Salesforce Overview:
Salesforce was created as a cloud-based Client Relationship Management (CRM) software platform. It has been designed to make a difference in your everyday client-related business activities. It is best for medium to large organisations as it doesn’t have the flexibility of Infusionsoft, nor is it as customisable.
While Salesforce includes features to enable sales and marketing campaigns and their automation, this is not the primary focus of the software system. It is used mostly to collaborate with an organisation, and to keep communications through client-facing channels consistent.
Any business with a marketing team will find this application useful for sharing information and enhancing overall company performance.Salesforce is basically a business management program designed to organise tasks and follow-up of clients throughout your business – in the most efficient and effective way. There is also a social media plugin available although this is not included out-of-the-box.
Salesforce Best Features:
Salesforce offers extremely flexible CRM functionality, and makes a difference in the following areas of your business:
· sales and marketing automation
· customer service
· knowledge base management
It is not suited to assist businesses where call centres or help desks are part of your client-facing channels. It is also not suitable for non-profits and only some of the available versions include the functionalities that a business running on donations will require – and these cost extra to deploy.
Salesforce’s CRM software offers up a variety of cloud-based features such as Marketing Cloud, Service Cloud and Sales Cloud. While this means you cannot access the system while you’re offline, it enables you to target your ideal customers and manage your leads quickly and effectively. It is a great benefit to have some lead follow up processes automated. Salesforce also supports lead tracking,monitor sales, and is capable of driving marketing strategies, including those which encompass social networking.
Best Features include:
- AppExchange making this software an effective and comprehensive CRM platform
- Being web-based and not installed on your computer, you will not have to constantly be upgrading your software
- This software platform integrates easily and well with most of the common applications including Outlook and Google Apps
Salesforce’s modular structure is similar to Infusionsoft’s in as much as the platform permits your business to select the best features of those available and more or less customise your infrastructure to suit. That said, Salesforce does not offer the range of intuitive tailoring that Infusionsoft has available.
Salesforce Pricing:
With the modular tailoring available to you, Salesforce offers a range of different editions to choose from, including:
- Contact Manager
- Group
- Professional
- Enterprise
- Unlimited
Pricing for Salesforce starts at $5 and you are charged for the version you want, and any customisable add-ons you require.
Is Salesforce the system for you? It may be – but have you considered allyour options? Whether you’re looking for a CRM system or a better way to manage your sales and marketing programs for your business, our consultants can help you.To talk through the available business system options, book a Free Marketing Automation Strategy Session with our experts today.
Infusionsoft Overview:
Designed specifically for small to medium business owners looking for one system that offers an integrated sales and marketing solution, Infusionsoft is also a highly effective CRM platform. It is delivered online and enables the automation of many of your sales and marketing processes. For many business owners, this is a huge time saver, allowing them to focus on other areas of their business – like growth. Infusionsoft focuses on improving the length of the customer lifecycle relationship. It is designed to make a measurable difference to your business in the following areas:
- Channel Management
- CRM
- Self-Service Portal
- Marketing Automation
- Project Collaboration
Infusionsoft works as well as Salesforce as a CRM system, but it offers greater flexibility as a sales and marketing automation system than Salesforce is designed to do. The benefits Infusionsoft delivers to your business as a sales and marketing tool – particularly in the area of sales and marketing campaign automation – are where you will realise some gains. Over 23,000 small business owners use Infusionsoft to keep themselves organised, save heaps of time in their business, and grow profitability over the long term.
Having your sales, marketing, and CRM all within the one system means there is little to no chance of having to deal with multiple system chaos – also known as every small business owner’s nightmare. You don’t need a separate CRM or ERP. All these functionalities are already built in to the Infusionsoft software offering – and the fewer systems you need, the better for you. Infusionsoft is a well thought-out solution to multiple system chaos.
The online marketing functionalities include just about everything you need, and incorporates ocial media marketing campaigns and shopping cart functionalities. You can certainly automate your lead capture, nurture, and follow up / follow through programs. This adds to client engagement and pays dividends in terms of increasing client spend and bottom line returns for your business.The ease of sales and marketing automation is the main reason why this platform is so popular.
Infusionsoft offers excellent opportunities for customising your marketing as well. Being able to personalise your promotions in response to the interests and behaviours of your prospects enhances sales – and client profitability. Infusionsoft makes it easy to optimise your campaigns for this level of client contact.
Best Features of Infusionsoft:
Infusionsoft’s best features include:
- Contact Management
- Customer Service
- Marketing Automation
- Sales Automation
- Campaign Management
- Campaign Performance Reports
- Email Marketing
- Email Triggers
- Lead Management
- Lead Tracking
- Marketing Automation
- Sales and CRM Integration
- Social Media
- Web Analytics
- Collaboration Centre
Infusionsoft Pricing:
Pricing for Infusionsoft starts at around $199 / month per user. There is also a $2K Kickstart fee. This upfront cost covers your training. The training program is effective and comes with a personal consultant who walks you through the initial stages of setting up the software for your business, and the creation and launch of your first few campaigns. The software is flexible and intuitive so having a personal expert hold your hand as you navigate the many options available to you through the Infusionsoft platform ensures you will get the best out of your infrastructure investment.
By the time you’re done with your training, you will be across the software and how to use it in specifically for your business. Infusionsoft does not offer any free trial period.
Think Infusionsoft might be the automation program for your business? You could be right. To talk through all your CRM and business automation options, book a Free Marketing Automation Strategy Session with our experts today.
Which One Should You Choose?
Salesforce is not actually designed to behave as a sales and marketing automation system and while it performs these functions quite well, it is actually a CRM platform. It can help you to organise your account management better, and to standard customer communication across your business. If however, you’re looking for a system that automates your sales and marketing campaigns and performs as a CRM system – also from an automated platform, then Infusionsoft is the better offering for your business.
Of the two systems, Infusionsoft is the more flexible, and comes with more support as well.
It is also easier to scale campaigns in Infusionsoft and this will be important as your business grows. Once you invest in sales and marketing, your business will grow and you’ll want your systems to support this, rather than have to limit or restrict your business to stay within the bounds of what your systems can handle. A system you’ll need to replace in a few years as your business outpaces it may not be the best investment, even though the economics seem to make the most sense right now.
It’s worth discussing exactly what your business needs are – both in the medium and longer term – with an expert. After all,there are dozens of software options out there for small to medium businesses – but do they all deliver what you want? Contact our consultants for your Free Marketing Automation Strategy Session today.
