Stuck in a rut trying to scale your sales? You’ve come to the right place!
With the right sales CRM, you can easily revamp your sales process! Whereas the wrong one can tank your business if you’re not careful.
I’m AJ—here to help. I’ve spent the better part of a decade scaling my business to a successful multiple seven-figure exit (using practically every CRM under the sun).
Now, I’m here to give you the scoop on how to achieve financial freedom and success (without making the same mistakes I did).
So, let’s look at our list of the best sales CRM in the game (tested extensively over six months). Stick around to the end for some pro tips you don’t want to miss!
After years of SBB testing, here is our list of the best Sales CRMs:
- Best Sales CRM For Mobile: Capsule
- Best Sales CRM For Pipeline Management: Pipedrive
- Best Sales CRM For All-In-One: HubSpot
- Best Sales CRM For Lead Scoring: Freshsales
- Best Sales CRM For Automation: Monday.com
- Best Sales CRM For Lead Prospecting: Zendesk Sell
- Best Sales CRM For Scaling: Engagebay
- Best Sales CRM For Beginners: Pipeline
How Did We Test The Best Sales CRM Software?
- Hands-On Experience
- Feature Assessment
- Ease of Use
- Customer Support
- Scalability
- Third-Party Reviews
How We Objectively Test Each Platform:
AJ's got a knack for kick-starting businesses, putting them on autopilot, and setting them up for acquisition. Over the past decade, he's been right in the thick of things with hundreds of small businesses, helping them with just about everything under the business sun. If you need advice on software suites and choices? AJ's your guy.
We roll up our sleeves and dive into the top CRM features we think are pretty crucial for small businesses. Stuff like reports and analytics, options to customize your pipelines, and the ability to link up with other apps and services. We know what makes small businesses tick, so we know what features they need to get the job done.
Money matters, folks! When it comes to picking a CRM system, price is usually the deal-breaker. We give a big thumbs up if a provider charges $30 or less per user each month for their starter plan. Extra brownie points for throwing in a freebie plan or trial, options to scale up or down as needed, and the freedom to pay monthly or yearly. We're looking for flexability for small businesses.
We all know support is mega important when you're choosing a CRM platform. This is especially true for those smaller businesses or sales teams who can't afford to have tech wizards on their payroll. We put our detective hats on to see if these companies offer round-the-clock support, and we looked at the different ways you can get help. We're talking live chat (like, real-time convo), email tickets, a good old-fashioned phone call, and self-service tools (for the DIY-ers out there).
When you're in the business of picking a CRM, integrations are like the secret sauce that takes your burger from 'meh' to 'mind-blowing'. Imagine, all your favorite apps and tools, working together in perfect harmony, making your workflow smoother than a fresh tub of Nutella. When we review a CRM, we look at the integrations most SMB owners are looking for.
When you're reviewing a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system, it's essential to pay close attention to its ease of use. After all, a CRM is as beneficial as its usability. A simple, intuitive interface saves you and your team a great deal of time and headache. When we're reviewing each CRM, this is a crucial aspect that we look for.
The importance of Mobile CRM cannot be overstated in today's digital age. It's essential for fostering strong customer relationships and managing business activities. Mobile access to CRM makes it possible for sales teams to update and access customer information in real time, improving efficiency and ensuring up-to-date data. Mobile CRM can have a massive impact on SMBs, so thoroughly testing it is essential for each one of our reviews.
Capsule CRM: Best For Mobile
Bonfire Rating: 4.7/5
Capsule is perfect for SMBs that want a no-frills CRM designed to help your teams succeed!
Capsule
Learn More Today!-
AI Content Assistant
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Project Management Tools
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Customizable Sales Pipelines
Why We Picked Capsule CRM
Capsule CRM is a great platform to help mobile or remote sales teams succeed!
Here are some reasons we selected Capsule for this list:
- User-friendly mobile app with all key features
- Great AI content assistant to streamline communication
- Customizable sales pipeline
- Intuitive user interface
- Easy to manage on-the-go sales tasks and updates
If your business has a lot of remote or mobile sales reps, Capsule CRM is the perfect choice.
What’s great about Capsule’s mobile app is that it’s incredibly easy to navigate.
While some of the other CRMs on this list offer equally fantastic apps, Capsule CRM wins out because of its clean design and user-friendly interface.
Capsule CRM Features
Most CRMs offer some sort of mobile app in today’s digital landscape.
What sets Capsule apart from the competition is how well their app performs.
It’s incredibly user-friendly and has all the features you need to manage your sales tasks on the go.
Whether it’s pulling up a contact, adding notes, or checking in on your pipelines, Capsule’s mobile app makes it effortless.
For example, here’s a look at our affiliate marketing partnerships pipeline from the mobile app.
As you can see, everything is perfectly scaled for mobile access (making it a breeze to navigate).
In addition, the app also has offline capabilities, so you can continue working even without an internet connection.
As soon as you reconnect, your data is synced automatically!
Our verdict: Capsule CRM stands out in a sea of mobile apps with its intuitive and user-friendly design, making it a must-have tool for remote or mobile sales reps.
In the fast-paced world of sales, time is of the essence. That’s where Capsule CRM’s new AI Content Assistant comes in.
This feature is perfect for sales teams who want to focus more on closing deals and less on composing individual communication.
We input a few details and were able to generate a tailored email (within seconds).
This allowed us to spend more time engaging with our clients (and less time drafting the perfect message).
Capsule CRM’s AI Content Assistant feature is a huge timesaver for busy sales teams looking to streamline their communication process.
Plus, it’s available on both the web and mobile app.
At the end of the day, this feature isn’t going to revolutionize your business, but it’ll certainly take your customer communication up a notch!
Capsule CRM offers comprehensive pipeline customization, allowing you to adapt your CRM to the specific needs of your operations.
We started testing this feature by creating a pipeline for our affiliate marketing partnerships (shown below).
Once we named our pipeline and described it, we were able to customize each stage.
Here’s how the customization screen looked to give you a better idea.
From there, we were able to add our affiliate marketing deals to our pipeline with just a click and filled out a few fields.
Here’s a sneak peek at our affiliate partnerships pipeline with everything put in.
Capsule CRM offers a simple yet effective way to manage your sales pipelines (even on the go).
If you’re looking for the next best way to amp up your pipeline management efforts, try Capsule CRM!
Capsule Pricing
Capsule CRM offers four pricing plans.
They are the following:
- Starter – $21/Month
- Growth – $38/Month
- Advanced – $60/Month
- Ultimate – $75/Month
Capsule CRM Pros and Cons
- User-friendly mobile app with all key features
- AI Content Assistant for streamlined communication
- Customizable sales pipeline to fit your specific needs
- Offline capabilities for on-the-go work
- No free plan
- Limited automation capabilities compared to other CRMs on this list
Pipedrive: Best For Pipeline Management
Bonfire Rating: 4.7/5
Pipedrive: Best pipeline management in the game.
Pipedrive
Learn More Today!-
Low Startup Pricing
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Customizable Project Management
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Powerful Lead Generation Tools
Why We Picked Pipedrive
We picked Pipedrive for several reasons.
Let’s break it down:
- Scalable pricing plans & add-ons
- Fantastic pipeline management
- Intuitive user interface
- Powerful lead management and prospecting
- Great customer service
- Awesome mobile app
Pipedrive is flexible and scalable, allowing you to only pay for the features you need.
For example, the platform offers the ability to easily manage projects for just $8/month or campaign management for $16/month.
Pipedrive is the perfect example of a CRM that can easily be tailored to your business needs.
Add on the fact that it’s got a kick-ass mobile app and 24/7 customer support standing by, and you’ve got yourself one of the best sales CRMs in the game.
Pipedrive Features
Great pipeline management can make or break a business.
Luckily, Pipedrive delivers some of the best in the biz.
My team and I tested this feature (over six months) by adding and tracking some affiliate marketing deals.
Here’s what we loved about Pipedrive’s pipeline management:
- Multiple views
- Custom fields
- Drag-and-drop sales pipeline
- Activity scheduling directly from the pipeline
Let’s walk you through our experience.
First, we clicked “+ Deal” and were taken to a new deal card (shown below).
Within each card, we could easily add and edit the following info:
- Contact
- Organization
- Title
- Pipeline & stage
- Probability
- Close date
- Custom fields
We could easily customize each deal card to fit our specific needs (which we thought was awesome).
Once everything was put in and customized to our liking, here’s how our dashboard looked.
Plus, we could easily click on each deal directly from the pipeline to schedule the following with each client:
- Meetings
- Calls
- Tasks
Here’s an example of a follow-up call we scheduled within seconds with a client.
The bottom line: Great pipeline management is a must, and Pipedrive delivers on all fronts.
If you want to take your pipeline game to the next level, Pipedrive is a safe bet.
As you scale your business, your day-to-day tasks will only increase.
This is where Pipedrive’s activity-tracking tools come in handy.
Pipedrive offers the following features to help you stay on top of things:
- Calendar view
- Task management (with due dates)
- Meeting scheduling
- Call logging
- Notifications
- Mobile activity tracking
Here’s how an activity card looks (to give you a better idea).
Within each card, we were able to customize the following:
- Activity name
- Time & date
- Associated contacts
- Description
- Assigned users
- Associated deals
- Event location
There was a ton of information at our fingertips at all times—though Pipedrive remains surprisingly easy to use.
With Pipedrive, you can easily manage and organize all your day-to-day tasks directly within the CRM.
Plus, with the option to log calls and schedule meetings directly from Pipedrive, it’s a one-stop shop for all your activities.
This allows you and your team to schedule activities directly from the pipeline—making it easy to stay organized and on track.
Our takeaway: Pipedrive makes it easy to stay on top of all your activities in one place.
LeadBooster is an excellent tool that helps you optimize your lead-generation process for an extra $39/month.
With LeadBooster, you gain access to the following:
- Chatbots: Pipedrive’s Chatbots can engage your website visitors, answer their questions, and collect their contact information, even when you’re not online.
- Web forms: With Pipedrive’s web forms, capture leads directly from your website and automatically add them to your CRM.
- Live chat: The live chat feature allows real-time interaction with potential customers, providing immediate responses and increasing engagement.
- Prospector: Prospector uses AI to identify high-quality leads that match your desired customer profile, saving you time and effort in the prospecting process.
There’s a serious amount of value for the cost—especially considering Pipedrive’s ability to capture, qualify, and convert leads into customers.
If you’re serious about optimizing your lead generation process, LeadBooster is a feature worth investing in.
Pipedrive Pricing
Pipedrive offers a free plan in addition to three paid plans:
- Essential: $21.90/Month
- Advanced: $39.90/Month
- Professional: $59.90/Month
- Power: $74.90/Month
- Enterprise: $119.00/Month
Check out our complete Pipedrive pricing guide.
Pipedrive Pros and Cons
- Scalable pricing plans
- Sleek, intuitive UI
- Powerful sales CRM features
- Great customer support
- Impressive mobile app
- Pricing can get expensive with all the add-ons
- Customer journey view is limited outside of pipelines
HubSpot CRM: Best for All-In-One
Bonfire Rating: 4.8/5
HubSpot CRM has everything you need to help manage customer relationships. Seriously, it's got it all.
HubSpot
Learn More Today!-
Tons of Free Tools From Each Hub
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Live Chat Capabilities
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Robust Integrations
Why We Picked HubSpot CRM
HubSpot was a no-brainer for this list.
It’s powerful, offers tons of free tools, and it’s easy to use. In fact—HubSpot is one of our all-time favorite CRMs.
Here’s why:
- Sales, service, CMS, marketing, and operations in one place
- Fantastic user-interface
- Helpful HubSpot Academy for learning the platform
- Free tools, including forms and impressive email marketing
- Great mobile app
- Responsive customer support
HubSpot is a heavyweight in the CRM world (and for good reason).
The icing on the cake is that It’s entirely free to use—so there’s no barrier to entry for getting started!
HubSpot CRM Features
Effective pipeline management can be a game-changer for sales teams.
HubSpot CRM offers the following features that can help sales reps close more deals:
- Customizable pipelines
- In-depth reporting and analytics
- Deal tracking (in real time)
- Task automation and reminders
We especially loved how customizable the pipelines were.
Here’s a look at the column customization, where we were given a ton of options.
Once we had everything set up to our liking, my team and I added some affiliate marketing contacts to put the CRM software through its paces.
Our dashboard (shown below) gave us a bird’s eye view of our business processes (from prospecting to post-sales).
We loved the drag-and-drop interface that allowed us to easily move deals along the pipeline.
We also found the automation tools (like automatic task reminders) great for staying on top of our deals and ensuring nothing slipped through the cracks.
The need-to-know: HubSpot offers some of the best pipeline management of any CRM software I’ve used (and I’ve used most of them).
If you’re serious about stepping up your sales game, give HubSpot a try.
Managing customer relationships is key to any successful sales cycle.
That’s where HubSpot’s customer data management software comes in.
HubSpot provides a centralized location to store all your customer data with ease.
The best part? It’s fully customizable, easy to use, and 100% free to take advantage of.
If we didn’t test this feature (over six months) ourselves, we’d say it sounds too good to be true.
We added our B2B affiliate marketing contacts to test the capabilities and were blown away!
Here’s how a new contact card looked from our perspective.
Within each card, we could easily view the following:
- Name
- Contact owner
- Job title
- Contact info
- Lifecycle stage
- Lead status
- Custom fields
We loved the ability to fully customize our contact dashboard to our liking.
Once we had everything put in, here’s how it looked.
With the CRM software, we could easily filter and segment our contacts based on custom fields or tags we added (making it easy to quickly target specific groups).
Ultimately, HubSpot’s contact management is a great way to manage all your customer data with ease (while scaling your SMB).
A standout feature that caught our attention was the payment management offered by Sales Hub.
This robust and straightforward tool can help you accomplish the following:
- Manage subscriptions
- Generate payment links
- Collect donations
- Charge for events and online courses
- Sell products
We extensively tested this tool (over six months), which allowed us to streamline our subscription process and manage customer payments like never before.
Here’s a glimpse into our setup process (to paint a picture for you).
Our takeaway: HubSpot makes managing your sales a breeze by providing various payment management tools that seamlessly integrate with your CRM software.
If you’re still struggling with spreadsheets and manual payment processing, it’s time for a major upgrade.
HubSpot CRM Pricing
HubSpot CRM offers a free plan in addition to three paid plans:
- Free Plan – Free Forever
- Starter CRM Suite – $30/Month
- Professional CRM Suite – $1,335/Month
- Enterprise CRM Suite – $5,000/Month
Check out our in depth HubSpot pricing guide.
HubSpot CRM Pros and Cons
- Robust free plan
- Great contact, payment, & pipeline management
- Easy to use
- Fantastic 24/7 customer service
- Awesome mobile app
- All-in-one sales, marketing, service, operations, and CMS
- Advanced plans are on the pricey side
- The free plan offers limited pipeline management
Freshsales: Best For Lead Scoring
Bonfire Rating: 4.7/5
Freshsales is for businesses that need a powerful sales CRM. Check out Freshsales if you're looking to scale your business.
Freshsales
Learn More Today!-
Great Automation Capabilities
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Affordable (and Scalable) Pricing
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Fantastic Pipeline Management
Why We Picked Freshsales
Freshsales offers many tools to help you scale your sales efforts and close more deals.
Here’s why we picked it:
- Comprehensive free plan
- Scalable pricing
- Great user interface
- Customizable lead scoring
- Great automation tools w/ templates
Freshsales offers some great pipeline management, automation capabilities, and lead scoring tools to ensure your sales teams focus on the most promising leads.
Plus, Freshsales offers a free plan for up to three users with the essential features—perfect for smaller businesses looking to test the waters before committing.
Freshsales Features
As you grow your business, you need a pipeline management system to keep up.
Luckily, Freshsales has your back.
Here are some aspects of this feature that we loved:
- Visual sales pipeline
- Automatic lead routing capabilities
- Custom fields and tags
- Stage progression tracking in real time
- Advanced filters and search options
Here’s a look at our sales pipeline with some of our affiliate marketing deals added.
As you can see, the layout is sleek and easy to read.
Each deal card offers useful information at a glance, making it easy to keep your entire team on the same page.
We also liked that when a deal was won, there was a little congratulatory message for the sales rep at the bottom.
Check it out from our perspective (when a member of my team closed a deal).
It’s not much, but little features like this foster friendly competition within sales teams and ultimately boost productivity.
Our two cents: Regarding pipeline management, Freshsales goes the extra mile.
It’s easy to use, powerful, and it adds a little gamification to foster competition.
Great workflow automation can make repetitive tasks a thing of the past (say that five times fast).
Freshsales breaks its workflow automation down into three main categories:
- Sales Sequences
- Workflows
- Auto-assignment Rules
We’ll give a brief overview of each.
Sales Sequences
Sales sequences in Freshsales are essentially automated, personalized email campaigns.
We created many sequences throughout our six-month testing period (to help us stay in touch with our leads).
We were able to choose between the following types:
- Outbound sequence
- Classic sequence
- Smart sequence
Here’s a sneak peek into our sequence creation process.
Workflows
Workflows help to streamline your sales process by automating a variety of tasks.
We created several workflows during our testing period, including the following:
- Notifying sales reps when a deal is won or lost
- Automatically assigning leads to the correct owner based on specific criteria
- Setting reminders for important tasks in the pipeline
We especially loved the helpful workflow automation templates (shown below) that Freshsales provides, allowing beginners and experts alike to take advantage of powerful automation.
Auto-assignment Rules
The auto-assignment rules in Freshsales ensure that new leads or tickets are automatically assigned to the relevant team members.
Here is a screenshot of the rule we created (in less than 5 minutes).
You can set rules based on various factors, such as the lead or ticket source, the country of origin, or the product of interest.
This ensures that the right person is dealing with each lead or ticket, optimizing your sales management.
Overall, when it comes to automation, Freshsales is a powerhouse. They’ve got you covered—from email sequences to task reminders and automatic lead assignment.
Lead scoring is an essential feature for any SMB.
Freshsales offers customizable lead-scoring capabilities to help you identify hot leads (and prioritize them accordingly).
Here’s how it works:
- Assign values to different actions or characteristics that indicate a higher likelihood of conversion (e.g., company size or website visits).
- As leads engage with your business, they accumulate points based on their actions and characteristics.
- Based on their point total, leads will fall into different lead categories.
This feature is perfect for larger sales teams with a high volume of leads.
It takes the guesswork out of prioritizing leads and ensures that your reps focus their efforts on the most promising prospects.
We found this feature great for staying organized and ensuring our team targeted the right leads.
Here’s a quick look at the customization process (which allows you to assign the parameters of your lead scoring).
At the end of the day, if you want to close more deals, you need prioritized leads.
Freshsales’ customizable lead scoring system makes this a breeze.
Freshsales CRM Pricing
In terms of pricing, Freshsales offers 3 paid plans, with the Growth plan that’s free for up to 3 users.
Here are the plans they offer:
- Free – Free Forever
- Growth – $18/Month
- Pro – $47/Month
- Enterprise – $83/Month
Freshsales CRM Pros and Cons
- Intuitive interface
- Fantastic lead-scoring tools
- Affordable pricing (plus a free plan)
- Beginner-friendly workflow automation capabilities
- Limited pipelines on free plan
- Limited customer support
Monday.com: Best For Automation
Bonfire Rating: 4.8/5
Monday.com was made for the dreamers, the folks who get stuff done!
Monday.com
Learn More Today!-
Tons of Project Management Tools
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Affordable Pricing & Free Forever Plan
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Powerful Analytics & Reporting
Why We Picked Monday.com
Monday.com is a powerful CRM solution with a lot to offer SMBs across the board.
Here are some reasons Monday.com made the list:
- Powerful automation (that’s easy to create)
- Includes a ton of helpful integrations
- Extremely affordable plans
- Fantastic user experience (from top to bottom)
- Great project, pipeline, & contact management
Monday.com offers a powerful free plan in addition to paid plans starting at $8/month. This makes it perfect for SMBs on a budget.
The CRM software also makes automation incredibly easy through its user-friendly platform.
They have a unique “If/Then” layout that helps automate your tasks in a visual and easy-to-understand way.
Monday.com Features
Without the right tools in place to stay on top of your pipelines, they can quickly become a chaotic mess.
Enter Monday.com—with its customizable pipelines, modern layout, and easily accessible design, it’s easily a contender for best pipeline management.
We started testing this feature by adding some deals we have at Small Business Bonfire.
Here’s how it looked once we had everything input.
As you can see, the visual layout makes it easy to track each stage and move deals along accordingly.
We could change our view from Kanban and Table with just a click.
This allowed us to have a more detailed view of our pipelines (making spotting any potential problem areas easier).
The process (shown below) took just a few clicks, and it essentially eliminated the opportunity cost of moving to Monday.com.
This is especially helpful for SMBs afraid of switching CRMs because of fear of losing years’ worth of sales data.
Overall, Monday.com’s pipeline management feature makes it a top choice for sales teams looking to manage their deals with ease!
Automation is the cornerstone of scaling any business.
It can streamline processes, minimize error, and free up valuable time for a sales team to focus on what truly matters—nurturing client relationships.
Monday.com goes above and beyond with its automation creation capabilities.
For example, they offer many premade automation templates (shown below) that take the guesswork out of creating even the most complex sequences.
We tested this feature (over six months), creating all sorts of automations.
Here are some that we came up with:
- Automatically assigning tasks to team members
- Sending out welcome emails to new leads
- Notifying managers when deals are won or lost
- Sending reminders for follow-up calls and meetings
We loved Monday.com’s unique automation creation interface (pictured below).
I’ll go so far as to say it’s the easiest interface I’ve used regarding automation.
This makes it perfect for beginners with no coding knowledge to create the same expert-level automation (to stay competitive).
Ultimately, we saved countless hours (and headaches) by automating our sales processes with Monday.com.
The ability to bring all of your favorite sales CRM tools into one place is fantastic for sales teams on the go.
Monday.com offers powerful native integrations with popular tools such as the following:
- Slack
- Canva
- GitLab
- MailChimp
- Google Docs
- Google Sheets
The CRM software also offers a powerful Zapier integration, allowing for thousands of additional integrations.
The icing on the cake is that all of this is available in an easy-to-navigate app marketplace (shown below).
You can easily search for the app you’re looking for with the search bar or browse by category.
The bottom line: Monday.com offers just about every integration you could need. If there’s not a native integration, chances are there’s one available through Zapier.
Monday.com Pricing
Monday.com offers four paid plans in addition to a free plan.
These include the following:
- Free – Free forever
- Basic – $10/Month
- Standard – $12/Month
- Pro – $20/Month
- Enterprise – Custom Pricing
Monday.com Pros and Cons
- Amazing automation capabilities
- Affordable, scalable pricing plans
- Fantastic user experience
- Great pipeline, project, and contact management
- Limited free plan
- Add-ons cost extra per month
Zendesk Sell: Best For Lead Prospecting
Bonfire Rating: 4.8/5
Zendesk Sell provides the tools to scale your sales efforts to the enterprise level and beyond. It's an affordable, robust CRM platform!
Zendesk Sell
Learn More Today!-
Deal Automation
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Powerful Task Management
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Awesome Mobile App
Why We Picked Zendesk Sell
Zendesk Sell offers some fantastic features for taking your sales efforts up a notch.
We think it’s one of the best sales CRMs for the following reasons:
- Game-changing sales prospecting with Reach
- Scalable pricing plans
- Deal automation capabilities
- Great pipeline management
- Sales and service in one package
Put simply, Zendesk Sell is a great fit if you’re serious about stepping up your lead generation in a big way and, of course—closing more deals.
Zendesk Sell Features
With its Reach tool, Zendesk Sell offers the best lead prospecting in the game.
Imagine sifting through company databases like a pro—finding hot leads as easily as finding a needle in a haystack with a giant magnet.
Well, Reach makes that possible.
Here’s how it works: each month, you’re given a certain number of lead tokens.
You can spend these tokens on uncovering new leads and converting the data into actionable insights.
Check out how lead prospecting with Reach looked during our testing.
This feature is an absolute game-changer for sales-focused companies that need a steady influx of new leads (and fast).
It’s like having a secret weapon in your sales arsenal. If you’re in the business of closing deals (and you should be), you’ll want to get your hands on Zendesk Sell’s Reach.
Trust me, your lead prospecting will never be the same again.
Zendesk Sell offers fantastic pipeline management capabilities to empower your sales teams and help you close more deals.
Some standout features include:
- Visual pipeline tracking
- Customizable deal fields and stages
- Multiple views
- Task automation and reminders
To really put Zendesk to the test, we added our affiliate marketing deals at Small Business Bonfire.
During our testing phase, we found it easy to do the following with the CRM software:
- Customize pipelines
- Add and track deal progress (in real time)
- Collaborate with team members
Here’s a look at a new deal card.
Within each card, we could easily add the following information:
- Deal name
- Primary contact
- Value
- Tags
- Stage
- Source
- Win likelihood
- Estimated close date
- Custom fields
Once everything was put in, we could view our pipeline dashboard from multiple views.
For example, here’s how our stage view looked.
From this perspective, we could easily track where each deal was in our pipeline and what steps to take to move it along.
Our final verdict: Step up your lead prospecting and pipeline management game with Zendesk Sell, the sales CRM software that makes it easy for your team to work smarter (not harder).
Closing deals is arguably the most important part of any sales process (and, let’s face it, the main part that’s going to help you scale your business).
That’s where Zendesk Sell’s deal automation through PandaDoc comes in.
With this integration, we could send contracts and receive e-signatures within minutes!
We simply set up a PandaDoc account to get started (and the rest was history).
Here’s a quick snapshot of the integration process (which took just a few clicks).
Once our account was set up, we could easily access and add contracts to our deals in Zendesk Sell.
From there, it was just a matter of sending them off and receiving signatures.
This feature saved us time and eliminated the headache of chasing down signed contracts.
Our final thoughts: If you’re looking to streamline your sales and close deals faster, Zendesk Sell’s deal automation is absolutely worth checking out.
Zendesk Sell Pricing
Zendesk Sell has three plans to choose from.
They include the following:
- Team – $25/Month
- Growth – $69/Month
- Professional – $149/Month
Zendesk Sell Pros and Cons
- Powerful lead prospecting with Reach
- Seamless pipeline management
- Integration with PandaDoc for deal automation
- Sales & service in one place
- No free plan
EngageBay: Best For Scaling
Bonfire Rating: 4.7/5
EngageBay Sales Bay is perfect tool to help SMBs grow from the ground up!
EngageBay
Learn More Today!-
Excellent Pipeline Management
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Task Management Tools
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Robust Contact Management
EngageBay is an all-in-one platform perfect for startups and SMBs to take advantage of while scaling.
We chose it for several reasons, including the following:
- There are tons of free features, including the entirely free Service Bay
- Affordable, scalable pricing plans for every step of the way
- Comprehensive marketing, sales, & service automation
- Extremely user-friendly interface
- Great pipeline, contact, & task management
If you’re just looking for a fantastic solution to build your business from the ground up, EngageBay is the perfect match.
EngageBay Features
Managing multiple pipelines can be a hassle (without the right tools).
Many CRM platforms charge an arm and a leg for advanced features like this, but not EngageBay!
They offer comprehensive pipeline management for every pricing plan (even the free one).
Here’s a glimpse into the pipeline management capabilities of EngageBay.
We added some of our affiliate marketing deals at SBB to start testing this feature in-depth.
We loved the ability to switch views with just one click. For example, here’s a look at our list view.
This view was awesome because it allowed us to see each color-coded milestone (at a glance).
We could also easily see the following info:
- Deal ID & name
- Deal amount
- Description
- Owner
- Created/closed date
Here’s a snapshot of the grid view, where we could drag and drop each deal card to the appropriate stage in our pipeline.
The nuts and bolts: EngageBay makes managing multiple pipelines, stages, and deals easy within one user-friendly interface.
The cherry on top is that it’s free to use!
Without proper tools to manage your customer relationships, it’s going to be impossible to grow your business.
That’s where EngageBay comes in to save the day!
The CRM software offers a customizable and straightforward approach to contact management.
We could easily add, edit, and organize our contacts in one place, making it easy to search through them whenever we needed.
We especially loved how easy it was to add custom fields with EngageBay.
For example, here’s a checkbox we created (in less than a minute).
This one little unassuming field allowed each team member to see if a follow-up had been completed with a client.
While it might not seem like much, it saved us a lot of time spent on communication within our team.
Once we had all our fields customized and our B2B contacts put in, here’s how our contacts dashboard looked.
The lowdown: EngageBay’s contact management features are comprehensive and user-friendly, making managing all your customer data in one place simple.
Plus, with the free plan, you have nothing to lose by giving it a try!
It might not seem like much at first, but task management can make or break your success as a business.
Tasks and reminders are critical to keeping everything on track and staying organized.
If you miss one critical step in the sales process, it could potentially mean a lost deal.
EngageBay makes it easy to add tasks, set reminders, and manage your progress all in one place.
Let’s walk you through it.
During our six-month testing period, we added some typical onboarding tasks at Small Business Bonfire.
We clicked “Create Task,” where we were able to add the following information:
- Name
- Type
- Priority
- Due date
- Reminder date
- Notes
- Associated contacts
- Assigned users
Here’s how it looked from our perspective.
EngageBay provides all the firepower of comprehensive CRM software while keeping everything simple (through its user-friendly interface).
We especially loved the layout of our tasks pipeline (shown below), which made it easy for our team to see what tasks still needed to be completed (and by when).
The nitty gritty: If you want to stay organized and prioritize your tasks effectively, EngageBay’s task management features will be a lifesaver.
And with their free plan, you have nothing to lose by giving it a shot!
EngageBay Pricing
EngageBay Sales Bay offers a free forever plan and three paid plans.
They are as follows:
- Free – Free Forever
- Basic – $14.99/Month
- Growth – $49.99/Month
- Pro – $99.99/Month
EngageBay Pros and Cons
- The free plan is great for SMBs on a budget
- Affordable pricing plans for every stage of scaling
- Comprehensive all-in-one platform
- User-friendly interface and customization options
- The free plan lacks automation capabilities
- Calendar view/customization is very limited
Pipeline CRM: Best For Beginners
Bonfire Rating: 4.6/5
Pipeline CRM is perfect for scaling up your small business!
Pipeline
Learn More Today!-
Powerful Sales Pipeline Management
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Customizable Dashboards
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Reporting & Analytics Tools
Why We Picked Pipeline CRM
Pipeline CRM offers a no-frills approach to managing your sales cycle.
Here are some reasons we picked it for this list:
- Simplified interface
- Scalable pricing plans
- Comprehensive sales analytics
- Great task management & calendar views
If you’re just starting out in the world of CRM software, Pipeline is a great place to get your feet wet.
It has all the essentials to help you start managing your sales processes (without overwhelming you with a ton of extraneous features).
Pipeline CRM Features
With a name like Pipeline CRM, we had high hopes for this feature—and it didn’t disappoint!
We added some of our affiliate marketing deals to Pipeline CRM (to get a feel for the CRM software).
Here are some things we loved:
- Customizable stages & pipelines
- Great pipeline tracking (even at a glance)
- Seamless collaboration with team members
Here’s how a new deal card looked (to give you some context).
With Pipeline CRM, we were able to easily customize each card in terms of the following:
- Owner
- Deal name
- Pipeline
- Stage
- Expected close
- Industry
- Client type
- Known competitors
- Company name
As you can see, there was a ton of information at our fingertips, but it never felt overwhelming!
Pipeline CRM kept it simple while maintaining the functionality we needed to keep our sales game strong.
Once we had everything added, here’s how our deal pipeline looked.
We could easily view a ton of information, ensuring no deals slipped through the cracks (and that we had a clear understanding of our sales processes at all times).
The breakdown: Pipeline CRM makes it easy for beginners and experts to use powerful pipeline management, guaranteed to help you close more deals and grow your business.
I’ve always firmly believed in making data-driven decisions about everything else.
That’s why I love Pipeline CRM’s customizable dashboards.
With Pipeline CRM, you can easily view your sales analytics in one place, giving you the big-picture insights needed to make informed decisions about your sales strategies.
Here are some metrics you can track with Pipeline CRM’s dashboards:
- Total deals won & lost
- Average deal size
- Close ratios by stage
- Sales activity (calls, emails, and meetings)
- Pipeline health
My team and I set up our affiliate marketing deals with the CRM software to test this feature out.
Here’s how it looked for us.
We could add and remove widgets with just one click, allowing us to see the metrics that mattered most to our business goals.
The bottom line: Pipeline CRM’s customizable dashboards make it easy to track your sales progress and make data-driven decisions about your business.
Managing your day-to-day tasks as you scale your business can be a nightmare without the right tools.
Thankfully, Pipeline CRM offers task management and calendar views to help you stay organized and on top of your schedule.
We could easily add tasks, set reminders, and track our progress (all in one place).
The calendar view (shown below) also helped us visually see what our upcoming tasks looked like, making it easy to manage our time effectively.
The task cards were clean, uncluttered, and easy to understand.
Here’s how it looked from our perspective.
Pipeline CRM not only helped us to keep track of our tasks but also made it easier for us to prioritize and manage our time effectively.
In essence, it was like having an extra pair of hands helping us to stay organized and focused on what matters most—closing more sales and scaling to the sky!
Pipeline CRM Pricing
Pipeline offers three pricing plans.
They are as follows:
- Start Plan – $29/Month
- Develop – $39/Month
- Grow – $59/Month
Take a look at our full Pipeline CRM pricing guide!
Pipeline CRM Pros and Cons
- User-friendly interface
- Customizable pipelines & stages
- Comprehensive sales analytics
- Affordable pricing plans
- Limited integrations with other software
- No free plan
- Lacks advanced features
What Is a Sales CRM?
A sales CRM is essentially customer relationship management software designed to help sales teams manage their sales cycle from prospecting to post-sales.
Why Use a Sales CRM?
There are several reasons to use a sales CRM.
These include the following:
- Scaling your sales
- Closing more deals
- Ensuring your customer data is secure
- Getting a top-down view of your sales pipeline
- Streamlining lead prospecting and management
After testing, we compiled a thorough list of our favorite CRMs for Small Businesses. Check it out now! The list might surprise you.
Top Sales CRM Features to Look for
Based on our years of testing, my team and I created a list of the top sales CRM features to pay attention to.
These include the following:
- Contact management
- Sales automation
- Pipeline management
- Collaboration tools
- Lead management
- Reporting and analytics
- Integration with other tools
- Mobile access
We’ll give you an overview of each one below.
Managing contacts can be challenging, especially for SMBs with a large client base.
Efficiently storing and managing customer information is crucial for maintaining healthy relationships.
The best CRM software should offer robust contact management features, enabling sales teams to do the following:
- Store detailed information
- Track interactions
- Segment customers effectively
This facilitates targeted communications and ensures no customer is overlooked.
In essence, efficient contact management means having the right information at your fingertips, enabling better decision-making and improved customer service.
Sales automation is pivotal for any sales CRM.
It eliminates repetitive tasks and ensures timely responses, leading to increased productivity (and better customer service as a result).
Some typical tasks you can get rid of include:
- Contact data entry
- Email automation and tracking
- Task assignment
- Lead scoring
By using sales automation, businesses can focus more on strategic tasks and less on manual, time-consuming activities.
If you’re stuck trying to manage your sales on spreadsheets, it’ll be impossible to scale your business.
With a sales CRM, you can manage your pipelines visually, allowing you to spot opportunities and potential bottlenecks easily.
This makes it easier to see the bigger picture and make smarter decisions on how to proceed with each deal.
The best sales CRM software will typically offer the following:
- Multiple pipelines
- Different views
- Customizable fields
With the right pipeline management software, you can ensure a clear overview of your sales data.
This view can help you gauge your sales pipeline’s health and identify improvement areas.
Choosing sales CRM software that fosters collaboration within your team is important.
This means having the ability to share and assign tasks, track progress, and communicate with team members.
Some of my favorite collaboration features include:
- Task assignment and tracking
- Activity logs
- Team communication tools (e.g., chat)
- Shared contact records
By using a collaborative tool, teams can work together to close more deals and improve overall efficiency.
Lead management is all about managing leads effectively through the sales cycle (from prospecting to post-sales).
The best sales CRM software typically has tools to help you find new leads and nurture existing ones.
You’ll want to make sure the CRM you choose allows for the following:
- Lead scoring
- Segmentation
- Automated nurturing
With these features, teams can easily identify and prioritize leads, helping to guide them through the sales funnel more efficiently.
If your sales team doesn’t have access to real-time data, making informed decisions is impossible.
That’s where analyzing your sales data and generating accurate reports come in.
An exceptional sales CRM provides comprehensive analytics and reporting tools, giving a clear overview of your sales performance and trends.
The best CRM software should offer:
- Sales performance reports
- Sales forecasting
- Real-time analytics
- Customizable dashboards
These features allow you to track and measure your sales activities effectively, enabling you to identify growth opportunities and areas that need improvement.
A good sales CRM should seamlessly integrate with your team’s other tools.
This allows for a more streamlined and efficient workflow.
- Look for integrations with:
- Email platforms (like Gmail or Outlook)
- Social media platforms
- Communication tools (like Slack or Microsoft Teams)
- Marketing automation tools
This ensures all your sales data is in one place, making it easier to manage and maintain.
In today’s fast-paced business environment, having access to your sales CRM on the go is essential.
A mobile-friendly CRM allows sales reps to:
- Access and update customer information on the go
- Collaborate with team members from anywhere
- Track and manage leads in real-time
Having a mobile CRM ensures your sales team is always connected and can respond to clients quickly and efficiently, no matter where they are.
How to Choose a Sales CRM
Now it’s time to make the leap yourself!
Here are some steps to select the perfect CRM for your SMB.
Step 1: Choose a Sales CRM from our List!
Our list is a great place to start if you’re looking for the best CRM for your SMB.
We’ve done the research (and extensive testing) to determine the top options on the market.
So, why not save yourself some time and check out our recommendations?
Step 2: Test Drive the Sales CRM Features
You wouldn’t buy a car without test-driving it first, right?
The same goes for choosing a sales CRM.
Take advantage of free trials or demos to explore the features and see if they meet your business needs.
Step 3: Engage Your Sales Team
Your team is going to be the ones using the CRM on a daily basis, so it’s important to involve them in the decision-making process.
Ask for their feedback and opinions on which features are most important to them.
Step 4: Finalize Your New Sales CRM
Before committing to a sales CRM, make sure to evaluate the pricing and contract terms.
Also, review the level of customer support provided to ensure you’ll have the help you need if any issues arise.
Sales CRM Final Thoughts
There you have it!
Our comprehensive list of the best sales CRMs on the market—guaranteed to take your sales game to the next level.
Every platform on this list offers a free trial (or a free plan), so check them out today to decide which is best for your business!