Freshsales CRM lead management software, developed by Freshworks, helps you to manage customer relationships. Just like the name suggests, the software’s primary purpose is to help you effectively manage and track sales leads. With Freshsales’ software, you can trap leads when visitors sign up using your website’s form, engage with your website’s built-in chat, read emails, and respond to phone calls.
Keep in mind, also, that the software provider gives you a 21-day free trial when you sign up, allowing you to familiarize yourself with its features, and functionality. Now, here’s the thing…is Freshsales CRM lead management software worth buying or not?
LET’S CUT TO THE CHASE!
BUY IT IF
- You want to make sales and profit: You can personalize communication and build stronger customer relationships by understanding each lead’s history. That way, you channel your marketing to the appropriate audience, and in turn boost sales and maximize profit.
- You seek integrated contact view: Keep in mind that Freshsales CRM lead management software allows you to have a 360-degree view of customer interactions history of communication, and more.
- You desire to manage the project: If your business run projects from time to time, you can sure need the Freshsales software. You can initiate, plan, and carry out projects. You can also track how the project is going so far.
- You’re seeking data-driven insights: You can leverage the software’s customizable reports that help you in data-driven decision making. You want to get insights to where your leads are coming from, your sales performance, and to know where you can improve on.
- You desire an intuitive interface: FreshSales CRM lead management software provides an intuitive interface, making it easy for you to carry out a sales campaign. Even if your team isn’t experienced, they can use the platform without much struggle.
- You want to visualize your sales pipeline: It becomes easier when you see your sales performance in real-time. That way, you can track the progress of deals across multiple stages, and observe any possible hitches that may hamper sales efficiency and effectiveness.
- You’re looking for a free version: Suppose you’re on a tight budget, yet, need a CRM lead management software, you can leverage Freshsales offering. The company provides a free version of the software though with limited features.
- You need an AI-powered lead scoring solution: When you subscribe to any of the Freshsales paid plans, you’re enabled to use artificial intelligence to collect data and assess and rank sales leads.
DON’T BUY IT IF
- You need 24/7 customer support: Be aware that FreshSales’ customer support is only available during weekdays. If your business runs over the weekend and can do without needing the company’s help during weekends, you may consider alternative software.
- You seek reports on the free plan: While Freshsales offers a free plan for its CRM lead management software solution, it doesn’t have reports. If your business relies on reports, and can’t do without it, you can either upgrade to the paid plans or simply check out alternative solution that offer free plan with reports.
THE BOTTOM LINE
Freshsales CRM lead management software is your all-in-one solution. It provides you with functionalities such as unified sales, marketing, chat, and telephone. The software is also easy to use and optimized to work across all kinds of devices.
NOW, LET’S DETAIL THINGS FOR YOU.
You need to understand how FreshSales pricing works. First is that the pricing is quite affordable…meaning, they’re not too expensive to afford. Second, the value you get is worth the price you pay. In other words, you’re not spending much to get less. Last, the prices are transparent—no hidden fees.
To further break things down for you…Freshsales welcomes you with free access to its software—forever. While the free version comes with limited features, the company offers you other pricing tiers with different features where you can choose from, to meet your business needs.
Freshsales pricing tiers include the Growth plan billed annually at $9/user/mo, or $11/user/month, billed yearly. This plan is designed for small and medium businesses, along with startups who want to efficiently manage pipelines and engage across different channels.
The Pro plan allows you to either pay $39 per month, per user, billed every year or pay $47/per user/month, billed monthly. The Pro plan (the popular plan among them all) is curated for businesses that are growing, along with mid-sized enterprises that need advanced features and functionalities, and assistance with AI tools.
You also have the Enterprise plan – designed to cater to large businesses and corporations that need super-advanced customization and governance functionalities. With this plan, you’re either paying $59/user/mo, billed yearly, or you go for the monthly billing which costs $71/user/month.
You can see that each is designed to accommodate a particular business size. Assess your business and know where you belong, and choose what works for you. If you’re not fully satisfied with any of these plans, you can always ask for custom quotes.
WHAT’S THE CATCH WITH FRESHSALES CRM LEAD MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE?
As one of the leading lead management software, Freshsales has a transparent pricing model. What you see on its website is the price you get. However, there are a few things you take into consideration regarding their product offerings and pricing.
The company indeed offers a free version of its software. While that is good, there are important features that are not included in the free version. By implication, you’ve gotta upgrade to a paid plan to access those features. In essence, the company uses the ‘bait strategy’ to lure you into upgrading to a paid plan—consciously or unconsciously.
For instance, you can’t find the ‘Reports dashboard’ feature on the free plan. You’ve gotta agree that the Report tool is one of the crucial features you need in your business for a successful lead management solution. The feature provides a suite of feedback on emails, territory, pipeline, contacts, deals, and more.
You won’t be out of place to call this technique “price games.” So, if you don’t mind, you can go ahead to ignore the bait strategy and purchase the product. Or, simply look for other alternative software that is a bit straightforward.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW.
Recalling what was said earlier concerning Freshsales pricing, you have three pricing tiers to choose from—apart from the free version. Each plan is uniquely curated to meet specific business needs.
Going a bit in detail on each price tier, the free plan allows up to 3 users, along with Kanban views, email templates, built-in phone, and live chat, requires no credit card, and provides 24×5 support. You can try your hands on this plan before upgrading to any of the paid versions.
The Growth plan offers you all the features you find in the free plan, including Kanban views for contacts, accounts, and deals. You also get contact lifecycle stages, custom fields, basic workflows, contextual collaboration with Slack, and a product catalog. That’s not all, you have curated reports, a Freshworks marketplace, 1 CPQ license, a mobile app, and 24/5 support.
Features in the Pro plan include all the features you find in the Growth plan plus contact scoring by Freddy AI, custom sales activities, advanced custom fields, and auto-assignment rules. That’s not all, you also get territory management, sales sequences, sales emails by Freddy AI, rephrases, deals insights by Freddy AI, and many more.
Finally, the Enterprise plan contains all the features you find in the Pro plan. You also find features such as field-lever permissions, custom modules, forecasting insights by Freddy AI, workflows for custom modules, sandbox, and audit logs. Familiarize yourself with these features and know what your business needs to make informed decisions.
WHAT ARE FRESHSALES CRM LEAD MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE’S COMPETITORS OFFERING?
Freshsales CRM Lead Management Software vs. Salesforce
Both Salesforce and Freshsales provide top-end sales and CRM software where you can increase sales exponentially. Both software provides a mobile application and easy interface along with rich features for lead management.
When it comes to pricing, Salesforce differs slightly. While Freshsales pricing begins at $9 per month, per user, Salesforce is a bit expensive, charging $25 for starting price. Salesforce places no limitations on the number of users, and the free version only lasts for 30 days.
Freshsales CRM Lead Management Software vs. HubSpot
HubSpot is a popular software that helps you manage customer relationships and gives you a comprehensive set of features for different business sizes. Similar to Freshsales, HubSpot provides the history of a 360-degree view of how customers interact with emails, calls, and social media.
Aside from the free version, HubSpot’s pricing is quite on the expensive realm. Their pricing starts at $50 per month up to $3,200 per month. Can you imagine the delta? So, if you’re on a tight budget, HubSpot is not an option for you.
Freshsales CRM Lead Management Software vs. Zoho
Zoho and Freshsales both offer CRM lead management solutions for startups, small and medium businesses, and large corporations. They both offer comprehensive features that help in customer relationship management covering areas such as sales, marketing, customer support, and more.
In terms of prices, Zoho and Freshsales provide free edition of their software to customers. So, while Freshsales is cheaper at the starting cost of $9/user/mo (billed every year), Zoho charges $14/user/month (billed yearly) for the starting price. And, they both offer pretty much similar features. So, you can tell which one is more affordable.
WHAT AFFECTS FRESHSALES CRM LEAD MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE’S PRICES?
As you plan to purchase a CRM lead management software—whether from Freshsales or its competitors, you must understand that prices are subject to changes. These changes are caused by some influences you must bear in mind.
The Plan Tier You Choose
Freshsales gives you different pricing tiers to choose from. Each plan is curated to fit different business sizes—whether you’re a startup, SME, or large corporation. The higher you go with the plan, the more money you pay. Before upgrading to a higher plan, you must understand your business needs (the number of users and features you require), and the value proposition, so you don’t waste money unnecessarily.
Number of Users
Each plan allows a given number of users—normally, the higher you go with the plans, the higher the number of users allowed. Keep in mind, also, that the higher the number of users you get, the higher the cost scales. So, if you run a large business that has numerous teams, you may incur more expenses.
Your Payment Frequency
Freshsales offers you the opportunity to choose between monthly and yearly billing. The monthly billing means that you’re making payments for your chosen plan every month, the same applies with the yearly payment. Remember, when you pay per year, you receive a discount, unlike the monthly payment method.
Market Trends
In a market where competitors are offering price cut, Freshsales may be forced to tweak their prices to meet the rivalry. They may implement different pricing strategies such as freebies, discounts, promotions, black Fridays, and more…to stay competitive.
Add-ons and Integrations You Seek
Understand that each feature doesn’t come with full perks. Sometimes, you have to request additional services to fully get what you want. When you place a request for additional features such as AI solutions, third-party apps, and more, you should equally get ready to pay more. They don’t come freely.
WHAT AFFECTS PRICES IN THE INDUSTRY OVERALL?
The moment you familiarize yourself with the factors influencing prices of CRM lead management software, you get a proper picture of price variations in the market. Read on to find out some of the external factors that affect prices in the industry in general.
Features and Functionality
Similar brands may seem to offer the same products or services, but the features they offer you differentiate them. For instance, some providers offer basic features and functionality, others capitalize on the advanced features, and others still, offer both. These differences in their product offerings have an impact in their overall pricing strategy.
Number of Users Allowed
You’d agree that most CRM lead management software provides limits to the number of users per plan (If you’re not familiar with this factor, check out two to three different providers’ price plans and see for yourself). The higher the number of users, the more money you pay. Well, it’s like the law of supply—the higher the price, the higher the quantity demanded.
Economic Factor
When there is inflation, companies tend to adjust their prices. It’s just a fact. You can’t beat that. Sometimes, these inflations are caused by poor government policies which tend to affect you. Another economic factor is currency depreciation. Once these factors are in place, rest assured, prices are bound to change.
Government Policies
Sometimes, the government implements good policies such as tax enforcement, or subsidies. In such cases, prices in the industry may go down. However, when there are bad government policies, chances are that companies will be forced to adjust their prices to match those policies, so they can stay in business.
Market Competition
Competition is a powerful factor that can either cause an increase or decrease in prices. The most common practice in market competition is price decrease. Where there is intense competition, brands tend to decrease their prices to attract more sales. They do this through promotions, discounts, and sometimes, freebies. You can position yourself to leverage some of these opportunities.
Advancement in Technology
One of the constant things about technology is that it is always evolving. You’d agree that the internet is not the way it used to be twenty years ago. With constant improvement, and value-added innovations, such as the introduction of AI and machine learning, companies introduce new pricing tiers to fit the trend.
HOW TO GET THE BEST DEAL WITH FRESHSALES CRM LEAD MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE?
- Identify What You Need
You’ve got to ask yourself, “What do I need?” While this may seem like a simple question, it goes a long way to save you time and effort. You don’t have to waste your time getting tools that are irrelevant to your business. So, start by identifying the features you need, and calculate the number of team members you have.
- Take a good look at the different pricing tiers
To pick the plan that best suits your business needs and budget, assess the different pricing plan the company offers. Freshsales has intentionally curated plans that match different business sizes. If what you seek is not contained in any of the plans, you can speak directly to customer support.
- Leverage Discounts and Promotions
When the opportunity presents itself for discounts and promotions, don’t overlook it. For instance, Freshsales gives you a discount when you choose the annual billing option. If the funds are available, you can go for the yearly payment and save yourself some extra bucks. You can also keep your eyes open for seasonal promotions. That means you must stay updated about the company news.
- Master the Art of Negotiation
Remember that negotiation is a powerful tool to cut down on some costs. Reach out to the customer rep for a custom quote. This is usually beneficial when you have a large team within your organization. One of the important tips to keep in mind is that you must get the current competitors’ prices, and then set an ideal price—the maximum you’re willing to pay.
- Ask a Friend Who Uses the Software
If you have a friend, a family member, or a business colleague who is using the software, you can ask them for advice on whether to buy it or not. This is because they have the right intel regarding the strengths and weaknesses the software comes with. By gathering information from them, you can know what features to buy and the ones to avoid.
CAN YOU AFFORD FRESHSALES CRM LEAD MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE’S PRICES?
Yes, you can. C’mon, why not? Think for a moment…the company offers you a free plan. What reason do you have not to try it? Except you’re not in dire need of the solution you seek or probably, the free version doesn’t have what you need.
So, to ask again…can you afford it?
Check your business needs and know your business size. Find out how many users are within your business, and the features they’re requiring. You can also check the value proposition—that is, the possible ROI you’re getting when you invest in the software.
And once you’re convinced that Freshsales CRM lead generation software is what you need; has the features you’re seeking and is within your budget, you can invest in the software by opting in for any of the paid plans.
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FINALLY: SHOULD YOU BUY FRESHSALES CRM LEAD MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE OR NOT?
The question of whether you should buy Freshsales CRM lead management software depends on two things. First is that the software offers a free version of its solutions. If what you need for your business’ CRM lead management can be found in the free version, why spend money upgrading to a paid plan?
However, if what you seek is EXTREMELY important to your business and is found in any or all of the paid plans, why shouldn’t you buy it? Keep in mind that the company has built quite a reputation over the years, and is known for providing top-notch CRM lead management solutions. Also, it is not expensive to afford.
So, check your budget, and see if you have enough funds to pay for the monthly or yearly billing. Remember, when you subscribe to a yearly billing, you enjoy some discounts and save some extra cash on the long run.
