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PDX-101 test contents - Essentials of Pardot Lightning App for Digital Marketers Updated: 2023

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Exam Code: PDX-101 Essentials of Pardot Lightning App for Digital Marketers test contents November 2023 by Killexams.com team

PDX-101 Essentials of Pardot Lightning App for Digital Marketers

Exam Details for PDX-101 Essentials of Pardot Lightning App for Digital Marketers:

Number of Questions: The test consists of approximately 60 multiple-choice and multiple-select questions.

Time Limit: The total time allocated for the test is 90 minutes (1 hour and 30 minutes).

Passing Score: To pass the exam, you must achieve a minimum score of 67%.

Exam Format: The test is conducted online and is proctored. You will be required to answer the questions within the allocated time frame.

Course Outline:

1. Pardot Basics:
- Understand the role of Pardot in digital marketing
- Familiarize with key Pardot terminology and concepts
- Learn about the features and benefits of Pardot for digital marketers

2. Lead Generation and Management:
- Set up and configure Pardot for lead generation
- Create and manage landing pages and forms
- Implement lead scoring and grading strategies

3. Email Marketing and Automation:
- Create and send targeted email campaigns
- Personalize email content and templates
- Automate email marketing workflows and nurturing programs

4. Engagement Studio:
- Build and manage Engagement Studio programs
- Define program steps and automation rules
- Monitor and analyze program performance

5. Marketing and Sales Alignment:
- Understand Pardot's integration with Salesforce CRM
- Establish lead synchronization and data sharing between Pardot and Salesforce
- Collaborate with sales teams using Pardot-Salesforce integration features

6. Reporting and Analytics:
- Generate and interpret Pardot reports and dashboards
- Track and measure campaign performance and ROI
- Utilize Pardot's analytics features for data-driven decision making

Exam Objectives:

1. Understand the fundamentals and terminology of Pardot for digital marketers.
2. Configure and manage lead generation processes in Pardot.
3. Create and execute email marketing campaigns and automation workflows.
4. Build and optimize Engagement Studio programs.
5. Establish marketing and sales alignment through Pardot-Salesforce integration.
6. Analyze and interpret Pardot reports and analytics for campaign performance.
7. Utilize Pardot features to track and measure ROI.

Exam Syllabus:

The test syllabus covers the following topics:

1. Pardot Basics
- Pardot role in digital marketing
- Pardot terminology and concepts
- Pardot features and benefits for digital marketers

2. Lead Generation and Management
- Pardot setup and configuration for lead generation
- Landing pages and forms creation and management
- Lead scoring and grading strategies

3. Email Marketing and Automation
- Targeted email campaigns creation and sending
- Email content personalization and templates
- Email marketing workflows and nurturing programs automation

4. Engagement Studio
- Engagement Studio programs building and management
- Program steps and automation rules definition
- Program performance monitoring and analysis

5. Marketing and Sales Alignment
- Pardot-Salesforce CRM integration
- Lead synchronization and data sharing between Pardot and Salesforce
- Collaboration with sales teams using Pardot-Salesforce integration features

6. Reporting and Analytics
- Pardot reports and dashboards generation and interpretation
- Campaign performance tracking and measurement
- Pardot analytics features utilization for data-driven decision making
Essentials of Pardot Lightning App for Digital Marketers
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Essentials of Pardot Lightning App for Digital Marketers
http://killexams.com/pass4sure/exam-detail/PDX-101
Question: 68
By default, which two objects does Pardot write to in Salesforce? Choose 2 answers
A . Case records
B . Opportunity records
C . Contact records
D . Lead records
E . Account records
Answer: C, D
Question: 69
A Pardot administrator wants to export a .csv of prospects that purchased a certain product within the last year. The
product is captured in a Product Name field on the prospect record. The company’s product will soon be changing
names, therefore they need a one-time export of all prospects that have this specific product currently listed in the
Product Name field.
What is the recommended way to identify these prospects to export to .csv?
A . Create an automation rule based on product Name.
B . Create a completion action based on Product Name.
C . Create a dynamic list based on Product Name.
D . Create a segmentation rule based on Product Name.
Answer: A
Question: 70
A new automation rule is created.
What action is required for prospects to begin matching that automation rule?
A . Resume the rule after saving
B . Sava the rule without any additional action
C . Schedule the rule to run before saving it
D . Preview the rule before saving it
Answer: D
Question: 71
Which two prospect activities trigger a sync from Pardot to Salesforce? Choose 2 answers
A . Submitting a form
B . Opening an email
C . Clicking a custom redirect
D . Unsubscribing from email
Answer: A, B
Question: 72
What information can you access on the Prospect List?
A . Prospect’s Name
B . Prospect’s Email Address
C . Prospect’s Title
D . Prospect’s Company
E . Prospect’s Grade
F . Prospect’s Score
G . Date of when prospect converted from a visitor
H . Date of prospect’s last activity
Answer: A, D, E, F, H
Question: 73
A marketing user wants to send an email template to a prospect list, but the specific email template Isn’t available to
choose when sanding a new list email.
How should the user resolve this Issue?
A . Edit the list to be available for "Email Sanding"
B . Edit the email template to make it available for "List Emails"
C . Edit the list to be available for "Email Templates"
D . Edit the email template and choose the appropriate list
Answer: B
Question: 74
Which list email report metric represents the total number of emails minus hard and soft bounces?
A . Total Opt Outs
B . Total Sent
C . Total Queued
D . Total Delivered
Answer: D
Question: 75
A client submits their Pardot form to test the form’s completion actions. After they submit the form, none of the
completion actions are applied to their prospect record.
What explanation do you provide as to why the actions did not occur?
A . The client has a visitor filter set up to filter activities from their IP address. Completion actions do not occur on
filtered visitors.
B . The ’email’ form field was set up to exclude free email addresses, so even though they submitted the form
successfully, the Gmail address they used prevented the completion actions from running.
C . The client did not un-pause the completion actions.
D . Kiosk mode was enabled on the form, so completion actions did not run.
Answer: A
Question: 76
What step type would be used in engagement studio to add prospects to another engagement studio program’s recipient
list?
A . Rule
B . End
C . Trigger
D . Action
Answer: D
Question: 77
In Salesforce, Contacts are deleted if an Opportunity hasn’t been closed in 180 days. As a result, the corresponding
prospects are marked as[[crm_deleted]] in Pardot. If the Request a Demo form is completed after that 180 day period,
the prospect should be recreated as a Lead.
What automation tool should be used to solve this need?
A . Engagement studio
B . Segmentation rule
C . Automation rule
D . Dynamic list
Answer: A
Question: 78
What does the gear icon on the prospect list allow you to do?
A . Copy
B . Assign
C . Delete
D . Edit
Answer: B, C, D
Question: 79
A visitor clicks on a custom redirect with an action of adding a tag. The visitor them fills out a form and becomes a
prospect. The form has a completion action to add the prospect to a list.
Which three things will happen to the prospect? (Choose three answers.)
A . The prospect activities will show that the form was successfully completed.
B . The prospect will be added to the list.
C . The prospect activities will show that the custom redirect was clicked.
D . The prospect will be tagged.
E . The newly converted prospect will NOT be affected because it was their first submission.
Answer: A,B,D
Question: 80
Lenoxsoft is interested in folding up with IT professional that are actively engine with their marking materials.
A . The Grade as it includes personal information about the prospect.
B . The Profile as It reflects LenoxSoft’s ideal customer.
C . The Campaign as it references the prospect’s first touch point.
D . The Score as it shows activities taken by the prospect.
Answer: D
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Salesforce Essentials test contents - BingNews https://killexams.com/pass4sure/exam-detail/PDX-101 Search results Salesforce Essentials test contents - BingNews https://killexams.com/pass4sure/exam-detail/PDX-101 https://killexams.com/exam_list/Salesforce What is Salesforce Essentials?

For years, Salesforce has led the customer relationship management (CRM) software industry and priced its products at rates too high for many small businesses. With its Essentials platform, Salesforce has solved the latter problem while further strengthening its industry leadership. If you run an extremely small business that has limited resources – both with people and money – Salesforce Essentials might be what you’re looking for.

What is Salesforce Essentials?

Salesforce Essentials, released in 2017, is Salesforce’s small-business-focused service. While the software as a service giant has offered products geared toward small businesses in the past, such solutions were typically best suited for medium-size and larger businesses. Salesforce Essentials, on the other hand, only supports up to 10 users and was built with very small businesses in mind. And, importantly, the price of Salesforce Essentials caters to the budget of a small business. On every level, it’s made for the little guy.

You may see Salesforce Essentials referred to as Salesforce Lightning Essentials. This second name may prove confusing, as a separate product called Salesforce Lightning also exists.

Salesforce Essentials is a feature-heavy CRM that allows, at most, 10 users and tailors its prices to suit the budgets of small businesses.

Editor’s note: Looking for the right CRM for your business? Fill out the below questionnaire to have our vendor partners contact you about your needs.

What is Salesforce Lightning?

Salesforce Lightning is the existing version of Salesforce’s platform. It’s an upgrade to Salesforce Classic. Salesforce says that Lightning allows CRM users to work more efficiently and productively through improvements to many Classic features.

Salesforce Lightning is designed to substantially shorten the process of customizing Salesforce. Its innovations include the introduction of Salesforce Essentials – Essentials, too, is geared toward efficiency and empowering the user.

Who is Salesforce Essentials for?

Salesforce Essentials is for small businesses that need affordable CRM software. You’ll pay substantially less for Essentials than with other CRM platforms – including Salesforce’s other offerings – for tracking, reporting, dashboards and support tools. However, you are limited to 10 users.

Consider Salesforce Essential when choosing CRM software if you’re a small business that wants to get into the Salesforce ecosystem. Salesforce is the industry leader for a reason. While you won’t have access to all of what Salesforce has to offer, you will get an idea of whether the other, more expensive plans are right for your business when the time comes. [Want to learn more about Salesforce? Take a listen to one of these top Salesforce podcasts.]

How Salesforce Essentials differs from other Salesforce Lightning packages

Here’s how the Essentials plan differs from other Salesforce packages.

Faster and easier implementation

Salesforce has simplified the implementation process for Salesforce Essentials by giving users access to Trailhead, a “free, gamified online learning platform” that guides users through the quick setup process. Since there are fewer features in this streamlined version of the CRM, there’s less to do to get up and running, and you can do it all in-house without extensive tech skills.

Affordable pricing

Salesforce Essentials is priced to entice small business owners to use Salesforce. The hope is, presumably, that small business users will sign up for Essentials and gradually upgrade to more sophisticated levels of service. In fact, the reason why Essentials is so easy to upgrade is that it’s not an entirely new product; it’s just a lower-tier option in Salesforce’s Lightning line.

For $25 per user per month, small business users get access to Sales Cloud Essentials and Service Cloud Essentials for up to 10 users. This rate applies if you opt into annual billing. Should you choose month-to-month billing, you’ll pay $35 per user per month.

However, the 10-user cap on Salesforce Essentials can backfire if you’re not careful. The next tier up, Professionals, is $75 per user per month. This means that if your business is growing rapidly and you anticipate having more than 10 users, you might pay more for a CRM sooner rather than later. Plan your budget accordingly.

While the price of Salesforce Essential is appealing, remember, you’re limited to 10 users. If you anticipate that your business will grow beyond 10 users in a short amount of time and you don’t want to pay $75 per user per month, you might want to consider another CRM that costs less and supports more than 10 users.

Extensive features

Salesforce Essentials doesn’t offer all the functionality of Lightning, but it offers a lot of features for the price point. Here are a few of the most popular CRM features Essentials offers small business users:

  • Easy contact and account information addition and management
  • Automatic customer data sync from email through the Einstein Activity Capture tool
  • Customizable sales process and detailed sales funnel stages
  • Deal value projections
  • Comprehensive tools for receiving and answering customer questions
  • Task management and activity feed
  • Free, prebuilt configurable reports and dashboards
  • Collaboration tools
  • Case management, also known as customer feedback management
  • Tools for providing customer support via email, phone, live chat and social media
  • A mobile app, which has all the functions of the Essentials desktop version
  • Remote contact management
  • The Lightning app builder and app exchange
  • Integrations with DocuSign, Dropbox, HelloSign, Nicereply, CodeScience, ActiveCampaign and Zapier
  • Email optimization (web and email case capture and autoresponse)

The limitations of Salesforce Essentials are its limited analytics/forecasting tools, the lack of workflows (you can’t build in approvals), the lack of roles and permissions, and a lack of built-in billing and price-quoting functionality.

Salesforce Essentials differs from other Salesforce products in its implementation, affordability and features.

Bottom line

Salesforce Essentials offers small businesses affordable entry to one of the largest and most powerful CRMs on the market. If you keep an eye on costs as you grow and stay within your limit of 10 users, this small business edition of Salesforce is worth a try.

Mona Bushnell contributed to this article contributed to the reporting and writing in this article.

Sun, 03 Oct 2021 08:20:00 -0500 en text/html https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/10652-salesforce-lightning-essentials-for-small-business.html
Salesforce Starter

Salesforce is regarded as one of the best customer relationship management (CRM) solutions for large-scale enterprises, with its Salesforce Sales Cloud Lightning Professional tool earning our Editors' Choice award. However, that enterprise-grade CRM is too complex and costly for smaller businesses. On the other end, the company's entry-level Salesforce Essentials offered limited features at a steeper price than its competitors in the small to medium size business (SMB) space. That brings us to Salesforce Starter, a streamlined version of the award-winning platform designed to replace Essentials on Salesforce's menu of CRM options. Starter is specifically targeted toward SMBs, giving Salesforce a seat at the table with HubSpot CRM, Freshsales, and Zoho CRM (our Editors' Choice pick that features deep third-party integrations).


(Credit: PCMag/Salesforce)

How Much Does Salesforce Starter Cost?

Like its predecessor, Salesforce Essentials, Salesforce Starter costs $25 per user per month, billed annually. That's on the higher end of the affordability scale. Still, Starter does a better job than its predecessor of merging usability and scalability with a comprehensive set of sales, marketing, and service tools that won't overwhelm new CRM users.

The most notable bone that Salesforce has thrown to its SMB customers is that you can onboard up to 325 users on Starter, compared with Essentials' 10-user limit. Salesforce aims to make Starter flexible enough to grow with small to medium businesses, so you won't need to jump to a pricier, more complex solution before you're ready.

As with many of its competitors, you can test drive Salesforce Starter for 30 days without a credit card before diving into a yearlong commitment.

If you need more advanced features, Salesforce Professional is the next tier at $80 per user per month, billed annually. This plan adds tools like sales forecasting, quotes and contracts, and third-party API access. Then there are Salesforce's Enterprise tiers that range in cost from $165 to $500 per user per month, billed annually. These include the sophisticated features, high-level customization, and robust library of add-ons that make Salesforce one of the top CRMs.

How does Salesforce Starter fare against its rivals? Let's take Zoho CRM, for example. Zoho's Standard plan costs $14 per user per month, billed annually, making it notably more affordable than Salesforce Starter. Although it lacks the case management and artificial intelligence-optimized tools found in Salesforce Starter, Zoho compensates by offering lead scoring and sales forecasting. Both platforms are evenly matched when it comes to customization, reporting, and ease of use. Ultimately, your choice boils down to your budget and business needs.


(Credit: PCMag/Salesforce)

How to Set Up Salesforce Starter

Salesforce Starter's setup process is one of its most impressive features. In contrast to earlier Salesforce products, Starter practically holds your hand (in a good way) through onboarding. There's still a noticeable learning curve, but you won't need to outsource onboarding to a Salesforce expert. This will save your business money.

To begin, you fill out a brief form and take a short survey regarding your business goals, which will then bring you to a two-minute video. (The video is merely a Salesforce commercial, so you won't lose much by skipping it.). When you're ready to purchase a plan, click the "Buy Now" button in the application's top-right corner to begin the three-step checkout process.

Then you'll see a homepage split into two main areas. The top section, Quick Look, features shortcuts to essential sales, marketing, and service tools. Click on these for a guided walkthrough of those elements, complete with on-page prompts and a sidebar checklist you can either move, minimize, or snooze as needed. The homepage's bottom half highlights your accurate sales activities and suggests the next steps based on those metrics.

The top tabs highlight the Accounts, Contacts, Sales, Service, Marketing, Calendar, Dashboard, and Reports sections. Above these tabs are a universal search bar and a notifications button. Guidance Center and Quick Settings offer setup checklists and admin tools, such as adding users or managing your Salesforce subscription.

These are all welcome features, and they make it clear that Salesforce Starter aims to provide SMBs with a turnkey CRM. Starter doesn't support what Salesforce calls "custom objects," which let third-party vendors integrate their software with the platform. That's in contrast to Saleforce's earlier Essentials product, but the benefit here is a less time-intensive setup. This is ideal for companies new to CRMs or smaller teams that lack the resources to allocate for a lengthy onboarding process.


(Credit: PCMag/Salesforce)

Data Transfer and Syncing Options With Salesforce Starter

There are two ways to sign in to Salesforce Starter: the usual email-and-password method or syncing to your Google or Microsoft account. The latter method streamlines the login process and lets you directly upload contacts, emails, and calendar events to the CRM. Salesforce's Einstein Activity Capture automatically links synced data to appropriate deals, granting you more time to focus on revenue-generating tasks. ("Einstein" is Salesforce's catch-all branding for any feature it claims is powered by AI.)

To import sales data, leads, or opportunities, you must upload a CSV file. You can opt to populate your contacts that way, as well. 


Salesforce Starter's Pillars of Sales Success

The Guidance Center focuses on three main pillars for selling on the platform: Accounts, Contacts, and Opportunities. These serve as the backbone of your Starter sales operations, housing all the essential information and functions you'll need to initiate and advance deals. 

An unobtrusive pop-up walks you through manually entering data for each section. After saving the data, you're taken to an overview page divided into three parts: personal details, accurate activities, and other related CRM data such as Cases and Files. This hub streamlines vital sales activities like sending emails, scheduling meetings, and logging calls, eliminating the need to toggle tabs or swap screens.

You can filter Accounts, Contacts, and Opportunities with preset or custom list views. Tailor these lists for targeted marketing campaigns or generate quick sidebar charts to track specific metrics on the fly. You also can switch between table, Kanban, and split view formats, whichever suits your workflow best.


(Credit: PCMag/Salesforce)

Maximizing Lead Generation in Salesforce Starter 

Although Salesforce Starter's target audience is SMBs, many of which will have little or no experience with CRM software, it offers many features that aid growing companies in executing an efficient lead generation strategy without devoting too much time to grunt work (read: data entry). These tools are found in the Marketing hub. They don't rival what's available from standalone email marketing and marketing automation products, but they'll be a boon to smaller companies that don't want to navigate learning multiple applications for their sales functions.

Cadences, a feature also present in Salesforce Sales Cloud Lightning Professional, guides you through the prospecting process by mapping out activity sequences. These sync up with Tasks, which automatically update as leads progress through the pipeline. 

Sorting leads and automating tasks is seamless, thanks to Segments and Flows. These sections have a visual interface with drag-and-drop elements and dropdown menus, leveling the playing field for people new to CRMs who don't want to be inundated with lines of unfamiliar, confusing code.

The Campaigns tab has an email builder with customizable templates and myriad components for businesses wanting to level up their outreach. Whether you're sending one email or preparing an email blast, the Einstein Send Time Optimization suggests the best times to hit send (you can disable this if you prefer manual timing).

The Performance tab offers a comprehensive view of your ongoing email campaigns so you'll know what's working and what's not. Notably, this component was often the slowest to load during our tests. (For context, we tested the software against the latest version of Chrome on a 2019 Intel-based MacBook Air.) 

Salesforce Starter lets you send up to 2,000 emails per month, which should suffice for most small businesses. However, if you need to up that allowance, you can pay an extra $10 per month for another 1,000 sends.

Advanced options, such as lead scoring and sales forecasting, aren't part of the package, which is expected given Salesforce Starter's focus on user-friendliness for smaller businesses. Nor is there any integration with social media networks, which is something to keep in mind if you promote heavily on such platforms. However, Zoho CRM is worth investigating if you're looking for such features at a fair price. 


(Credit: PCMag/Salesforce)

Keeping Clients Happy With Salesforce Starter

In addition to its Sales and Marketing tools, Salesforce Starter also has a Service hub to help manage customer queries. The central feature here is Cases, where you log and view every interaction that a customer had with your company about a given issue. This way, any team member can easily step in and pick up where someone else left off for a smoother transition. (Once again, you can think of this as a subset of what you'd get from a standalone help desk product.)

There's also the Knowledge tab, where you write and publish articles about common customer problems and their solutions, all within the CRM. These articles are searchable and accessible right within each customer case, so you can resolve things quickly and keep things moving.

The last Service feature is Quick Text, designed to speed up outreach by letting you create preset email messages for occasions like birthdays or special promotions. We couldn't fully test this due to a minor bug. Still, it's worth noting that at the time of our test, Salesforce Starter was a just-launched product. As of this writing, it's still only available in a limited number of geographic regions, mainly owing to language localization issues.


(Credit: PCMag/Salesforce)

Measuring Success With Dashboards and Reporting

Salesforce Starter has the weakest reporting capabilities among the full family of Salesforce Sales products. However, compared with most CRM competitors in the small business space (like Freshsales or HubSpot CRM), it's robust without the overkill of advanced features better suited for large enterprises.

Salesforce Starter comes with over 60 customizable report types across 11 categories, such as sales, marketing, service, and admin. You'll also have a range of nearly a dozen chart types, giving you the flexibility to present your data in the most meaningful way. You can organize dashboards according to report types and tailor the formatting to your liking. 

You can make reports and dashboards public, private, or limited to specific users. With the Subscribe feature, you can opt to receive notifications for report or dashboard updates in real-time or at scheduled intervals.


(Credit: PCMag/Salesforce)

Is Salesforce Starter Easy to Use?

Salesforce Starter aims to be accessible for newcomers to the Salesforce ecosystem or CRMs in general. While the platform is feature-rich, which could potentially steepen the learning curve, the on-page guidance and easy access to the Guidance Center are a boon for smaller teams that may not have the means to bring in a Salesforce expert to train them. There's also the Trailblazer Community, where you can find resources and answers to any questions you may have. 

Salesforce is known for its high level of customization, and Salesforce Starter also delivers on that front. You can tweak the interface to your liking, which could range from something as basic as choosing between a wide-spaced or compact layout, or going all-in and incorporating the colors and logo of your company for a personal touch. 

On the other hand, unlike its predecessor, Salesforce Essentials, Salesforce Starter doesn't support the platform's custom objects. As mentioned above, this restricts the range of third-party app integrations that are available. But once again, this is likely intentional given the platform's focus on simplicity for small businesses. If building a tech stack is necessary for your small business, look at HubSpot CRM instead.

Salesforce Starter syncs with the Salesforce mobile app, which is free to get on Android and iOS. While it lacks access to the advanced remote features available in Salesforce's Enterprise tiers, the core functionality should meet the needs of most small to medium businesses.


A User-Friendly Gateway to the Salesforce Platform

Salesforce bills Salesforce Starter as a platform for small- to medium-size businesses seeking a turnkey CRM. It succeeds in that regard, thanks to a straightforward setup process and a focus on core sales, marketing, and service tools. Its scalability and ease of use make it a suitable choice for companies that want to streamline their operations, minus the burden that often accompanies the introduction of new technology. For most SMBs, Salesforce Starter is a fine introduction to the Salesforce ecosystem (or CRMs in general).

There are concessions you must make if you opt for Salesforce Starter. Notably, a lack of support for third-party objects and fewer AI-powered tools than other Salesforce products. The trade-off is a CRM that's essentially ready to use out of the box, barring any tweaks you'll want to make to the interface. Editors' Choice winner Zoho CRM is a better value for your money, but the entry-level Starter is an excellent gateway into the broader Salesforce platform that offers room to grow.

Sun, 22 Oct 2023 12:00:00 -0500 en-gb text/html https://uk.pcmag.com/crm-software/149272/salesforce-starter
Finra Exams

Series 79, also known as the Investment Banking Representative Exam, is a Representative-Level test administered by FINRA. Anyone who passes the Series 79 test is qualified to advise on and/or facilitate debt and equity offerings, mergers and acquisitions, tender offers, financial restructurings, asset sales, divestitures (or other corporate reorganizations), and business combination transactions.

Wed, 28 Dec 2022 10:00:00 -0600 en text/html https://www.investopedia.com/finra-exams-4689804
Can Salesforce Stay on Top of CRM Providers in 2023?

Salesforce continues to dominate tech headlines and investment forums in 2023. The company has garnered much attention thanks to improved features and an increased stock price, but layoffs and leadership transitions are also part of the chatter surrounding the organization. Internal and external changes could pave the way for rivals like Microsoft and Oracle to claim more market share.

As our review of the Salesforce CRM makes clear, the vendor produces one of the best CRM platforms around. But that doesn’t mean businesses shouldn’t study Salesforce’s competitors. Another offering could better suit your needs, especially when you consider some of Salesforce’s downsides.

Editor’s note: Looking for the right CRM software for your business? Fill out the questionnaire below to have our vendor partners contact you about your needs.

Why you should consider Salesforce alternatives

The customer relationship management (CRM) space is full of large and midsize companies vying for the attention of businesses like yours. While only a few CRMs out there are real competition for Salesforce and its global scale, small business clients have a wide variety of vendors to consider.

Salesforce is the most prominent name on the market, with a vast array of features and integrations at reasonable pricing, but those positives may become negatives when viewed from a small business point of view. For example, too many choices can create analysis paralysis; with a plethora of features to choose from when choosing their Salesforce package, small business owners may become overwhelmed or distracted from their core business needs. Plus, many of the company’s integrations and features can be irrelevant and costly bells and whistles for some smaller businesses that can get by with basic functionality. You should also keep in mind that bigger doesn’t always mean better when it comes to customer service. Salesforce, despite being the global CRM leader, has gained a reputation for limited customer support within small business circles.

Fortunately, all it takes is a little research to discover which Salesforce alternatives may be more ideal for your business. We’ve gotten the process started for you by rounding up some of Salesforce’s top competitors below.

Salesforce is the market leader in the CRM space, but small businesses may want to look elsewhere for a vendor that delivers quick customer service and provides the level of individual attention smaller companies need.

Top Salesforce competitors

Could one of Salesforce’s top competitors be a better solution for your small business? We recommend considering these vendors.

Keap

One of the things we love most about Keap is its ease of use. This CRM platform is super customizable to your business’s unique needs and makes automation simple to set up. You can add over 2,500 software integrations and sales and CRM marketing tools to expand its functionality. However, Keap’s contact-based pricing model means costs will increase for businesses with more than 10,000 contact names (contacts could include all of your current and past customers, as well as customer leads). This may not be a significant drawback, however, for very small businesses with limited client lists:

  • Why it stands out: Keap’s CRM platform stores all customer activity in a centralized space. Your business’s customer interactions are added automatically. The user dashboard makes it easy for you and your team to text, email, book appointments, process purchases and add invoices from the same screen. 
  • Pricing: The Pro plan starts at $139 per month for two users. The Max plan starts at $199 per month for three users. The company also offers a 14-day free trial.

Find out more in our detailed Keap review.

Zoho CRM

Zoho CRM is designed to increase leads, accelerate sales and accurately measure performance with ease and efficiency. Zia, the system’s artificial intelligence (AI)-powered assistant, predicts leads and deals, identifies potential customers for conversion and helps sales teams focus their efforts with user-friendly guidance. Note that only Enterprise subscribers have access to these AI-powered tools:

  • Why it stands out: This vendor particularly excels at serving remote and hybrid teams. Real-time notifications of customer interactions can reach your sales team in any location, easy-to-use automation saves time on repetitive tasks and the flexible dashboard makes it convenient to stay in touch with your entire sales team from anywhere.
  • Pricing: Zoho offers four plans — Standard, Professional, Enterprise and Ultimate. Pricing starts at $14 per user, per month, for the Standard package and tops out at $52 per user, per month, for the Ultimate option. We particularly like that the Enterprise tier gets you a customer journey command center, a Canvas visual CRM view, a mobile software development kit and multiuser portals. 

See our in-depth Zoho CRM review for a breakdown of each pricing tier.

Zendesk

Zendesk works incredibly well for businesses with complex customer profiles and industries with long-term customer relationships. It is especially well-suited for managing post-sale business activities, renewals and other customer service tasks. However, the home dashboard isn’t super user-friendly compared to other CRM options on the market. 

  • Why it stands out: You can enjoy a suite of collaboration tools that keep team members engaged and make it easier to work together from various locations. Customer data is aggregated from multiple customer touchpoints into a central database, preventing different departments from duplicating communications or missing context. 
  • Pricing: The monthly subscription price ranges from $19 to $99 per user, with a 30-day free trial option.

Using a CRM model alongside your CRM software can help Strengthen your company’s sales process while using a CRM for customer service can boost client retention.

Oracle NetSuite CRM

While Oracle is one of the biggest CRM companies in the world — competing alongside leaders like Salesforce, SAP, Microsoft and Adobe for market share — it can also be a powerful tool for small e-commerce businesses. Its Oracle NetSuite product is a truly unified, all-in-one commerce solution for sales, marketing and operations. Just be aware that access to all features and tools requires purchasing Oracle’s enterprise resource planning platform.

  • Why it stands out: The Oracle CRM includes custom integrations with the full suite of Oracle products. It also provides a robust CRM analytics system, highly rated mobile applications and full browser and cloud support.
  • Pricing: Costs are not available online because quotes are generated based on each business’s specific needs.

While pricing isn’t readily available, our full review of the Oracle NetSuite CRM is jam-packed with other must-know information on other aspects of this Salesforce rival.

monday Sales CRM

For businesses with never-ending task lists and complex ventures, the monday Sales CRM from monday.com can help streamline project management processes as they relate to sales activities. The vendor’s core work management platform, which is included with the CRM, is designed to run and scale to any workflow. The software’s interfaces are easy to navigate, and the program comes equipped with unlimited boards to organize projects, from dashboards to customer data visualization tools: 

  • Why it stands out: Premade templates make building and implementing time-saving automation super simple. We like that all plans include 24/7 customer support.
  • Pricing: There are four plans available — Free, Basic, Standard and Enterprise (for large-scale operations). The free plan is limited to two users, 5GB of storage and 200+ templates. Basic and Standard are priced from $10 to $14 per user per month when billed annually, while companies interested in the Enterprise option need to get a custom quote. Students and nonprofits may qualify for discounted or free access.

Our review of the monday Sales CRM explains how the free version of the software differs from the tiers you have to pay for.

Other CRM competitors

The vendors we highlighted above are only some of the many other CRM providers small businesses can choose from. Companies like Less Annoying CRM, HubSpot, Insightly and SugarCRM can’t compete with Salesforce in terms of sheer size, but they understand the small and medium-sized business market. Like the other CRM vendors profiled in this article, these companies have built CRM solutions designed to serve small businesses with a more modern sales process that makes buying a software-as-a-solution product more transparent. 

Salesforce has an entry-level option called Salesforce Essentials. This product may be more appealing to small businesses that still want to work with the Salesforce brand but don’t need all of the company’s pricey tools.

The future of Salesforce and its competition

Salesforce is unique in that it acquired a dominant market share by targeting businesses of all sizes at the same time. The company continues to face stiff competition from big dogs like Oracle NetSuite CRM and Microsoft Dynamics as they move out of the enterprise-only market to nab contracts with large and midsize companies. That’s on top of the increasing competition Salesforce faces from CRM companies that focus exclusively on the small business set. 

The strength of the competitive landscape combined with the economic changes hitting the technology sector in 2023 promise to make it an interesting year for Salesforce. The alternatives that focus on serving the unique and evolving needs of small businesses, instead of on company growth and global market dominance, could chip away at Salesforce’s clientele. After all, a global presence and unmatched power don’t automatically make the Salesforce CRM the best option for your business.

Mona Bushnell and Jordan Beier contributed to this article.

Thu, 19 Oct 2023 12:00:00 -0500 en text/html https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/11203-salesforce-crm-competition.html
BASIC Essentials

Focused and results-based, this important board review title covers everything that residents need to know when preparing for their Anesthesiology BASIC exam. Written by residents familiar with the exam, its use of bullet points and illustrations enables effective learning and efficient test preparation. Providing a comprehensive review of all test topics, the guide uses a clear and focused note-taking style to present 'high-yield' information, enabling efficient study techniques. Bullet points and short paragraphs feature to help rapid understanding, with margin space provided to annotate and add further notes. The helpful format ensures that all test preparation, including notes from question banks, can be kept in this 'one-stop' review book. Mirroring the BASIC test requirements, this book covers clinical anesthetic practice, pharmacology, physiology, anatomy, and anesthesia equipment and monitoring. Written by residents for residents, it is an essential preparation resource for the Anesthesiology BASIC exam.

Tue, 29 Nov 2022 14:30:00 -0600 en text/html https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/basic-essentials/CA83B16C903F3504C63948087816A85D
The Small Business Too Important to Fail

Bill Patterson, EVP CRM Applications, Salesforce

The following content was written by Salesforce

For many organizations, the COVID-19 epidemic has halted business in its tracks. But there are companies and groups big and small that have found ways to keep going—to keep their workforces employed and engaged, and keep their customers equipped with what they need. In Rising to the Occasion, we’re taking a look at how organizations can make big pivots quickly, and the tools that help them pull it off.

From day one, Bitty & Beau’s Coffee received a great response from the community.

“We had a line out the door,” said Amy Wright, co-founder of Bitty & Beau’s Coffee. “But we were going to open that business whether people showed up or not. It meant that much to us.” Named for their two youngest children, who have Down syndrome, Amy and Ben Wright’s small business Bitty & Beau’s Coffee is run by employees with intellectual and developmental disabilities. It’s a small business dedicated to a larger problem: Of an estimated 200 million people worldwide with intellectual and developmental disabilities, roughly 80 percent are unemployed.

“Our mission started off as creating jobs for people with disabilities in our community, but now it has really evolved into more of a human rights movement,” said Amy. But when COVID-19 hit the U.S., those lines out the door turned into doors closed indefinitely. Five locations shuttered. 120 employees furloughed.

“For the majority of our employees, working at Bitty and Beau’s Coffee is their first job ever,” said Amy. “To have the excitement and the ability to start saving and planning for their futures and then have to put all that on hold has been a scary time for everybody.”

Not least because Bitty & Beau’s Coffee thrives on human connection. It’s the handshakes, the high-fives, and the hugs that make it more than just a coffee shop. Somehow, Amy and Ben had to pivot their business model in the span of a week and replicate the magic of that in-store experience online. They had to maintain their connection with their community so that no matter how challenging this crisis might be, their customers knew that they would come back.

As soon as Amy and Ben received their Paycheck Protection Program loan from Live Oak Bank, they sent out a survey to their staff to find out how they would like to work from home. Staff could choose between responsibilities such as doing hand-written thank-you notes or participating in coffee conversation interviews for social media, all designed to keep the staff connected to their community of supporters.

Thankfully, Amy and Ben were prepared for this massive shift.

“I think the whole world is going through this time of figuring it out, but it’s very much what we do on a daily basis,” said Ben. “When our kids were born with Down syndrome, we couldn’t drop everything and go get PhDs in special education. We just had to figure it out. And when we started the coffee shop, we just had to figure it out.”

For Amy and Ben, part of “figuring it out” meant having the right technology in place. Salesforce Service Cloud and Community Cloud allowed Bitty and Beau’s Coffee to quickly set up a Help Center so that customers could get instant access to information, answers, FAQs, sales, and order tracking. Instead of buckling under the weight of an overflowing email inbox, the Help Center and a custom Salesforce Einstein Chat Bot called “Bitty Bot” helped Amy, Ben, and the staff respond to customers immediately rather than eight weeks later. Now Bitty and Beau’s Coffee is planning to use Salesforce Pardot to execute email and social campaigns to drive customers to their website.

“The best decision we ever made was teaming up with Salesforce to have all our ducks in a row,” said Amy. “Little did we know we’d find ourselves in this situation right now, but working with Salesforce allowed us to streamline our website and handle incoming communication, which we’re getting a lot of. I feel like we were really prepped for this moment.”

Above all else, Bitty & Beau’s Coffee has a business purpose that transcends their business model. It’s a business purpose that is too big to fail. And it’s why they’re thinking far bigger than just their stores or their website. Amy and Ben are now developing a free module on the Salesforce Trailhead online learning platform that would guide other employers on hiring people with disabilities.

“We’re incorporating our employees in that planning process because they’re the best advocates for themselves,” said Amy. “Why not have someone with autism help design that so that employers better understand them?”

“If business is about anything, it’s about innovation,” added Ben. “It’s coming up with solutions.”

At Salesforce, taking care of one another is our first priority. We developed Salesforce Care, a set of free rapid response solutions, to help companies stay connected to their employees, customers, and partners right now. Since launching, more than 3,700 companies from 47 countries have signed up. Visit salesforce.com to learn more.

Thu, 30 Apr 2020 21:09:00 -0500 en text/html https://www.theatlantic.com/sponsored/salesforce-2020/bitty-and-beau/3373/
HubSpot vs Salesforce (2023) – Which CRM Is Best and Why?

Our content is funded in part by commercial partnerships, at no extra cost to you and without impact to our editorial impartiality. Click to Learn More

Our research shows that HubSpot is better than Salesforce for sales and marketing, as well as being one of the best CRMs for small businesses, thanks to its robust free plan. On the other hand, Salesforce is better than HubSpot for customer service because it offers more communication channels to reach customers.

If you're in the market for CRM, you've almost certainly heard of Salesforce, as its easily the most popular CRM in the world, boasting a whopping third of CRM market share. Subsequently, Salesforce offers a lot of pricing plans for different sizes and types of businesses, which is why getting a quote for your business is likely your best move.

Still, the HubSpot vs Salesforce matchup is a lot closer than you might think. In this guide, we'll cover all the specifics about these two CRM providers — from features and pricing to customer support and ease of use — and explain when and why one might be a better fit for your business.

We'll be pitting HubSpot vs Salesforce head to head throughout this article. Of course, these aren't the only CRM tools to consider. Check out some of these further alternatives, below. Or, scroll on to learn more about Salesforce and Hubspot.

 

HubSpot vs. Salesforce – Which Should You Choose?

Before we get to all the nitty gritty details of HubSpot vs Salesforce, understanding the fundamental differences between the two popular CRMs will help you make a decision when it comes to choosing for your business. Here are some basics about the differences between HubSpot and Salesforce:

  • HubSpot is better for small businesses than Salesforce
  • Salesforce is better for larger businesses than HubSpot
  • HubSpot offers an easier to use interface than Salesforce
  • Salesforce offers better analytics and reporting tools than HubSpot
  • HubSpot has better sales and marketing features than Salesforce
  • Salesforce has better customer service features than HubSpot
  • HubSpot offers a free forever plan, and Salesforce doesn't

In earnest, Salesforce and HubSpot are a lot more similar than many other popular CRM providers in the market, but the free forever plan is a big differentiator between the two. Salesforce not only has no free plan, but also has a higher price tag than most HubSpot plans, which is why the former is better for larger businesses, and the latter more focused on smaller businesses.

Read to compare CRM providers?

Salesforce isn't the only name in the game.

HubSpot vs Salesforce Pricing

Both HubSpot and Salesforce can become very expensive, very fast, which can be concerning for businesses trying to navigate the looming recession. That's why it's essential to only sign up to the tiered plan that's right for the needs of your business. You can use our simple CRM tailored quotes form to narrow it down and get a price quote to help you decide.

Of course, HubSpot has one advantage over Salesforce – there's a free tier to HubSpot CRM. This isn't a short-term trial, either – you can use HubSpot free forever, should you choose. But, on the paid plans, you'll have far more HubSpot features – and these paid plans aren't always better value than Salesforce equivalents.

Both HubSpot and Salesforce offer industry-specific options, each with their own set of plans. This means that entry-level plans for sales businesses, for example, could be a different price than those of marketing businesses. Take note of that while checking out the breakdown below.

HubSpot Pricing

First off, we'll start with the Hubs. HubSpot offers three different types of service, or Hubs, aimed at the different purposes of CRM: sales, marketing, and customer service.

The Sales Hub and Service Hub are priced similarly, but the Marketing Hub is a bit more expensive, which is commonplace for marketing-focused CRM providers. Take a look at how these HubSpot Hubs match up against each other below and read on for an in-depth look at each Hub.

Check out our complete guide to HubSpot pricing for more information

HubSpot Sales Hub pricing

The HubSpot Sales Hub starts off quite affordable, but as you can see from the table below, it gets expensive pretty fast. The entry price is enticing, particularly considering the free plan is available, but the advanced features — like lead scoring and custom reports — don't unlock until you hit the Professional plan, which is far above the industry standard on price.

It's also worth remembering that the Sales Hub pricing plans have a minimum number of users required and per user pricing, so you'll definitely be paying more than the per month price listed. Here's how all of the HubSpot Sales Hub plans match up against each other:

Unlimited
(minimum 2 users)

Unlimited
(minimum 5 users)

Unlimited
(minimum 10 users)

Predictive scoring

HubSpot Service Hub pricing

As is also the case with Salesforce, the Service Hub is identically priced to the Sales Hub. This means that the prices start pretty competitive in the entry-level plans, but they get expensive fast. While the Starter plan is quite competitive in the industry, substantially undercutting Salesforce, the Professional plan ramps up the price by a lot, with the Enterprise sending it up even further.

Like the Sales Hub, the HubSpot Service Hub also has the same minimum user requirement and per user pricing, so your monthly cost is going to be higher than these listed prices. Here's how the HubSpot Service Hub pricing plans match up against each other:

Unlimited
(minimum 2 users)

Unlimited
(minimum 5 users)

HubSpot Marketing Hub pricing

If you thought the Sales Hub and Service Hub options were expensive, just wait until you see the Marketing Hub options. Prices are decidedly higher compared to HubSpot alternatives, although the Starter plan still stays below the comparative Salesforce plans by quite a bit.

The Marketing Hub does away with the per user pricing, and instead charges users based on the number of marketing contacts they would like to reach, starting at 1,000. Here's a breakdown of the Marketing Hub pricing plans:

Salesforce Pricing

Similar to HubSpot's Hubs, Salesforce offers different types of services depending on your needs, dubbed Clouds, for sales, marketing, and service. Each one offers a different set of pricing plans, but Salesforce offers some mix and match options that can save you some money if you want dual functionality.

Much like HubSpot, the Sales Cloud and Service Cloud are priced similarly, and can be combined for a cheaper option. Again, the Marketing Cloud is much more expensive, as it provides a wide range of additional features that are more valuable.

Check out our full guide to Salesforce pricing for more information

Salesforce Sales Cloud

The Sales Cloud is arguably the most popular option from Salesforce, despite being quite expensive compared to other Salesforce alternatives. The starting price is well ahead of the industry average (around $15 per month), and the more expensive plans are indeed far ahead of the market. Still, as one of the more feature-heavy options on this list, you're definitely getting what you pay for.

Unlike HubSpot, Salesforce does not have user minimum requirements for its plans, so what you see is what you'll pay for all options. Check out how these plans match up against each other below:

File storage: 1GB
Data storage: 10GB + 20MB per license

File storage: 10GB + 2GB per license
Data storage: 10GB + 20MB per license

File storage: 10GB + 2GB per license
Data storage: 10GB + 20MB per license

File storage: 10GB + 2GB per license
Data storage: 10GB + 20MB per license

$15/user/month

Salesforce Service Cloud

In the same way that the Sales Hub and Service Hub cost the same for HubSpot, the Sales Cloud and Service Cloud from Salesforce also have nearly identical pricing, although the Service Cloud offers a few more pricing options, with five plans instead of four, adding an Unlimited+ plan that costs quite a bit more for advanced functionality like generative AI features.

The Service Cloud also doesn't have a minimum user requirement, so you'll pay the amount you see on the table below. Check out how these plans match up against each other now:

Website Live Chat Comms Channel

Requires Telephony Integration

Requires Telephony integration

Requires Telephony Integration or Service Cloud Voice Add-on

Yes – but limited to 1 license

Additional cost

Yes (Maximum of 2).

Yes (maximum of 2)

Yes (maxium of 2)

Yes (maximum of 2)

Yes (maximum of 2)

  • Internal knowledge base
  • Agent monitoring
  • Unified Case Queue
  • Task Dashboard
  • Team Comms
  • Manual Ticket Routing
  • User hierarchy
  • Int. knowledge base
  • Team SLAs
  • Agent monitoring
  • Ind. Targets
  • Unif. Case Queue
  • Calendar
  • Task Dashboard
  • Team Comms
  • Manual Ticket Routing
  • User hierarchy
  • Int. knowledge base
  • Team SLAs
  • Agent monitoring
  • Ind. Targets
  • Unif. Case Queue
  • Calendar
  • Task Dashboard
  • Team Comms
  • Manual Ticket Routing
  • User hierarchy
  • Int. knowledge base
  • Team SLAs
  • Agent monitoring
  • Ind. Targets
  • Unif. Case Queue
  • Calendar
  • Task Dashboard
  • Team Comms
  • Manual Ticket Routing
  • User hierarchy
  • Int. knowledge base
  • Team SLAs
  • Agent monitoring
  • Ind. Targets
  • Unif. Case Queue
  • Calendar
  • Task Dashboard
  • Team Comms
  • Manual Ticket Routing

Salesforce Marketing Cloud Engagement

The prices in the Salesforce Marketing Cloud are a bit jarring at first, but trust us, it's for good reason. The outrageously high prices stem from the fact that the Marketing Cloud is filled with a wide range of automation features that can handle operations in a streamlined way. Still, that doesn't change how expensive these plans are, making them clearly aimed at larger businesses than small startups.

Thankfully, these plans don't have a minimum user requirement either, but at this prices, you're going to be paying a lot no matter what. Here are how the Marketing Cloud Engagement pricing plans match up:

Custom automation builder

30 days

30 days

30 days

HubSpot vs Salesforce: Head-to-Head

Now that we understand the basics about how Salesforce and HubSpot differ on pricing and functionality, it's time to dig a little deeper. In this section, we'll explore how HubSpot and Salesforce compare on everything, including features, integrations, ease of use, customer support, reporting and analytics, automation, and training.

Salesforce and HubSpot both have a lot of features

Because Salesforce and HubSpot are both considered high-end CRM options, they both offer a vast array of features for a myriad of purposes. As we've said a few times now, it all comes down to what you need those features for, which is what we'll breakdown in this section.

Marketing features

When it comes to the specific features on Salesforce Marketing Cloud versus HubSpot Marketing Hub, we found that it's honestly not even close. HubSpot Marketing Hub is our top choice for CRM for marketing, thanks to its vast array of marketing channels, including content, social, email, and paid. Salesforce offers some very rudimentary options for channels like social, paid, and content, which is why we provide HubSpot the advantage on this one.

Additionally, we found HubSpot offers more when it comes to customer support, providing onboarding for new users and better customer support when you run into a problem.

Personalization in Email Marketing on HubSpot
Image: Tech.co testing

Sales features

You'd think with a name like Salesforce that the popular CRM would easily take the cake on sales features. However, we found that HubSpot absolutely holds its own, offering plenty of options for your business. In fact, HubSpot beats Salesforce on features like lead capture and lead conversion. Still, Salesforce offers better customer support, so it's pretty much a toss-up between these two popular options.

The sales forecasting dashboard in Salesforce
Image: Tech.co testing

Service features

Here is where Salesforce really shines. We found customer support CRM features thoroughly embedded in the Salesforce Service Hub, giving it an edge over HubSpot's Service Hub. It provides more communication channels, more ticketing channels, and more offline functionality than HubSpot.

The only weak spot we found for Salesforce when it comes to customer service features is customer feedback functionality, like surveys, as the CRM offers none to speak of. Still, that shouldn't deter you, as the other features more than make up for this small oversight.

Service Cloud dashboard in Salesforce
Image: Tech.co testing

HubSpot is easier to use than Salesforce

While a massive feature catalog is a huge benefit for Salesforce, we found that it does create a lot of extra work, which can seriously impede ease of use – particularly for beginners. We found that the platform is laden with very specific terminology that needs to be learnt before it makes any sense, which could create a substantial learning curve for those unfamiliar with the software.

With HubSpot, you're getting a comprehensive, intuitive interface that is easy to navigate, even if you aren't familiar with CRM software. The biggest highlight with managing business contacts with HubSpot is the tidy user-interface where you view all the information related to a contact. HubSpot has designed a clear way of providing a holistic view of who your contact is, what interaction you’ve had, and where they work.

Simply put, HubSpot is built for ease of use, with a simple layout that will let you easily access all the tools available on the platform. There's even a little help icon at the bottom of some screens, which will provide you with tailored advice on how to move forward (pictured below).

In fact, HubSpot is so dedicated to improving ease of use that it tested its software on drunk users to be sure it's as straightforward as possible, no matter how impaired you might be.

Pop up Help Options in HubSpot
Image: Tech.co testing

Which features do you need?

See how well each top CRM service functions now:

Salesforce has better customer support

While Salesforce may be lacking in the ease-of-use department, we found the customer support options to be quite robust, which can make it worth the hassle. Not only does Salesforce offer a huge catalog of online documentation and tutorial videos that can help you figure out any issues, but you'll also become part of the massive Salesforce community of users, who can help you solve any problems.

Our researchers found that HubSpot does not offer 24/7 live support on any of its plans, even the ones that cost thousands of dollars per month. Salesforce, on the other hand, provides it for an additional cost, and includes it for all Unlimited plans.

If you require an genuine person to walk you through the complication of Salesforce, you're all set there too. Once you're logged into the platform, you can phone, email, and live chat with representatives to hammer out the details of your problem, so you don't have to rely on forms and forums to get it done.

Best for growing businesses

Pros

  • 30-day free trial
  • Tailored pricing plans
  • Provides sales and service functionality
  • Lots of analytics and data provided

Cons

  • Lacks basic marketing features
  • Limited help and support functionality
  • Busy interface can be hard to use

Salesforce has better reporting and analytics

As you might expect, Salesforce's robust feature catalog comes with equally robust reporting and analytics functionality. We found the built-in system to be widely customizable, just like the rest of the platform, giving you complete control over what you track and how you track it. We found that the best part of Salesforce analytics was that it allows you to store large levels of information, including emails, tasks, call logs, contact information, outreach campaign data and lead information.

Plus, with the new analytics add-on Tableau, you'll be able to get a full 360-degree view of how your customers interact with your business, giving you more actionable insights for improving sales.

HubSpot also offers a lot of reporting tools, and they're quite comparable to Salesforce actually. However, the only metric you get in every plan is to view revenue data, while other features like custom reports and sales forecasts are only available in the more expensive plans, which means you'll have to pay a lot to get access to the same features.

An example Sales Rep dashboard in Salesforce Sales Cloud
Image: Tech.co testing

HubSpot and Salesforce offer lots of integrations with other software

While both HubSpot and Salesforce are considered two of the most robust CRM options on the market, they can't do it all. In that case, you might be interested in integrating these platforms with other third-party apps that can, in fact, do it all. Fortunately, both Salesforce and HubSpot offer a lot when it comes to integrations, so no need to worry there.

Both HubSpot and Salesforce offer massive app stores that can unlock a wide range of functionalities for your business. They can integrate with Google Workplace, WordPress, FreshBooks, Eventbrite, and dozens of others.

HubSpot Salesforce Integration

If you really can't decide between the two, HubSpot has a peculiar feature that allows you to sync information from Salesforce into HubSpot and then back again. This is very different from the usual features that let you import data from Salesforce in order to migrate to a new platform. It seems curious to offer deep integration with a competitor, but there are situations where this integration could become useful. If you already use HubSpot's Marketing Hub, for example, but the sales team is on Salesforce, then this integration could help bridge the gap between the data held by the two teams.

HubSpot's integration is bi-directional, which means you can send information to Salesforce as well as pull information from it. There are limits to how much data you can pull from Salesforce on any given day, depending on how many API calls your contract with Salesforce allows.

This feature is nice enough if you need it, though having both teams on the same platform would be much easier and offer more seamless data sharing. Salesforce integration is not available on the free or Starter tiers, requiring at least Sales Hub Professional.

Pros

  • Free plan available
  • Provides sales, marketing, and service functionality
  • Tidy, easy to navigate interface

Cons

  • Limited customization
  • Basically no customer support
  • File storage limit to 5 documents

HubSpot has simpler implementation and training

Because HubSpot is easy to use, the setup process is pretty easy. You won't have to spend hours setting up your metrics, your analytics, or your integrations, as most of them will be set up for you upon installation. If you do need a bit of help, you can sign up for onboarding sessions for between $1,500 and $5,000 for your whole team, which is obviously not very cheap.

More specifically, the first part of the onboarding process for HubSpot — where you’re following a demo — is quite easy to follow and provides hands-on information on how to use the platform.

With Salesforce, you're a lot more likely to need the help getting started, and the company offers a wide range of helpful tools to do so. Between the online community of users and the robust support team, you'll be taken care of – and you'll need it, too, due to the complicated nature of the CRM. Salesforce even offers training seminars, which typically cost approximately $4,500. Again, definitely not the cheapest option.

In fact, our research found that the setup process for Salesforce was a full three minutes longer than that of HubSpot, mostly due to the clunkiness of the Salesforce platform and the ease of customer data import on HubSpot (pictured below).

Customer Data Import in HubSpot
Image: Tech.co testing

Salesforce has better automation

One of the primary reasons why a business would sign up for CRM software is the use of automation to make business life a bit easier. Powered by artificial intelligence, these features can make a huge difference in freeing up time and resources for human employees to really get work done.

This matchup is a close one, but in the end, Salesforce's Einstein takes the cake. The AI-powered tool can help you automate a wide range of processes, from lead management to customer onboarding, with a world-leading company's resources behind it. Even better, these automation features are available at a much lower price than HubSpot, which is always beneficial.

Salesforce does, however, have a trick up its sleeve with Salesforce Marketing Cloud Account Engagement. This functionality – which is a part of the wider Salesforce Marketing Cloud – can automate sales funnels for new prospective customers and gives a killer edge to Salesforce's marketing capabilities.

Because CRM software is built on automation, HubSpot has solid options as well, although they're a bit less consolidated. Tools like lead and contact management features automation capabilities, with simple “if this then that” functionality, allowing you to automate where you see fit. Still, our research found HubSpot automation workflows to be complicated, which is unfortunate due to their invaluable nature for sales and marketing teams.

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Other CRM Alternatives

While HubSpot and Salesforce are considered two of the best options out there when it comes to CRM, they aren't the only providers available. In fact, there are plenty of great alternatives to HubSpot and Salesforce out there for everything from marketing to sales to customer service. Take a look at some of the options below or check out our guide to the best easy CRMs for a different perspective on the market.

Best CRM for Sales

Yes, it's hard to beat Salesforce when it comes to sales, as you may have guessed from the name. Still, it's an incredibly robust option that can be a bit intimidating for smaller businesses or just businesses that don't need all those features. If you're looking for a provider that's a bit more manageable, like Zoho CRM, we've done a bunch of research on the subject and can help you find a better CRM for sales.

Best CRM for Marketing

HubSpot is truly a top-tier CRM for marketing, mostly because it offers a robust set of marketing features in its free plan. Even better, our research found that it offers great marketing integrations, like one with Canva that will allow you to design email elements straight from the email editing space.

Still, HubSpot is not perfect for everyone. The high prices and the massive feature catalog can be too much for some, which means that another alternative could be a better fit. Fortunately, we've done the research to find some of the best options out there for CRM for marketing, including options like Pipedrive. Take a look and get started today.

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Microsoft Dynamics 365 Marketing

21 days

30 days

14 days

A very expensive option that provides robust email and omnichannel features

The best option for businesses looking to scale

A good option for email, but not great for scalability

A bit too expensive for most, but great for managing teams closely

A good budget option for covering multiple marketing channels

A suitable all-in-one platform for sales and marketing but a bit expensive

Best CRM for Customer Service

Neither HubSpot nor Salesforce are ideal as CRM for customer service, although they certainly provide some robust options to handle it. Salesforce is definitely better than HubSpot for customer service, mostly because we found it to provide a single hub that houses communication, so you can more effectively stay in touch with potential customers, while seeing all the information you need.

Still, we've done the research and found a wide range of other options that might be a better fit for your business. Zendesk is one of our favorite but take a look at some of the other CRM alternatives to get started today.

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Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Service

30 days

30 days

21 days

15 days

30 days

30 days

An fully-featured yet pricey CRM solution with excellent team management tools.

A robust platform aimed at businesses looking to scale

A practical option with lots of channels but no survey functionality

An affordable option with plenty of features for smaller businesses

A great, customizable platform aimed at larger businesses

A solid budget option with low costs and few features

A weak offering with few native service channels available

Requires Telephony integration/Voice add-on on all plans

Requires Telephony integration on Support plans, available on Suite plans

Available with Omnichannel plans

Available with Enterprise plan

Limited to 1 license (Essentials), unavailable (Pro), additional cost (Enterprise)

Available with Omnichannel plans

Available with Enterprise plan

About Our Research

If you've made it this far, you've likely realized that Tech.co takes our recommendations quite seriously. For all our business software reviews and guides, we've spent hours and hours doing in-depth research to bring you the most valuable, insightful, actionable information that ensure your business makes the right choice on the first try.

For CRM, we had a specific set of metrics by which we rated and ranked eleven different providers to provide you a clear picture of which ones are the best. The metrics we use are pricing, features, customization, team infrastructure, customer support, and scalability.

If you want to learn more about exactly what goes into our process here at Tech.co, feel free to check out our thorough research guide for a peak behind the curtain.

HubSpot or Salesforce: - Which CRM Is Better?

If price is an issue and HubSpot's basic CRM is all you need, then you might get by with that, and if you need HubSpot's added features, the CRM's pricing is pretty good. Though for smaller teams with five or less, HubSpot doesn't beat Salesforce Essentials' pricing.

As far as features go, they both offer the key tools you need from a CRM, and both have third-party integrations and deep online support pages. If you don't have Gmail or Outlook as your corporate email of choice, then HubSpot is probably easier to deal with. In terms of interface, HubSpot is a little simpler compared to Salesforce, making the learning curve a little steeper with the latter.

That concludes our basic look at HubSpot and Salesforce – but the best way to find the CRM that's right for your team is to get a customized quote based on your company's needs. Click the Get Quote button below to get started and find the CRM that's right for you.

Not exactly – they're both CRMs, but the functionality of each is decidedly different. Salesforce is a robust CRM with lots of features and a large company behind it to provide unparalleled customer support for users, making it perfect for larger companies. HubSpot, on the other hand, is aimed at smaller businesses, featuring an easier to use platform that's intuitive even for beginners. Plus, HubSpot offers a free plan, which Salesforce does not.

This truly depends on what you're looking for. Salesforce is considered the industry standard for CRMs, but it isn't perfect for every business. If you're a smaller company looking for an easy-to-use platform with a gentle learning curve, HubSpot is going to be the better option. However, if you need a robust CRM with lots of features, Salesforce is the most popular option for good reason.

HubSpot does offer users a free plan, rather than a trial, which can last forever – but it's understandably pretty weak. You'll have access to basic features, like contact management, task tracking, and forms, but you'll miss out on essentials like reporting and analytics. Still, it's a great way to test out the software before committing to a premium plan.

Salesforce has a somewhat affordable starting price of $25 per user, per month, which makes it within the budget of many small businesses. Still, with its robust functionality and sometimes hard to use interface, it can be a bit overwhelming for small businesses. HubSpot is a better option we've found, given its ease of use and affordable plans, not to mention a free forever option.

Salesforce does not offer a free forever plan, which means you'll have to pay $25 per user, per month minimum to use the platform for an extended period of time. Salesforce does, however, offer a 30-day free trial, which should be plenty of time to get a feel for the software before you commit.
Thu, 27 Sep 2018 02:16:00 -0500 en-US text/html https://tech.co/crm-software/salesforce-vs-hubspot-crm
Connecting with Black History Through Community and Nature

I n 2009, Rue Mapp started a blog to share her experience participating in outdoor recreation activities as a Black woman in America. That blog grew into Outdoor Afro, a nationwide leadership network helping Black people engage with the outdoors, learn about the Black history of public spaces, and support conservation efforts. Salesforce.org spoke with Mapp about the inspiration behind Outdoor Afro, how technology has shaped its growth, and what’s next for the organization.

What inspired you to start Outdoor Afro and grow it from a blog into a leadership network?

I didn’t start with the intention of growing a national network. I started out sharing my experiences with the outdoors through my love of writing. The first post I wrote in 2009 was about a perspective-shifting trip I had taken with a local bike group of people who mostly looked like me.

I was inspired to share the possibility of groups of people who can recreate around a common background and outdoor enthusiasm. People started commenting, suggesting meetups, and asking for recommendations. I connected with people across the country who shared their outdoor dreams of connection. Our participants were hungry for leadership experiences, so we formalized a network to train people to become welcoming outdoor leaders in their own community. Welcoming and hospitality are values that sit at the heart of Outdoor Afro.

What role does unearthing and celebrating Black history play in Outdoor Afro’s mission and work?

It’s a huge part of what we do. Beyond the hike or the challenge of a paddleboard, we connect Black people with the part of them that’s deep in our ancestry that we may have forgotten. We educate participants on the historical significance of public lands, unearthing long-omitted perspectives. It enriches our experiences, giving participants a deeper connection and a sense of belonging.

How have you scaled the organization to encompass more than 100 leaders in 56 cities across the U.S.?

We started with a dozen leaders who responded to the call to join our first Outdoor Afro Leadership Team in 2012. I wanted to reconnect people to nature and share with others all I was learning about how to do it. Nature experiences can vary greatly around the country, from towering redwoods in the west, to the Rockies of Colorado, to the Florida Everglades. I knew that local relevance mattered. There is just no singular Black experience in America.

I also discovered that more people than I imagined wanted to be connected to nature and one another. Social media enabled us to broaden our reach substantially. When we are looking for opportunities in a region that is not currently served with one of our networks, we have volunteers and connections to create that organic growth.

What role has technology played in that growth, while allowing your leadership network to stay meaningfully connected?

Technology has been instrumental in our growth. Something as simple as a hashtag can ignite growth as participants seek out similar communities and experiences. Comments provide critical feedback, help solve barriers to engagement and let us know what we are doing right. The ability to share our experiences across digital mediums has been key to our growth and visibility and also an important way to reach people who may be on the sidelines to see images and stories that they can connect with, and perhaps say, “Hey, I could see myself outside too!”

Salesforce.org enabled us to unify disparate systems into one, which was critical to streamline our operations. We want to keep participant and donor engagement high; having this information centralized ensures we can be more effective stewards of the relationships that are key to our growth and success.

How is Outdoor Afro “changing the face of conservation” and what does that look like?

We are changing expectations about who cares about policies that protect public lands. Sometimes, when people imagine a conservationist, they don’t readily imagine someone who looks like me or my dad, who cared deeply about wild places.

Through our network of over 50,000 participants in 33 states, we have conducted our own version of civics class, and by educating our leaders, who weave conservation ethics into their events, we’ve been able to spotlight that Black people care about the protection of our environment. We also contribute our perspective to inform policies that impact the connection of Black people to nature and the stewardship of our natural resources.

When you look back on what you have achieved so far with this organization, what brings you the most joy?

The authenticity of the growth. When I founded Outdoor Afro, I didn’t create spreadsheets, conduct market research, or set quarterly goals. I simply wanted to connect people with nature. I didn’t have to force growth; it was led by curiosity and the raising of hands across regions, then the country. It was miraculous. It was obvious there was a need to be fulfilled and the organization has grown from my own vision to that of others who have found their own personal and professional summits. Today, I feel I am an evangelist of creating connection, community, and transformation through nature.

What are your big dreams, hopes, and goals for the future of Outdoor Afro?

I dream that Outdoor Afro continues to grow and be of service to our community for the next 100 years. I hope we can continue to deepen our community engagement while facilitating high-quality experiences. Salesforce.org will help eliminate redundancy and automate some essential operations, freeing up our team to lean further into building authentic relationships and focus on what’s most important: folks joyously getting outside and connecting with the healing power of nature. You don’t have to have fancy gear or equipment. Just go and experience nature!


Learn more about how organizations across sectors are taking meaningful climate action on the Salesforce.org blog.

Sat, 30 Oct 2021 07:50:00 -0500 en text/html https://www.theatlantic.com/sponsored/salesforceorg-2021/connecting-black-history-community-nature/3698/
Intel, Salesforce underperform in DJIA No result found, try new keyword![BRIEFING.COM] The Dow Jones Industrial Average (-0.16%) hosts the shallowest losses to this point among the major averages. Meanwhile, Travelers (TRV 163.66, +5.74, +3.63%) stands atop the average. Tue, 24 Oct 2023 12:00:00 -0500 en text/html https://www.briefing.com/in-depth-analysis/content/article?ArticleId=SI20231025132905 NextGen Bar Exam: What to Know No result found, try new keyword!Gundersen, CEO and president of the not-for-profit National Conference of Bar Examiners, which develops bar test content for 54 U.S. jurisdictions. "So the public can have confidence in a ... Wed, 15 Feb 2023 03:47:00 -0600 https://www.usnews.com/education/best-graduate-schools/top-law-schools/applying/articles/nextgen-bar-exam-what-to-know




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