Running a construction business isn’t a walk in the park. Let alone scaling it. Fortunately, using the best CRM for construction already cuts down manual tasks and streamlines sales-related tasks, but without proper integrations, you’re still wasting time on productivity. Going back and forth between your tools is time-consuming. 

To build a seamless workflow, you need a CRM with the right integrations, and that’s what you get with Pipeline. In this article, we will break down Pipeline’s CRM integrations for construction companies and how they can help you tackle certain tasks.

Importance of a Custom CRM with Multiple Integrations

While the industry is the same, every construction company has unique business challenges (or needs), and a generic CRM isn’t enough to accommodate them all. 

Here are some notable ones:

• Project Delays: McKinsey found that 77% of construction businesses are at least 40% late delivering projects. Besides uncontrollable elements like weather, repetitive tasks, and lack of organization, they waste time and result in stagnant productivity.

• Inadequate Communication: Maintaining seamless communication between on-site and internal teams becomes a hassle for many construction companies. It can cause problems like unrealistic expectations, tasks getting overlooked, and issues going unnoticed.

• Cost Overruns: 98% of construction projects face cost overruns of over 30%. This is mostly caused by poor planning, inaccurate forecasting, and budgeting. A general CRM won’t fit in your existing system seamlessly to counter all these challenges with accuracy. But a construction sales CRM with an open-source API can. Need to send a quick email to a client about project changes? A custom CRM for construction companies will let you access your emails on the platform itself. Have to check the project budget before approving specific materials? You can access Quickbooks on the CRM without wasting time signing in.

In short, integrations can save you time and keep every necessary tool on one centralized platform. That’s why you need dependable construction CRM software like Pipeline that integrates with every popular productivity and business tool for greater convenience. This way, everything will get sent to Pipeline CRM’s dashboard directly. To explore how our CRM for construction can consolidate these tools and streamline your operations, check out our dedicated platform tailored to construction businesses.

Pipeline Integrations for Construction Companies

Elementor 

Every construction business owner knows how difficult it is to generate and manage quality leads consistently. That’s why modern construction companies rely on website forms where potential leads can submit queries. 

Elementor is a drag-and-drop editor for WordPress and other CMSs that allows you to create beautiful forms and embed them on your site. When integrated with Pipeline CRM, Elementor Forms sends all the captured leads directly to your dashboard, capturing and automating lead collection and management. It ensures that lead information is kept and noted. 

Moreover, with Zapier as a bridge between Elementor and Pipeline integrations, you can send project confirmations to leads, set up notifications, or trigger actions based on the lead’s query. 

QuickBooks

Sales forecasting and budgeting are prominent challenges for a construction company. With Pipeline CRM’s QuickBooks integration, you can overcome them easily. 

The goal here is not to do better accounting—Quickbooks does that just fine on its own. However, integrating your CRM with this popular finance management software will let you make more sales and grow your revenue. Usually, whenever a construction company closes a deal, the accountants are the last ones to get access. This can hamper invoicing and information exchange between them and the sales team. 

The Quickbooks integration will update your account team early whenever you win a deal. This helps them generate accurate invoices right at the beginning of the project, resulting in seamless and quick payments. Moreover, the integration imports customer details, products, invoices, and payment information directly to your sales CRM. 

The team can use the QuickBooks data in their Pipeline CRM for tasks like follow-ups, reminders, customer service, and business process automation.

Outlook

Microsoft Outlook is a popular productivity tool for contact management, project calendars, and emails. So, if you also use it to keep track of your upcoming projects and communicate with clients, Pipeline’s Outlook integration can simplify your efforts.

It syncs your Microsoft Outlook email messages, contacts, and calendar events on your construction CRM software. This add-on keeps your customer relationship and email efforts aligned without any extra effort. Moreover, this particular integration lets you centralize contacts, emails, and event calendars and track all communication in one place.

Pipeline also lets you choose contact categories on Outlook that you want to sync with the CRM. This includes existing clients, prospects, and other stakeholders in the construction deals. The Quickbooks integration also prevents information overlap between departments as prospects move through the sales funnel.

Google Apps

From Sheets to Chat, many businesses depend on Google apps to manage their business. If your construction company is one of them, Pipeline will fit perfectly in with your current workflow. Pipeline CRM for construction companies offers seamless Google app integrations, eliminating the need to duplicate data entry between platforms. 

With this CRM integration, you can access all customer data in one place. It removes confusing data silos, ensures every stakeholder’s access to the latest customer information, and improves team collaboration. For example, if you schedule a newly closed construction deal on Google Calendar, this Pipeline integration will sync that information directly on the dashboard and update all team members. 

Mailchimp

Frustrated with switching between your construction sales tools and Mailchimp to check your email marketing performance? Pipeline’s Mailchimp integration can save you the trouble. It ensures all your efforts are aligned—whether it’s in sales, marketing, or customer relationship management.

Now you can keep track of your segmented email lists and campaign analytics directly from one cohesive dashboard. This CRM for construction companies also stores all data and marketing communications in your account history. Your team can access them anytime, learn from past campaigns, and improve email campaigns. It will also give you an idea of the optimum follow-up time and run a targeted email marketing initiative with Mailchimp. 

CRM for Construction Companies: A Pipeline CRM Case Study

In Seattle, Rainier Custom Homes’ unprecedented reputation is the fruit of two generations of incredible customer service. To grow this success further, the current CEO, Steve Hettema, opted for BuilderTrend, a CRM for construction companies. 

However, it wasn’t a good fit. The software lacked contact relations management, which could have been detrimental to Rainier Custom Homes’ hard-earned customer loyalty. As Hettema used Pipeline for a previous company he ran, he decided to give our construction CRM software a shot. 

Today, the company relies on multiple Pipeline features to handle three phases of the sales process: Discovery, Preconstruction, and Build. 

This is how our CRM and integrations have helped them: 

• Pipeline’s automation features notify teams about important tasks and let them contact the client at the right time. 
• Whenever the sales team closes a new lead, the system sets off tasks automatically, from scheduling appointments to sending contracts.
• It cued up pre-written emails about project surveys, conference call scheduling, and on-site visits. The right emails get delivered at the right time to the right person.
• Pipeline eliminated repetitive tasks and helped the construction company set a consistent customer experience.

The result? 

After implementing Pipeline’s construction CRM software, Rainier Custom Homes reduced the length of their sales cycle from 130 days on average to 62 days. As the CRM was quite easy to adopt, the team got fluent with our CRM pretty quickly.

Conclusion

Considering the current market trends, running a construction business can be very rewarding. All you need are practical construction sales tools to help you manage data effectively. For example, you need a custom CRM and necessary integrations. 

Fortunately, Pipeline packs them all in one simple platform. 

Besides open-source APIs, our CRM for construction companies offers lead management, task automation, and email drip campaigns. You also get accurate analytics and reporting features to keep performance on track. Try it out! 

Choose your Pipeline package today and get a free 14-day trial. 

Stop getting drowned in accounting work and focus on what matters: sealing deals. Pipeline’s CRM integration with QuickBooks syncs your sales and accounting data seamlessly—streamlining your entire sales process, from deal discovery to closing. No need to switch between tools, as you’ll have all the information you need at your fingertips.

Why Should Sales CRM Software Integrate with QuickBooks?

Before we discuss the detailed features of Pipeline’s CRM with Quickbooks integration, let’s find out the advantages of syncing your CRM and accounting data.

• Accurate and Consistent Data

Your CRM hosts customer information and sales orders, while your accounting software handles invoices and payment details. By integrating both databases, you ensure that the data is consistent, accurate, and clean (no duplicate entries across systems.) This accuracy reduces the risk of discrepancies and errors. Plus, it eliminates the need to add the data to the two systems manually.

• Increased Revenue Opportunities

By merging both customers and their sales details, you’ll gain a complete customer profile. This empowers you to refine your sales approaches through customer segmentation analysis. Additionally, this unified view provides invaluable insights into upselling and cross-selling opportunities. You can easily identify customers who might benefit from additional products or services, boosting your bottom line.

• Streamlined Order-to-Cash Process

In many cases, the sales team is responsible for generating quotes and sales orders. Then, the accounting team turns them into invoices and tracks their status. When CRM and accounting systems are integrated, you ensure that each deal progresses smoothly from quote to payment.

This level of collaboration will eliminate delayed invoicing and give real-time insights into payment status. It will empower your team to address any delays proactively and improve the company’s cash flow.

• Clear Financial Visibility

Profit and loss reporting and revenue forecasts are highly dependent on the quality of your data. By pulling accurate, real-time financial data, you gain up-to-date information about your company’s financial health. This helps you make strategic decisions not only limited to sales strategies but also overall business operations. 

Key Features of Pipeline’s CRM Integration with QuickBooks for Sales Workflows

1. Two-Way QuickBooks CRM Integration for Synced and Up-to-Date Data

As a CRM that integrates with QuickBooks, Pipeline CRM bridges the gap between customer and accounting data. Our seamless bi-directional sync ensures your data moves between platforms in perfect harmony. Add, update, or delete information in either Pipeline CRM or QuickBooks, and the changes will automatically reflect in the other. This ensures that both systems have consistent and up-to-date data without manual intervention.

You can configure the data sync to be one-directional, from QuickBooks to Pipeline or from Pipeline to QuickBooks. You can also disable automatic data transfer completely.

2. View, Create, and Send Multiple Documents from a Single Platform

You can create proposals and invoices using the data pulled from the CRM contact list or sales history. Then, add the products or services and the pricing, and send the proposal via email directly from Pipeline CRM—all without switching between multiple applications.

3. Convert Proposals to Invoices Directly from Pipeline CRM

Once your lead accepts the proposal, convert it into an invoice with a single click. This seamless integration facilitates a faster invoicing process and a smooth customer experience.

4. Easily Track, Void, or Delete Data

Pipeline CRM grants access to the accounting data on your QuickBooks account, allowing you to revise or cancel proposals directly from the CRM. Plus, you can easily track the status (draft, sent, or paid) of your proposals and invoices, allowing you to follow up with clients on overdue payments.

5. Configurable Account Permissions for Data Integrity and Security

Allow specific users to create, access, or edit proposals and invoices. For example, only sales managers can finalize and send proposals and invoices, while sales reps can only create and can’t edit after submissions. This fosters a standardized workflow, ensuring data integrity and empowering users to perform their roles effectively.

You can configure account permissions to enable or disable specific users (e.g., basic users) from viewing, creating, and converting estimates and invoices. 

Work Smarter with Pipeline CRM and QuickBooks Two-Way Sync Integration

Break down the data silos between sales and accounting. With Pipeline and QuickBooks CRM integration, you seamlessly merge your QuickBooks sales data with customer details in your CRM. Gain a holistic understanding of your customer profile and sales performance—promoting automated, error-free work that speeds up your sales cycle.

Learn more about our improved Pipeline CRM and Quickbooks integration.

FAQs – Pipeline and QuickBooks CRM Integration

1) What Key Features Do Pipeline CRM and QuickBooks Integration Offer?

As a CRM that integrates with QuickBooks, Pipeline CRM offers the following key features:

• Bi-directional sync of sales and accounting data
• Easily create, send, and track the status of invoices and proposal
• Convert proposals to invoices directly from Pipeline CRM
• Configurable permissions for admins and non-admin users

2) How Do I Integrate QuickBooks with Pipeline CRM?

Here’s how you can integrate Quickbooks with Pipeline CRM:

• Find QuickBooks on the Pipeline CRM App Store and install it
• Log in using your QuickBooks credentials
• Go to Configure > QuickBooks Online API > Connect
• Enter your QuickBooks login details and test the connection
• Go to Settings > Import QuickBooks data 
• Return to the App Store, find QuickBooks, and toggle integration on

See the step-by-step tutorial here. 

3) Is There an Additional Cost for Pipeline CRM and QuickBooks Integration?

No, there isn’t an additional cost for Pipeline CRM and QuickBooks integration. It is included in all plans and available to all Pipeline CRM users. Visit the Pipeline CRM pricing page for a breakdown of our plans.

But isn’t it tiring to dial individual prospects manually?

An auto dialer can be your sales team’s trusted companion. However, to maximize cold calling ROI, you also need a CRM with dialer integration. 

Why? Because it keeps your cold calling outreach data-driven, simplifies performance monitoring, and ultimately builds a cohesive sales framework for your company. 

Today, we dive deep into why the best CRM for sales teams should include dialer integrations and how you can use it to maximize your sales calling approach.

What Is an Auto Dialer?

An auto dialer is a software solution that dials phone numbers automatically from a given prospect list and connects the call to a live agent once it’s answered. If no sales agent is available at that moment, the system can also deliver important product-related information through pre-recorded messages.

The primary aim of an auto dialer is to eliminate the grueling process of typing 10 digits for each lead and let the sales reps focus on the upcoming conversations instead. 

Here are some common types of auto dialers: 

• Preview dialers: With a preview dialer, the sales agents can choose to place the next call immediately or take some time before initiating it.

• Progressive dialers: Also known as the power auto dialer, this system places the next call automatically once the first call ends.

• Predictive dialers: These dialers call multiple numbers at once, using a pacing algorithm to predict when an agent may finish the current call. Then, it connects them to the next call on the queue accordingly. 

Top 6 Benefits of Adopting Dialer Integration in Your Sales CRM

We established why an auto dialer is essential for a growth-focused business. But why should you integrate it with your CRM? Let’s find out.  

1. Improves Efficiency and Productivity

To ensure a productive sales call, it’s crucial for your sales representatives to have immediate access to customer data. However, when they’re required to navigate between the CRM to review lead information and then switch to a separate dialer system, it creates an inefficient workflow.

Integrating a dialer directly into your CRM and phone system streamlines this process by eliminating the need to upload prospect lists separately. This integration proves invaluable, particularly for cold-calling prospects, as it removes unnecessary steps and delays.

Additionally, with dialer integration in place, your sales team can seamlessly access all relevant information about a lead while on the call, enabling them to deliver personalized communication efficiently.

Ultimately, implementing a dialer CRM integration minimizes operational chaos, saves valuable time, and allows your sales agents to focus more effectively on the conversation at hand. 

That’s why Pipeline integrates with popular auto dialers to create a seamless cold-calling process for your team. For example, with the JustCall integration, you get click-to-call and click-to-text buttons for your Pipeline contacts. You also receive calls, track missed calls, and access call recordings on a single dashboard. 

Another Pipeline CRM integration is Aircall, one of the ultimate sales phone systems for any scale-focused business. It lets you contact your leads and track every interaction directly on the dashboard.

2. Align sales and Marketing

Your sales and marketing teams must sync perfectly to build a credible brand voice while meeting your sales target. However, using different tools for customer data insights and cold calling is challenging. 

However, choosing a CRM with auto dialer integration provides both your marketing and sales team with up-to-date customer data at their fingertips. It ensures a smooth information flow between the marketing creatives and sales reps and keeps them focused on a unified vision.

A dialer-integrated CRM centralizes all your sales engagement data in one dashboard. Your marketing team can review them, get clarity on the changing customer needs from the most frequent queries and concerns, and adjust their strategy. They can also identify the best inbound lead sources and optimize campaigning efforts. 

Result? From marketing to sales calling, all your efforts present a cohesive brand image.

For example, CallRail is one of the Pipeline CRM integrations that captures every inbound and outbound conversation. It gathers essential data regarding your most profitable ads, pages, and keywords for inbound leads. 

This CRM integration feeds call conversion data into Google Analytics directly. This way, you can calculate conversions and optimize your Google Ads campaigns.

Another Pipeline CRM integration you can use is ActiveDemand—a powerful marketing automation. This tool communicates with your CRM, monitors deal progressions, and adjusts your drip campaigns accordingly. 

3. Minimizes Human Errors

Sales agents make hundreds of calls daily to meet their target, and manual processes are error-prone. 

They may dial the wrong number or miss out on valuable leads on the list. With manual processes, your sales agents may even get confused between prospects and fail to tailor every communication accurately.

Opting for a sales CRM with dialer integrations lets you minimize these potential errors. It syncs your lead’s contact with the phone system and automates routine tasks like data entry and dialing. It also captures real-time lead engagement data and lets your sales reps adjust their approach accordingly, resulting in optimum outreach efficiency.  

4. Drives Real-Time Resolution

One of the primary advantages of sales calling is it enables real-time resolutions of customer queries. But for that, your agents need instant access to all relevant data during the conversations—another area where the right CRM integrations can be valuable. 

Agents can receive inbound calls on the CRM software itself. Since all the important product and client information is on a singular dashboard, they don’t have to hunt down the right data during the call and provide faster resolutions on the spot. 

Resolving issues faster empowers your sales team to respond to more customers in their limited time. Even while handling outbound calls, your sales reps can answer impromptu questions without checking with a superior. 

Our integration with FullContact lets you access rich, real-time Identity Resolution Graphs. It helps you tailor customer resolutions better and improve sales interactions.

Pipeline CRM integrations also offer tools like Userlike to make customer support more efficient. Whenever an inbound lead engages with the chat software, it documents the chat transcripts to monitor the customer pulse. 

This helps your sales agents understand lead-specific requirements and contact them over calls. You can also review customer service performance metrics with Google Analytics with our Userlike integration to refine decision-making.

5. Automates Call Recording

You can’t expect your sales reps to remember every interaction they have with leads. Between communicating features and resolving customer queries, they may even miss out on some important details.

For instance, an inbound lead expresses concerns that may match your prospect segments. You could improve efficiency only if you had a way to go back and draw references from the previous calls. 

Guess what? You do have a way. 

The best CRM for sales teams comes with automated call recording features. This way, your teams can play back the inbound and outbound call recordings, review the transcripts, and pick up on any missed details to customize deals.  

These recordings are also valuable resources to curate scripts for future calls and improve sales agents’ performance. 

You can assess the recorded calls and pinpoint exactly where a deal fell through. It also lets you identify the phrases and offers that nudge prospects to conversion. The inexperienced sales reps can listen to successful pitches, replicate those in future calls, and level up their game. 

Besides setting up an auto dialer, our JustCall integration lets you record calls automatically. Your team can listen to all the recordings on the centralized dashboard easily. 

6. Delivers Insightful Performance Reports

To build a sustainable sales pipeline and grow conversions, you must keep track of how your team is performing. You must show them where they need to improve—and CRM integrations can help you here, too. 

CRM software with dialer integration syncs all customer and prospect-related data in a single dashboard automatically. The built-in data analytics examines and quantifies the efficacy of your sales process. With data-driven insights, you can identify which touchpoints aren’t working properly and redirect your team’s focus there. 

Boost Productivity with Pipeline CRM’s Dialer Integration

Opting for an auto dialer may seem like a sufficient pivot toward a more efficient sales outreach. However, to streamline your cold outreach and scale faster, CRM integrations are your best bet. 

Here’s a TL;DR version of what integration dialers in your CRM tool can do for your business:

• Makes your cold-calling efforts more resource-efficient
• Keeps your sales and marketing on the same page
• Reduces manual errors
• Facilitates accurate and real-time resolutions
• Automates call recording 
• Generates performance insights and drives constant improvement

Now, what CRM offers all the above perks? Pipeline CRM!

With Pipeline CRM integrations, you can manage all your inbound and outbound calls from a single dashboard. It also organizes every relevant sales data, records calls, generates transcripts and offers real-time performance insights. 

Plus, you get email automation, built-in AI email writing assistance, and other sales automation features with unlimited customizations to match your unique business needs. 

Still not sure? Sign up for a free trial and see for yourself!

A LinkedIn study shows that almost one in every four salespeople uses sales technology every day. The reason? 54% of sales professionals believe sales tools enable them to build stronger customer relationships, resulting in a higher and faster deal-closing process. If you’re looking for the best sales tools for your team, we’ve gathered a list to give you a head start. 

From customer relationship management (CRM) to sales analytics, this article will help you build a powerful sales tech stack that can skyrocket your sales team’s performance. 

But first, let’s discuss the terminology. 

Related: A-Z glossary of sales acronyms and phrases worth knowing.

What is a Sales Tech Stack?

A ‘tech stack,’ short for technology stack, refers to a collection of software and technology infrastructure (typically cloud-based) used to build and manage a business’ sales operation.

Some of the key tools solve problems related to automating administrative tasks, improving communication qualities, and fostering team collaboration. It also helps managers track the sales pipelines and team’s performance, as well as make better revenue predictions. 

How a Sales Tech Stack Can Grow Your Business

A well-designed tech stack can improve productivity, increase revenue, and build stronger customer relationships. This is due to many reasons, including the following:

• It stores accurate and detailed customer data, allowing you to create personalized proposals that tackle the prospect’s problems right from the initial call. 
• It allows you to sort through leads, identify promising ones, and assign the right sales reps to nurture them. 
• It streamlines communication channels. For instance, with just a few clicks, prospects can easily schedule a product demo. The sales reps will then be automatically notified in real-time, allowing them to prepare the materials beforehand and talk with other departments to supply them with the right sales materials.

Top Tools to Build Your Sales Tech Stack

With so many sales tools out there, it’s easy to get lost. Therefore, it’s important to identify what your needs are before going software shopping. Consider the following factors:

• The major issues you want to solve (this will be your must-have features)
• The budget (total expenses for all adopted tools)
• The users (who is going to use the tools?)
• The sales goals (e.g., to increase the conversion rate or better contact management)

Here are a few recommendations of the best sales tools grouped by their functions.

1. Contact and Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

Most businesses turn to customer relationship management (CRM) to organize their customer data—but that is just one of the many benefits you’ll get from a sales CRM. Custom CRM software integrates the whole sales process (lead generation to deal closing) all in one place.

For instance, it provides a birds-eye view of customers’ purchase history, preferences, and previous conversations. This gives your sales team insights to drive higher conversions.

Pipeline CRM

For a sales CRM that doesn’t break the bank, try Pipeline CRM. 

The features are designed to be user-friendly, allowing anyone to see the transformative results on their sales workflows almost immediately. One of Pipeline’s key features is CRM automation. 

By eliminating mundane administrative tasks from your team, you give them more time to work on their sales goals while maintaining accurate, clean CRM data. Additionally, your sales reps will always be in control of the sales pipelines as they’ll be reminded to follow up on idle prospects or prepare proposals, nurturing each lead to become a loyal customer.   

Some of Pipeline CRM’s other robust sales solutions that will power up your team include:

2. Sales Engagement 

Sales engagement tools help companies to better control customer interactions by automating sales outreach. Many businesses use this together with a CRM tool to double their sales efforts. For example, to eliminate communication friction and make customers’ experience stress-free. 

Apollo.io

With Apollo.io, you can easily connect and nurture relationships with your target customers. 

You can add your own contact list or access Apollo.io’s 265+ million provided contacts that are collected from various sources. Additionally, Apollo.io is integrated with email and communication platforms, enabling you to send automated email campaigns, track the results, and set up follow-up reminders to enhance engagement.

Zendesk Sell

Zendesk Sell is another efficient sales engagement platform for workflow automation and analytics. This AI-powered platform can quickly qualify leads and assign them to the right sales rep. Zendesk Sell is fit for both small and large businesses. It also helps you target the best leads at the right time as well as understand which sales approaches work and which don’t.

3. Sales Intelligence and Automation

With proper sales intelligence, businesses can gather better-quality leads in bulk. 

These tools help companies surf through various sources to gather contact information, job titles, and other relevant information. You can also gain insights on additional information, such as funding and transfer of companies, and help the sales team in timely outreach. It enhances your team’s productivity by helping them focus their efforts on where it matters. 

Cognism

Cognism provides its users with the best leads and data, including verified business emails and mobile numbers, firmographics, sales trigger events, intent data, etc. With solid data quality and compliance, Cognism is a suitable choice to make your sales pipeline predictable. It’s intuitive, easy to use, and will help you cut through the noise and find the best business opportunity.

Lusha

Over the years, Lusha has gained popularity in the sales intelligence market. It lives up to its international privacy standards and offers updated and relevant customer information. In terms of the setup, Lusha’s interface is straightforward, allowing anyone to navigate the system easily.

4. Team Communication

To lead a successful sales team, you need clear communication and efficient collaboration.

To support these goals, Slack and Chanty are two popular options loved by many organizations. 

Slack

Slack has become the go-to communication solution for many companies globally. You can create different types of channels (e.g., for the internal sales teams and multi-department channels), share files in chats, and integrate Slack with other productivity apps, such as Google Calendar, and Notion for a streamlined workflow.

Chanty

If you have a small to medium-sized business, you may want to consider Chanty. Similar to Slack, Chanty allows you to create multiple channels, supports one-to-one and group conversations, allows you to exchange files, among other tasks. The biggest differences are that, unlike Slack, Chanty doesn’t limit its searchable message history and has a built-in task management system. If you want to customize it even more, you can connect it with some apps through Zapier.

5. Sales Analytics

Improving your sales numbers is not enough to sustain a business. 

To maintain growth, regular evaluation of relevant metrics is important. Sales analytics platforms gather data from each conversion, process them across important KPIs, and turn them into comprehensible sales reports with actionable insights. These tools help identify the difficulties and challenges in your sales pipeline and help your sales team improve their performance.

While there are many types of sales analytics tools out there, we’ll focus on the conversation analytics platforms.

Gong

Gong helps businesses understand their customer interactions to improve business efficiency and accelerate revenue growth. The tool captures and analyzes every conversation your sales team has with customers (e.g., the key topics of conversation, key questions, and action points) and recommends the next best actions. Using these valuable insights, you can identify coaching opportunities, helping you convert prospects into buyers.   

Clari

As a conversation intelligence platform, Clari proactively summarizes deal-changing insights from all your customer conversations. This includes potential blockers, competitor mentions, and suggested actions. This way, your sales reps will save hours from manually listening and taking notes of the recorded phone calls, resulting in shorter sales cycles and better sales approaches.

Final Conclusion

These tools empower sales professionals to forge meaningful connections, expedite deal closures, nurture valuable customer relationships, and fuel revenue growth. If you’re looking for a customizable sales CRM tool that can propel your sales teams in today’s dynamic sales landscape, check out Pipeline CRM. Sign up now and claim your 14-day FREE trial!

Pipeline CRM has served more than 18,000 businesses in various industries (ranging from real estate to construction companies and more), helping them to streamline their sales pipelines. Book a demo today, and you’ll understand why our loyal users choose us over other popular CRM brands like Salesforce and Pipedrive.

Consumers are more likely to buy from brands that remember them or use purchase history to make recommendations. 

To add, the majority of marketers believe personalization drives profitability too. A recent survey from Think with Google stated that leading marketers believe personalization significantly contributes to profitability. 

Clearly it’s important, but what makes personalization such an important part of the sales process? 

• Customers expect it: 75% of customers are frustrated when they don’t receive personalization

• When customers receive personalization, they’re more engaged in the sales process

• Personalization shows your sales team whether their message resonates with customers

• Personalization boosts customer conversion rates and average order values

• Customers find it easier to trust the brands that understand them

• There’s a marked decrease in churn rates over time 

Personalizing an Automated Sales Process:

When it comes to automations and your CRM, there are two different types of automations you can create: 

• Data-based: these automations are designed to run whenever data is created, updated, or deleted. For example, you may want to create a task (action) whenever a new person record is created (trigger).
• Time-based: these automations will run based on system or custom date fields. You can choose to have an action occur a certain number of days before/ after the date hosted in the field or on the exact date. An example of a time-based automation would be: to update a custom field (action) one day after a deal’s Actual Close Date is set (trigger).

With an automated sales workflow, you can close leads at scale. You can handle a tremendous amount of lead volume with time to spare, which is ideal because it gives you the opportunity to personalize your communication. 

Now, how do you balance automation and personalization? Here are four tips to consider: 

Tip 1: Automate Administrative and Non-Billable Work

Your sales team should be primarily focused on closing deals with customers. If your sales reps aren’t prospecting, they should be closing deals. They shouldn’t be focused on creating brochures or writing proposals. 

Let’s take a look at the tasks we can automate. 

This isn’t a comprehensive list, but you see how much time tools can take off your hands. If your sales teams are still handling these tasks manually, they’re spending (wasting) time on administrative tasks that are costing you.

Tip 2: Create Templates to Customize

Templates are essential personalization tools. Personalization is much easier and more efficient if you start from a template. There’s no need to think about what to say, when, or who to say it to. If you’re working with templates, legal can check them beforehand. You can even ask for specific guidance on customizing each template beforehand. 

Here’s a short list you can use to get started. 

• Sales introduction email template

• Website lead response template

• Recent activity voicemail template

• Rapport builder templates (x3)

• Mutual friend template

• Re-establishing a connection template

• Voicemail ‘Sorry I missed you’ template 

• Triggering event email templates

• Anniversary/celebration templates

• Customer demo request response template

• Thanks for downloading response template

• Free trial request template

• Customer onboarding introduction template

• Customer ghosting response template

• No response/engagement template (x3)

• Are you still interested? template

• Content compliment template

• Out-of-office reply template   

• Great to connect with you template

• LinkedIn connection request template

Use these templates (with mail merge, for example) to semi-automate the personalization process and to customize your sales process.  

Tip 3: Collect the Customer Data you Need to Personalize Your Sales Process

What customer data do you need to personalize your sales process? The list is pretty straightforward. 

• Notable events (birthdays)
• Purchase history 
• Product/service consumption rates
• The state of your company
• The financials of your company
• Customer revenue
• Customer spending
• Profit margin (per customer)
• Purchase frequency
• Company history 
• Objections
• Risk factors 
• Desires, goals, fears, frustrations
• Problems 

Need more information? Look for the customer data you need. 

Tip 4: Use Software Tools to Personalize Parts of the Sales Process

Believe it or not, you can use your automations and integrations to personalize the sales process.

Did you catch the formula? 

Customer Data + (Automation * Templates) = Personalization 

This formula is straightforward. Use it to humanize an automated sales process

Final Thoughts

If you’re looking for a way to personalize your sales process at scale, start with your CRM. 

Free up time for selling and engaging your leads across multiple channels for greater success. Allow your sales team to focus on their most valuable tasks and 10x sales revenue. Learn more about our CRM features for effective sales team management.

In this same study, 17% of salespeople listed integration as “the most major difficulty with their current CRM.” Meaning, if your organization’s CRM doesn’t fit into your current tech stack, your employees are less likely to use it. 

Why CRM Software Adoption Rates Matter 

According to the Sales Optimization Study, increased CRM adoption and utilization rates lead to better sales performance. In fact, your sales team is much more likely to meet or exceed quota if CRM utilization rates are high. 

High CRM adoption plus a formalized sales process is the key to consistent sales success. It seems obvious, but a CRM system isn’t particularly useful to organizations if they don’t have a sales process in place. 

The research identifies the essential ingredients needed to produce the consistent revenue gains your organization needs to grow.

• A formalized sales process: your team needs a charter that lists the dos and don’ts, outlines workflows for each situation, and shows your team how to get the necessary resources and education. This process sounds a lot like sales enablement because it is. 

• Integration with your technology stack: your CRM system shouldn’t break your sales process. It shouldn’t become a major disruption to your sales team or require that your employees receive training on a whole new set of companion tools. 

• A CRM that fits your organization: if your sales team needs a CRM to close sales, get one focused on that. If your organization needs a collaborative CRM, choose one that’s tailor-made for that purpose. Choose the right tool for the job and verify that it’s working the way you need it to. 

Miss these three points, and your CRM adoption rates will remain low.

What Type of Integration Do You Need?  

Integrations aren’t created equal. You’ll need to think about the types of integration you need. 

• Native integration: these integrations are tailor-made by a CRM provider to connect with a specific software solution. For example, Pipeline is natively integrated with Google Workspace; these tools communicate directly, sharing data across both platforms. 

• Third-party integration: integration is expensive; Integration Platforms as a Service (iPaaS) tools like Zapier and IFTTT, as well as third-party developers, handle integrations for brands. App A needs to connect with App B, so they purchase tools from developers to do it.   

• Custom integration: this is typically accomplished via a provider’s API. Custom integration tends to be a significant challenge for businesses that don’t have the know-how, technical expertise, and budget to customize their solution. 

If you’re shopping for a CRM that integrates with Google Workspace, you’ll need a solution that’s natively integrated or, at a minimum, one that works with third-party or iPaaS tools like Zapier. Integration requires constant maintenance, so your CRM provider should invest the resources necessary to keep their application up-to-date. 

Let’s look at the top CRMs that integrate well with Google Workspace:

Streak CRM: A Unique Google Workspace CRM for Consultants and Small Businesses

Streak was born out of the frustration of constantly switching between your inbox and external software applications. Their goal is to make it simple to manage your everyday processes so you can get more things done.

Streak’s process is built and oriented around spreadsheets. It’s designed to be easy for customers who are used to using spreadsheet tools like Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets. Their free plugin has resonated with 750K users; many are now paying customers.  

Streak CRM + Workspace Pros

• Streak is built into Google Workspace; this enables users to use core CRM functions without needing to switch from one app or another
• Streak is a CRM, but it functions more like a power-up for Google Workspace, functioning on top of your favorite apps, in Brave, Chrome, or Edge 
• Streak is hyper-focused on three niches – real estate, venture capital, and startups
• Streak is a natural fit if Gmail is your entry point for leads and negotiation
• Customers feel the ease of use and application simplicity to shorten their transitional pain, requiring less training while producing higher user adoption rates
• Streak’s free plan is robust and loaded with functionality for individuals and independents

Streak CRM + Workspace Cons

• Customer support is intermittent to non-existent at times
• Can be difficult to get in touch with customer support or sales 
• Several features have been removed without notice (e.g., viewing the email of the person who read your message)
• Updates can have a negative impact on uptime or performance (i.e., customers reply to emails but the email is still marked as unread)
• Customers have complaints about security and the required permissions (see, edit, create, and permanently delete permissions for all apps in Google Workspace)
• As a browser-based application, updates can create problems that affect usability
• Price is high, $600 per user/yr

Highest Rated G2 Features

• Quote & Order Management +12% above average
• Campaign Management +11% above average
• Call Center Features +10% above average

Lowest Rated Features

• Customization – CRM +2% above average
• Data Import & Export Tools – CRM +2% above average
• User, Role, and Access Mgmt. – CRM Average

G2 User Ratings

• Ease of Setup: 9.2
• Ease of Use: 8.8
• Quality of Support: 8.7

Pricing

• Free
• Solo: $15 per user/mo. 
• Pro: $49 per user/mo. 
• Enterprise: $129

Monday.com: Best for Teams Using CRM and Google Workspace to Collaborate

Here’s how Monday describes their solution. “Monday.com helps teams work smarter and better, working in sync in one place. Boost your team’s alignment, efficiency, and productivity by customizing any workflow to fit your needs.” 

Monday’s CRM integration includes feature presets but is flexible enough to allow some customization.

Monday + Workspace Pros

• Monday.com has a strong email marketing automation process that’s integrated with Workspace
• Monday can be used as a centralized system for each department in your organization
• Can be used for both internal and external communication 
• Monday is a customer support, project management, internal communication, and CRM system rolled into one
• Syncs with Google Workspace and can function as a replacement for Google Drive or Google Sheets

Monday + Workspace Cons

• Monday has a steep learning curve that requires education 
• As a CRM, Monday is not as flexible as other pure CRM systems 
• Customers have performance complaints (i.e., bugs, sluggish load times, lack of customization)  
• Integrations functionality is not as robust as other fully featured CRMs

Highest Rated G2 Features

• Social collaboration features +12% above average
• Customer support portal +6% above average
• Knowledge base +6% above average

Lowest Rated Features

• Call center features  -6% below average
• CRM mobile user support -2% below average
• Quote and order management -3% below average

G2 User Ratings

• Ease of Setup: 8.5
• Ease of Use: 9.0
• Quality of Support: 8.7

Pricing

• Basic: $12.5 per user/mo.
• Standard: $17 per user/mo. 
• Pro: $30 per user/mo. 
• Enterprise: Call for quote

HubSpot: Best for Teams with an Established Process using Google Workspace

HubSpot’s CRM is a stripped-down version of their Sales Hub platform. Their CRM and Sales Hub products are designed to keep you in Google Workspace so you spend more time working with the tools you are already using. “HubSpot syncs seamlessly with Gmail. Log emails sent from Gmail into HubSpot with one click, track opens and clicks in real-time, and see every detail from your CRM without leaving your inbox.”

HubSpot, like Streak, is designed to integrate with Workspace in a way that keeps users in Workspace (as much as possible, anyway). 

HubSpot + Workspace Pros

• HubSpot CRM is free forever 
• Their CRM works well for solopreneurs or small micro businesses that are just getting started
• HubSpot’s CRM allows you to work with up to 1 million contacts without ever paying a cent
• HubSpot’s platform has a reputation (according to customers) as a tool that’s easy-to-setup and easy-to-use 
• Their free CRM is fully featured and mature. 

HubSpot + Workspace Cons

• Customers are locked into long-term contracts that are difficult to break
• Users can’t tag an email from Gmail and attach it to a contact/company/deal retroactively
• “Lists are somewhat useless in workflows since they’re stuck in that workflow even if they’re no longer active in the list.”
• Their CRM software lacks the features of a mature CRM system. This is by design to encourage customers to upgrade to their Sales Hub product. 
• HubSpot’s Sales Hub software is incredibly expensive (see below)
• HubSpot’s free CRM doesn’t come with support. If you need help from a customer support specialist, you’ll need to upgrade to a paid plan

Highest Rated G2 Features

• Email Marketing +5% above average
• Lead Management +1% above average
• Contact & Account Management Average

Lowest Rated Features

• Mobile User Support – CRM -3% below average
• Sandbox / Test Environments – CRM -2% below average
• Territory & Quota Management -3% below average

G2 User Ratings

• Ease of Setup: 9.1
• Ease of Use: 8.7
• Quality of Support: 8.2

Pricing

• Free forever CRM (up to 1 million contacts)
• Starter: $30 per mo. for 2 users); capped at 1,000 contacts
• Professional: $1,600 per mo. for 5 users, $100 per month for each additional user; capped at 2,000 contacts
• Enterprise: $5,000 per mo. for 10 users, $120 per month for each additional user; capped at 10,000 contacts

Zoho CRM: Best for Businesses that Need Workspace and an All-In-One Solution

Zoho CRM integrates with Google Workspace, bringing all of your emails, files, events, and tasks together in a centralized system. Zoho’s platform is a massive ecosystem of “Zoho apps” that are designed to work together. According to Zoho, their integration with Google Workspace is seamless and full-featured.  

Zoho CRM + Workspace Pros

• Attach documents from Google Drive
• Export events to Google Calendar
• Import all of your contacts from Google Contacts. Keep them updated automatically
• Synchronize Gmail messages with your CRM
• Automatically add leads from Google Ads when visitors convert on your website
• With Zoho CRM and Google Calendar, you can sync dates and events seamlessly
• Access documents inside Google Drive via Zoho without needing to sign in
• Create forms in Zoho CRM, then publish them via Google Sites 
• Manage your tasks inside Zoho

Zoho CRM + Workspace Cons

• Zoho’s app ecosystem relies primarily on tools created and managed by Zoho
• Zoho makes it easy to work with your Workspace data, inside Zoho. Not the other way around
• Zoho has 80+ apps in their ecosystem and they want you to run your business on their platform; the downside is that many of these apps compete with Google Workspace directly. “Run your entire business on Zoho with our unified cloud software, designed to help you break down silos between departments and increase organizational efficiency.”
• There are more than 1500 ready-to-use extensions across 40+ categories. The problem is there’s a significant amount of overlap and duplicates in their marketplace. 
• Apps in Zoho’s marketplace are designed to extend the performance of Zoho’s core applications and Google Workplace. Many of these apps require additional payment for tasks Zoho should already be doing. 

Highest Rated G2 Features

• Contact and account management – 2% below average
• User, role, and access management – 4% below average
• Performance and reliability – 4% below average

Lowest Rated Features

• Sandbox, test environments – 4% below average
• Call center features – 5% below average
• Territory and quota management – 4% below average

Zoho User Ratings

• Ease of Setup: 7.7
• Ease of Use: 8.2
• Quality of Support: 7.5

Pricing

• Free: $0 
• Standard: $14 per user/mo. 
• Professional: $23 per user/mo. 
• Enterprise: $40 per user/mo. 

Pipeline CRM: Best for Sales Teams that Sell via Google Apps

As a Google For Work Premier Partner, Pipeline CRM fully integrates with Google Workspace. You can sync your Google Contacts, Gmail, and Google Calendar with leads, deals, and tasks in your pipeline. Your docs, sheets, slides, and files are available natively. There’s no need to update details in two different apps – update once, update everywhere.

This means your team can work primarily in Google Workspace or Pipeline without worrying about whether your data is up-to-date or accurate. 

Pipeline + Workplace Pros

• Sync contacts, contacts, leads, events, and deals across both platforms when you integrate with Google apps
• Updated your CRM (e.g., contacts, events, deals, etc.) from inside your Gmail account
• Automatically create contact cards for people you’re emailing or meeting with 
• Get event reminders on your Pipeline homepage, plus optional text message reminders
• Track and manage your email campaigns automatically via your account
• Send broadcast or autoresponder messages from your account or via Pipeline
• Any emails associated with a lead or deal is automatically tracked in Pipeline, and shared with relevant sales team members
• Track email opens and clicks from messages sent via Gmail
• View your full message history in Gmail or Pipeline along with your notes and details
• Receive automatic reminders to follow up 
• Smart agendas that build themselves as your team works so everyone knows what needs to be done. SuperShare to send data to trusted contacts quickly and securely
• Use custom fields to track data specific to your industry, company, process, or personal workflow

Pipeline + Workplace Cons

• Pipeline doesn’t sync custom field data with Google Workspace
• Doesn’t import custom or ad-hoc data (e.g., email signatures, offers, employee bios, etc.) into Pipeline 
• Data sync is truly persistent; if you delete it in Workspace, it’s deleted in Pipeline
• It doesn’t sync with Google Drive (requires third-party tools)

Highest Rated G2 Features

• CRM performance and reliability +2% above average
• Contact and account management industry standard
• Opportunity and pipeline management +2% above average

Lowest-Rated Features

• Marketing analytics -6 below average
• Social network integration -6 below average

Pipeline User Ratings

• Ease of Setup: 8.5
• Ease of Use: 8.7
• Quality of Support: 8.6

Pricing

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

Each CRM has its own pros and cons. Choosing the right CRM doesn’t have to be complicated. Just tie the right solution to the tools your team is already using. 

Increase CRM Adoption with a Google Workspace Integration 

According to Google, 90% of Fortune 500 companies use Google Workspace to get things done in their business daily. Every day, 6 million business customers (3 billion users globally) rely on Google Workspace to manage their events, to-dos, leads, communication, and more. Choose the right CRM that integrates well with Google Workspace, and your adoption rates will grow naturally; better adoption rates and consistent revenue growth.  

Join 18,000+ businesses that use Pipeline CRM  to increase revenue. See how it works.