From streamlined workflows to advanced analytics, these five Close CRM alternatives offer features to help boost sales and foster better team collaboration in your marketing agency. Let’s explore the options and find the ideal CRM software match for your agency’s unique needs.

TL;DR of 5 Top Marketing Agency CRMs Similar to Close CRM

Here are Close CRM comparisons for your marketing agency business.

1. Pipeline CRM: Best for Sales Automation and Team Collaboration

The first CRM alternative to Close CRM is Pipeline CRM—a top CRM software for agencies.

Marketing agencies often struggle with siloed workflows, leading to project delays and missed opportunities. With Pipeline CRM’s automatic notifications, stakeholders can stay informed about deals or project progress without constant check-ins. Plus, the seamless integration with project management tools like Asana or Trello streamlines project delegation and tracking.

Furthermore, Pipeline CRM empowers your sales and creative teams with dedicated pipelines (multiple sales pipelines), ensuring they can work independently without disrupting each other’s workflows. At the same time, everyone has visibility into all the sales pipelines, providing a comprehensive overview of your agency’s sales progress. This helps to eliminate the risk of lead shortages and maintain a consistent flow of business.

Related: check out our in-depth analysis that highlights the key differences and similarities between Pipeline CRM and Close CRM.

Key Features

• Advanced sales automation: automate repetitive tasks like suggesting ‘next steps’ and generating new deals.
• Robust call integrations: connect Pipeline CRM with AirCall, Kixie, RingCentral, and other phone call integrations to streamline your sales outreach process.
• Advanced email marketing: leverage built-in drip campaigns and AI-powered email assistance for effective sales outreach.
• Daily morning coffee report: stay informed with a concise overview of sales statuses and daily tasks, directly sent to your inbox.
• Rich customization: tailor deals, data fields, user permissions, and more to fit your marketing agency’s specific needs.

Pricing

Pipeline CRM offers four pricing options and a 14-day free trial. These prices are for annual billing.

• Start: $25 per user per month: 1 sales pipeline and 250 active deals per account.
• Develop: $33 per user per month: 2 sales pipelines and 2500 active deals per account.
• Grow: $49 per user per month: 5 sales pipelines and unlimited active deals per account.
• Enterprise: custom pricing for unlimited sales pipelines and deals.

Visit the Pipeline CRM pricing page to find the feature details of each plan.

2. Hubspot: Best Modular CRM Solution

HubSpot is a popular CRM choice for marketing agencies due to its modular structure, allowing you to select only the necessary tools. Whether your focus is on marketing, sales, content management, or other areas, HubSpot offers a flexible solution to support your agency’s growth.

Moreover, HubSpot’s robust analytics and reporting capabilities enable you to track key sales metrics and visualize data in easy-to-understand dashboards. The ‘team conversation’ feature also helps streamline communication and reduce miscommunication within your team.

Key Features

The following are some of the top features of the Sales Hub solution from Hubspot.

• Lead and prospect management: centralize lead and prospect information. Easily monitor them with personalized summaries and progress tracking.
• AI-powered sales prospecting: identify and prioritize high-potential prospects using AI-driven insights.
• Email templates and tracking: monitor email performance and recipient activity to follow up at the right time.
• Built-in quote solution: create and send professional quotes directly from HubSpot, eliminating the need for external tools.
• Meeting scheduler: allow prospects to easily book meetings with you online, saving time and effort.

Pricing

Hubspot has several packages for its Sales Hub tool:

• Free: up to 2 users, with limited functionality and customization.
• Starter: €15 per user per month, only available to the US customers only.
• Professional: €90 per user per month.
• Enterprise: €150 per user per month.

Please note that the pricing mentioned above applies to HubSpot Sales Hub only. If your marketing agency requires additional features (like marketing or content management), you’ll need to subscribe to those solutions separately. For example, HubSpot’s Marketing Hub is available at the following annual costs: €15, €792, and €3,300.

3. Keap: Best for Marketing-Focused Agencies

Keap is a centralized platform designed to streamline operations for small agencies. It offers a comprehensive suite of features, including sales management, marketing tools, appointment scheduling, performance tracking, and reliable customer support (email, chat, and call). Keap also automates key sales processes, with a focus on lead capturing and follow-ups.

Key Features

• Landing pages and forms: create customized landing pages to capture leads and test marketing strategies.
• Multi-channel marketing: reach out to prospects through email, text, and phone, with a dedicated toll-free number.
• Appointment scheduling: allow leads to book appointments directly, syncing with your Google or Outlook calendar.
• Quotes, invoices, and payments: generate professional quotes, proposals, and invoices within Keap, and save templates for future use.
• Lead segmentation: tag and segment contacts to personalize automation and target specific audiences.

Pricing

Keap has three paid pricing plans with a 14-day free trial option. The prices below are for an annual subscription.

• Pro: $249 per month: 2 users and 1500 contacts.
• Max: $329 per month: 3 users and 2500 contacts.
• Ultimate: $499 per month: 3 users and 2500 contacts.

4. Insightly: Best Customer Service Solution CRM

Insightly differentiates itself from Close CRM by offering comprehensive customer service solutions. These include ticket management, support portals, and service level agreement (SLA) tracking. This complements its existing sales CRM and marketing platforms, providing a more holistic solution for your marketing agency.

Key Features

• Email A/B testing: optimize your email strategies by testing different versions before sending them out to maximize impact.
• Lead tracking: effectively monitor, manage, and nurture deals. Gain insights into your business’s progress and identify potential risks.
• Customizable user permissions: protect sensitive data by granting access only to authorized personnel.
• Workflow automation: streamline processes with automated reminders, managerial approvals, and updates to marketing lists.
• Built-in quoting solution: generate price quotes directly from opportunity records and track their status using quote pipelines.

Pricing

Insightly offers three pricing packages for its CRM solution, billed annually:

• Plus: $29 per user per month.
• Professional: $49 per user per month.
• Enterprise: $99 per user per month.

If your agency requires marketing, customer service, and custom integration capabilities, you’ll need to invest in Insightly’s Marketing, Service, and Connect platforms. The combined all-in-one packages are priced as follows: $349, $899, and $2,599.

5. HighLevel: Best White-Labeled CRM Solution

HighLevel (also known as GoHighLevel) is a CRM tailored for agencies. It streamlines agency workflows by capturing high-quality leads through engaging landing pages and surveys. Leads are then nurtured effectively using targeted calls, SMS campaigns, and personalized email sequences. HighLevel also provides integrated tools for payment collection and quote management, facilitating a smooth deal-closing process.

 Key Features

• Funnel builder: create customized sales funnels using a simple drag-and-drop interface.
• Marketing automation: automate drip campaigns using pre-built templates and custom workflows.
• Multi-channel campaigns: integrate SMS, phone, email marketing, and Facebook Messenger into a single platform.
• Customizable dashboards: rebrand HighLevel CRM to offer it as a service to your clients.
• Client account management: seamlessly switch between different campaigns and client activities for efficient management.

Pricing

HighLevel offers three paid pricing plans with a 14-day free trial. The following prices are based on monthly subscriptions:

• Starter: $97 per user per month: 3 sub-accounts.
• Unlimited: $297 per user per month: unlimited sub-accounts.
• SaaS Pro: $497 per user per month, with auto sub-account creation features.

What’s the Best CRM Alternative to Close CRM?

If you’re seeking a top-tier alternative to Close CRM, Pipeline CRM is an ideal choice. Our user-friendly and customizable CRM for agencies is easy to implement and is good value for money. Similar to Close CRM, we provide a comprehensive set of sales and marketing CRM features, including phone calls for outreach.

To enhance your team’s productivity and maintain data integrity, Pipeline CRM also offers automated sales workflows and data validation. And the best part? You can enjoy all of Pipeline CRM’s features at a fraction of the cost compared to Close CRM. Pipeline CRM’s pricing starts at $25 per user per month, while Close CRM starts at $49.

Here’s a quick comparison of Close CRM and Pipeline CRM:

Pipeline CRM: An Excellent Close CRM Alternative for Marketing Agencies

While Close CRM offers robust features, its high price point can be a barrier for marketing agencies with limited budgets.

Consider switching to Pipeline CRM for a more affordable sales CRM without sacrificing the essential features you need. With Pipeline CRM, you can foster strong team collaboration, automate many sales activities, and help turn one-time clients into loyal customers.

Experience the benefits of Pipeline CRM firsthand with a free 14-day trial. Sign up today!

An agency CRM system gives you the platform you need to set and meet client expectations consistently over time. Today, we’ll take a closer look at how three agency businesses use Pipeline’s agency CRM to do just that. 

1. MGECOM: Multiple Years of Growth with Pipeline CRM for Agencies

The first on the list of our CRM agency users is MGECOM. MGECOM is an advertising agency focused on affiliate program management. They became a Pipeline CRM customer in June 2006, shortly after they launched. Pipeline CRM has helped MGECOM scale from a tiny operation in the founder’s spare bedroom to one of the largest and best-performing affiliate program management agencies in their niche.

MGECOM came to Pipeline CRM with specific needs and requirements: 

• Manage MGECOM’s messaging, flow, and frequency of touchpoints
• Tell salespeople what to do and when to do it
• Scale up or down with demand 

“Since we started in 2006, we’ve gone from tracking three or five deals at a time to having a couple hundred prospects in various stages of our sales pipeline at any given time,” says MGECOM CEO Matt Enders. “Our messaging, flow, and frequency of touchpoints have certainly evolved over the years, but Pipeline CRM keeps us from making missteps, no matter how complex things get.”

Here are some of the other Pipeline CRM features that helped MEGOCOM scale and make our CRM agency one of the best CRM solutions in the market:

• Smart agendas: daily agendas that populate automatically. Create an intuitive to-do list for your team while they perform daily sales tasks.
• Smart emails: use advanced rules and conditions to automate lead engagement, send welcome messages, and resurrect dead leads.
• Robust reporting features: MGECOM relied on deal insight, activity tracking, and sales forecasting reports to gain a macro- and micro-level view of their organization’s performance. 

“Our greatest challenge is the same as it’s always been: getting someone to put their signature on the dotted line,” says Enders. “Pipeline CRM helps us maximize each opportunity. Our business development team keeps it open in a window whenever they’re working. We use it to track every communication we have with every prospect.”

As CEO, Enders stays on top of everything with Pipeline CRM’s robust reporting features. “On a day-to-day basis, I can get the 30,000-foot view and see where things are, but when I need to dig in, it’s just a matter of a couple of decisive clicks to get the specifics I need.”

Results From Pipeline CRM 

MGECOM relies on Pipeline CRM to tell its salespeople what to do and when to do it. It keeps track of everything in a customized manner, so they never miss a deal. The best part is that Pipeline CRM is incredibly affordable. 

“The tracking has to be much more robust than any one person’s brain. Pipeline CRM gives us scalability. It’s full-featured and incredibly inexpensive. Nobody has to be tied to a database, and all of our documentation is readily accessible to everyone who needs it.” 

Even better, Pipeline CRM allows MGECOM to manage personnel changes with ease. “When we’re getting someone new up and running, we don’t even need support documentation. It’s so intuitive. A new person can start using Pipeline CRM and be comfortable within a day of playing with the interface.”

Continue reading the MGECOM case study to learn more about our agency CRM.

2. Evergrowth: SaaS Sales Incubator Relies on Pipeline CRM

Lithuanian consulting firm Evergrowth started as an in-house incubator for Practica Capital, a European venture capital company. Evergrowth accelerates B2B Software as a Service (SaaS) startups across Europe by helping sales and marketing teams develop predictable sales pipelines within a data-driven sales framework. They turn SaaS companies into sales machines. 

Here’s what Evergrowth needed:

• Robust data reporting: Evergrowth has strict data reporting requirements. They need to be able to analyze client performance at any given time.
• Comprehensive CRM integration: Evergrowth needed an agency CRM that could work with its already established technology stack. It needed plug-and-play functionality that would allow it to sync its tools together in a few short clicks.
• Agenda feature: This feature simplifies tasks for sales leaders, making their jobs easier. Smart agendas, enabling customized filters and columns, and AI assistants ensure everyone knows what needs to be done daily.

Evergrowth’s CEO, Jean-Baptiste Daguen, had this to say about Pipeline. “Our business and our SaaS clients make decisions, thrive, and run on data. That’s why we love Pipeline CRM just as much as our clients. Pipeline’s game-changing features include its straightforward integration with Google and Excel.” Daguen also pointed out the agenda feature, which makes sales leaders’ jobs easier by enabling customized filters and columns. “Other CRMs are so much more limited in how data is displayed.”

Here are some of the other Pipeline CRM features that helped Evergrowth scale SaaS companies:

• A sales-first CRM: Evergrowth needed a flexible, simple, easy-to-use CRM that could be customized and adapted to the sales team’s needs. Pipeline CRM’s platform offers flexibility to customize deal stages, data, analysis, reporting, fields, forms, and more
• Robust sales data management: with just one click, Evergrowth can record and freeze their data in the CRM database. This action only takes just 3 minutes with Pipeline CRM but could take up to an hour with other agency CRMs
• Training and onboarding: Pipeline CRM provided the Evergrowth team with extensive training, onboarding, and support.

Daguen onboards his clients with a two-day workshop. During those sessions he helps define their ideal customer profile. He continues their training by showing them how to create filters and dashboards.

“I’m a sales guy myself, so one of my favorite tools before using Pipeline CRM was spreadsheets,” said Daguen. “Pipeline CRM is a great transition from spreadsheets and so much more intuitive. You can work easily with its inline editing, create filters, add columns, and make unique lists to ultimately see where you can add value in your pipeline.”

Results From Pipeline CRM

Evergrowth has seen steady growth since adopting Pipeline’s agency CRM system. Although its agency has 20 employees, it constantly tries to recruit two to four employees every month to keep up with the demand for its services. 

“What differentiates us is that we are an extension of our clients’ teams. We challenge them on the sales process, think with them, and ask them why they are contacting certain leads. Along the way, we help businesses solve problems, and Pipeline CRM helps us accomplish that.”

Continue reading the Evergrowth case study to learn more about our agency CRM.

3. Wire Stone and TenthWave Use Pipeline’s Agency CRM to Manage Merger Transition

Wire Stone is a digital marketing agency with eight offices worldwide. Established in 2000, this full-service agency provides marketing transformation, demand generation, audience engagement, and experiential branding to its clients. 

Wire Stone used Excel, Salesforce, and various other CRM platforms in the past. From a scaling perspective, these options were either too complicated or unmanageable for the team. When Wire Stone merged with TenthWave, they decided to take a closer look at what they were using. They couldn’t pass up the combination of Pipeline CRM’s simple navigation and intuitive user interface.

Wire Stone came to Pipeline CRM with the following needs: 

• Simple CRM system: they wanted a simple, easy-to-use option that didn’t require major support from IT or major investment.
• Keep team members in the loop: with multiple user rights, roles, and responsibilities, they needed to make sure everyone had need-to-know information right at their fingertips.
• Monitor sales opportunities in real-time: to ensure that they can go over deals with a fine toothcomb.

Craig Wishner, Global Business Director at Tenthwave Digital and Wire Stone, shares his thoughts about Pipeline CRM.

“I made sure that we kept Pipeline CRM when Wire Stone acquired us because it’s a tool I utilize and like to use. I didn’t want something I wasn’t familiar with. To me, having that repository of information makes life easier because it allows you to go back and see when you talked to a prospect or customer list, as well as what the conversation was about,” Wishner said.

Here’s a look at the core agency CRM features Wire Stone needed for their business:

• Simple setup, no admin required: Wire Stone could import, set up, and manage their business post-merger without admin support. No need to call IT for help, no fighting with group policies or custom operating systems.
• Effortless CRM data migration: TenthWave and Wire Stone needed to migrate all their sales CRM data from Salesforce and import it into Pipeline CRM. The data transferring feature from Pipeline CRM made that easy, saving time and money.
• Deals tab: many Wire Stone employees use it as a repository to help track new business outreach and opportunities. They monitor current and future clients, as well as track the progress of what’s moving forward
• Account customization: Wire Stone needed to provide their organization with need-to-know access to customer and deal information. Pipeline CRM enabled Wire Stone to customize and set user rights and permissions, ensuring everyone had the data they needed and nothing more

“If you don’t have a tool, process, or approach to conducting your business, you’re in quicksand,” Wishner says. “You have to have some type of mechanism that keeps you embracing your different outreach… Pipeline CRM does that for me.”

Results From Pipeline CRM 

Our customizable contact and sales management allows Wire Stone to easily record and track all leads within the sales pipeline. They can add personalized notes to each deal, allowing them to leverage this information to accelerate the deal-closing process.

When first jumping on board with Pipeline CRM at Tenthwave, it was a breeze to export all of our data from Salesforce to Pipeline CRM. We had lots of information to retain, and being able to transfer that information over to Pipeline CRM was instrumental for us.

To me, having that repository of information makes life easier because it allows you to go back and see when you talked to a prospect or customer list, as well as what the conversation was about,” Wishner said. “Any golden nugget that can help you in a conversation is important to me. Pipeline CRM was the conduit for data transfer, which lent itself to better organization and productivity across our teams.”

Continue reading the Wire Stone case study to learn more about our agency CRM.

Pipeline CRM: The Key to Sales Success

Set expectations, and meet expectations. This formula is the key to more sales revenue for your agency.

Clients buy when they trust you. Setting and meeting expectations over time builds a strong agency/client relationship. When you have an agency CRM system, you have a clear path to increased trust and revenue. The better your agency is at meeting client expectations, the easier it will be to persuade each of your agency clients to spend big.

Learn more about Pipeline CRM’s powerful features for agencies. or check out our integrations here. And when you’re ready to test our agency CRM, sign up for a 14-day free trial!

It’s marketing. Agencies filled with exceptional marketers are struggling to generate leads for their own businesses.

If your marketing agencies also experience the same problems, stick around. This blog will tell you about the five lead generation tools for marketing agencies, including the best agency CRM software and its robust sales automation tools. We’ll analyze each tool based on its top features, pricing, and reviews.

Why Do Marketing Agencies Need Lead Generation Tools?

Why do some marketing agencies struggle to keep their sales pipelines full of leads?

Agency Analytics found that modern agencies struggle to stand out in a saturated market, where larger agencies take the lion’s share of leads and new business. 

“The biggest challenge we are facing as an agency is consistently attracting the volume of qualified leads for our own client acquisition that we want.”

– Larry Weideman, SEO Manager, Magnyfi

HubSpot’s Marketing Agency Growth report confirms this: 60% of agencies struggle to generate leads. They’re unable to generate the quantity or quality of leads they need. 

And it gets worse. Most marketing agencies struggle to remove bad clients (28%) and keep existing clients (16%). This is an unpleasant reality. 

5 Best Marketing Agency Tools for Generating Leads

Marketing agencies need a specific set of tools to generate a consistent volume of high-quality leads. Notice that the tools in this list are focused on lead generation, not on the other aspects of agency business (e.g., project management, design and development, etc.). Agencies tend to have one or two of these tools; it’s rare for them to have all of them. 

• Pipeline CRM: The best agency CRM software for lead generation

• Bidsketch: Proposal software to easily create and manage proposals

• Copilot: Client portal software to streamline administration work

• Pitch: Presentation software to free up time for creating sales pitch decks from scratch
• Verk: AI digital workforce software to conveniently mine leads from trusted sources

1. Pipeline CRM: The Best CRM for Marketing Agencies

What’s the best CRM software for agencies? We may be biased, but we’ll say it’s Pipeline CRM.

At first, you may be tempted to assume that a CRM is a CRM—they’re all the same. That’s a mistake. The best CRM for agencies should help you generate leads, cultivate relationships, and win new clients.

If you want to solve your lead problem, you need an operational CRM, one that’s built to drive sales revenue. Agency CRM software can automate tasks, improve agency workflows, track deals from RFP to kick-off, and more. That’s where Pipeline CRM comes in. Pipeline’s Agency CRM software does all this, providing your team with the important reminders, tools, and support needed to close deals. It’s made by salespeople, for salespeople. 

Why You Need Pipeline CRM for Lead Generation for a Marketing Agency

One thing marketing agencies struggle with is follow-up. It’s a difficult thing to maintain a consistent relationship with prospects over the course of three to nine months. Even if you know that you need to follow up, what do you say? These are details that need to be addressed ahead of time. 

With agency CRM software from Pipeline CRM, you can create your own document library and provide your account executives with instructions on when and how to use the content and templates in it. This could include questionnaires, case studies, review profiles, samples, and references.

Not only that, Pipeline CRM empowers you to manage and nurture leads seamlessly. Capture prospects’ interests, needs, and behaviors through our customizable contact management. Then, leverage Pipeline’s Drip Email Campaign solution to send targeted messages that resonate. Automate and track the entire lead nurturing process—all within a single, powerful agency CRM software.

Here are some of the key features of Pipeline CRM:

• Multiple sales pipelines: this allows you to manage several pipelines simultaneously while tailoring each pipeline to match your client’s needs.
• AI email assistant: write and rewrite emails with a single click to save time and effort.
• Custom deals: attach multiple contacts to one deal, tailor each deal stage names, and establish user permissions.
• Automatic task assignment: automatically assign tasks and update leads as they move through the sales pipeline.
• Rich integration options: from email campaign integration with Mailchimp to accounting integration with QuickBooks and more, Pipeline has it all.

Pipeline CRM Pricing

• Start plan: $29 per user per month
• Develop plan: $39 per user per month
• Grow plan: $59 per user per month 

Reviews

• 4.4/5 star rating on G2 (904 reviews total) 
• 4.4/5 star rating on Capterra (616 reviews total)
• 9.8/10 score via TrustRadius 
• 4.2/5 star rating via Gartner (41 reviews total)

2. Bidsketch: Proposal Software for Marketing Agencies

Creating proposals can be discouraging and time-consuming.  Your prospects reach out to you and ask you to bid for their projects. Most of the time, this is an unfair request. You know that your prospect probably already has a preferred candidate in mind. They’re simply looking for a price they can use as leverage to get more deliverables or lower the cost. It can be an exhausting experience to respond to RFP after RFP (request for proposal).

Why you need Bidsketch

Bidsketch makes the proposal creation process simple. Here are some of their top features:

• Real-time email notification: receive an instant email notification whenever the client opens the proposals, helping you close the sale as soon as possible or plan a follow-up action.
• Built-in electronic signatures: there is no need for third-party tools like DocuSign to get essential signatures.
• Customizable proposals: easily add content and fees and change the proposal designs to match your brand’s style.
• Capture revenue instantly: get deposits secured immediately upon client sign-off with approval messages.
• Welcome and guide new clients: these messages appear instantly after signing, providing clear instructions for the next steps.

Pricing

• Starter: $15 per month – single user, limited features
• Solo: $29 per month – single user 
• Team: $79 per month – up to 3 users
• Business: $149 per month – up to 8 users

Reviews

• 3.6/5 star rating on G2 (11 reviews total) 
• 4.3/5 star rating on Capterra (25 reviews total)
• 8/10 score via TrustRadius (11 reviews total)
• 4.1/5 star rating via SpotSaaS (56 reviews total)

3. Copilot: Client Portal Software

Handling the various facets of client administration can take a lot of work. Let’s say that your client, via someone in legal, requests a copy of version three of your statement of work. Can you find that specific file? Is this the file that you’ve sent, or is it the one with their signature? Is it the initial draft or the version with their requested changes? 

Your client made several requests via email to Steven, your account manager. If Steven deletes the emails your client sent to him, do you have a record of the messages sent from your client? You should. 

Why you need Copilot

Copilot provides marketing agencies with the tools to onboard clients, deliver services, and accept payments. It’s a client portal that integrates with the tools you’re already using. Some of Copilot’s top features are: 

• Messaging portal: allows you to communicate privately and securely with clients. 
• Easy billing: create invoices, subscriptions, and other payment options for clients. 
• Contracts organization: manage all of your contracts in a centralized location. 
• Create and record forms: streamline data collection and inbound communication from clients. 
• Advanced file sharing: share, organize, and manage data securely with internal and external teams.
• Help desk: provide clients with ongoing support via your very own help desk/support portal

Pricing

• Starter: $29/mo. (Per user)
• Professional: $69/mo. (Per user)
• Advanced: $119/mo. (Per user)
• Supersonic: Contact for a quote 

Reviews

• 4.8/5 star rating on G2 (139 reviews total) 
• 4.9/5 star rating on Capterra (19 reviews total)
• 4.9/5 rating via GetApp (19 reviews total)
• 5/5 star rating via Software Advice (19 reviews total)

4. Pitch: Presentation Software

Marketing agency clients have a reasonable request. They want you to pitch them. Here’s the unreasonable part of their request: their expectations from the pitch tend to be fuzzy, implicit, or unrealistic. 

You can flush out these poor expectations by making them explicit and discussing them with your prospects. Do some digging and take the time to find out why this specific objection is important to your prospect. This helps you identify (a.) which objections are flexible and which objections are rigid, (b.) why these objections are important to your prospects, and (c.) how to integrate their adjusted expectations into your pitch.

Why you need Pitch

Pitch comes pre-loaded templates perfect for with marketing agencies. This includes templates for presentations, pitch decks, sales decks, team meetings, and board decks. 

With these fully customizable, pre-formatted templates, you can quickly create, format, and structure your pitch deck, slides, or presentation in a short period of time. Use their content library to find assets and creative content that’s agency-specific and ready to go.

Pricing

• Free: forever free
• Pro: $25 per month – up to 2 users
• Business: $100 per month – up to 5 users

Reviews

• 4.4/5 star rating on G2 (41 reviews total) 
• 4.5/5 star rating on Product Hunt (160 reviews total)
• 9.6/10 score via TrustRadius 
• 4.9/5 star rating via Capterra (30 reviews total)

5. Verk AI: Digital Workforce Software

What’s the biggest expense for agencies? 

It’s people. When you win new clients, your headcount (and expenses) skyrocket—salaries, benefits, bonuses, licenses, accounts, taxes, etc. It’s a balancing act that’s difficult for many agencies to manage. When you hire new employees, you must undergo a lengthy onboarding process before they’re profitable.

Then there’s the cost of a mis-hire. 

According to Bradford Smart, Ph.D., a mis-hire costs six to 27 times an employee’s salary. If they can’t perform, they’re using your agency as a stepping stone to a preferred opportunity, or they’re unable to maintain the pace you need, it will be expensive. It’s no surprise why AI is so appealing. 

Why do you need Verk?

Verk provides marketing agencies with human-like, AI-powered digital workers. You can get an AI Sales Rep, AI Graphic Designer, AI Market Researcher, AI Marketer, etc. With Verk, you can get 24/7 support in a specific area of your agency at a fraction of the cost. Here are some of the use cases: 

• AI Sales employees that prospect and mine leads from a database of 275M+ verified contacts. Your digital sales rep verifies and cleans up prospect data, sends outreach emails, and pitches for new businesses 24/7.
• AI Designers that create personalized and compelling graphics for your brand.
• AI Market Researchers to conduct market research on various topics for your agency.
• Combine Verk with Agency CRM Software like Pipeline to generate a steady flow of leads all year long.

Pricing

Verk AI Assistants start at $350 per month. It offers the following solutions: 

• AI-Data Analyst
• AI-Influencer Marketer
• AI-SEO Analyst
• AI-Product Designer
• AI-Performance Marketer

Reviews

• 3.2/5 star rating on Google Play (30 reviews total) 

Pipeline CRM Is the Best Lead-Generation CRM Software for Agencies

Lead generation is one of the main issues faced by many marketing agencies. Smaller agencies struggle to stand out in a saturated market, while larger agencies take the lion’s share of leads and new business. With the right approach, you can attract new leads, nurture relationships, and win new clients. 

But it starts with the right toolset. When you find one, your marketing agency can generate the quality and volume of leads you need to grow consistently year over year.

Adopt Pipeline CRM to help generate and nurture high-quality leads. Our seamless Gravity Forms integration, for instance, will automatically send user-submitted data from the form as leads in Pipeline CRM. Our robust sales pipeline allows you to monitor the status of each deal. This way, your salespeople have the information they need to prioritize their activity and reduce dry spells.

Sign up today and enjoy a 14-day free trial of Pipeline CRM!

So, what CRM software tick those requirements and more? 

With so many options in the market, choosing the best professional services CRM can be overwhelming. To lighten your load, we’ve gathered five top professional services CRMs. We’ll look at their key features, pros and cons, reviews, and prices to help you make informed decisions.

Why Professional Services Needs CRM Software

With an annual growth rate of 6.33% (for the 2023-2028 period), professional services is one of the fastest growing industries in today’s business landscape. On the one hand, this presents a promising opportunity for your business services to expand. On the other hand, the growth also makes the competition becomes tougher—making one-on-one engagement an essential part of your sales strategies.

To meet the challenges, you need a tool to manage your growing client base and navigate complex sales cycles without sacrificing personalized interactions. This is where the adoption of robust, customized CRM software becomes crucial.

In fact, here are some things that a professional services CRM can bring to your business:

• Centralized client information: store and team-share client data, communication history, and preferences for faster decision-making.
• Lead and opportunity management: monitor and prioritize leads to ensure successful conversions.
• Sales process automation: automate data entry and mundane tasks to free up time connecting with clients.
• Analytics and reporting: get insights into your sales performance, client behavior, and market trends for on-target business strategies.
• Seamless integrations: connect your favorite business apps (email providers, campaign tools, invoice generator, etc.) to the CRM software for a more efficient workflow.

Learn more about the roles of CRM for professional services in this blog.

Now that you know why you need custom CRM software and what it can do for your business services, let’s look at the below 6 CRM comparisons designed for professional services.

1. Pipeline CRM: Best Professional Services CRM for Sales-focused Businesses

Whether you are a financial advisor striving to retain clients or a marketing firm wishing to simplify team collaboration, Pipeline’s professional services CRM is your best shot at eliminating operational chaos and building long-term relationships with clients.

Designed with professional services in mind, Pipeline CRM offers a wide range of powerful sales tools that help you from lead generation to client management and retention.   

For instance, Pipeline CRM enables you to identify and capture prospects’ details quickly and accurately. The customizable contact and lead management allows you to add custom fields while, at the same time, the conditional formatting feature keeps the dynamic data free from errors.

Pipeline also offers email automation and AI email assistance to reduce time crafting personalized emails. You can set specific entry and exit rules for email sequence campaigns (e.g., after registering for a webinar) and improve their performance with A/B testing.

Top Features

• Short learning curve and quick setup (Pipeline CRM is ready in 48 hours)
• Customization on deal stages, data input, reporting, and dashboard view
• Advanced automation (e.g., automate recurring deals and task assignments)
• Real-time status updates for synchronized teamwork
• Set permissions for specific documents and users
• Create multiple sales pipelines

Pros

• Highly customizable to suit your business services’ unique needs
• Simple dashboard to monitor lead statuses, tasks, and sales performance
• Easy sales forecasting based on past trends to ensure you hit the sales goals
• Smooth integration with Mailchimp, Outlook, Zapier, Google apps, and other third-party apps to make day-to-day business hassle-free  
• Exceptional customer support (phone calls) is available for every plan

Reviews

• 4.4/5 star rating on G2 (922 reviews) 
• 4.3/5 star rating on Capterra (619 reviews)
• 10/10 score on TrustRadius (15 reviews and ratings)
• 4.2 star rating on Gartner (40 reviews)

Pricing

• Start plan: $25 per user per month
• Develop plan: $33 per user per month
• Grow plan: $49 per user per month

You can view all of Pipeline CRM’s features here.

2. HubSpot CRM: Best Sales CRM for Scalability 

HubSpot is a small business-friendly CRM solution that stands out through its scalability potential. You can add on many other free tools from across HubSpot’s product offering based on your needs: landing page, chatbot builders for lead capture, email templates for lead nurturing, and more. 

You can access more advanced sales features through Sales Hub’s or Smart CRM’s paid packages, like conversation routing, form shortening, forecasting, and lead scoring. Plus, HubSpot’s CRM integrates with the platform’s dedicated marketing and customer service solutions.

That means you can grow your CRM into a unified database available for all your departments to streamline all business processes and adopt a more consumer-centric approach through accurate and up-to-date customer data.

Top Features

• Little to no learning curve and ample documentation resources available.
• Automatic prospect data enrichment using details from publicly available resources.
• The option to send invoices and handle payments directly within the platform.
• Revenue reporting.

Pros

• Omnichannel inbox to stay in touch with prospects via their preferred platforms.
• Built-in meeting schedulers to set up and track meetings more easily.
• Ample integration options through HubSpot’s app marketplace.
• AI-powered assistants to help with routine tasks.
• Numerous automation tools.

Cons 

• Some otherwise basic features are locked behind high-tier pricing plans.
• Report customization options can feel underwhelming. 

Reviews

• 4.4/5 star rating in G2 (13,083 reviews)

• 4.5/5 star rating in Capterra (490 reviews)

• 8.9/10 star rating in Trust Radius (551 reviews and ratings)

Pricing 

• Smart CRM Starter: $15 per user per month 

• Smart CRM Professional: $50 per user per month 

• Smart CRM Enterprise: $75 per user per month

• Sales Hub Starter: $15 per user per month 

• Sales Hub Professional: $100 per user per month 

• Sales Hub Enterprise: $150 per user per month

3. Bonsai: Best CRM for Small-Scale Professional Services

Next up on our list is the CRM for professional services Bonsai. This simple and intuitive platform is ideal for solo consultants or small-team business services. 

From contract generation to invoicing, Bonsai organizes everything in a single and segmented dashboard. You can track and bill your working hours, as well as share files and other updates with clients through the Client Portal feature.

And if you are tired of unorganized expenses, Bonsai can solve this problem. Bonsai automates all your spending records and tracks income, making accounting and tax reporting easier.

Features

• Custom contract builder with legally vetted templates
• Send invoices directly to clients and get notified of payments
• Track time spent on projects
• Track business expenses for better financial management
• Generate tax estimation to help manage tax obligations
• Client Portal to organize all to-dos, files, and documents

Pros

• Shareable task reports, time sheets, and messages keep your team and clients in sync
• Customizable templates for contracts, proposals, and invoices 
• Intuitive and user-friendly interface

Cons

• Changing email address is quite a hassle
• The customer service is sometimes unresponsive

Reviews

• 4.4 star rating on G2 (63 reviews)
• 4.7 star rating on Capterra (64 reviews)

Pricing

• Starter plan: $17 per month
• Professional plan: $32 per month
• Business plan: $52 per month

4. Salesflare: Best CRM for Small to Medium-Scale Professional Services

Salesflare is a simple sales CRM for professional services focused on lead acquisition and customer data organization.

This custom CRM software connects your calendar and mobile phone to log client meetings and calls. It also excels in customer data organization, tracking emails, and analyzing customer engagement metrics.

Additionally, Salesflare can suggest missing data in your contact with information they gather from publicly available sources and email signatures. This allows you to have a richer dataset to support you in doing outreach and creating business service proposals.

Features

• Automated customer data entry (emails, phone numbers, social profiles, etc.)
• Task and follow-up management to ensure timely responses to leads and clients
• Custom fields and bulk-edit feature on lead and contact management
• Clean dashboard to increase focus 
• Email integration and performance analytics

Pros

• Calendar sync helps keep track of upcoming and past meetings 
• Simplified lead generation and enriched data collection with email finder
• Zapier integration for seamless connection with other productivity apps
• Permission access management to contacts, deals, and specific documents
• Easily see tasks overview and prioritization on the dashboard

Cons

• Limited option on the bulk edit feature
• Address book can get confusing when contacts have more than one business

Reviews

• 4.8/5 star rating on G2 (240 reviews)
• 4.7/5 star rating on Capterra (136 reviews)
• 7.3/10 score on TrustRadius (22 reviews)
• 4.3/5 star rating on Gartner (12 ratings)

Pricing

• Growth: $29 per month
• Pro: $48 per month
• Enterprise: $99 per month

5. Insightly: Best CRM for Business Services Analytics

The next CRM software on our list is Insightly. Insightly is one of the best professional services CRM focusing on analytics and reporting.

Some of the offered analytical features include tracking unique KPIs, UTM, prospect ID, and email performance. You can pull the reports directly from your dashboard, illustrate them with different chart types, and share them with the team.

Moreover, Insightly offers a landing page builder solution. This allows you to build, clone, and add embedded forms to the pages for easy contact information sharing.

Features

• UTM tracking, multi-touch attribution, and prospect ID tracking
• Pre-built and customizable email templates
• A/B and multivariate email testing
• Mobile accessibility to support salespeople on the go
• Vast Integration options with popular productivity tools

Pros

• Smart reporting tools and customizable dashboards
• Email integration to manage client communications directly within the CRM
• Real-time email performance reports
• Support project tracking and management
• Easily accessible customer support portal

Cons

• Automatic logout system if no activity is detected
• New updates often change the CRM workflow, such as the automation feature

Reviews

• 4.2/5 star rating on G2 (877 reviews) 
• 4/5 star rating on Capterra (631 reviews)
• 8.2/10 score on TrustRadius (788 reviews and ratings)
• 4.2 star rating on Gartner (708 reviews) 

Pricing

• Plus plan: $29 per month
• Professional plan: $49 per month
• Enterprise plan: $99 per month

6. Wealthbox: Best CRM for Financial Business Services

If you are a financial advisor looking for an intuitive, financial service CRM, Wealthbox is one of the best CRM options available.

With Wealthbox, you can share real-time client updates with your team and create and assign tasks according to your team’s expertise. The platform also generates dynamic sales reports to highlight areas of improvement, so you will always know which leads are priorities and which team members need extra support.

Features

• Wealthbox Mail for two-way email synchronization
• Ability to link tasks to contacts for effective task management
• Secured document management to store and organize client-related information
• Drag-and-drop interface
• Track client’s social media activity
• Built-in financial compliance and regulatory feature

Pros

• Easy to use and adapts to individual business needs
• Extensive workflow customization

Cons

• The platform is sometimes unstable (glitches)
• No live customer support and help articles are limited
• Poor synchronization with Outlook calendar

Reviews

• 4.6/5 star rating in G2 (92 reviews)
• 4.7/5 star rating in Capterra (142 reviews)
• 9.1/10 score in TrustRadius (5 reviews and ratings)

Pricing

• Basic plan: $45 per month
• Pro plan: $59 per month
• Premium plan: $79 per month. 

Create a Personalized Approach With a CRM for Professional Services

The consultative sales approach makes one-on-one engagement a necessity for professional services. To do so, you’ll need robust, custom CRM software to support you in many sales areas. Pipeline CRM stands out among the various options available for professional services CRMs.

Pipeline CRM is designed specifically for professional services and offers a high level of customization. You can add unique properties to contacts, change deal step names, create multiple sales pipelines, and automate admin tasks, among others. This level of tailoring will ensure you have all the tools to give VIP treatment to prospects, moving them closer to signing off the deal. 

See how Wire Stone, our long-time digital marketing agency client, uses the captured data in the CRM as leverage in conversing with prospects. They turn nuggets of information into golden opportunities.

Sign up now to try Pipeline CRM for 14 days for free!

To help you find the best CRM for your agency business, we gathered some leading agency CRMs. We analyze each CRM solution and evaluate its pros and cons, user reviews, and pricing strategies.

But before we get straight to the best agency CRM list, let’s understand why agencies need a CRM and how exactly a CRM solution can streamline your agency’s business operations and sales workflows.

Why CRM Software is Essential for Agencies

You’re an agency working tirelessly to attract and retain clients, manage projects, and deliver outstanding results. With so many moving parts, it’s easy for things to slip through the cracks and chaos to ensue. That’s where Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software saves the day. 

A good CRM software is a reliable assistant for agencies. Specifically, it:

• Streamlines and syncs internal communication, making collaboration easy. 
• Frees up your team’s time by automating mundane tasks. 
• Generates leads through multiple channels.
• Qualifies and manages leads.
• Delivers a clutter-free bid and performance tracking experience.

For agencies still relying on spreadsheets, you can download this free CRM Excel template to get started with organizing your sales process efficiently.
That said, here are our top five CRM tools for agencies. 

1. Pipeline CRM: Agency CRM for Sales-focused teams

First up on our list is Pipeline CRM, one of the best CRM solutions for agencies. Built by salespeople for salespeople, this custom CRM software is the all-in-one tool you need for scaling your agency’s revenue. 

Pipeline CRM offers practical sales tools to reach new client segments and generate high-quality leads. With best-in-class real-time tracking and analytics features, you can prioritize areas and improve operations. 

It also automates tasks, sends timely updates, and ensures excellent customer service with data-driven processes. 

Features

• Custom deal stages to fit the unique needs of independent agencies. 
• Automates repetitive tasks and sales commissions. 
• Sends timely updates on deals and events.
• Manages and monitors email drip campaigns. 
• Tracks bid progress. 
• Offers accurate sales forecasting. 
• Provides integrations with popular email providers, marketing, and sales software.

Pros

• Easy to set up, capable of fully functioning within 48 hours. 
• Extensive automation for better sales management. 
• Integrates with popular platforms, with Google apps, Outlook, Zapier, Mailchimp, and other sales tools.
• Streamlined communication between both small and large teams. 
• Monitors historical data and examines the cause of lost bids. 
• Industry-best customer support.
• Automated tracking of commissions reduces cost and increases transparency for remote sales teams.

Reviews

• 4.4/5 star rating on G2 (915 reviews) 
• 4.3/5 star rating on Capterra (618 reviews)
• 10/10 score on TrustRadius (15 reviews and ratings)
• 4.1 star rating on Gartner (41 reviews)

Pricing

• Start plan: $25 per user per month.
• Develop plan: $33 per user per month.
• Grow plan: $49 per user per month.

Learn more about Pipeline CRM’s pricing plan and features.

Watch this video to see how Pipeline’s agency CRM automates many parts of your sales operations.

2. Monday.com: Agency CRM for Creative Teams

Next up on our list is a robust and highly customizable CRM solution. From centralizing client communication to providing post-sales support, Monday.com’s CRM offers the perfect features for creative agencies. 

All the data is divided into folders and is organized into 50 folders in a clean and easy-to-navigate dashboard. Monday.com also allows users to fast-track their sales recruitment process and can seamlessly accommodate your growing team.

Related: Can’t decide between Monday CRM and Close CRM? We analyzed both CRMs in detail based on their pros, cons, and price.

Features

• Users can create custom pipelines according to different project specifications. 
• Offers various integrations, including Gmail, Excel, and DocuSign.
• Automated notifications for when a lead opens or replies to an email.
• Provides personalized email templates. 
• Tracks pipelines, project targets, and the team’s performance. 
• Offers accurate sales forecasting. 

Pros

• Intuitive user interface
• The wide-ranging integration ensures a smooth flow of information, creating a connected ecosystem. 
• Improves sales outreach with accurate analytics.
• Real-time notifications and analytics updates enable teams to minimize mishaps and maintain precision. 
• Creates realistic deadlines to help you manage multiple projects simultaneously. 

Cons

• Users can’t choose multiple single dates in one date column. 
• Some necessary features require upgrading to a pricier plan. 
• Lack of visuals in analytics reports. 

Reviews

• 4.7/5 star rating on G2 (8,287 reviews) 
• 8.5/10 score on TrustRadius (3081 reviews and ratings)
• 4.5/5 star rating on Gartner (253 reviews)

Pricing

The pricing below is for 3 seats, billed annually.

• Basic CRM: $36 per month
• Standard CRM: $51 per month
• Pro CRM: $84 per month
• Enterprise CRM: Custom pricing

3. Insightly: Best Analytical CRM for Agencies

Having trouble handling all your projects with a small team? Insightly offers a modern CRM for agencies aiming to scale their operations. The platform’s highlight feature is its superior analytics and reporting capabilities, letting users improve customer service holistically. 

The platform’s unique lead routing feature streamlines prospecting and drives revenue growth. Additionally, it offers mobile applications to accommodate remote teams seamlessly. 

Features

• Routes leads and tracks the most relevant information.
• Tracks client pitches and monitors their position in the pipeline. 
• Offers integrations with popular productivity tools. 
• Provides mobile applications for remote teams. 
• A/B and multivariate testing. 

Pros

• The comprehensive dashboard highlights specific contexts of projects, relevant contacts, workflows, and metrics. 
• Easy filters let users search for required information quickly. 
• The customer support portal is easily accessible and convenient. 
• High-quality analytics features offer real-time and detailed updates on projects and performance. 

Cons

• The platform frequently logs out in case of non-use. 
• Automations get changed often due to new updates. 

Reviews

• 4.2/5 star rating on G2 (868 reviews) 
• 4/5 star rating on Capterra (626 reviews)
• 8.1/10 score on TrustRadius (783 reviews and ratings)
• 4.2 star rating on Gartner (711 reviews)

Pricing

The pricing below is for an annual subscription.

• Plus: $29 per month
• Professional: $49 per month
• Enterprise: $99 per month

4. Podio: CRM for Seamless Communication for Marketing Agencies and Other Companies

The next addition to our list is a reliable and straightforward CRM solution called Podio. It is low-code, custom CRM software focusing on streamlining agency team communication. 

Podio centralizes all project content, conversations, and processes into one collaboration point for team alignment. Every stage is customizable to suit every project’s specifications and team’s requirements. The interface is stable and intuitive, making task delegation and project deployment easy for agencies. 

Features

• Centralizes all relevant information in one clean dashboard. 
• Offers an open-plan online office. 
• Allows creating custom integrations and new apps as required. 
• Provides add-ons built for specific use cases. 
• Has mobile applications.

Pros

• It makes coordination and collaboration easy by organizing all contacts, content, and conversations in one place. 
• Project budget tracking and automation make it easy for your team to be on top of every project with the same operational accuracy. 
• Offers 24×7 tech support for users.  

Cons

• The free version lacks basic CRM features.
• Refresh time is longer than the alternatives.
• Costlier than other similar tools.

Reviews

• 4.2/5 star rating on G2 (485 reviews) 
• 4.3/5 star rating on Capterra (311 reviews)
• 7/10 score on TrustRadius (125 reviews and ratings)

Pricing

• Plus: $11.20 per month
• Premium: $19.20 per month

5. Salesforce: Best CRM for Large Agencies

Salesforce is one of the most popular and reliable CRM software. Thanks to its numerous capabilities, it seamlessly accommodates large teams and multiple projects. 

It offers best-in-class marketing, sales, commerce, and service solutions all in one platform. Users can import data sets from any source, analyze them, and get a comprehensive view of project progress. Salesforce is adaptive, scalable, and secure, with a customer-centric approach to every business operation.

Features

• Hassle-free contact, opportunity, and quote management
• Einstein Analytics for high business intelligence
• Offers custom platforms for small businesses. 
• Has a dynamic dashboard.
• Offers mobile applications.

Pros

• Superior analytical abilities unlock complicated sales as well as service insights.
• Salesforce Lightning shows a complete view of the customer profile for better prospecting.
• Easily create ecosystems with your partners.

Cons

• Bug issues.
• Not beginner-friendly.
• High-end pricing.

Reviews

• 4.3/5 star rating on G2 (14575 reviews) 
• 4.4/5 star rating on Capterra (17674 reviews)
• 8.2/10 score on TrustRadius (3129 reviews and ratings)
• 4.4/5 star rating on Gartner (1807 reviews)

Pricing

Available on request. 

6. Folk: Best CRM for Lead-Generation-Focused Agencies

As an agency CRM, Folk understands that one of the biggest challenges for a sales-driven agency is generating and nurturing leads. With this in mind, Folk offers several solutions, including bulk data import from LinkedIn, finding missing contact email addresses with just one click, and setting up conversation templates for email and LinkedIn messages. 

Additionally, since all the conversations with prospects are now centralized on Folk, you’re empowered to analyze your sales outreach performance to find the best strategies that work for your business. For example, see how the team’s efforts compared to the email open and click rates, sales cycle, or revenues.

Features

• Bulk email and email template features.
• Smooth integration with Apollo, various social media platforms, and Zapier.

Pros

• 1-click enrichment helping you find missing contact information.
• Visualize your performance with various metrics and chart visualization.
• Bulk email feature.

Cons

• Limited integration compared to other CRM for agencies.

Reviews

• 4.5/5 star rating on G2 (260 reviews)
• 4.4/5 star rating on Capterra (29 reviews)
• No review on TrustRadius
• 4.0/5 star rating on Gartner (1 review)

Pricing

Folk offers a two-week free trial and 20% off for annual membership. The prices below are based on their yearly subscription fees.

• Standard: $20 per member per month
• Premium: $40 per member per month
• Custom: $80 per member per month

7. Drag: Best CRM for Google-Based Agency Workflows

If your agency business is set up using the Google ecosystem, Drag can be a great CRM option.

With Drag, you can connect several Google-based email accounts or shared inboxes and share them with your team. This centralized workflow allows anyone on the team to respond quickly to new inquiries. After you manage the email, directly assign new tasks to your team to ensure that the lead is moving toward the closing phase—all without leaving the email window or switching to another tool.

Features

• Drag isn’t just a basic CRM. it also offers some HR, finance, and customer support functions.
• Automatic email responder based on specific triggers.
• Ready-to-use email templates for various sales purposes.

Pros

• Get an alert when multiple users work on the same deal to avoid collision.
• A shared inbox enables you to compose email using any email address

Cons

• Steep learning curve (based on several G2 reviewers).
• Limited integrations, currently only with Google ecosystem and Whatsapp.

Reviews

• 4.5/5 star rating on G2 (255 reviews) 
• 4.4/5 star rating on Capterra (127 reviews)
• No review on TrustRadius
• No review on Gartner 

Pricing

Drag offers a 7-day free trial and a special discount for a yearly subscription. The prices below are for their annual fees.

• Standard: $10 per member per month
• Premium: $18 per member per month
• Custom: $24 per member per month

8. Productive: Agency CRM with Project Management Solutions

Agency projects often vary significantly in timeline, requirements, and budget, all of which directly impact sales pipelines. To maintain harmony across all facets of an agency business, productive offers a CRM solution that emphasizes team and project management.

With productive, the logged-in hours from your team are automatically linked to budgets, allowing you to monitor the project budgets and your profitability easily. 

With synchronized team workloads and hours, it’s easy to identify team members available for new projects, predict project completion dates, and negotiate realistic deadlines with clients.

Features

• Time tracking and time-off management.
• Project management with Gantt charts functions.
• Built-in financial functions, such as budgeting, invoicing, and forecasting.

Pros

• Easily set recurring budgets and retainers.
• User-friendly and modern interface.

Cons

• Configuring particular reports can be difficult (based on a review on G2).

Reviews

• 4.7/5 star rating on G2 (54 reviews) 
• 4.6/5 star rating on Capterra (9 reviews)
• No review on TrustRadius
• No review on Gartner

Pricing

Productive offers three paid plans with a 14-day free trial option. The following are productive’s annual fees.

• Essential: $9 per user per month
• Professional: $24 per user per month
• Ultimate: $32 per user per month

9. Apptivo: Best CRM for Field-Based Agency Teams

For travel agencies with field-based teams and collaborators, Apptivo can be a great agency CRM solution for you. 

Apptivo offers a mobile CRM solution that allows your outside team access the CRM data anytime and anywhere. This way, they can respond promptly to prospect inquiries, send invoices on the go, and make informed decisions to close deals. 

Beyond sales functionalities, Apptivo’s mobile CRM also supports team administration with features like timesheets for logging work hours, expense reports, and basic project management/milestone tools.

Features

• Powerful data analytics and reporting.
• Drag and drop functionality to customize data fields.
• Help desk solution with email ticketing and team assignment functionalities.

Pros

• Mobile app with integrated map and digital signature features.
• Rich integration options, including QuickBooks, Xero, Stripe, and PayPal.

Cons

• Outdated user interface.
• Limited customization options (based on several G2 reviewers).

Reviews

• 4.4/5 star rating on G2 (205 reviews) 
• 4.4/5 star rating on Capterra (712 reviews)
• 8.1/10 score on TrustRadius (8 reviews and ratings)
• 4.2/5 star rating on Gartner (64 reviews)

Pricing

Freshworks offers three paid plans. The following are for their yearly subscription fees.

• Lite: $15 per user per month
• Lite: $25 per user per month
• Lite: $40 per user per month
• Enterprise: custom pricing

10. Freshmarketer: Best CRM for Marketing-Driven Agencies

Freshmarketer, a CRM tool by Freshworks, helps improve marketing performance. It enables users to create custom landing pages for various campaigns, allowing for more targeted messaging and increased value for prospects. These landing pages can also include tailored web forms for lead generation and chatbots for personalized interactions.

Features

• Predictive and behavioral segmentation to improve your campaign results.
• Connect with leads across various channels, including social media, WhatsApp, and email marketing.
• Enhance customer experience with AI-powered chatbots.

Pros

• Over 1,000 integration options to various sales, marketing, and other agency CRM related apps.
• Real-time notifications for any changes on the sales pipelines.

Cons

• Customer support quality can be improved (based on some G2 reviewers).

Reviews

• 4.2/5 star rating on G2 (16 reviews) 
• 4.4/5 star rating on Capterra (25 reviews)
• 6.1/10 score on TrustRadius (3 reviews and ratings)
• 4.0/5 star rating on Gartner (1 review)

Pricing

Freshworks offers different prices for their solutions. The following price only applies to the Freshmarketer solutions. Note that Freshmarketer is primarily a marketing automation tool. To leverage full CRM sales capabilities alongside your marketing efforts, a separate Freshsales subscription is also required.

• Free: Limited to 500 sent emails per month.
• Enterprise: €15 per user per month (billed annually).

Summary of Best CRMs for Agencies

The top 10 agency CRM discussed above offer various features and pricing plans, making them unique for specific use cases. Here’s a summary of them.

What Are the Must-Have Features of an Ideal Agency CRM?

There are many agency CRM on the market. How can you ensure that you choose the right CRM for your agency’s business needs? 

While each agency has its own unique business requirements and workflows, a great agency CRM must have some basic features. Here are the foundational sales and marketing features an ideal agency CRM must offer.

A. Smart Workflow Automation

Workflow automation within a CRM goes beyond simply saving time and boosting productivity—it also ensures a standardized workflow across your team and maintains clean, accurate sales and customer data.

For example, by setting up a ‘Next Step’ suggestion feature in your agency CRM, your sales team can receive clear guidance on what to do next every time a deal status changes. This not only streamlines decision-making but also keeps everyone aligned. 

Automation also plays a critical role in maintaining data integrity. By using conditional fields, you can hide specific data fields until they’re relevant, reducing the risk of misplaced or incorrect information. Additionally, required fields ensure that your team inputs all necessary details before progressing to the next stage, preventing incomplete or inconsistent data.

Related: Learn why keeping your CRM data clean can improve your deal closing rate and speed.

B. Advanced Email Solutions

If your agency business focuses on email marketing as your primary sales channel, you need either adopt a CRM with a robust built-in CRM email solution or pick an agency CRM that offers seamless integration with your chosen email marketing platform.

When selecting a CRM tool, consider opting for one that includes AI email writing assistance. This feature eliminates the need to switch between external AI tools, like ChatGPT, to craft emails, saving you time and streamlining your workflow.

Additionally, ensure the CRM agency solution offers bulk email and email drip campaign capabilities. These features allow you to automate your email outreach efforts, enabling you to send personalized messages at scale while maintaining efficiency and consistency in your communication.

C. Powerful Reporting and Forecasting

An agency CRM that automates sales activities and email campaigns is a powerful asset, but it’s equally important to be able to monitor performance and measure the impact of your team’s efforts.

To ensure everything stays on track, choose an agency CRM with robust reporting capabilities. The ideal system should allow you to easily generate detailed reports, visualize data through intuitive charts, and pin key metrics to your dashboard for real-time visibility. This way, you can track progress, identify trends, and make data-driven decisions to optimize your strategies.

Pipeline CRM is the Best Customer Relationship Management Software for Agencies

Agency life sometimes feels like a whirlwind of tasks, client meetings, and endless spreadsheets. But with the right CRM software, you can automate tedious tasks and focus on scaling your business. 

Pipeline offers everything you need for managing deals and clients for your agency. It’s beginner friendly and capable of accommodating teams of any size seamlessly. 

To acquire high-quality clients, handle multiple projects with precision, and boost your agency’s ROI, try Pipeline for free today!

FAQs – 5 Top Agency CRM Software

1. What Is Agency CRM?

CRM (customer relationship management) empowers agencies to streamline their sales processes, allowing agencies to solve two of their main challenges: delivering tailored products or services and retaining clients. By centralizing all client data and requests, CRM empowers agencies to deliver exceptional service. Teams can easily access and update lead statuses, ensuring each client’s unique needs are met. This fosters satisfied clients who return for more, boosting sales and referrals. 

2. What’s the Best Agency CRM Software?

Pipeline CRM is one of the best CRM for agencies, regardless of their size and industry (professional services, real estate, digital marketing agencies, etc.). Some of our prominent features for agency CRM are custom deal stages (to fit the unique needs of each agency or client), automation (for email campaigns and administrative tasks), and accurate sales forecasting (helping agencies mitigate risks).

3. How Do I Choose the Best CRM for My Agency?

The following factors can help you choose the best CRM for your agency:

• Customization options: select agency CRM that can be tailored based on your unique sales workflow, business strategy, and team language. 
• Available integration: check the integration options so you can continue using tools that work for you.
• Scalability opportunities: ensure that when you need to grow, the agency CRM can support your needs. Avoid a CRM that has a low limit number on active deals, saved contacts, and users.
• Simple navigation: find CRM software with a short learning curve and user-friendly interface to avoid technical problems.