Discover folk - the CRM for people-powered businesses
LinkedIn has evolved beyond a simple networking platform: It’s now the largest B2B sales battlefield.
Selecting the right CRM can make the difference between dominating your pipeline and getting lost in the crowd. When comparing Hubspot and Salesforce, the key isn't merely about features; it revolves around which platform offers the smartest advantage for building relationships, tracking engagement, and converting LinkedIn conversations into closed deals.
Both Hubspot and Salesforce are strong contenders, but if you're seeking a CRM specifically designed for LinkedIn workflows, folk CRM often sets a new standard.
Why a CRM for LinkedIn Is Essential in 2025
LinkedIn has emerged as the command center of B2B sales. By 2025, almost every decision-maker you aim to reach will be active there—sharing insights, engaging with peers, and making real-time buying decisions. If your sales strategy isn’t tailored for LinkedIn, you’re missing out on valuable opportunities. A CRM built for LinkedIn has become a necessity, serving as the backbone of efficient prospecting, relationship-building, and pipeline expansion.
The true strength of such a CRM lies in its ability to create a multi-touch sales journey. Simply sending one cold email and hoping for success is no longer sufficient. With the right CRM, you can effortlessly track, manage, and engage prospects across multiple channels:
- Initiate conversations on LinkedIn. Connect, comment, and establish rapport where your buyers are already active.
- Follow up through email or calls. Your CRM preserves the context, ensuring each interaction feels personalized.
- Foster relationships over time. By syncing LinkedIn activity, you know exactly when to engage and when to close.
In 2025, the successful teams will be those that connect with prospects in their online habitat. LinkedIn is the hub of business activity. Without a CRM designed to harness its full potential, every outreach effort will become slower, less targeted, and increasingly difficult to scale.
What is Hubspot?
HubSpot is a premier all-in-one CRM that unifies marketing, sales, and service on a single platform. Its user-friendly tools simplify contact management, pipeline tracking, and automated outreach. Additionally, integrated analytics and seamless integrations empower teams to enhance performance and scale effortlessly.
What is Salesforce?
Salesforce is the leading enterprise CRM globally, providing unparalleled customization and scalability. Its comprehensive platform encompasses sales, service, and marketing clouds, all supported by the AppExchange ecosystem. With advanced analytics and AI-driven insights from Einstein, Salesforce enables teams to create tailored customer experiences at scale.
Feature comparison of Hubspot and Salesforce
AI Follow-ups
HubSpot lacks native LinkedIn profile capture, meaning you can't swiftly add a LinkedIn contact to your CRM with one click, and the HubSpot Chrome extension doesn't integrate with LinkedIn at all. The only solution is to use third-party tools like Surfe or Leadjet to transfer LinkedIn profiles into HubSpot. This creates an additional step for users engaged in outbound prospecting on LinkedIn, ultimately hindering efficiency since HubSpot isn't designed to streamline LinkedIn data collection.
Similarly, Salesforce does not support native LinkedIn profile capture. There's no straightforward way to import a LinkedIn contact into your CRM with a single click. Even with the Sales Navigator integration, you can only view LinkedIn data within Salesforce; extraction isn't possible. To convert LinkedIn profiles into CRM leads, you'll have to manually copy the information or rely on third-party Chrome extensions like Surfe or Wiza. This significantly slows down the workflow for outbound teams.
Automated Contact Enrichment
HubSpot does not enhance leads using LinkedIn data. Although the LinkedIn Sales Navigator integration allows you to view LinkedIn profile information within HubSpot, it does not enable the syncing or enrichment of contact records. Any enrichment, such as email, phone number, or job title, must be sourced from other HubSpot features like email tracking or connected tools. If most of your leads originate from LinkedIn, be prepared to manually update CRM fields or employ a third-party enrichment tool.
Similarly, Salesforce does not enrich CRM records with LinkedIn data. The Sales Navigator integration provides access to job titles, company information, and shared connections in the contact view, but this information does not sync to your database. You cannot automate enrichment or transfer that data into specific fields. Teams that depend on LinkedIn for lead sourcing will still need additional tools or manual entry to adequately enrich their records, introducing extra friction into lead management at scale.
Smart Fields
HubSpot lacks native tracking for LinkedIn activity, meaning that any InMail or DM you send won't show up in the contact timeline unless you log it manually. Although the Sales Navigator integration provides insights into mutual connections and job changes, it does not track interaction history. This leads to teams working in isolation, with LinkedIn communications remaining invisible within the CRM—an important drawback when LinkedIn plays a key role in your sales strategy.
Similarly, Salesforce does not permit the use of message templates in LinkedIn DMs. While you can create effective email templates and sales cadences using tools like Sales Engagement or Pardot, these features do not transfer to LinkedIn. Even with Sales Navigator activated, there’s no option to automatically fill a DM with dynamic fields from Salesforce, forcing SDRs to manually write or copy-paste each message. This is a significant time drain for teams engaged in high-volume outreach!
AI-Powered Message & Sequence Generation
HubSpot lacks native tracking for LinkedIn activity; any InMail or DM sent through LinkedIn won't show up in the contact timeline unless logged manually. While the Sales Navigator integration provides insights into mutual connections and job changes, it falls short on interaction history, leading teams to work in silos and leaving LinkedIn communications invisible within the CRM—a significant drawback when LinkedIn is integral to your sales strategy.
Similarly, Salesforce does not automatically track LinkedIn conversations. When a rep sends a message or InMail, there's no automatic logging or activity capture unless done manually. The integration allows visibility into profile data and enables sending InMails, but this information does not sync back into the CRM. For sales managers seeking a comprehensive view of multichannel engagement, this creates a substantial blind spot.
Next Best Action
The HubSpot Chrome extension is tailored for Gmail and Outlook, but it doesn't function on LinkedIn. You won't see it while browsing LinkedIn profiles, and it lacks features for capturing contacts, enriching data, or messaging through the extension. If you're seeking a streamlined LinkedIn workflow within your browser, HubSpot doesn't provide that capability; you'll need to turn to integrations or external tools.
Similarly, Salesforce lacks a Chrome extension designed for LinkedIn workflows. There is no overlay on LinkedIn profiles, no capture button, and no messaging support via the browser. Although the Sales Navigator integration operates within Salesforce, it doesn't improve your browsing experience. To access genuine LinkedIn productivity tools in Chrome, you'll need to rely on third-party plugins, which adds both cost and complexity.
folk CRM: The Ultimate CRM Alternative for LinkedIn!
folk is the sales assistant every team has been eagerly anticipating. Engineered to be simple, integrated, and proactive, this CRM handles repetitive tasks, allowing your reps to concentrate on what truly matters: nurturing genuine relationships on LinkedIn and beyond. With an impressive 4.5/5 rating on G2, folk is celebrated as one of the most reliable AI-driven CRMs for nimble and ambitious teams.
Tailored specifically for startups, agencies, and sales-focused teams, folk makes AI practical, efficient, and easy to navigate. It empowers you to swiftly convert LinkedIn connections into qualified opportunities, all while streamlining your workflow.
1. Instant LinkedIn Prospect Capture with the folkX Extension
Prospecting on LinkedIn can be time-consuming, but folk simplifies the process. With the folkX Chrome extension, you can effortlessly capture leads from LinkedIn or Sales Navigator and add them directly to your CRM with just one click. Whether saving a single profile or hundreds from a filtered search, every detail—names, job titles, companies, and emails—are automatically imported into your database.
Say goodbye to copy-pasting and juggling multiple spreadsheets. Your entire prospect list is neatly organized in one location, fully synchronized with your workflows, enabling your team to act quickly and focus on turning connections into opportunities instead of wasting hours on manual data entry!
2. Smart Data Enrichment and Pristine Contact Profiles
Connecting with decision-makers is only effective when armed with complete and accurate data. folk automates the tedious research process by enriching your LinkedIn contacts with verified emails, company details, phone numbers, and roles. With one click, you gain access to everything needed to personalize your outreach and initiate meaningful conversations.
The platform employs intelligent deduplication to maintain a clean and reliable database, even as multiple team members add the same contacts. Instead of sifting through messy spreadsheets or determining who owns which lead, folk keeps your data organized and up-to-date, ensuring every LinkedIn outreach is relevant and impactful.
3. Personalized LinkedIn Outreach with AI-Generated Message Templates
folk revolutionizes your prospecting approach on LinkedIn by providing AI-powered message templates right within the LinkedIn inbox. When you initiate a conversation, you immediately see tailored suggestions for connection requests, follow-ups, and outreach messages that align with your prospect’s profile and context.
You can edit and personalize these messages before sending them manually, ensuring full compliance with LinkedIn’s policies. There’s no risky automation or tedious copy-pasting between tools; everything occurs right where the conversation begins, making your outreach quicker, more relevant, and entirely natural.
Summary: Key Features of folk CRM for LinkedIn
- Instantly capture leads with the folkX Chrome extension, importing LinkedIn and Sales Navigator profiles in one click, ensuring every detail is automatically organized in your CRM.
- Effortlessly enrich contact data by retrieving verified emails, company details, and roles, while keeping your database clean and accurate through smart deduplication.
- Send smarter LinkedIn messages using AI-powered templates directly within the LinkedIn inbox, helping you personalize outreach faster without relying on risky automation!
Conclusion
When comparing CRM options, HubSpot stands out for its all-in-one functionality, enhancing marketing, sales, and service operations. Salesforce excels in customization and scalability, catering to enterprise-level needs. However, for teams focused on LinkedIn, folk CRM offers a tailored solution that captures leads instantly, enriches contact profiles, and simplifies outreach with AI-generated templates. This makes folk an exceptional alternative for maximizing LinkedIn's potential in driving sales success.
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