The choice of a CRM system is often accompanied by the same paradox as buying tickets with low-cost airlines. At the beginning you are attracted by the tempting base price, but as soon as you want to sit next to each other or take an extra suitcase, the price starts to skyrocket. In the digital world, these "suitcases" are features such as auto-sending offers, bulk emails or advanced reports for managers.
The reality is that companies rarely stop at the cheapest plans. Often, it's only in the heat of the battle that they find that in order for the system to actually save time and not just make a mess of their data, they have to pay extra for a higher version. What was originally a small investment can easily become one of the biggest items in the budget.
To save you hours of flipping through price lists, we've created three model situations. We didn't look for the cheapest thing a given provider offers, but for the plan that makes the most sense at a given stage of growth.
For each system, we wanted it to handle the standard sales process: from the first contact on the website to automated emailing to generating a professional quote.
In the analysis, we look at these three scenarios:
For all simulations, we assume annual billing. This is standard in the B2B segment and represents the most cost-effective model of cooperation for companies.
In this phase, companies most often solve how to get rid of spreadsheets and finally have one data source for the whole team. You need the salesperson to know what the client has promised them on the phone, and for management to see how much money is realistically in the pipeline. Speed is key - no one has time to spend weeks setting up a system.
Zoho works as a very rational choice in this category. While you often run into limits with competitors that force you to upgrade to a higher tariff, Zoho's Professional edition puts pretty much everything you need for modern sales in your hands.
Zoho is ideal for businesses looking for a comprehensive solution under one roof. If you need warehouses or project management in the future, you can connect everything within one ecosystem without having to pay for external integrations.
Need help setting up Zoha? We'll help you configure the system so you can make the most of the Professional plan from day one.
Monday approaches sales through visuals. If your team is intimidated by complex databases, this is a system they'll love. It looks more like a smart spreadsheet that you can customize to your exact needs without a single line of code.
Monday is a great option if you handle other tasks in your company other than pure sales. However, you need to keep an eye on the limits for automations (e.g., automatic sending of emails when status changes), which are fixed in this plan. For five people, however, the limits are set generously enough.
Do you like the visual style of Monday? We'll design the structure of your dashboards and automations so that the system actually saves you time, not just looks good.
Pipedrive is a classic among marketers. However, in our simulation, it runs into its own specialization - every feature outside of pure sales is addressed here in the form of add-ons.
Pipedrive comes out as the most expensive option in this simulation. Getting it usually only makes sense if you plan to stick strictly to working in a business pipeline and don't require anything else from the system - either because you don't need the other features or have them handled externally. Once the requirements extend beyond the trading process itself, the value for money starts to disappear quickly.
Considering Pipedrive? Let us help you evaluate whether investing in add-ons is worth it, or if there is a more efficient path for your needs.
At this stage, the Sales Director no longer asks "what's happening" but "what will happen". The company needs accurate sales forecasts, automated processes that keep track of deadlines for salespeople, and marketing that can reach a base of 5,000 contacts.
Freshsales is a very strong player in this category. It relies on modern technology and tries to offer maximum functionality in one package, making it an interesting alternative to established and often more expensive tools.
Freshsales is ideal for businesses that want a modern system with AI features, but are also keeping an eye on cost-effectiveness. It offers very decent performance and a breadth of features that you would have to cobble together from multiple different tools elsewhere.
Interested in incorporating AI into sales? We implement Freshsales with a focus on smart features that will realistically free up your salespeople's hands.
While we mentioned Zoho in the previous category as an ideal and affordable start, in the scale-up phase, the Zoho One package is the logical "step-up". This no longer just handles sales alone, but acts as a complete digital ecosystem for the entire company.
Zoho One is essentially an "operating system for the enterprise". It is the most rational choice for scale-ups that want to have all departments and data in one place without hidden costs for additional modules. The only price you pay for this complexity is a slightly more challenging initial setup of the entire ecosystem, but it will come back to you in the form of perfectly connected data.
Need to unify your entire business under Zoho One? As a Zoho Partner, we'll make sure that all 40+ applications make sense in the context of your business and that data flows seamlessly between them.
HubSpot is the technology standard and the first choice for many due to its perfect integration of sales and marketing. However, you need to be prepared to pay a "premium" tax for this convenience, which starts at a high flat rate for the Professional version.
HubSpot in this configuration offers powerful automation tools such as sales sequences that oversee follow-up communication with clients on behalf of the team. The availability of premium support and the fact that the system's interface is very intuitive is also a big advantage, which speeds up the training of new team members. It's an option for companies looking for a reliable, all-in-one platform and willing to pay extra for a top-notch ecosystem without having to deal with complex technical integrations.
Considering HubSpot? As a HubSpot Diamond Partner, we'll help you set up your system so you get a quick return on that investment.
With a team of 100 people, priorities change dramatically. It's no longer about stability, security, and the ability to maintain consistent rules across the business team. Here, CRM acts as the strategic foundation for the entire company, which must communicate flawlessly with other departments - from legal to finance to logistics.
Dynamics 365 is a natural choice for organizations that build their digital infrastructure on Microsoft technologies. If Outlook, Teams, and SharePoint are the norm in your company, it makes sense to choose a CRM that is natively connected to the rest of this ecosystem and doesn't require complex data migration.
Dynamics is extremely powerful in reporting. If a company already invests in Microsoft, they get a tool that will fit into their existing environment with minimal resistance. Still, count on the fact that setting up processes for a group this large is a multi-month project that can't be done without an experienced implementation partner.
Are you building on Microsoft? We are your partner for an in-depth analysis and implementation of Dynamics 365 that will fit organically into your IT infrastructure.
Salesforce is a global leader and essentially the industry standard in the large enterprise category. Its greatest value-add lies not in what it offers in a basic setup, but in its almost limitless flexibility. You can build virtually any process your business requires in it.
Salesforce is a platform for businesses with an ambition to constantly innovate. It's a safe choice for organizations with extremely specific requirements not found elsewhere. However, it should be taken into account that to operate and develop it effectively, a company will likely need either an in-house specialist or long-term support from external consultants.
Salesforce offers limitless possibilities - if you know how to do them. We can help you build customized processes and provide long-term technical support.
With global players like SAP or Oracle, we no longer think of CRM as a standalone tool, but as a solid module within an enterprise-wide information system. These solutions are designed for corporations where the business process needs to be linked in real time to global manufacturing, warehouse management and finance.
These solutions are designed for companies that no longer view CRM as a sales tool, but as a critical part of operational management. At the scale of 100 users, SAP or Oracle only makes sense if the organization is already using them for its core processes. If you are looking for a pure sales support tool, such a system will be too expensive for you, but for managing a global supply chain linked to sales, there is no alternative on the market.
Are you dealing with global trade and manufacturing integration? We can help you with process analysis and preparation for integrating a CRM module into your existing ERP system.
Most of the systems mentioned offer a free trial, which is the perfect opportunity to test the theory in practice. Before you finally sign up to a particular vendor, have your key salespeople give the system a real-life trial of handling one business case - from the first contact to the final contract signing.
If they encounter the need to manually transcribe data or find that you need a "higher rate" to send a simple quote, it's a clear sign that the initial quote wasn't final for you. Don't pay for the software per se, pay for the time saved and the fluidity of your sale.
Choosing a CRM is a strategic decision that directly impacts the effectiveness of your sales team and the quality of your data. As certified partners of key systems on the market, we can help you eliminate the risk of making the wrong investment and ensure that the solution you choose is fully aligned with your business processes.