FreshSales : Full Review, Testing, and Presentation (2024)

What is FreshSales?

FreshSales is a customer relationship management (CRM) software by Freshworks that helps sales teams streamline processes, close deals faster, and get to know their customers better.

Before we get started, it's worth noting that FreshSales was designed specifically to meet the needs of sales teams and is part of a series of Freshworks CRMs with different goals, including Freshmarketer for marketing, Freshservice for IT support, and Freshdesk for customer engagement.

In this FreshSales review, we'll assess its pros and cons, and see how it compares to best CRM software existing. If you're looking for an all-in-one CRM that combines sales and marketing, we recommend FreshSales Suite instead.

FreshSales is just one of the customer relationship management (CRM) solutions offered by Freshworks, which combine phone, email, and messaging.

Each solution has an intuitive, user-friendly interface and strong sales features, all of which are why our editors recommend Freshworks for small businesses.

Target users - FreshSales

FreshSales is a cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) software designed for small and medium-sized businesses.

It is used by sales teams to manage their customer interactions, contacts, and transactions. FreshSales is used by a wide range of businesses, including startups, e-commerce companies, and small and medium businesses.

The software is especially popular in technology, software, and service industries, but it can be used in any industry that requires sales teams to manage customer interactions.

History of FreshSales

Freshworks, a software company based in India, launched FreshSales in April 2016 by Girish Mathrubootham and Shan Krishnasamy.

The company was founded in 2010 and had previously developed Freshdesk, a cloud-based helpdesk software. FreshSales was designed as a CRM solution that would integrate with Freshdesk, creating a more comprehensive customer engagement platform.

FreshSales received several rounds of funding from venture capital firms, which it used to expand its team and improve its product. Since its launch, FreshSales has been widely adopted and received positive reviews from users and industry experts. It has also won several awards for its innovative features and user-friendly interface.

As of 2020, Freshworks Inc, the parent company of FreshSales, is IPO on the New York Stock Exchange under the “FRST” symbol.

Features

FreshSales is a CRM (customer relationship management) software that helps businesses manage customer interactions.

It is designed to help businesses acquire new customers, retain existing customers, and solve customer problems.

1. Lead capture and follow-up

One of the main characteristics of FreshSales is its ability to capture and follow up on leads.

The software allows businesses to easily capture leads from a variety of sources, such as web forms, email campaigns, and social media.

Leads are then automatically added to the CRM, where they can be followed up and maintained until they are ready to make a purchase.

2. Sales pipeline management

Another important feature of FreshSales is its sales pipeline management. The software offers a visual pipeline that allows businesses to track the progress of prospects through the sales process. It also allows sales teams to create custom stages in the pipeline and set up notifications when prospects move from stage to stage.

3. Managing customer interactions

FreshSales also offers a range of features to help businesses manage customer interactions.

For example, it allows businesses to create custom fields for customer data, such as location, industry, and purchase history. This data can then be used to create targeted email campaigns and sales reports.

Additionally, FreshSales integrates with popular ones such as MailChimp, allowing businesses to send targeted email campaigns directly from the CRM.

4. Integrated telephone and emailing system

FreshSales also offers an integrated phone and email system, which allows businesses to make and receive calls and emails directly from the CRM. This feature helps businesses keep track of customer interactions, and also allows them to quickly access customer data when they're on the phone or responding to an email.

5. Reporting

Another key feature of FreshSales is its advanced reporting capability.

The software offers a range of predefined reports, such as sales reports, lead reports, and customer reports.

Additionally, businesses can create custom reports based on CRM data.

6. Collaboration

Finally, FreshSales also offers a range of features to help businesses manage their team and collaborate more effectively.

For example, the software allows teams to assign tasks, set reminders, and track sales trends. Additionally, FreshSales allows teams to share notes and files, and also allows managers to set up custom role-based access controls.

Overall, FreshSales is a powerful CRM software that offers a wide range of features to help businesses manage customer interactions.

With its lead capture and follow-up capabilities, sales pipeline management, sales pipeline management, customer interaction management, integrated phone and messaging system, advanced reporting capabilities, and team collaboration features, FreshSales is a great option for businesses of all sizes.

Mobile app

Alongside the online software, FreshSales offers a mobile application that allows you to stay connected to the CRM while on the go.

Whether you're on the go for work or meeting a prospect for lunch, the app allows you to access your contact's data wherever you are. You can even download and store information for offline access.

The application offers an impressive level of functionality. You can record voice notes, send emails, make calls, book taxis, and even scan documents using your phone's camera. You can also attach tasks, notes, and activities to contact cards, making it easy to update your database.

Finally, the app allows you to check in to a location so that other members of your team know where you are.

Rates

FreshSales offers four pricing plans, including an Enterprise plan that offers advanced artificial intelligence features, more storage data, and a higher limit on the number of sales teams, workflows, and sequences you can create. The plans are billed monthly or annually, with discounts for annual billing, and the cost varies depending on the number of end user licenses you need.

FreshSales is remarkable for offering a free plan, something that a lot of its competitors, such as Salesforce, don't. The free plan offers a basic level of contact management, but it doesn't include access to reports — an important feature for any CRM.

Support

Freshsales offers a variety of support options to help users get the most out of the software. These include:

1. Knowledgebase : Freshsales provides a comprehensive online knowledge base that users can access to find answers to common questions and resolve issues.
2. Community : Freshsales has an active community forum where users can ask questions, share tips, and get support from other Freshsales users.
3. Email and phone support : Freshsales offers email and phone support for users with more complex issues. Users can contact the Freshsales support team for help with technical issues, account setup, and more.
4. Video tutorials : Freshsales also provides a library of video tutorials to help users learn how to use the software.
5. Boarding and training : Freshsales offers onboarding and training services to help users get started with the software. Users can work with a Freshsales expert to set up their account, set up the software to meet their needs, and learn how to use the various features.

It's worth noting that the level of support you can expect varies depending on the plan you choose and the level of support you pay for.

Alternatives

FreshSales with a basic plan is an affordable CRM solution with all the features a small business sales team could need. You get contact management tools, predictive contact scores, 20 workflow automations, business management tools, visual sales pipelines, and more.

In comparison, its competitor Insightly offers fewer workflow automations with its basic plan. However, it automatically imports public contact data, a feature that FreshSales only offers with its business plan.

HubSpot, another FreshSales competitor, is more limited with its basic plan than FreshSales. You'll need to upgrade to access the same level of functionality as FreshSales, although the price listed covers two paying users rather than one.

Let's get started.

1. Insightly.

• Benefits : Automated attribution of customer leads - Series of activities to keep sales representatives on track - Integration with Microsoft Power BI for reporting.
• Disadvantages : The free plan does not include reports - Lead generation tools are only available with the Enterprise plan - Fewer third-party integrations than competitors.

Insightly is a leader in CRM software, with advanced automation tools and integrations that can help you manage your sales team and business pipeline.

2. HubSpot.

• Benefits : Over 300 app integrations - Free version available - Powerful sales and marketing tools
• Disadvantages : The free plan does not include reports - Lead generation tools are only available with the Enterprise plan - Fewer third-party integrations than competitors.

HubSpot premium subscriptions come with powerful CRM tools, but even the free version of the platform can make a difference for your business.

What is Freddy AI from FreshSales?

Freddy AI is FreshSales's advanced AI system that works behind the scenes, learning from historical data to provide personalized insights, predictions, and recommendations.

This AI ensures that salespeople make informed decisions based on existing data and helps them decide how to move a lead forward on the path to conversion.

Freddy AI also helps forecast sales by predicting the probability of deals closing and displaying a sales pipeline weighted by the probability of business. Business probability and weighted forecasts are visible on a single dashboard, giving managers a better overview of how the sales team is performing and what numbers they can expect to achieve.

The full functionality of Freddy AI is only available with an enterprise plan.

Final opinion

FreshSales is well-suited for small and medium-sized businesses looking for an affordable CRM that covers all the essential elements that sales teams need, in addition to including some advanced features like workflow automation and AI insights.

For those who work collaboratively on the go, the FreshSales app offers options for syncing live data and taking notes.

FreshSales phone and email integrations are also valuable tools that allow you to reach contacts without ever leaving the CRM, while ensuring that all of your communication records are in one place.

While FreshSales offers a free plan with basic contact and account management features, the free plan doesn't include reports, which detracts from its usefulness. FreshSales also doesn't offer lead generation tools on its basic plan, requiring you to upgrade to access these features.

While FreshSales offers good native integrations with other Freshworks applications, its range of third-party integrations is limited. If the integrations you're looking for aren't available for FreshSales, it might not be the right CRM for your business.

FAQs

How does FreshSales contact management work?

Freshsales' contact management feature allows users to store and organize information about their customers and prospects in a central location. The feature allows users to track interactions with contacts, set follow-up tasks, and organize contacts into various lists or segments. Here's how contact management works in Freshsales:

1. Creating contacts : Users can create new contacts manually or by importing them from a spreadsheet.
2. Contact Information: Users can store and organize various types of information about their contacts, such as name, email address, phone number, company, job title, etc.
3. Contact segmentation : Users can organize contacts into different lists or segments based on criteria such as location, industry, or purchase stage.
4. Interactions with contacts : Users can track and record interactions with contacts, such as emails, phone calls, and meetings, and associate them with the contact profile.
5. Follow-up tasks : Users can set follow-up tasks and reminders to ensure they stay in touch with their contacts and move them through the sales funnel.
6. Contact history : Users can view a contact's history, such as interactions, emails, and tasks, all in one place.
7. Customizable fields : Users can customize fields according to their specific needs and add custom fields and tags to their contacts.
8. Data enrichment : Freshsales also allows users to automatically enrich contact data by connecting to different data providers.

Overall, Freshsales' contact management feature provides a powerful, centralized system for managing customer relationships and streamlining the sales process.

How does FreshSales workflow automation work?

The function ofworkflow automation by Freshsales allows users to automate repetitive tasks and processes in their sales workflow, such as following up with leads, assigning tasks to team members, and updating contact information. Here's how workflow automation works in Freshsales:

1. Lead evaluation : Users can set lead scoring rules to automatically assess leads based on criteria such as website activity, email engagement, and other interactions.
2. Lead routing : Users can define lead routing rules to automatically assign leads to the appropriate salesperson or team member based on factors such as location, industry, or stage of purchase.
3. Automating tasks : Users can create custom tasks and set up automation rules to automatically assign tasks to team members based on specific triggers, such as when a lead reaches a certain score or when a contact status is updated.
4. Email automation : Users can set automation rules to automatically send emails to prospects or contacts based on specific triggers, such as when a lead reaches a certain score or when a contact's status is updated.
5. Custom steps : Freshsales allows users to create custom business stages and set up automation rules to automatically move deals through the sales pipeline based on specific triggers, such as a lead reaching a certain score or a contact whose status is updated.
6. Customizable actions : Users can customize what actions they want to trigger when a certain event occurs, such as sending an email, creating a task, or updating a contact field.
7. Integrations : Freshsales allows users to connect to other apps like Mailchimp, Slack, Zendesk, etc. to automate tasks and update contact information.

Overall, Freshsales's workflow automation feature provides a powerful and flexible system for automating repetitive tasks and processes in the sales workflow, which can help sales teams work more effectively.