Software Stack Editor

Effective inventory management saves your business money, improves cash flow and reduces waste. By monitoring the right inventory sales metrics, you can avoid stockouts, reduce storage costs and order the right amount of stock.

In this article, you’ll learn what inventory sales metrics are and how they can help you make better stock decisions. You’ll also discover how to manage your inventory within Pipedrive’s CRM.

What are inventory sales ratios and why are they important?

Inventory sales ratios show how effectively you manage your inventory to meet customer demand. They help you spot sales trends, accurately forecast demand and determine whether you stock the right amounts.

In the following sections, you’ll learn about the three main inventory sales metrics, how to calculate them and how they can guide you in stocking more efficiently.

These metrics give you a clearer view of your inventory operations planning, helping you boost sales, improve customer satisfaction and respond better to market changes.

1. Inventory turnover ratio

The inventory turnover ratio measures how often you sell and replace your average stock value over a given period. It compares your sales (using the cost of goods sold) with the average amount you’ve spent on inventory.

This ratio helps you check if your stock levels match the speed at which you sell stock (sales velocity). It shows whether you carry enough products to meet customer demand without overstocking or understocking.

A high turnover ratio means you’re selling products quickly and maintaining healthy stock levels. A low ratio indicates slower sales, meaning your cash might be tied up in unsold stock. It could also suggest your teams are failing to hit their sales quotas. The longer your inventory remains unsold, the higher its risk of spoilage or becoming outdated.

Here’s how to work out your inventory turnover ratio:

Cost of goods sold (COGS) is how much it costs to produce or sell the products you sell in a given period, including expenses like materials, labor and utilities. To find your average inventory value, add the inventory value at the beginning and end of the same period, then divide by two.

Let’s work through an example.

Imagine a B2B construction wholesaler supplying contractors and builders with building materials, safety gear and related items. Its COGS for the year is $200,000, and its average inventory value is $50,000.

The company’s inventory turnover ratio would be $200,000 divided by $50,000 = 4, which means it sold goods costing four times its average inventory value over the year.

Monitor this ratio to judge how much stock to buy from distributors and when. If your inventory turnover ratio drops, consider running a sale to clear excess stock, reducing the size of future orders or both. If the ratio increases, you may need to reorder sooner, order more or both.

2. Days sales in inventory ratio

The days sales in inventory (DSI) ratio shows how many days your current stock can last based on your average daily sales if you bought no new inventory. While the inventory turnover ratio tells you how often you sell and replace your inventory, DSI focuses on how long your current inventory will last based on your current sales rate.

You may also refer to DSI as inventory days sales, days sales inventory or daily sales inventory formula.

A low DSI means you’re selling inventory quickly and managing stock efficiently, which helps improve cash flow and increase profits by minimizing the costs of holding stock. It also means your business can respond better to seasonal demand spikes, as you have the cash and storage space to restock quickly.

A high DSI might suggest sluggish sales or excess stock tying up your cash. It could also indicate that you’re struggling to predict customer demand, leaving you with items that are hard to sell and take longer to convert into cash for restocking.

Here’s how to calculate your DSI ratio:

Suppose the B2B construction wholesaler’s average inventory is $50,000 and COGS is $200,000. The DSI would be ($50,000 divided by $200,000) multiplied by 365 = 91 days, meaning it takes approximately 91 days to sell through its average inventory.

Monitor your DSI alongside your cash flow and seasonal trends to ensure you’re financially healthy and have enough stock to meet demand. A high DSI is fine when stocking up for a busy season. If it stays high, calculate the DSI for each product category to identify slower-moving products and fine-tune future purchasing decisions.

3. Inventory-to-sales ratio

The inventory-to-sales ratio (I/S ratio) shows how much stock you hold compared to your total sales over a set period. It’s a simple way to check if the money you spend on stock matches how quickly you sell your products.

You need enough stock to meet demand but not so much that it stays on the shelves for too long. The I/S ratio helps you strike the right balance by showing how your stock levels compare to your sales performance.

High stock levels with low sales volumes indicate overstocking, which leads to higher holding costs and tied-up cash. On the other hand, low stock levels with high demand suggest you’re missing out on sales opportunities.

Here’s the formula to work out your I/S ratio:

To find your average inventory value, add your starting inventory value to your ending inventory value over a given period, then divide by two. Net sales are your total sales revenue minus returns, allowances and discounts.

Imagine the B2B construction wholesaler’s average inventory value is $50,000, and net sales are $200,000. Its I/S ratio would be $50,000 divided by $200,000 = 0.2, indicating $0.25 in stock for every $1 of sales.

Track this ratio regularly to spot trends in your inventory management. If it increases, look for ways to boost sales, reduce stock levels or both. If it decreases, ensure you have enough inventory to meet customer demand and order more if you need it.

Other important inventory sales metrics

Getting your inventory management right means tracking more than just turnover and DSI rates on your balance sheet.

Here’s a quick rundown of other essential metrics, what they measure, why they’re important and how to calculate them:

Monitoring metrics like gross margin provides valuable insights into your financial health. Shrinkage, accuracy and deadstock reflect your operational efficiency, while lead times, fill rates and stockouts directly impact how happy customers are with your service.

To improve your business, focus on the metrics that address your most pressing challenges – like high inventory holding costs, slow sales or regular stockouts. For example, if holding costs are high, adjust the quantity of stock you buy to match your actual sales demand.

Once you’ve resolved each issue, expand your focus to other areas. If you can find the data, compare your results with industry benchmarks to pinpoint opportunities for better performance. Your inventory turnover ratio might be four when the industry average is six, so look for ways to optimize stocking levels and improve sales velocity.

How to use Pipedrive to manage inventory

A customer relationship management (CRM) solution like Pipedrive can effectively handle inventory management for small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) without specialized and often costly software. The added benefit is you don’t need to onboard teams to a brand-new tool or pay for an extra system.

Here are four ways Pipedrive can support inventory sales management:

1. Leverage the Products feature’s capabilities

Pipedrive’s Products feature lets you create and manage a detailed catalog of your products and services in one place. It’s handy for SMBs with made-to-order items or multiple pricing options.

Go to Tools and apps > Products from the Pipedrive menu to enable the Products feature. Here, you can also set your default tax preferences.

Standout features of the Products tool allow you to:

• Add product details, including names, prices, codes and tax info

• Support multiple currencies and price points for the same product

• Include tax percentages, discounts and promotions

• Import existing product data directly from spreadsheets

• Link products to deals for better sales tracking

Products can simplify inventory tracking by integrating Pipedrive with Google Sheets through Zapier.

Zapier bridges Pipedrive and third-party apps like Google Sheets or Microsoft 365 through Zaps – automated workflows triggered by specific events. The integration eliminates the need to enter the same data into different systems and syncs your data in real time.

You can sync products and sales data on a Google Sheet or Excel spreadsheet to monitor stock levels and get the information you need to calculate sales inventory metrics. This type of integration is ideal for smaller businesses, providing a flexible way to track inventory with Pipedrive.

This way, Pipedrive’s Products feature lets you track potential sales, predict future stock needs and streamline your entire sales cycle.

2. Connect to your Shopify store

Connect Pipedrive to your online store with the Shopify app integration to simplify inventory management and sales tracking. This integration automatically syncs your e-commerce data with your CRM system, making it easier to monitor stock levels and analyze sales performance.

Here’s how it helps:

• Real-time inventory tracking: get alerts when product quantities run low across all sales channels. You’ll avoid stockouts and maintain a balanced inventory turnover rate.

• Sales data consolidation: view all your sales data in one place, making it easier to calculate key metrics like inventory-to-sales ratio and gross margin percentage. Track product performance across different channels and locations.

• Customer insights: use purchase history and preference data to better forecast demand and adjust stock levels, optimizing inventory investment and improving fill rates.

• Automated reporting: generate reports in Shopify to track inventory metrics over time, helping you monitor sales velocity and stock levels to make smarter purchasing decisions.

Integrating Shopify with Pipedrive gives you the tools to make informed stock management decisions while keeping your sales team updated with real-time inventory information.

Integrate your existing inventory management software with Pipedrive

You can connect Pipedrive to Cin7 Core Inventory, SOS Inventory and inFlow Inventory using pre-built integrations from Zapier. By linking Pipedrive to these specialist inventory management tools, you can align your inventory data with your sales pipelines to improve your sales inventory and operations planning.

Pre-built Zaps allow you to:

• Automatically update inventory levels: when one of your salespeople closes a deal, the stock levels in your inventory system update immediately. Updates prevent overselling and reduce the risk of stockouts.

• Order completion: once you fulfill an order in your inventory system, Pipedrive automatically updates the client record. The automation keeps your sales and support teams in sync, making follow-ups easier and improving customer service.

• Share customers: update customer information in either Pipedrive or your inventory software. The changes will sync automatically, avoiding duplication and minimizing errors.

• Share new products: when you add a product in Pipedrive or Cin7 Core Inventory, it syncs across both platforms. Your sales team gets accurate and consistent information on pricing, availability and product details.

The seamless data flow between Pipedrive and your inventory system, enabled by Zaps, provides real-time insights into key metrics like inventory turnover, stock levels and sales performance. These integrations help you make smarter decisions about restocking, pricing and sales strategies.

Connecting Pipedrive to your inventory management tools helps you save time, reduce manual errors and stay agile when responding to changes in demand, potentially boosting sales performance and customer satisfaction.

Add the MRPeasy integration

If you already use a tool like MRPeasy, integrate it directly with Pipedrive to seamlessly link your sales and manufacturing processes to create a more efficient workflow. The integration is ideal for small and medium-sized businesses looking to automate their order-to-production process.

When a deal in Pipedrive reaches a particular stage, it automatically converts into a customer order in MRPeasy. The process allows your sales team to focus on closing deals while MRPeasy manages production, inventory, purchasing and order fulfillment.

Here’s how the Pipedrive-MRPeasy connection helps:

• Automatic updates: as orders move through MRPeasy (e.g., when ready for shipment or shipped), linked deals in Pipedrive update automatically. You can also add notes to keep your sales team updated in real time.

• Customer and product sync: the integration syncs customer data and product information so your data stays accurate and consistent.

• Customizable workflow: set actions in Pipedrive that automatically trigger actions in MRPeasy, allowing you to customize workflows to fit your needs.

The MRPeasy integration bridges the gap between sales and production, streamlining operations and improving efficiency. Real-time updates provide visibility at every stage, from production status and inventory levels to order progress and shopping. Your team has the latest information to manage customer inquiries quickly and accurately.

Final thoughts

Regularly tracking your inventory sales metrics helps you make smarter stock-buying decisions. Having the right products available for your customers reduces waste and frees up cash for other business needs, giving you greater liquidity to invest in growth.

You can use various solutions – including your CRM’s native features and third-party integrations – to handle your inventory management needs, from simple tracking to more complex operational workflows.

Successful prospecting builds a solid pipeline of qualified leads for your business. It involves identifying, engaging and nurturing potential customers who are most likely to buy your product or service.

However, successful prospecting takes a lot of work. It can be time-consuming, especially if you’re unsure who your ideal customer is. As a result, you waste time and resources on leads that aren’t right for your business.

In this article, you’ll learn how sales prospecting works, how to prospect successfully and how to spend your time and resources on suitable leads.

What is prospecting in sales?

Prospecting in sales involves identifying and reaching out to potential customers, or “prospects”.

You research which prospects are right for your business and try to engage with them. Sales prospecting aims to convert prospects into leads and move them into your sales pipeline.

Imagine a software company that sells customer relationship management (CRM) tools. Here’s how this company might approach prospecting:

• A sales rep researches small businesses that could benefit from a CRM system to streamline their customer interactions

• They find a local bakery chain that recently expanded and discover that customer management is a challenge, as seen in a recent online interview with the owner

• The sales rep reaches out with a cold email, introducing themselves and suggesting the CRM could help the bakery manage customer information and enhance loyalty tracking

• The sales rep speaks with the owner to confirm interest and learns the bakery has the budget and desire for the software, making them an ideal prospect

• The sales rep moves the new prospect into the pipeline for lead nurturing

How to prospect depends on what your business does and who you want to target. We look at a general formula for getting started in more detail later.

How does prospecting fit into the sales process?

Prospecting typically happens at the start of the sales cycle because it ensures you start with qualified leads to nurture. Qualifying leads means you spend your time, money and resources on consumers who are more likely to convert.

Sometimes, sales reps prospect warm leads further into the sales process. Warm leads are individuals or businesses that engage with your company by opening follow-up emails or visiting your website. Prospecting these leads builds on their existing awareness, increasing the chances of closing a sale.

Why is prospecting so important?

Sales prospecting can be a lot of work. Trying to find potential prospects and sift through companies that don’t want your product or service is time-consuming. However, the process is worth it because it helps you:

• Develop a strong pipeline. Prospecting builds a pipeline of qualified, potential customers. Sales teams can focus on those most likely to buy to increase conversion rates.

• Get a strong flow of leads. Prospecting ensures a consistent flow of qualified leads, which is vital for sustaining and growing revenue.

• Understand your ideal customer base better. Prospecting helps sales professionals better understand customer needs, industry trends and potential challenges. As a result, sales reps can nurture leads.

• Build a good relationship with prospects. Reaching out early in the customer journey can establish trust with prospects. Studies show that trust is important to consumers when choosing where to buy.

The two types of prospecting in sales

There are two main types of sales prospecting: inbound and outbound.

Inbound prospecting involves reaching out to warm leads who have already shown interest in your product or service.

They typically come to your business through content marketing, social media or search engine optimization. Since inbound leads are familiar with your brand, they’re often more receptive to outreach. Examples of inbound prospecting methods include:

• Following up with individuals who filled out web forms or requested a demo

• Reaching out to leads who downloaded e-books, white papers or case studies

• Connecting with and nurturing leads who engaged with posts or ads on social media

Outbound prospecting is when sales teams reach out to potential customers who may need more information about your brand. The process involves identifying potential leads and initiating contact to introduce your product or service. Here are some examples of outbound prospecting strategies:

• Cold-calling potential customers who fit the target profile to introduce the product

• Cold emailing to generate interest and invite prospects to learn more

• Contacting prospects on LinkedIn or other social media platforms to build relationships and introduce your brand

The best prospecting efforts often combine these two approaches. Outbound prospecting focuses on engaging with the right audience, while inbound prospecting nurtures already interested leads.

What’s the difference between leads and prospects?

The terms “lead” and “prospect” are often used interchangeably, but they’re not the same:

• A lead enters your company’s nurturing process but may not show interest beyond opening emails and reading content. They might not engage or reach out to see how your product or service could help them.

• A prospect shows interest in your product with the intent to make a purchase or learn more.

Another difference is who’s responsible for these activities. Marketing teams use social ads or content marketing campaigns to attract new customers. Prospecting falls under the remit of the sales team, while lead generation is more of a task for marketing departments.

Here’s a breakdown of the differences:

Knowing the difference between leads and prospects is essential when prioritizing efforts. It allows sales and marketing teams to tailor their focus based on a potential customer’s interest.

6 steps for successful prospecting

Let’s walk through the steps to implement successful sales prospecting in your business.

1. Define your ideal sales prospect

Create an ideal customer profile (ICP) that outlines the characteristics of your best customers.

An ICP clarifies your most valuable customer (unlike a target audience, which is any person, group or company you hope to sell to). Creating an effective ICP helps you focus on prospects most likely to benefit from your product or service, increasing your chances of successful outreach.

Follow these steps to create an ICP:

• Analyze paying customers. Identify your most successful customers and note common traits, such as industry, size and challenges

• Define characteristics. Focus on demographics like company size, revenue, location and decision-maker roles

• Identify pain points. Understand the problems your product or service solves for these customers

• Evaluate buying behavior. Note how and why these customers purchase your product or service

2. Collate a list of prospects

After identifying your ICP, create a list of companies for prospecting. To do this, research companies that fit your ICP.

Technology streamlines your search for ideal prospects. Look at Pipedrive’s Prospector tool as an example. The LeadBooster add-on identifies high-quality outbound leads and prospects. Here’s how it works:

• Go to Leads > Prospector in your Pipedrive dashboard

• Add filters to find the right prospects and narrow down your search (things like job title, location and industry)

• Check your search credit balance (10 Prospector credits monthly at no extra cost, or click “Get more credits” to add more)

• Find prospects from a database of over 400 million profiles based on your ideal customer persona

• Select ”+ Add prospects” to add potential leads to your account

Watch this video to see these steps in action:

Find out more about how the Prospector feature collects data.

3. Research prospects

After identifying potential prospects, research their background, industry and specific challenges. Knowing more about your prospects will help you understand how your solution addresses their needs so you can tailor messaging.

It also helps you pinpoint decision-makers, which ensures you engage people with the authority to approve or influence purchasing decisions.

Here are some tips for researching prospects:

• Use social media. Check LinkedIn for job titles, career history and recent posts to understand their role, interests and challenges. Follow their company pages for updates.

• Review industry reports. Analyze reports for market trends, common challenges and benchmarks relevant to the prospect’s industry.

• Visit the company website. Look at the “About Us” and “Team” pages to learn about the mission, values and decision-makers. Explore press releases for recent news.

• Read customer reviews. Check platforms like G2 or Trustpilot to identify potential pain points or successes.

Prospecting tools are also helpful platforms for researching prospects. With Pipedrive’s Prospector, for example, you can learn more about your prospects in a central location. Here’s how the information appears in Pipedrive:

View decision-maker information, identify communication platforms and read notes from colleagues with more details.

4. Identify prospecting channels

Select the channels that best suit your prospects. Common prospecting channels include email, LinkedIn, phone calls, industry events and social media.

Choosing the right channel ensures you connect with potential buyers where they’re most receptive. For instance, email and LinkedIn may be more effective than cold calls if your prospects are C-suite executives. Getting high-level employees on the phone can be tricky, especially when targeting a large company that filters cold calls through reception.

Here’s how to identify the best prospecting channels for your audience:

• Study communication habits. Observe how your ICPs engage on platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook or industry-specific forums

• Analyze existing data and metrics. Review past customer interactions to see which channels generate the most responses

• Leverage social media insights. Check where your prospects are most active – LinkedIn for professionals, Instagram or TikTok for creative industries

• Ask current customers. Learn their preferences to identify patterns among similar prospects

• Track competitors. Observe which platforms or channels competitors use to connect with similar prospects

Over time, you’ll better understand what your prospects prefer. The more you communicate, the more insight you have into what works best.

5. Initiate contact

Reach out to prospects to introduce your company. Personalize the messages to speak to the prospect’s needs and teach how your product or service can help them. Research shows that 89% of decision-makers believe personalization is invaluable to business success.

Say you discover a prospect needs help managing their growing team. Address this pain point in your initial contact:

Addressing these issues shows you understand their challenges and how to solve them. You avoid generic communication and get straight to the point, which is likely to pique their interest.

6. Qualify leads

Qualifying leads early helps you focus efforts on those most likely to convert, allowing for efficient resource allocation.

For example, if a prospect shows high interest, you can invest more resources into nurturing them through the sales funnel. However, if a prospect is unlikely to buy, you avoid wasting time and resources trying to convert them.

Ask qualifying questions to assess whether the prospect is a good fit based on their needs, budget, authority and timeline.

Also, use Pipedrive’s lead scoring to categorize leads. Here’s how lead scores appear in Pipedrive’s dashboard:

Use custom fields and automatic lead assignment features to capture, segment and rank prospects based on their likelihood of conversion.

Find out more about using lead scoring to improve sales performance.

Enhance your prospecting with Pulse by Pipedrive

Pulse by Pipedrive is an AI-powered prospecting tool for managing and prioritizing leads. It analyzes your data and arranges a plan of action, prioritizing activities. As a result, you can engage with prospects and close deals faster.

Watch the video below to find out more about how Pulse works:

Let’s explore some of the features in more detail:

• Track progress in the action feed. The action feed shows activities you need to focus on, with a time or date when each task is actionable. These actions include activities, emails and deals to prioritize.

• Spend less time sorting through prospects. Pulse sifts through leads and prospects to ensure you take the most impactful action. It makes recommendations based on engagement levels, the stage of the buying journey and the likelihood of conversion.

• Rank prospects with AI scoring. Using AI, Pulse shows you who has the highest buyer intent so you can plan outreach.

• Gauge your chances of closing. AI summaries provide concise breakdowns of your deal history and sentiment analysis to understand each deal’s full potential.

• Automate communication. Generate emails based on the context of your current thread. AI features analyze the conversation and provide suggested replies that align best with the discussion.

Final thoughts

Effective sales prospecting sets your business up for success. It ensures you identify the right prospects, spending time and resources nurturing companies that will benefit from your service. As a result, they’re more likely to convert.

Use a lead CRM like Pipedrive to support your prospecting efforts. Identify relevant prospects, personalize the customer experience and move qualified leads into your sales pipeline. Sign up for a free trial today.

Pipedrive made a significant leap forward in 2024, firmly establishing itself as the AI-powered CRM sales teams can rely on. With the launch of Pipedrive AI, we introduced cutting-edge tools to transform how businesses prospect, close deals and manage workflows.

From AI enhancements that simplify sales processes to intelligent features to boost productivity, this year’s updates were all about empowering teams of all sizes to work smarter, not harder.

Here’s a closer look at how Pipedrive has evolved in 2024, delivering innovative solutions to help your team stay ahead and easily achieve its goals.

Pipedrive AI: AI CRM for smarter, faster sales

Pipedrive AI introduces five tools to boost sales efficiency and simplify processes:

• AI Sales Assistant provides insights on high-probability deals and suggests next actions, helping teams make smarter decisions (available to users on the Professional plan and above).

• AI email generator quickly creates compelling sales emails from prompts, enabling faster, more effective communication.

• AI email summarization condenses long email threads into brief summaries, helping teams gauge lead interest and prioritize follow-ups.

• Smart integration recommendations offers personalized app suggestions tailored to your business’s unique needs, optimizing CRM usage.

• AI-powered marketplace search uses natural language processing to find relevant third-party tools, allowing seamless integration with Pipedrive.

The AI Sales Assistant, AI email generator and AI email summarization tool are exclusive to users on the Professional plan and above. They offer advanced tools to optimize decision-making and streamline communication.

Smart integrations recommendations and the AI-powered marketplace search are available to all Pipedrive users, providing intuitive features to enhance CRM customization and efficiency.

Pipedrive Pulse: AI-powered lead qualification

Pipedrive Pulse, now in closed beta, is an AI-powered tool designed to simplify lead qualification and engagement, helping sales teams focus on high-value prospects.

Using AI-driven insights, Pulse ranks leads by priority, highlighting prospects with the highest conversion potential. The tool’s AI-generated summaries give a clear snapshot of each deal, allowing sales professionals to prioritize opportunities and spend more time closing.

With its advanced engagement scoring, Pulse identifies the right leads to contact at the right time by analyzing email interactions and engagement levels. The action feed highlights prioritized tasks, while the opportunities feed tracks critical actions from prospects like email opens or document views, ensuring timely and relevant follow-ups.

With Pulse, sales teams can work more productively and effectively, maintaining strong customer connections and increasing conversion rates.

Greater flexibility and streamlined revenue management with Pipedrive

Pipedrive’s new tool for managing and forecasting your revenue streams centralizes one-time, scheduled and recurring payments, giving businesses complete visibility into essential data like contract values, MRR and ARR.

This streamlined system allows for smarter decisions, helping businesses manage their sales processes seamlessly without switching between multiple tools.

With features like the product performance report, Pipedrive enables businesses to track both one-time and recurring products accurately, filling gaps left by traditional CRMs.

Available on the Advanced plan or higher, this feature supports revenue forecasting and data-driven decision-making, empowering teams to focus on growth while simplifying financial tracking.

Pipedrive’s trust center for data protection

Pipedrive’s trust center offers customers a centralized hub for all privacy, security and compliance information, showcasing resources like SOC 3, ISO certifications and data processing agreements.

Designed for transparency, the trust center reinforces Pipedrive’s commitment to data protection. It details robust security measures like advanced encryption and multi-factor authentication to give customers peace of mind about the safety of their data.

Pipedrive Insights with new report filters

Pipedrive’s updated Insights feature now includes new report filters, enabling users to analyze leads, deals, activities and contacts with precision.

Cross-entity fields are now available in report filters, allowing users to customize reports with data specific to their business needs. This enhancement supports data-backed decision-making, helping both individual salespeople and teams improve performance and close more deals.

In addition to custom filters, Insights offers collaborative dashboards, enabling Professional, Power and Enterprise users to create and share customized reports. The feature also supports goal tracking, allowing users to monitor progress toward personal, team and company targets.

Date triggers in Automations

Pipedrive’s new key updates in Automations enhance scheduling and integration capabilities, adding powerful new tools for teams to streamline their workflows.

The new date triggers allow users to schedule automated actions around specific dates, such as sending personalized emails on birthdays or setting reminders for follow-ups after sales demos. This added feature makes it easy to plan timely, relevant interactions that keep customer engagement smooth and proactive.

For those integrating Pipedrive with other tools, webhook actions offer precise control over data flows between platforms. By combining webhooks with triggers and conditions, users can determine exactly what data is shared and when, enabling more tailored, efficient workflows with external apps.

Available to all users with Automations access (webhooks limited to admin users), these upgrades help teams boost productivity and optimize processes, creating smoother connections and consistent communication across tools.

Pipedrive’s business card scanner for Android

Pipedrive’s new business card scanner for Android simplifies contact management by allowing users to instantly import contacts from business cards by scanning, eliminating the need for manual data entry.

Professionals can now quickly convert card information into new contacts or leads, making it easy to organize and follow up with connections after events.

The scanner is available to all Pipedrive users – regardless of plan – and includes features including duplicate detection to maintain an accurate contact list. It efficiently digitizes multiple business cards, though single scans provide the best results.

With plans to expand to iOS, the business card scanner enhances networking efficiency and helps sales teams focus on building relationships and closing deals. You can find the business card scanner by clicking the main “+” button on the app and then “Contact scanner”.

LinkedIn prospecting in Pipedrive with Surfe

Pipedrive is offering a free two-month trial of Surfe, a LinkedIn prospecting tool that seamlessly integrates with Pipedrive to simplify prospecting. To access the offer, Pipedrive customers can sign up here.

With Surfe, users can instantly import LinkedIn contact data into Pipedrive, enriching their CRM with updated information like business emails and phone numbers. This integration also auto-syncs LinkedIn chats, keeping prospecting conversations logged within the CRM.

Ideal for qualifying and converting leads, Surfe includes features like personalized message templates and performance analytics for effective outreach, making LinkedIn prospecting faster and more efficient. All Pipedrive users who haven’t tried Surfe before can access this trial by visiting the sign-up page.

Final thoughts

2024 has been an important, transformative year for Pipedrive, bringing with it a suite of innovative tools and integrations designed to help teams work smarter and achieve more.

From AI-powered insights that streamline lead qualification to enhanced data protection and revenue management, these updates give users everything they need to drive growth and optimize workflows in an increasingly competitive market.

Whether you’re using Pipedrive Pulse for better lead prioritization or leveraging tools like the business card scanner and Surfe integration, each feature is designed to support meaningful customer interactions and efficient sales processes.

With these improvements, Pipedrive continues to deliver on its promise to empower sales teams with the right tools for success. As we look toward 2025, we’re committed to driving innovation and delivering even more powerful, user-focused solutions that help sales teams thrive and excel.

In a recent Collin Cadmus Podcast episode, Sean Evers, VP of Sales at Pipedrive, shared his journey from professional footballer to sales leader. Sean offered practical insights into navigating crowded markets, leveraging AI and driving growth in B2B SaaS sales.

With expertise in go-to-market strategies, Sean highlighted how Pipedrive differentiates itself from its competitors. This episode is a must-listen for anyone looking to sharpen their sales strategies and succeed in such a competitive landscape.

Explore the key topics Sean and Collin covered, from mastering competitive positioning to leveraging AI in sales and building scalable growth strategies.

The complete episode is available on YouTube and Spotify.

Pipedrive’s growth story: from startup to global sales leader

Pipedrive’s journey is a masterclass in sustainable growth. Starting as a product-led growth (PLG) company built by salespeople for salespeople, the platform gained a reputation for its simplicity and effectiveness. By 2020, it had reached Unicorn status, with 90,000 users and a $1.5 billion valuation following its acquisition by Vista Equity Partners. But the story didn’t stop there.

To meet the evolving needs of its growing user base, Pipedrive transitioned to a sales-assisted model. This shift wasn’t so much about hiring more salespeople – it was about refining its strategy.

Today, Pipedrive balances its roots in PLG with a robust sales team and marketing department, strategically scaling operations while maintaining its customer-first ethos. With 30 account executives across the globe, SDR and BDR functions and a laser focus on high-intent leads, Pipedrive is proving that smart, sustainable growth beats the “growth-at-all-costs” approach every time.

Competing smarter, not harder

Standing out can feel like an uphill battle in a crowded customer relationship management (CRM) market. Still, Pipedrive has carved out its place by staying true to its roots: offering a user-friendly, intuitive platform that’s easy to set up and start using.

Designed to simplify deal management and follow-ups, Pipedrive focuses on helping businesses get up and running quickly while maintaining scalability for future growth.

This focus on simplicity and adaptability makes Pipedrive a natural choice for businesses that value efficiency. With an extensive ecosystem of over 500 integrations in its Marketplace, users can seamlessly connect their favorite tools – like marketing platforms and project management software – to create workflows tailored to their unique needs.

Sales strategies tailored to the world

Pipedrive’s global footprint (operating in 22 languages and nearly every country) means it can’t rely on a one-size-fits-all approach.

Instead, the company adapts its sales strategies to reflect regional cultural nuances. For example, some markets value formal, structured conversations, while others prioritize relationship-driven, casual interactions. To support these efforts, Pipedrive has built a network of local partners, including alliances, resellers and solution providers, ensuring that customers everywhere get a personalized service.

The company’s transition to a sales-assisted model has also revolutionized its outbound sales strategy. By focusing on high-value, high-intent leads, Pipedrive has achieved a remarkable 5X ROI on its SDR investment.

Gone are the days of “spray and pray” outreach. Today, every campaign is backed by data-driven reports and insights and clear customer intent.

Harnessing AI: Pipedrive’s vision for the future of sales

Pipedrive has embraced AI as a game-changer for its sales operations. From analyzing customer calls with tools like CloudTalk to simplifying forecasting and deal reviews, AI helps the team work more intelligently.

For example, AI-powered customer sentiment analysis identifies trends in customer interactions, while key insights from conversations are tracked to refine sales strategies.

Pipedrive is also cautiously exploring AI’s potential in outbound sales. By automating lead research and personalizing outreach in untapped regions, the company ensures its efforts remain efficient and impactful. However, at its core, Pipedrive believes in keeping a human touch – using AI to handle repetitive tasks while leaving innovation and strategy to its people.

Lessons in leadership and growth

Pipedrive’s approach to growth is refreshingly balanced. Instead of chasing hyper-growth at the expense of sustainability, the company prioritizes scaling demand before headcount.

Quotas are set thoughtfully, with 65% of sales reps achieving their targets, reflecting a winning culture without sacrificing stretch goals. By focusing on long-term retention and realistic targets, Pipedrive fosters a motivated and high-performing team.

Final thoughts

Pipedrive’s journey offers valuable lessons for sales professionals and businesses alike.

Whether it’s leveraging AI, adapting to cultural differences or finding innovative ways to excel, the company’s strategies prove that growth doesn’t have to come at all costs. Instead, success lies in listening to customers, staying adaptable and building a team that’s empowered to win.

For a deeper dive into these topics and more, listen to the full episode of the Colin Cadmus Podcast on YouTube or Spotify.

With hundreds of CRM packages designed to increase sales, improve customer service and streamline staff performance, entrepreneurs need help finding the best CRM packages for their companies.

In this article, you’ll learn about five leading CRM solutions for small businesses and how to customize your CRM to fit your needs. You’ll also find an essential checklist to help you choose the right CRM for your small company.

Best CRM packages for small companies

A customer relationship management (CRM) package can significantly affect how you run your small business. It can help you handle the demands of day-to-day operations, freeing up time and resources so you can focus on growth.

These core features, found in many CRM packages, are especially useful for smaller companies:

• Integrated marketing platform. Launch marketing campaigns across email, text and social media all in one place. Use the CRM’s data-driven insights to tweak future campaigns and improve conversion rates.

• Centralized customer data. Replace scattered and inconsistent databases across different apps and spreadsheets with a single source of truth. Get a complete, real-time view of each customer to make each action more personal.

• Lead management. CRMs help you capture, qualify, and track each lead’s progress, streamlining your sales process so that reps can move each prospect faster toward closing a deal.

• Sales pipeline management. Managing multiple opportunities at different stages can be tricky, especially with a small team. A CRM gives managers and reps a clear view of every sales pipeline, so they know where each deal is at and what to do next.

• Improved customer relationships. Personalized service is what sets small businesses apart. CRMs provide deeper insights into each customer’s needs and preferences so you can build stronger relationships, win repeat business and get more referrals.

• Easy scalability. Many CRMs offer flexible pricing plans, meaning you can start with the basics and add more features as your business expands – without the hassle of switching systems.

There are dozens of CRM platforms on the market. Here’s a look at five of the most popular CRM systems for small business owners:

Some CRMs, like Salesforce, resemble enterprise resource planning software. They handle sales and marketing, plus tasks like inventory and project management. Larger businesses with more complex business processes, such as global retailers and manufacturers, are more likely to benefit.

Most CRMs help you perform better in specific areas of your business. For example, Pipedrive specifically improves processes and results for small and medium-sized companies.

Pipedrive offers centralized marketing, simple pipeline management and customizable workflows that streamline your teams. That way, you can focus on generating more leads and closing deals quickly.

How you can adapt your CRM package

You can adapt nearly every CRM, including the five in this list, to match how you manage (or want to run) your business.

CRMs typically include a standard set of features you can customize to suit your business needs and streamline team workflows. Top CRM packages like Pipedrive’s various plans, add-ons and integrations are highly adaptable and flexible, allowing you to tailor the system to your requirements easily and cost-effectively.

Customized workflows guide your team through each step of your sales and marketing processes. Adding automations to these workflows – like assigning follow-up calls to specific reps and automating follow-up emails – keeps your team organized and on task.

Subscribing to higher pricing tiers and adding app integrations unlocks even greater functionality. For example, connecting your CRM to other tools – such as your accounting software or e-commerce platforms – gives everyone access to the same accurate data, regardless of the software they use.

The following section outlines the most suitable use cases for the top five CRMs listed above. Later, you’ll learn four ways you can customize your CRM package to align it more closely with your workflows, capture the data you need and improve your sales and marketing teams’ performance.

Standout features

• Sales pipeline management: Pipedrive organizes your sales pipeline on Kanban boards with columns representing each sale stage. Each deal appears as a card you can move across these columns as it progresses. This intuitive layout gives managers and reps a clear view of every deal, ensuring none slip through the cracks.

• Smart contact data: Pipedrive’s Smart Contact Data feature automatically pulls publicly available information linked to a customer’s email into the CRM. This extra depth gives reps valuable insights to prioritize the right leads, personalize outreach and close more deals.

• Integrated email marketing: the powerful Campaigns email platform has ready-made templates you can customize with an intuitive drag-and-drop editor. Send out campaigns directly from the platform and track signals like opens and click-throughs to monitor engagement.

Overview

Pipedrive stands out among the best CRM packages for small companies because of its flexibility and ease of use. You can quickly add the specific features you need as your business grows without major extra costs, making it a fit for SMBs looking for a CRM that adapts to their needs.

Here are the main Pipedrive features:

Pipedrive’s CRM, built by salespeople for sales and marketing teams, features a comprehensive suite of flexible lead generation and sales cycle management tools.

The user-friendly Marketplace has over 400 integrations for extra functionality, including popular apps like Gmail and Google Drive. Eleven different categories, ranging from “Attract new leads” to “Manage my accounts”, let you quickly find the right tools to meet your current needs.

From importing existing customer databases on spreadsheets to adding custom fields for data like contact preferences or industry-specific information, Pipedrive’s clean and simple design makes it easy to use even if you’re new to CRM software.

Onboarding includes 24/7 live chat support and a comprehensive online help center to get started quickly.

Pricing details

Pipedrive’s Essential plan starts at $14 per user per month (billed annually). It includes lead and deal management, an email inbox, user dashboards and many other core tools. Higher tiers give you access to advanced features like the automations builder, revenue forecasts, project planning and more.

You can use marketing tools like the Leadbooster add-on to capture more leads or the Web Visitors add-on to see which companies visit your website. Unlike many other CRMs, Pipedrive charges per company rather than by user seat for nearly all its add-ons.

Overall, Pipedrive offers a straightforward, flexible pricing model, making it a highly cost-effective, all-in-one CRM choice.

Best CRM for end-to-end e-commerce automation: Keap

Standout features

• Built-in e-commerce tools: Keap helps users manage the online sales process through tasks like order forms, product checkouts, payment processing and invoicing.

• Custom landing pages: create landing pages with a drag-and-drop editor to capture customer details and process online orders from email or social media campaigns.

• Email campaigns: Keap’s email marketing platform enables segmentation for targeted messaging and reporting to track e-commerce campaign performance.

Overview

Keap’s platform helps online businesses manage sales, marketing and customer support.

Its marketing suite lets companies run email, social media and text message campaigns from a central dashboard. Features like lead tracking and detailed reporting provide insights into campaign performance.

Keap’s e-commerce CRM features include tools like suggested cross-sells and upsells at checkout to increase average order values. The system also captures leads from brochure sites and passes them to sales reps.

Keap’s automation tools enable triggers for tasks like sending follow-up emails, notifying reps of new leads and updating deal statuses.

The user interface is easy to navigate. Keap also provides onboarding support, including video tutorials, a help center and a customer success manager.

Pricing details

Keap services start at $249 per month for two users, 1,500 contacts and access to all services. Costs increase as you add more users and contacts. Keap has 76 integrations in its marketplace, 58 of which incur a charge.

Best CRM for full lifecycle management: Zoho CRM

Standout features

• Mobile app: Zoho CRM’s mobile app provides access to the full range of features, allowing users to manage tasks while on the go.

• Omnichannel communication: users can connect with customers and each other through email, social media, phone and messaging apps like WhatsApp.

• Sales-based alerts: notifications alert users when a prospect visits the site, opens an email or mentions the company on social media.

Overview

Zoho CRM is a cloud-based platform that covers the full customer lifecycle with tools for lead generation, sales, client support and customer retention. Its features for managing sales, marketing and service processes are customizable for different sales stages.

The platform handles campaigns via email, SMS, social media and outbound calls, all managed from a central dashboard. Two-way communication features allow users to interact with clients and prospects across multiple channels.

Zoho CRM offers managers tools such as pipeline creation, sales forecasting, territory management and calendar integration. They can adjust team members’ dashboards and set up basic automations to support follow-up tasks.

Zoho has onboarding materials and video tutorials, plus 24/7 support as an optional paid add-on.

Pricing details

The Standard plan starts at $14 per user per month and includes email broadcasting, workflows, Google Calendar sync and other functionality. Add extra features with higher subscription tiers and marketplace integration at an extra cost.

Best CRM for enterprise businesses: Salesforce

Standout features

• Part of an ecosystem: Salesforce is part of a wider suite of CRM tools including Sales Cloud (lead management), Service Cloud (customer support) and Marketing Cloud (lead generation).

• Lead and sales management: the platform can handle complex sales processes including multi-stage approvals and configure price quote (CPQ) deals.

• ERP integrations: integrations support enterprise management features such as inventory, e-commerce, finance, HR and warehouse management.

Overview

Salesforce is a CRM for enterprise-level businesses that manages sales, marketing, customer service and other business processes. The platform centralizes company data like customer information and activities. It also offers analytical and reporting tools for a broad view of business performance.

The platform has customization and workflow automation options, as well as features that review company performance, suggest process improvements and advise staff handling live customer interactions.

Salesforce includes an online knowledge base and access to the Trailblazer user community. The advanced customization features may require technical expertise, and some users might experience a steep learning curve.

Pricing details

Salesforce has over 10 different integrated systems, each with its own scale of charges. It charges per user for add-on features like CPQ, meaning prices can increase.

Plans on the Sales CRM package with more advanced features range from $165 to $500 per month, making Salesforce potentially unaffordable for startups and smaller businesses.

Best for enterprise-level marketing automation: HubSpot

Standout features

• Omnichannel marketing: companies can run campaigns and conduct two-way conversations by email, social media, live chat and phone.

• Lead scoring and nurturing: HubSpot scores prospects based on their engagement and behavior.

• Shared dashboards: managers can share dashboards with sales and marketing teams for joint performance tracking.

Overview

HubSpot’s CRM platform supports companies who want to automate their marketing across multiple channels.

Marketers can segment lists based on customer demographics, purchase history, engagement patterns and more to personalize campaigns. They can then run campaigns and respond to customers via email, SMS and other channels.

Sales reps can access a dedicated workspace with call suggestions. The system also includes options for managers to customize sales pipelines and create playbooks.

Users can automate email marketing, lead nurturing and task management via a drag-and-drop interface.

Pricing details

HubSpot offers separate CRMs for marketing, sales, B2B commerce, service and content marketing, each requiring a separate purchase. The Sales Hub Professional plan costs $90 per user with an additional $1,500 onboarding fee.

There are charges for extras like Breeze Intelligence and many integrations in the HubSpot marketplace.

How to customize a CRM to fit your business needs

Each of the five CRM packages reviewed above allows you to tailor the system through workflow customizations, automations and ready-made integrations. You can also create custom API integrations to connect the CRM with specialized tools and sync data across multiple platforms.

Here are the main ways you can tailor your CRM software to the needs of your small business.

Customizations and automations

Customizations let you change how your CRM works to fit in with your business systems.

For instance, you can customize your CRM dashboard to show how the team performs against key performance indicators (KPIs) and other important metrics.

Add custom fields in the CRM to capture details like lead sources or a company’s revenue. Set up multiple workflows for different business processes like sales, marketing, planning and project management.

Here’s an example of sales pipeline customization in Pipedrive:

This sample pipeline has five stages, but you can add or remove stages as needed. The CRM lets you adjust the settings for each stage – rotting days, for instance – to limit the time a deal can remain at that stage before a rep follows up.

You can also create workflow automations – rules you can set so your CRM handles routine tasks automatically.

An example scenario is contact management. Set automations to assign a new prospect to a sales rep, send follow-up emails after a call and prioritize contact with stalled deals. Create sales automations so prospects move to the next stage of the sale when a rep qualifies their level of interest, books a sales demo or sends out a proposal.

Pipedrive’s simple drag-and-drop interface for setting up workflow automations looks like this:

To create an automation in Pipedrive, go to the Automations tab and add a trigger. A trigger is an event that starts the process, such as when a deal, contact or lead gets created, updated or deleted.

Next, add conditions to fine-tune when the automation runs – for instance, if a deal reaches a specific value or a contact gets tagged as “Important”.

Then, decide on the action. For example, set a notification pop-up, send an email or use an app like Slack, Microsoft Teams, Trello or Asana to remind a rep to schedule a demo, send a proposal or check in with the prospect. You can set more than one action for each trigger.

Customizations and automations streamline your business processes, keep your teams organized and ensure every lead gets the attention they need.

Marketplaces

CRM marketplaces work like smartphone app stores, offering integrations to add more functionality to your CRM’s core features.

Here is the Pipedrive Marketplace with over 400 apps:

Most marketplaces organize apps by function. Pipedrive sorts them by revenue cycle stages, making it easier for marketing, sales and customer support teams to find the right tools for each stage in the customer journey.

The “Attract New Leads” category, for instance, has over 130 apps for marketing teams. Two examples are:

• Luna, which streamlines prospect research and outreach

• LeadRebel, which shows which companies visited your website

More than 60 apps help sales teams manage quotes and contracts. For complex sales:

• Mobileforce CPQ is a self-updating configuration and pricing system

• Contractbook handles contract management to reduce reps’ manual work and speed up deal closing

Pipedrive’s marketplace features hundreds of free-to-use apps. Other apps offer limited free functionality with paid upgrades for access or additional features.

Marketplaces allow you to customize your CRM with specialized tools to help you streamline your business, improve productivity and increase efficiency.

Subscription levels

Most CRM providers offer tiered pricing plans, unlocking greater functionality as you upgrade. This approach lets businesses start with a basic plan and expand as their needs grow.

Here are the current Pipedrive CRM plans:

The benefit of tiered subscriptions is that you can start with a basic plan and add more advanced features as your business develops.

Many CRMs also offer add-ons you can pay for separately from your subscription. Here is a selection of Pipedrive’s add-ons:

Pipedrive’s popular LeadBooster service provides your company with a chatbot, a live chat feature, web forms and a scheduler. You also get access to Prospector, which automatically populates your prospect profiles with data from over 400 million records based on your ideal customer profile.

Unlike CRMs that charge per user, Pipedrive charges per company, making it more cost-effective for larger teams that need unlimited access.

Tiered subscriptions and optional add-ons let you tailor and scale your CRM within budget as your business grows.

API hookups

APIs connect your CRM to your other apps so you can be sure all your tools share the latest data.

For instance, Pipedrive’s API automatically:

• Pulls leads from web forms or marketing apps, streamlining how you share information between tools

• Supports advanced customization options, allowing you to add unique features or integrate with business apps not found in the Marketplace

You don’t need to be an experienced coder to use APIs. With Zapier, you can integrate Pipedrive with over 7,000 apps through pre-built connections.

For example, you can automatically add new leads to Pipedrive from Facebook Leads Ads. If your merchant services provider is Stripe, you can update an existing deal when a new payment is complete. You can add attendees to a sales pipeline in Pipedrive every time they purchase a ticket for one of your seminars or workshops.

Search Zapier for the apps you want to connect Pipedrive to, and then select the pre-built workflow you want.

APIs give CRMs the flexibility to adapt and integrate seamlessly with the tools your business relies on.

Choosing the right CRM for your business

To find the right CRM system, follow these three CRM checklist steps:

1. Decide what features you need: Involve your team, especially staff who’ll use the CRM daily. Find out what they need to streamline their work and boost productivity. Set a budget for how much you can spend.

2. Research the market: Visit CRM vendors’ websites to compare features, pricing and available integrations. Check that each option can connect to existing apps like your accounting software. Ask others in your industry for suggestions and read user reviews for feedback on vendor support.

3. Shortlist and test CRMs: Narrow down your list of suitable CRM solutions. Take advantage of free trials and let your team evaluate each shortlisted CRM. If a vendor only offers a demo, ask them to demonstrate how they’d perform the support tasks your staff identified.

After completing your CRM packages comparison, choose the CRM that fits your current business needs and can scale with your company as it grows.

Involving your team and road-testing potential solutions gives you the best chance of choosing a CRM that delivers real, unique value and the performance improvements you want.

Final thoughts

Choosing the best CRM software package for a small business can be challenging. Free CRM versions may seem appealing but often offer limited features and minimal support, making them less suitable as your business grows.

It’s worth considering CRMs with cost-effective pricing structures like Pipedrive, which charges for add-ons per company rather than per user, helping you manage expenses as your team expands.

Think of a CRM as an investment in your business’s growth. Just like when selecting an e-commerce platform or hiring a staff member, take your time, do thorough research and be clear on your purpose. Ensure you involve your people in the process, as they’ll use the system the most.