6 Best Sales Management Software (2024)

Why we chose HubSpot

HubSpot CRM serves as the cornerstone of the HubSpot platform, offering an essential foundation for businesses looking to manage and optimize their sales processes. 

Surprisingly, in terms of pure CRM functionalities, HubSpot might not be the highest-ranking solution compared to specialized tools like Salesforce or Zoho CRM. However, its integration, ease of use, and powerful automation capabilities often surpass its competitors. This is particularly evident in its ability to sync with a wide range of marketing and service tools, providing a unified platform for managing customer relationships.

Despite its strengths, HubSpot CRM may not be the ideal choice for businesses looking for a straightforward, no-frills CRM solution. For instance, advanced customization options and extensive reporting capabilities require a deeper understanding of the platform. New users might find the initial setup and learning curve challenging without sufficient support or training.

Additionally, while HubSpot offers excellent integration capabilities, some users might find the free version limiting as their business grows. To fully leverage HubSpot’s potential, investing in its premium plans might be necessary, which can be a consideration for budget-conscious businesses.

However, if your organization is poised for growth and you need a scalable, integrated platform that combines sales, marketing, and service capabilities, HubSpot CRM is an excellent starting point.

Why we chose Freshsales CRM

In terms of overall performance, Freshsales ranks highly in user-friendliness, customization, and value for money. While it may not top the charts in advanced features, its focus on core sales management functionalities makes it a strong player in the CRM market.

The user experience of Freshsales is designed with the end user in mind. Navigation is straightforward, and the learning curve is relatively gentle, making it accessible even to those who are not tech-savvy. This focus on UX design significantly enhances user adoption rates, beating out more comprehensive systems like HubSpot, Zoho, and Salesforce in that arena.

The dashboard is sleek and informative, providing sales managers with a quick overview of sales activities and performance metrics. The ease of setting up and customizing workflows is particularly impressive, enabling sales teams to adapt the software to their specific processes. 

Why we chose Shape CRM

Shape CRM gets high marks for its reliability and ease of use. Users have highlighted the contact management and pipeline tools for making prospecting more manageable, which is a critical component for any sales manager.

The platform excels in marketing automation and lead capture from online sources. This feature is particularly beneficial for sales managers looking to streamline their lead generation and nurturing processes. The ease of use in setting up and managing marketing automation campaigns is a significant advantage, as noted in user reviews.

Another key aspect of Shape CRM is its emphasis on collaboration. The platform facilitates the sharing of project information within and across departments, which is crucial for maintaining team synergy and ensuring everyone is on the same page. The centralized repository for storing prospects, accounts, contacts, documents, and more, further adds to its efficiency as a sales management tool. 

Finally, its VoIP capabilities are among the top in the space, offering a dedicated dialer with extensive options.

Why we chose Pipedrive

Designed with simplicity and clarity in mind, Pipedrive ensures that your sales team can quickly adopt and effectively use the platform without the need for extensive training. This focus on user-friendly design is particularly beneficial for small to mid-sized sales teams that need to stay organized and productive without getting bogged down by the complexity of larger CRMs.

Pipedrive offers a range of features tailored to streamline sales processes. Its intuitive interface allows you to visualize and manage your sales pipeline with ease, using customizable stages and drag-and-drop functionality to track the progress of deals. The recent addition of AI sales assistants helps automate routine tasks and provides smart suggestions to enhance your sales strategy. Additionally, enhanced reporting tools give you clear insights into sales performance, making it easier to identify trends and areas for improvement.

Despite its strengths, Pipedrive may not be suitable for those who require advanced analytics and automation. While it excels at providing essential CRM functionalities, businesses with more complex needs might benefit from exploring more comprehensive options like Salesforce or HubSpot, which offer deeper customization and integration capabilities. 

Why we chose monday CRM

monday CRM stands out in the crowded CRM market primarily due to its seamless integration with the broader monday.com ecosystem. This integration allows for a high degree of flexibility and customization, which is crucial for sales managers who need to adapt their tools to ever-changing sales processes and team structures. 

Unlike some of its competitors, monday CRM doesn’t force a one-size-fits-all approach but instead offers a platform that can be tailored to the unique needs of each sales team.

The software has made significant strides in user experience and design. The interface is intuitive and user-friendly, making it easy for sales teams to adopt and use the software effectively. This focus on user experience is evident in the thoughtful layout and the way features are organized, ensuring that sales managers can quickly find what they need without unnecessary complexity.

monday CRM, unlike its project management counterpart, is equipped with sales-specific features like deal stages, funnel charts, and leaderboards. These features are not just add-ons but are deeply integrated into the system, providing sales managers with the tools they need to track and manage sales processes effectively. The CRM’s ability to handle everything from lead tracking to post-sales activities in one place is a significant advantage over its previous iteration. 

Why we chose Salesforce

Salesforce is a giant in the sales software world, offering a full suite of tools for marketing, lead management, analytics and reporting, and more. Ideal for medium to large businesses or those with complex sales processes, its depth and breadth of features, combined with its scalability, make it an attractive choice for organizations looking to leverage CRM for strategic growth.

The platform is comprehensive, providing a wide array of features that cater to businesses of all sizes—particularly those with complex sales operations. Its extensive customization options and powerful automation tools enable you to tailor the CRM to fit your specific business needs.

Its advanced analytics and reporting capabilities are, like most tools within Salesforce, comprehensive. You can gain deep insights into your sales performance through customizable dashboards and detailed reports, which help you make data-driven decisions. Unlike simpler CRMs like Pipedrive, Salesforce offers a more sophisticated suite of tools, including AI-driven analytics and predictive forecasting, which are essential for larger enterprises looking to optimize their sales strategies​.

Another key strength of Salesforce is its scalability. As your business grows, Salesforce can easily scale with you, offering a range of modules and add-ons to enhance your CRM capabilities. The platform supports extensive third-party integrations, allowing you to connect Salesforce with other essential business tools, thereby creating a unified system for managing customer relationships and sales processes​.

Recent updates to Salesforce, such as the introduction of the Einstein AI, have further enhanced its functionality by providing intelligent recommendations and automating routine tasks. These advancements ensure that your sales team can focus on high-value activities rather than administrative work​.

While Salesforce is more expensive than many other CRMs, its comprehensive feature set largely justifies the investment—especially for larger businesses that need all the bells and whistles. 

Why we chose Capsule CRM

If you’re a small business seeking an efficient, easy-to-use CRM, Capsule CRM is your best bet. It excels in providing a simple yet powerful solution for managing contacts and sales pipelines. Capsule CRM offers a customizable sales pipeline and seamless integration with tools like Google Workspace and Mailchimp, which are particularly beneficial for small teams​.

While competitors like HubSpot offer more extensive features, they come with a higher price tag and steeper learning curves. HubSpot, renowned for its integrated marketing and sales tools, can become expensive quickly as additional modules are purchased.

Capsule’s recent introduction of Multiple Sales Pipelines allows businesses to manage different products or services more effectively. This feature, alongside its robust reporting capabilities in the Teams plan, makes Capsule not only cost-effective but also scalable as your business grows​.

Additionally, Capsule CRM’s integration with Gmail and Outlook streamlines email communication, enabling you to manage tasks and opportunities directly from your inbox. This ease of use and integration, combined with its competitive pricing, makes Capsule CRM the optimal choice for small businesses looking to enhance their sales management without unnecessary complexity​.

Why we chose Less Annoying CRM

Priced at just $15 per user per month, this CRM offers an affordable solution for small businesses and individual entrepreneurs who want to manage contacts, track leads, and schedule follow-ups without unnecessary complexity​.

Unlike more feature-heavy CRMs like Salesforce and HubSpot, which can be overwhelming and costly, Less Annoying CRM keeps things simple and accessible. The intuitive interface allows you to get started quickly, often within an hour, eliminating the need for extensive training. This makes it perfect if you’re new to CRM software, prefer a no-fuss approach to managing your sales processes, or have team members who are less likely to adopt the software if it is overly complex.

Customization is a key advantage of Less Annoying CRM. You can easily add custom fields and adjust pipelines to fit your specific needs, making the platform highly adaptable to your business requirements. The seamless integration with Gmail and Google Calendar helps you centralize scheduling and reduces the chances of missing important meetings​.

The CRM’s customer support is another major win. With prompt and knowledgeable assistance readily available, you’ll never feel lost navigating the system. This level of support is especially valuable for users who need more guidance or reassurance.

In comparison to Pipedrive, which is similarly priced for its basic tier but requires additional costs for advanced features, Less Annoying CRM offers a more straightforward and cost-effective approach.