Predictions of “the future of work” have changed dramatically just about every day since the spring of 2020. One thing will never change in business, though — your ability to build and maintain relationships with your leads and customers directly impacts your sales success.

Customer relationship management (CRM) software has become key to how salespeople build and maintain those relationships. In fact, next to using Showcase Workshop for sales presentations (sorry, I couldn’t resist the blatant pitch), the CRM your sales team is using is the most important piece of software to get right.

According to Salesforce’s State of CRM report, 57% of companies couldn't maintain good customer experience remotely because their CRM wasn't accessible. And while 90% think that having a single view of customer information across departments would be valuable, only 32% of companies are able to achieve this with their current CRM setup.

Ouch.

The growing market of deep-tech solutions puts another crimp on sales teams using outdated CRMs. That same Salesforce report found that 79% of organizations expect to be using AI-powered CRM automation by 2023.

Maybe you’re already on the hunt for a more modern CRM. Or maybe you need to make the case to your sales leadership that it’s time to look at some fresh CRM options. Either way, you probably need help narrowing the list down to a few good possibilities.

Your friendly Showcase team is here to help. We compared five of the leading CRMs on the market, and summarized our findings for you. Read on for what you need to know about these popular CRMs.

1. Copper

Copper is a lightweight CRM that works with Google Workspace, and it integrates seamlessly with Gmail, Google Calendar, and Google Drive. (So if your company uses a Microsoft product suite instead of Google, you can skip this one.)

One of the most appealing features of Copper is the automated inbox sync, so all your email interactions with customers are immediately accessible within your CRM. And because it pulls in your contact data, too, it can save you a bit of time with data entry.

Feature list:

  • Contact management
  • Task automation
  • Email and marketing tools
  • Pipeline management
  • Reports
  • Mobile app

2. Pipedrive

Pipedrive’s feature list is focused more on pipeline management than contact management — so it's a great CRM to consider if you like a more visual display of your customer information and deal status. Like any CRM, Pipedrive allows you to enter (or upload) and maintain contact information. But unlike some CRMs, it effortlessly marries contact management and pipeline management.

Pipedrive is easy to learn and use, and it integrates with an endless list of other software — like Zoom, Teams, Asana, Slack, HubSpot, and Gmail.

Feature list:

  • Pipeline management
  • Contact management
  • Chatbot
  • Task automation
  • Reports
  • Email and communications tools
  • Invoicing and billing
  • Mobile app

3. Salesforce

Salesforce is the granddaddy of sales software, so of course it’s going to be on any worthwhile CRM roundup. But we have a caveat: Salesforce if often overkill for small and medium sales teams.

That said, Salesforce is an incredibly robust and well-supported CRM, with a massive list of integrations and add-on apps. If you’re willing and able to put in the work to set it up, it can be a powerful tool. It’s going to integrate neatly with nearly every other piece of software you use on a daily basis (including Showcase Workshop!).

Salesforce offers a suite of sales tools, but they also offer tools for marketing, customer service, e-commerce, data analysis, low-code app building, you name it. Because it’s such a MASSIVE software solution, rather than give you a list of all their features, here’s a list of just what’s in the Salesforce Sales Cloud product:

  • Account and contact management
  • Opportunity management
  • Lead management
  • Pipeline and forecast management
  • Reports
  • Mobile app

4. HubSpot

While Salesforce is the most well-known sales software, HubSpot may be the most well-known marketing software. But don’t let that confuse you. HubSpot’s CRM is a strong contender, and widely adopted by sales teams, especially those who work very closely with their marketing team.

HubSpot is easy to use, and works with both Gmail and Outlook. It has all the standard CRM features you would expect from such a well-known brand, and it integrates with a long list of popular sales software — but possibly the biggest perk of HubSpot as a CRM is the price: free.

Features:

  • Contact management
  • Pipeline management
  • Email tracking
  • Email templates
  • Meeting scheduler
  • Reports
  • Live chat
  • Task management
  • Mobile app

5. Microsoft Dynamics

The Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales suite includes built-in CRM features (though Microsoft doesn’t consider Dynamics 365 a “CRM” on its own, per se), so if your organization is already using Dynamics 365 Sales, look no further. Dynamics works flawlessly with other Microsoft products, and can be used in the cloud or installed on-premises.

One of the things we like about MS Dynamics is that it gives you a lot more lead context than a lighter-weight CRM will, simply because it’s built into the same software ecosystem Dynamics users use for all their other sales and marketing activities. But what sales teams may appreciate even more in the near future is the growing list of AI features. Right now, Dynamics AI will tell you which leads have the highest likelihood of converting and buying, and can predict your sales forecast.

Features:

  • Contact management
  • Lead nurture tools
  • Revenue forecasting
  • Guided selling
  • Collaboration tools

Now Fill That CRM With Warm Leads Using Showcase Workshop

There are hundreds of CRMs on the market, but the five we listed in this article are the ones we see most often working for the sales teams we talk to.

The fanciest CRM on the market won’t help you sell more unless you’ve got contacts to put in it, and then actually use it! For establishing and building customer relationships an awesome presentation is worth a thousand words. Check out Showcase Workshop for your sales presentation toolkit, kick PowerPoint to the curb, and gather leads while you chat with prospects.