The way companies look at sales in the modern day is extremely analytical, thanks to the availability of CRM tools on the market. With so many options out there to organize and drive an organization’s sales, how does one decide on the best CRM for their company?
Two current leaders in CRM platforms are Salesforce and Pipedrive. Salesforce is the number one CRM on the market to date. Its interconnected CRM and suite of apps as well as other features make it a valuable asset for any company. Pipedrive is a sales-driven CRM, acting as the ultimate organizational tool for optimizing and growing sales activities.
Let’s have a closer look…
Main Differences between Salesforce vs Pipedrive summarized:
| Salesforce | Pipedrive | |
| Primary Function | Multi-function CRM Tool | Sales Pipeline CRM Tool |
| Features & Capabilities | Opportunity ManagementSalesforce Sales CloudLead ManagementContact ManagementSales Collaboration DashboardAutomationsReporting DashboardMobile App & Marketplace | Lead and Deal ManagementVisual Sales Pipeline BuilderCommunications TrackingAutomationsReportingMobile App & Marketplace |
| Pricing | $25.00 – $300.00 USD/month per user | $12.50 – $99.00 USD/month per user |
Salesforce vs Pipedrive – Features & Capabilities:
Salesforce
- Founded in 1999, Salesforce’s multi-functional CRM platform is used by over 150,000 customers around the world, optimizing marketing, sales, and customer service processes through various tools
- The Salesforce Sales Cloud provides a sales management overview and allows users to track their sales activity and monitor progress
- Customer data is easy to integrate into the platform, allowing for importing and managing of contacts in a comprehensive database
- Salesforce offers a number of dashboards for its various functions, such as:
- Sales Collaboration Dashboard: a collaborative dashboard for users to connect
- Reporting Dashboard: a drag and drop interface than generates summary reports of sales
- Service Cloud: an in-depth customer service experience
- Tedious admin tasks such as sending emails and quotes can be automated
- A dynamic app marketplace and mobile app allows users to customize a seamless experience and access the platform’s functions on the go
- Salesforce, offering a wide variety of functions and areas of expertise, is recognized at being extremely suitable for larger companies looking for support in managing and optimizing various areas of the company
Pipedrive
- Founded in 2010, today Pipedrive’s sales CRM tool is used by over 90,000 sales teams across the world, helping teams close sales deals more quickly and efficiently
- It operates as a highly visual sales pipeline tool with customizable pipelines to track sales goals and their progress, develop actions, and setup automated tasks
- Pipedrive allows users to build out a large database for individual or enterprise contacts which acts as a space to call, schedule, and maintain relationships amongst contacts
- Sales admin tasks can be automated to save time and a chatbot sales assistant is available for support
- Pipedrive also offers visual reporting tools to display sales activities, team performance, and projections
- Through the free mobile app and thriving marketplace, users are able to customize their experience even further
- Pipedrive has a reputation of being a sales service created by salespeople and, as a result, is extremely useful for smaller organizations and sole proprietorships looking to increase sales and see growth
Salesforce vs Pipedrive – Pricing
| Salesforce | |||
| Essential | Professional | Enterprise | Unlimited |
| $25.00 USD/month per user | $75.00 USD/month per user | $150.00 USD/month per user | $300.00 USD/month per user |
| Pipedrive | |||
| Essential | Advanced | Professional | Enterprise |
| $15.00 USD/month per user | $29.00 USD/month per user | $59.00 USD/month per user | $99.00 USD/month per user* |
*billed annually, minimum 10 users
Reasons to choose Salesforce over Pipedrive
If your company is seeking solutions of greater complexity, Salesforce is the better selection. While Pipedrive offers a thorough CRM service, Salesforce has a wider product offering, beyond sales. For example, if your organization is seeking support in optimizing marketing processes, Salesforce offers social media tracking and management tools. For this reason, companies that are larger in size, working with a large volume of clients and projects, would be better off choosing this CRM platform.
Reasons to choose Pipedrive over Salesforce
If your company is small and requires more simple CRM solutions that are hyper-focused on sales, Pipedrive is a better choice. Its platform is more user-friendly and simple to navigate, as opposed to competitors which can be very complex. As a result, Pipedrive caters to smaller companies that are seeking growth and by providing an accessible platform, companies with smaller teams should have little to no barriers using this CRM platform, making it an obvious choice.
Similarities between Salesforce and Pipedrive
Salesforce and Pipedrive are both reliable CRM platforms with honest reputations in the industry. They both aim to optimize processes and management tasks within sales, making the job easier within an organization. Both platforms offer a mobile app and marketplace which allow for greater customization. Similarly, they also are highly visual platforms and allow for automation functions for tedious admin tasks.
Salesforce and Pipedrive Alternatives
Today, the market for CRM platforms is extremely competitive, with a number of companies turning to optimizing processes through digital platforms as the new way of running their businesses. Some of the best CRM softwares in 2022 comparable to Salesforce and Pipedrive include Zoho, a leading CRM software with a global reputation, Hubspot, one of the most innovative CRM softwares on the market, and Zendesk, a customer service and sales focused CRM.
Salesforce vs Pipedrive – Final Verdict
Both Salesforce and Pipedrive are great selections as CRM platforms. The final choice comes down to the size of your company and the solutions that you are seeking from a CRM platform. Larger companies seeking assistance in many different departments are in the best interest of finding support from a more complex platform like Salesforce, which ultimately has a vast product offering for a wide variety of company needs, such as marketing and customer service. For smaller companies or sole proprietorships focused on sales and seeking growth, particularly in the method of generating greater sales while keeping these operations organized, Pipedrive is the best option while also being extremely easy to use.
Frequently Asked Questions
What exactly does a CRM system do?
CRM, or Customer Relationship Management, uses customer data analysis to help a company strengthen sales, marketing, and all initiatives related to the customer experience. It will help a company retain their company base as well as see tangible growth.
What is the benefit for a company to use a CRM software?
A CRM software will optimize marketing, sales, and customer relationship processes within an organization to help the company scale. It will help the company operate with a more collaborative and analytical methodology.
What are common challenges to implementing CRM?
Oftentimes companies will encounter miscommunication between the different departments in the firm, leading to a misalignment of long-term CRM strategy. This is why it’s necessary for the implementation to be clearly communicated with the whole company, so that the vision can be established right away.
References & Links
- https://www.salesforce.com
- https://www.pipedrive.com
- https://www.fool.com/the-blueprint/pipedrive-vs-salesforce/
- https://thedigitalmerchant.com/crm/pipedrive-vs-salesforce/
- https://www.pcmag.com/picks/the-best-crm-software