: How CRM Software Increases Productivity and Profits in Retail Sales
