Battle of the CRMs: ProsperWorks vs HubSpot vs Zoho

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So, you’re in need of a good CRM (Customer Relationship Manager) tool, but you haven’t decided which one to pick yet? We can help. 

Here’s an in-depth analysis of three of the most popular choices around.

 

ProsperWorks

ProsperWorks is known as a the “Recommended for G Suite” CRM that Google itself uses. What does that mean exactly?
Well, it means that it’s made to work hand in hand with Google Gmail and Calendar, as well as other Guite apps. It creates such an easy to use, streamlined experience that your salespeople are going to absolutely love it.

If your salespeople love it, they will actually use it!

What it sacrifices in highly sophisticated features you might find in an expensive (and cumbersome) SalesForce, it trades for a beautifully simple, elegant user experience that focuses on building strong relationships with your prospects (and strong relationships = higher sales conversions!)

Following the “Google Recommended” guidelines for security, performance, and G Suite compatibility, ProsperWorks has become something nearly indistinguishable from a Google App. The result is an easy-to-use program that doesn’t meddle too much in trendy options which the majority of users will most likely never need.

Having said that, it still handles all the features you need in a CRM – leads, sales pipeline and all the reporting you need to measure your sales success against.

Pros

  • G Suite integration. Ease of access, intuitive navigation, and simplicity of use with Google apps make ProsperWorks an ideal G Suite-integrated program.
  • Streamlined data and swift communication. No manual data entry necessary, since all info is automatically collected. Task automation and lead interaction are conveniently implemented. You can track every lead’s activity and each team member’s individual interaction.
  • Pipeline reporting. You have customization of sales towards each customer, and this eliminates the need for additional task managers.

 

Cons

  • Workflow automation is currently limited but improving every month
  • May not meet the more stringent security permissions models of a large corporate enterprise.

 

ProsperWorks Features

Google Integration

ProsperWorks can be accessed through both Gmail and Inbox by Gmail, as well as through any other browser. It appears as a sidebar that can be minimized simply with a click. After your initial log-in, a brief tutorial commences and explains the basics in several pop-up messages.

ProsperWorks skims through your e-mail to find and incorporate your contacts into CRM and goes as far as to search for contacts and pull info from external platforms (like Linkedin). They can then be sent proposals to join your recipient list.

Each entry comes with three categories: Details, Activity, and Related. Details represents the basic info; Activity shows the last interaction/communication with it; and Related shows events and tasks associated with that entry.

The app integrates with Google Calendar also – the events appointed in ProsperWorks appear in the Calendar, in a special Reminder section.

You can turn off and on all of the notifications as well, solving a big pain point for most CRMs – notification overload.

 

Contacts and Companies Interaction (+Integration)

In the spirit of integration, ProsperWorks allows linking with Gmail from which it gathers both contacts and data.

The incredibly simple interface (which mirrors Google UI) allows importing data from other CRMs and provides compatibility with Google Forms, Zapier (with all other networks connected to it), and similar tools (but it doesn’t provide lead capture form creation directly from the app itself).

With plenty of reporting and tracking tools to follow up on revenue, sales by person, and scheduled opportunities, ProsperWorks allows you to create a leaderboard with a timeline for an easy overview of core data.

 

Lead Management

Another feature of the app is closely related to customization of pipelines: every pipeline can follow your company’s sales cycles and workflows.

After you enable lead management, you now have the option of turning potential leads into genuine prospects! ProsperWorks recognizes “converted leads” and automatically assigns tasks to track their progress.

Along with the manual import of leads, the app allows you to import data from established formats and names like Excel and CSV as well as the newcomers like Pipedrive and Insightly.

To further interact with potential leads, you can turn incoming new calls into potential leads automatically, which is pretty neat. Converted leads simultaneously go into pipelines (but unqualified leads cannot utilize pipeline mechanics).

 

Integrations

As we stated at the beginning of the article, ProsperWorks is one of the most integrable CRMs out there. Some of the available integrations include:

  • Full G Suite (and most of Google’s apps) integration
  • Zapier integration
  • MailChimp
  • Many other apps and platforms

Integrability is one of the crucial elements of any #CRM software Click To Tweet

Business Size

ProsperWorks, with its features optimized for ease of use and compatibility with other programs, works best with small to medium-sized businesses.

Available Devices

  • Windows
  • Linux
  • Android
  • iPhone/iPad
  • Mac
  • Web-based
  • Windows Mobile

 

Pricing

Basic Plan: $19/month per user

Professional Plan: $49/month per user

Business Plan: $119/month per user

 

Trial Period

The trial period lasts 14 days. Registering for a free trial doesn’t require your credit card number, so no surprise bills here.

You can sign up for a trial yourself here.

ProsperWorks vs HubSpot vs Zoho - which is the best CRM for your business? Find out here. Click To Tweet

 

HubSpot

Among the big heap of available software for businesses, Hubspot stands out as pretty versatile in nature: hence HubSpot CRM, one of the leading CRM apps on the market. It’s completely free, as per their “don’t pay for a good CRM” policy.

Is this the only reason they’re so popular, or does quality play a role as well? We’re here to decide!

HubSpot CRM focuses on integrating into established businesses, instead of making them adapt their existing workflow to its uses. It achieves that by focusing on simplicity – it contains all the basic features without the unnecessary complexity of most other CRMs.

Considering this, it tends to be the tool of choice for early startups that don’t need a great deal of power to drive their sales.

HubSpot swiftly creates eye-catching company profiles and meticulously organizes each detail of your customers’ interaction. It assigns and tracks events and deals, offers dashboards for your team, and tracks your employees’ individual performance.

 

Pros

  • It’s both free and effective. And that’s a major factor for startups and small businesses. But, free doesn’t mean cheap value! HubSpot is a top quality CRM software.
  • Interconnectability. You can practically link it to anywhere you conduct your sales – websites, phone calls, email services, social networks, etc.
  • Flexibility. HubSpot grows with your enterprise; this means an unlimited potential customer info bank, organized pipelines, and scalability.

Related post: Scaling Business – The Top 5 Challenges of Transitioning from Small to Medium

 

Cons

  • Advanced users could find HubSpot CRM somewhat lacking in more detailed options.
  • Sending multiple emails can be troublesome: CC is disallowed in the app.
  • Leaving the Calls tab automatically drops the current call, which doesn’t allow for the ability to multitask for those of us always on-the-go.

 

Hubspot Features

 

Contacting directly from the CRM + the archive

One of the reasons people use CRMs is that you have all of your contacts and transactions with each of them documented in one place. If you can find all of your leads and their history with you in one app, then the entire process of selling and building relationships becomes much easier.

Each time a member of your team interacts with a lead, it gets documented. There are several benefits to such an approach: you have all the contacts archived; you know what you’ve done (and what you have yet to do); and you create a base for better automation processes. This prevents things like wasting time and effort on a false lead because of bad communication and/or management.

HubSpot CRM deals with this issue by enabling various forms of communication through the app: you can call from the app, send emails from the app, and there are several other ways you can make contact!

Such interactions are documented automatically, with all of the info stored in the database, and then showing up in the info section of each entry afterward. Very convenient!

 

A variety of email templates

Only on the rare occasion do you find someone who actually loves writing sales emails.

This is where HubSpot CRM kicks in. A plethora of templates are at your disposal, and you can freely pick whichever suits the needs of your lead.

HubSpot CRM then tracks that email, alerts you when it’s been opened, follows-up on additional content emails, and archives those interactions, all in a few simple, automated steps.

Pretty handy, right?

 

The layout adapts to your needs

In order to further adapt to the needs of the user, HubSpot CRM offers an interactive and customizable layout.

You can set certain fields and categories on and off, in order to slide from detailed information to simple navigation. Filtering records, adding custom fields, and saving multiple settings for easy swapping are just some of the available options for visual options.

A “Deals” tab has some reserved space as well, where you can observe and keep track of individual potential sales.

 

Social media integration

When it comes to social media, all successful businesses need to have developed a wide social media presence. HubSpot jumps in to help here as well, as it automatically goes through social networks to gather public Facebook and Twitter (and numerous other) profiles into your CRM contact list.

When a potential match is found, it is simultaneously added to your potential leads data bank.

Effectiveness at its best!

 

Integrations

Like we mentioned before, HubSpot has the integration/price ratio among all other CRMs on the market. Some of the available integrations include:

  • Microsoft Dynamics integration
  • Zapier integration
  • Salesforce, Shopify, Google, Dropbox…
  • Many other apps and platforms

 

Business Size

Hubspot is best suited to early stage startups that are looking for something low cost and simple to get started with.

Related post: 5 Things You Need to Consider as Your Business Grows

Available Devices

  • Windows
  • Linux
  • Tablet
  • Mobile
  • Smartphones

 

Pricing

Completely free – always!

 

 

Zoho

Zoho CRM is part of the broader Zoho Cloud Software Suite suited to small to medium sized businesses.

Related post: When Is It Time to Scale?

Even though lead and contact management form the core of its purpose, sales pipelining and controlling purchases follows immediately after that. Dress that into a trademark Zoho UI that is simple to navigate, and you get the bundle of capabilities that this program is know for.

Whether you’re in charge of a small or medium enterprise, Zoho CRM is able to accommodate and automate your activities, track your sales, or engage in customer interaction. And on-the-go, too! Its mobile platform allows for real-time settings updates.

Zoho CRM also possesses numerous integrating capabilities, particularly with other Zoho products, but also with Google Apps, Microsoft Outlook, MailChimp, and numerous other apps and cloud-based connectors.

Due to the higher modular and customisation features of Zoho, it typically requires some professional help to get setup and running – but when it does this is a really powerful platform.

 

Pros

  • Free for the first 10 users. This allows enough time for startups to decide whether Zoho CRM can help them grow or not.
  • Real-time updates. Zoho’s mobile app allows insight and data anywhere, anytime.
  • Linkedin integration.

 

Cons

  • Email tracking requires using Zoho’s POP3 server.
  • The high level of UI customization often confuses beginners, so setup may require tech-savvy personnel.
  • A low level of integration with other email services.

 

Zoho Features

 

Users and Contacts

Zoho CRM’s core functions (lead and contact management, and sales pipeline) come in a classic but revamped Zoho UI. A minimalist approach allows for 10 dashboard components, a customizable design for widgets that is common in SaaS platforms, and customizable dashboards and searches menus as well.

The company entered into a cooperation agreement with LinkedIn in 2017, which resulted in “Sales Navigator,” an additional extension that allows the collecting of info without leaving Zoho CRM.

This solution turned out to be very useful to enterprises of all sizes for testing and tweaking any custom-built CRM software.

You can make use of Zoho’s seamless integration with Google G Suite. All of your contacts and events from Google Calendar will show up in the app.

And, contacts from Excel and other custom-made files can be imported as well! It even tracks your email to grab any necessary info and send it to the data bank.

High individualization options for each lead also exist. Once categorized, you can easily organize people into active leads and other classification categories.

If you’re new to Zoho and this all seems like a lot, no worries! Each initial visitor fills out a form including name and email. Zoho will then automatically add it into its registry and assigns a representative to you immediately!

 

Lead Management

Additionally, Zoho CRM provides a wide array of options for lead management.

A rule can be set: how #CRM manages your leads is how you lead your management. Click To Tweet

Whether you use the lead-into-contact capability or skip that part in favor of imported contacts depends on your goals and the size of your business. Both options, however, are equally effective.

When it comes to importing, Zoho CRM allows you to pull from a web form, but also utilizes a feature called SalesSignals. Social networks, chats, emails – they all form the base from which you can import contacts, but it doesn’t stop there. You also get a notification whenever your company’s name gets mentioned by a customer, and turning you on to a new lead.

Automated workflow processes can set up automatic replies, assign staff members to new leads, and potentially prohibit turning a lead into a customer before a supervisor’s approval.

Zia, a special Ai, uses trend analysis to detect oddities in the sales process and recommends the most appropriate times to advance with calls and emails.

Consult the official Zoho CRM’s page for further instructions on the additional, customizable options. There are many!

If you’re a small to medium-sized business, you may find that you only require a few of these options. You may also find that Zoho CRM would be optimally implemented in the hands of your most tech-savvy team member.

If you’re a big conglomerate (or you plan on becoming one) and you have the tools and team in place to take advantage of Zoho, then you’ll find more than enough in this CRM to suit your needs.

 

Integrations

  • Zoho integrations
  • Google and Google Apps integrations
  • Some third-party integrations like Microsoft Office and Microsoft Outlook, etc.
  • Website integrations

 

Business Size

Zoho CRM is primarily focused on numerous features, prioritizing enterprises that seek specifically advanced options and settings, regardless of business size.

With that said, this app has grown to be suitable for every type of business from startups to large companies. It even has a 10-users-free policy, which is particularly useful for startups. Each of the additional features can be turned off so any business type can customize their program to suit their system’s needs.

 

Available devices

  • Windows
  • Linux
  • Android
  • iPhone/iPad
  • Mac
  • Web-based

 

Pricing

Standard – $12/user/month (billed annually)

Professional – $20/user/month (billed annually)

Enterprise – $35/user/month (billed annually)

Ultimate – $100/user/month

 

Trial Period

A 15-day free trial, with no credit card required.

This is a lot of information! Check out our conversion table to get a side-by-side glance at the benefits and features of each of these powerful and effective apps.

You’re bound to find the right choice for your business.

Comparison Table

Looking for effective tools and tips on how to properly scale your business? Give our Guide to Scaling a try today!