Best CRM + Outbound Sales Tool Combination

February 02, 2023

by a searcher from Harvard University - Harvard Business School in Colorado Springs, CO, USA

I have seen a bunch of posts on CRMs, but wondering if folks could give feedback on paid plans that include automated email campaigns. I would also love multichannel capabilities (e.g., automated LinkedIn outreach and automatic queues for outbound calling).

My ideal would be Sales Hub Professional from Hubspot, but it is expensive and I am currently self-funding so don't quality for the 90% discount.

I've looked into reply.io but heard from one searcher that it was buggy (was over 12 months ago and I'd be curious if other have had better experiences).

Would appreciate feedback from anyone who uses Pipedrive's premium account on what their capabilities are and what the experience is like, as well as anyone who has used outbound.io.

Are there any other tools I should be considering?

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Reply by a searcher
from University of North Texas in San Antonio, TX, USA

Having explored numerous platforms, it's essential to pinpoint the right fit, especially when self-funding. In a similar situation, I discovered Streak as a valuable free alternative before transitioning to a more advanced solution. Streak (Free Option) integrates with Gmail and offers some automation features. While it may lack the premium solution's bells and whistles, it stands out as a solid choice, particularly for startups with budget constraints (not an affiliate, though perhaps I should be – jokingly!). The key consideration is whether extensive CRM research hinders your actual outreach efforts. We've all fallen prey to the shiny object syndrome, delaying action. I suggest starting with something, preferably free options, to kickstart your efforts. This advice stems from personal experience, acknowledging the challenges in this space. Fortunately, we have a great platform and supportive individuals like ^redacted‌ and ^redacted‌ to guide us along the way. Best of luck!

Reply by a searcher
from The University of Texas at Austin in Fort Worth, TX, USA

I'm several years out of actively searching and thus can't recommend any specific tools given how often they change, but I will echo what ^redacted‌ said: potential sellers hear from a lot of searchers and potential acquirers. We found success with customizing/tailoring outreach to try to show a personal connection with the seller themselves, the business, the geographic area, etc. Doing so at scale is difficult without a good tech stack that can sort of do a 'smart' mail merge.

While the funnel is pretty wide and shallow (You might end up sending dozens of emails to end up with just a few that move to conversations), a CRM is still pretty helpful. Often, both you and the seller will switch email addresses as things progress, other people will get involved, there will be phone conversations, etc.....keeping all of that organized by deal gets impractical quickly just trying to use email folders, and a mature CRM that can pull all together into one feed per deal is very helpful once you're juggling several deals at once.

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