Freshsales CRM, formerly known as Freshworks CRM, is a customer relationship management (CRM) platform designed specifically for sales. Freshsales is part of a series of Freshworks CRMs for specific teams including marketing, IT support, and customer engagement.
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Who uses Freshworks CRM?
Freshworks is used by small and medium businesses. Most companies using Freshworks CRM have 1–50 employees and generate up to $10M in revenue. The majority of companies using Freshworks CRM are in the computer software and information technology and services industries. Other companies using Freshworks CRM can be found in marketing and advertising, internet, financial services, hospital and healthcare, retail, real estate, education management, and telecommunications.
Freshworks CRM features a simplified interface and streamlined processes relative to various CRMs on the market. This makes it especially suited to businesses that are just starting out or companies with quickly expanding sales and marketing automation needs.
Companies that already use other software in Freshworks applications also benefit from native integration with Freshworks CRM. This makes Freshworks an all-in-one solution for companies that want marketing automation and sales support in a single platform.
What are the key features and benefits of Freshworks CRM?
At the core, Freshworks offers the same general features as most CRMs on the market, such as contact management, lead tracking, workflow automation, and AI insights. All of this streamlines processes and helps close deals faster.
A major point of differentiation for Freshworks CRM lies in its simplicity. The straightforward and customizable interface makes learning the software easier. It also requires less setup than many other leading CRMs, making it an overall lightweight CRM that businesses can work with straightaway.
Another strength of Freshworks CRM is its proactive AI assistant. The AI assistant provides automated refocusing on high-probability engagements. It also provides lead scoring, highlights deals that demonstrate sudden changes in activity (along with insights as to why), and flags activities that may interfere with closing deals. Alerts, such as deal rotting warnings and contract renewal or auto-renew reminders, also help the user focus on what is important.
Deduplication of data provides simpler, cleaner contact records. Contact company info is auto-populated in records once a company URL is input. Social media profiles associated with leads are also auto-populated when an email address is entered. Other tasks can be automated, like sending an email after a set amount of time without communication with a lead.
Reports can be generated for accounts, tasks, appointments, leads, deals, and contacts. Reports are customizable and can be saved in various formats and automatically emailed on a schedule.
Built-in phone (including VoIP, voicemail, and call recording) and email capabilities means that agents can communicate with leads without ever leaving the application. Freshworks can connect with any IMAP-compatible email account and collect metrics for email opens, click rates, and templates.
Freshworks CRM is available in over 30 languages and supports multiple currencies. Native same-brand integrations include the entire Freshworks platform: Freshdesk, Freshmarketer, Freshchat, Freshconnect, Freshcaller, and Freshsuccess. Native third-party integrations included popular business productivity suites and tools such as Google Workplace, Office 365, Dropbox, Hubspot Marketing, Mailchimp, Quickbooks, Trello, Magento, Shopify, DocuSign, and more. Even more connections are available through third-party connectors like Zapier and Piesync.
On the downside, no reports or lead generation tools are available in the free plan. Figuring out which plan is best can be time consuming. The limit on active contacts can be a deterrent for companies with a smaller budget. Other leading CRMs offer greater customization and more integrations, although at the cost of setup time and interface complexity.
Freshworks CRM offers a free plan, although the plan may lack features that some businesses may require. Paid plans start with a 21-day free trial, and discounted prices are available for nonprofit organizations. Upper-tier plans include sales forecasting, more active contacts, transactional emails, advanced customization options, and more.
Upper-tier plans include additional active contacts, workflows, and phone credits; dedicated IP addresses; a WhatsApp business account; conversion rate optimization; and additional configuration, pricing, and quoting functionality.
What are the alternatives to Freshworks CRM?
Alternatives to Freshworks CRM include other all-in-one sales, marketing, and IT support CRM platforms for small and medium businesses. This includes applications such as:
- Zendesk
- Zoho CRM
- SugarCRM
- Nimble
- Hubspot
- Agile CRM
- Pipedrive
- Insightly
- Apptivo
- Keap (formerly Infusionsoft)
- Less Annoying CRM
Learn more about CRMs
Sales teams spend around 18% of their time in CRM applications (and according to Forbes, could be spending a lot more there). Companies rely more than ever on CRM applications to assist with sales, marketing, and customer support. That’s why finding the right CRM for a business’s unique needs is essential.
For more background and tools to help with the research and selection of the ideal CRM for your organization’s needs, check out this comprehensive look at CRMs, including user reviews and comparisons of top systems.
