Finding the right customer relationship management (CRM) system can be daunting for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). Pipedrive CRM steps in to fill this gap by offering an affordable, easy-to-use solution designed to help manage sales pipelines and close more deals efficiently. This article delves into Pipedrive’s key features, pricing, and best practices to maximize the CRM’s potential.
Overview and Core Philosophy
Pipedrive CRM is engineered to simplify sales process management for SMBs. Its clean, intuitive user interface allows users to quickly input information and start managing deals. Pipedrive’s primary goal is to help businesses maintain an organized sales pipeline and ensure effective follow-ups, leading to more successful deals.
Getting Started with Pipedrive
Getting started with Pipedrive is straightforward, but understanding its terminology and features is essential to unlock its full potential. Here are some key terms used in Pipedrive:
- Deal: A specific sales opportunity with a prospect. Deals are central in Pipedrive, containing details such as company, point of contact, estimated value, and projected close date.
- Pipeline: The overall sales pipeline, which serves as the home screen upon logging in. Users can create multiple pipelines for different sales processes, customize pipeline stages, and apply filters to view deals with specific criteria.
- Contact: Encompasses both People and Organizations. Contacts are crucial for creating deals and organizing sales data.
- People: Individuals within Pipedrive, storing information like job title, contact details, and meeting history. Each person should be linked to an organization and potentially specific deals.
- Organization: Companies within Pipedrive, including details such as address, deal history, and associated people.
- Activity: Tasks or next steps required for a specific deal, such as calls, meetings, or product demonstrations. Activities can be scheduled and tracked to ensure follow-up actions are completed.
Managing Your Sales Pipeline
One of Pipedrive’s core strengths is its ease of use in managing the sales pipeline. Users can create new deals by navigating to the home pipeline page and clicking the “Add Deal” button. Pipedrive prompts users to enter necessary details, and if the person or organization isn’t already in the system, it will automatically create them upon adding the deal.
To advance a deal, users need to schedule follow-up activities. This can be done directly within the deal interface by clicking on the yellow hazard icon, which indicates no follow-up activity is assigned. Activities can include calls, meetings, emails, or other tasks, and can be scheduled with specific dates, times, and notes.
Customizing Pipelines and Managing Activities
Pipedrive allows customization of pipeline stages to fit specific business processes. Users can add or delete stages, rename them, and adjust the closing probability of each stage. Managing activities is also straightforward; users can view and mark activities as complete, schedule new ones, and move deals to different stages as appropriate.
Dealing with People and Organizations
Users can perform various functions from within specific deals, people, and organizations. For instance, within a deal, users can change deal stages, add people, and schedule activities. New contacts and organizations can be added from the Contacts menu, where users can label leads, record activities, and associate contacts with deals.
Reporting, Goal-Setting, and Forecasting
Pipedrive offers tools for monitoring sales progress through goal-setting, reporting, and forecasting. The live dashboard provides real-time summaries of key sales metrics, such as completed activities and won or lost deals. Users can customize the dashboard, filter data by team members, and create multiple dashboards with the Professional and Enterprise plans.
The reporting feature includes 11 pre-defined reports categorized into activities effort, pipeline performance, and sales performance. Although the reports are not highly customizable, they offer sufficient insights for small sales teams. Users can set and track goals at the organizational, team, and individual levels, and monitor progress through detailed reports.
Pricing
Pipedrive offers various pricing plans to accommodate different business needs. User licenses range from the Essential Package at $12.50/month per person, billed annually, to Enterprise licenses at $99.00/month. The Professional license, recommended for most businesses, costs $49.90/month. Monthly billing options are also available at slightly higher rates.
Conclusion
Pipedrive is not designed to compete with the complex feature sets of enterprise-level CRMs. Instead, it focuses on providing a simple, affordable, and effective solution for managing sales pipelines in small and medium-sized businesses. With its user-friendly interface and essential features, Pipedrive helps sales teams stay organized, ensure proper follow-ups, and track progress towards sales goals. For SMBs looking for a tool to streamline their sales processes, Pipedrive offers a compelling option.
Ready to transform your sales process and drive unprecedented growth? At NIdish LLC, we specialize in Pipedrive Development to tailor sales automation solutions that meet your unique business needs. Our team of expert Pipedrive consultants is here to help you streamline workflows, enhance productivity, and achieve superior results. Contact us today to learn how our customized sales automation strategies can propel your business forward. Reach out to NIdish LLC and take the first step towards revolutionizing your sales operations.
