Best CRM software for scaling your business in 2023

Updated on 14th February 2023

These are the top 7 CRM software for scaling in a dwindling economy

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As tech giants like Google, Meta, and Twitter are seen laying off significant fractions of their workforce, the downsizing trend is increasingly becoming the norm…

This firing-spree in the tech sector is making it clear how much businesses are struggling amid a looming financial crisis. By the same token, many businesses are seeking to downsize in departments including marketing, research, talent acquisition, etc. in order to cut costs as they enter survival mode.

On the other hand, many (especially small) businesses are recognizing the growing need to invest in their sales for marketing automation for contact management, in order to maximize growth .

In order to expand during times like these, sales and marketing teams rely heavily on Customer Relations Management systems (CRM’s) in order to finetune the sales process, and increase workflow automation through documenting customer interactions throughout the sales cycle.

This review will highlight some of the best CRM software businesses can adopt in order to grow and thrive in 2023. Ultimately, choosing the right CRM software will impact the marketing automation in both big and small business sales teams.

1) Hubspot

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Pricing Plans (Per user, Per Month)

Starter: $50 monthly, $540 if billed annually

Professional: $890 monthly, $9,600 if billed annually + one-time $3,000 onboarding fee

Enterprise: $3600 per month (only available at $49,200, billed annually) + a one-time $6,000 onboarding fee

Hubspot is at the top of the list for automation software, arguably the most preferred for any sized sales team. Sales teams prefer Hubspot CRM as their go-to workflow automation tool for several reasons. Firstly, when it comes to sales pipeline management, sales reps can store customer data with an easy process from start to finish. To begin with, the Hubspot CRM automatically logs the customer data into the sales pipeline. This is just one example of how this CRM tool saves the sales team time from having to perform repetitive tasks while conducting tiring lead management business processes.

Overall, the Hubspot CRM software helps with project management through customer relationship management by documenting customer relationships in detail. While this CRM system is arguably at the top of the list, it does of course vary per user. Many sales teams prefer other CRM solutions, which we will review below.

Hubspot offers a free plan, so that you don’t have to consider their pricing plans to start using the platform - as long as your business doesn’t require any A/B testing, or other advanced CRM capabilities and features. They also offer 24/7 customer support , so that sales reps can get all their questions answered ASAP. While other CRM software tools may also offer their own free versions, Hubspot CRM software is exceptionally integrative with email tracking, pipeline management automation, and many more features which ranks this CRM software among the best CRM software in the market today.

For more, check out our more in-depth Hubspot review

2) Salesforce

Salesforce

SalesForce Pricing: (per user, per month)

Essentials (Basic): $25

Professional: $75

Enterprise: $150

Unlimited (Premier): $300

The “Sales Force Automation Software” is one of the best CRM software tools in the market when it comes to contact management, tracking customer data and marketing automation. Salesforce CRM software is known most notably for its combination of marketing automation, commerce, inside sales, and service into one succinct platform.

Sales teams can benefit most from this CRM software combination by incorporating third party integrations (e.g., marketing tools, other CRM software, etc.) for enhanced contact management.

The platform offers a wholesome overview of customer data, with dashboards, reports, paired with top of the line customer service. The best part is, you can sign up for a 30 day free trial to get started before choosing if you would like to move forward with their paid plans.

In addition to the the highly dynamic pricing plans below, many add-ons, apps, and products are available for purchase as needed for further business growth/scaling.

3) Monday.com

Monday

Monday Pricing - Up to 50 Users: (per user, per month)

Individual (up to 2 users): Free

Basic: $8

Standard: $10

Pro: $16

Enterprise: Custom quote upon consultation with the Monday.com sales team

(For teams of 50+ a custom quote is available from the Monday.com sales team) The second list-topping CRM software is the Monday.com Sales Management Software. This CRM platform is mostly geared towards sales teams which operate on a “boards” operational model. The Monday.com model is centered on having a number of work boards per user, where users can essentially view a visual layout of their workflow.

Monday.com is one of the best CRM software providers, as they cater to those with experience using Monday.com’s typical software and those without, while allowing users to customize dashboards to fit their specific business needs.

This customer relationship management software is prized by Monday.com, and features email tracking, CRM integrations, and more features aimed at facilitating a smooth sales process while providing an excellent and simplified user interface. Additionally, their customer service teams are available 24/7 to help with any questions.

4) Zoho Sales

Zoho

Zoho Pricing: (per user, per month)

Starter plan: Free (up to 1 user)

Basic - up to 3 users: $59 monthly, $49 if billed annually

Standard - up to 5 users: $119 monthly, $99 if billed annually

Professional - up to 10 users: $299 monthly, $249 if billed annually

A classic Full Stack CRM to help your business grow and scale

Zoho Sales is one of the most prized platforms among enterprise CRM systems. As with the Hubspot CRM, Zoho sales begins as a free CRM software, making it an easy choice when considering which CRM software to help scale your business.

Overall, it is an easy to use CRM system for project management, and its AI powered sales assistant enables a smooth and simplified user experience. Ultimately, Zoho enables a systemized workflow automation focusing on sifting out leads that are not worthy of your time and allowing sales teams to focus on those who count. In other words, less spam leads in your CRM, and more opportunity to manage and track multiple sales processes to the complexity of your choosing.

Of course, once your business proceeds to grow, you can upgrade to their higher versions for fairly reasonable pricing, and enjoy said complex simultaneous sales channel management.

5) Fresh Sales

FreshSales

Pricing Plans (Per user, Per month)

Starter Plan: Free (up to 10 users)

Growth: $18 per user ($15 per month if billed annually)

Pro: $47 per user ($39 per month if billed annually)

Enterprise: $83 ($69 per month if billed annually)

FreshSales is a customer relationship management software which specializes in its cloud-based operability. Not only does this save storage space on hard-drives, but it also offers a security component, enabling users the peace of mind to focus on contact management and lubricate the sales process.

One of the defining features for this CRM software is the AI powered sales assistant “Freddy”. Freddy AI performs swift analyses and learns from historical data within the sales pipeline, and provides customized insights and sales forecasting per user.

FreshWorks claims to be the best CRM software for any sales team aiming to hone their sales and marketing automation through advanced AI technology.

6) ClickUp

ClickUp

Clickup Pricing: (Per user, Per month)

Starter Plan: Free

Unlimited: $9 ($5 if billed annually)

Business: $19 ($12 if billed annually)

Business Plus: $29 ($19 if billed annually)

Enterprise: Custom Quote

If you have a creative and nifty sales team, then ClickUp might be the best CRM software for your team’s sales pipeline management. ClickUp allows enhanced autonomy when it comes to building the kind of CRM that is most customized to your business needs.

The ability to customize this platform allows for your business processes to be conducted in as complex or simplified manner as needed, allowing sales teams to finetune project management and workflow automation, and ultimately enhance the sales process.

Focusing on project management in order keep track of customer interactions and the overall deal management, this CRM software is less laser focused on the sales team compared with other CRM solutions on this list.

However, when it comes to project management, ClickUp boasts one of the best CRM software for importing work/data from other tools (i.e, Monday, Excel, Trello, etc.) One of ClickUp’s top features is its team chat, which eliminates the need for sales teams to use tools like Slack, thus minimizing complexity in the workspace, and maximizing workflow automation.

7) SharpSpring

Sharpspring

SharpSpring Pricing: (per number of contacts, billed annually - unlimited users - $1,999 onboarding fee in addition)

1,000 contacts: $449/month

10,000 contacts: $999/month

20,000 contacts: $1,449/month

As with FreshSales, SharpSpring is a cloud-based CRM software. While the primary consumer base is made up of small businesses, this CRM tool is aimed at maximizing the potential of marketing automation through integrating many components (think Social Media, email marketing, etc.) in order to eventually grow and scale small businesses. SharpSpring prides itself on its affordability, and its all-in-one CRM system.

While not necessarily the most famous CRM software, SharpSpring claims to be the best CRM software for workflow automation by relieving sales teams of tedious and repetitive tasks. This crm software is laser focused on lubricating the sales pipeline in order to generate maximum revenue and allow businesses to scale accordingly.

In other words, for a startup in its early stages, SharpSpring is probably worth taking a look at, as it might be the best CRM software for scaling up at an early level.

How we chose the best CRM software solutions

The main criteria for choosing CRM software tools for this list were relating mostly to pricing, essential features, and width of functions in terms of operability for a variety of team sizes. The top of the list includes some of the most common CRM software used by sales teams today which often have the most advanced features, while those at the bottom of the list albeit less common, might be more appealing to smaller businesses who are earlier in their scaling process.

When it comes to managing customer data, CRM software tools face immense competition, and rightfully so. Customer relationships are the staple of scaling your business at any stage, so CRM systems must aim to constantly improve their features so that small businesses can scale faster, and medium/large sales teams can continue to flourish in today’s looming financial crisis. Ultimately, investing more heavily in your sales focused CRM will lead to better sales forecasting, better customer relationships, and a more lucrative sales cycle.

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