Smartlead at scale: why pair it with a CRM

As a Smartlead user managing a team of 20-50 people, you're already leveraging powerful email automation to reach more prospects and drive engagement. But to really maximize your sales efforts at this scale, you need a CRM that works seamlessly alongside Smartlead, helping you manage your growing list of contacts, track interactions across your team, and streamline follow-ups for multiple sales professionals.

The right CRM can organize the leads generated by your Smartlead campaigns, provide insights into your team's outreach performance, and ensure that no opportunity slips through the cracks as your sales operation grows.

In this blog post, we'll explore the best CRM options specifically designed for Smartlead users managing mid-sized sales teams, highlighting the features that will help you efficiently coordinate your pipeline and enhance your sales strategy across 20-50 team members.

What is Smartlead?

Smartlead is a sales automation platform designed to help growing businesses scale their outreach efforts by sending personalized emails at scale, tracking responses, and optimizing campaigns. It enables teams of 20-50 people to generate and manage multiple email campaigns efficiently, allowing for advanced personalization and automated follow-ups to enhance engagement and conversion rates across your entire sales organization.

A CRM complements Smartlead by providing a centralized system to manage all the contacts and interactions generated from these campaigns across your mid-sized team. It helps organize leads, track their journey through the sales funnel, and maintain detailed records of all communications for every team member, ensuring no lead is overlooked and that follow-ups are timely and relevant. Additionally, a CRM can offer insights and analytics that help refine outreach strategies and improve overall campaign effectiveness for teams of 20-50 people.

Why Smartlead users need a CRM

Generating leads through Smartlead isn't enough for mid-sized teams. Especially if you want to create consistency across your communication channels and leverage all that data from 20-50 team members working simultaneously.

Challenges without a CRM

Below are some challenges you might already be experiencing as a Smartlead user managing a team of 20-50 people without a proper CRM in place.

• Team Coordination Issues: Mid-sized teams often struggle with scattered customer information across multiple team members and lack of a unified view of prospect interactions.
• Missed opportunities: Without a centralized CRM, tracking leads and follow-ups across 20-50 team members can be inconsistent, leading to lost sales and duplicated efforts.
• Inefficient processes: Manual data entry and fragmented workflows across multiple team members waste valuable time and resources that could be better allocated.
• Lack of team insights: Sales managers lack real-time analytics and reporting across their 20-50 person team, making it difficult to make data-driven decisions and optimize performance.
• Inconsistent communication: Communication with prospects can be erratic across team members, affecting conversion rates and customer experience.

Benefits of a CRM

Once you have the right CRM in your tech stack that complements your Smartlead objectives for teams of 20-50 people, you can expect the following direct benefits.

• Centralized team information: A CRM consolidates all customer data in one place for your entire team, ensuring easy access and better organization across all 20-50 team members.
• Enhanced team efficiency: Automating routine tasks and streamlining workflows save time and increase productivity for mid-sized sales teams.
• Improved team collaboration: CRMs enable coordinated communication across your team, enhancing prospect satisfaction and conversion rates.
• Better team management: Real-time analytics and reporting provide actionable insights for strategic decisions across your 20-50 person sales organization.
• Increased team sales: Efficient lead tracking and follow-up processes across your team boost conversion rates and revenue.
• Consistent team communication: CRMs ensure timely and consistent interactions with prospects across all team members, improving overall experience.
  

How to boost your efficiency with Smartlead and a CRM

Below are a few ways you can optimize your sales process with Smartlead and the right CRM for your team of 20-50 people.

1. Map your process

Map your team process in a CRM so that you can create suitable custom fields and dashboards for all 20-50 team members.

• Identify Key Stages: Break down your sales funnel into actionable steps that all team members can follow to monitor progress effectively.
• Set Team Milestones: Establish clear milestones for each stage to ensure consistent tracking and evaluation across your entire sales team.
• Automate Team Tracking: Use CRM tools to automate the tracking of leads through each stage for all team members, saving time and reducing errors.

2. Lead qualification

Use Smartlead to generate and qualify leads across your team. Then capture them in your CRM for coordinated follow-up.

• Team Lead Scoring: Implement a scoring system within your CRM to help all 20-50 team members prioritize high-potential leads consistently.
• Segment Team Leads: Use CRM features to segment leads based on criteria like industry, behavior, and engagement levels for better team assignment.
• Automated Team Qualification: Leverage AI-driven tools to automatically qualify leads and assign them to appropriate team members based on predefined criteria.

3. Outreach and follow-up

Use your CRM to coordinate and automate your team's follow-up process by doing the following.

• Team Email Campaigns: Set up automated email sequences tailored to different lead segments that all team members can use for personalized outreach.
• LinkedIn Team Campaigns: Use CRM integrations to manage and automate LinkedIn outreach across your team, ensuring timely follow-ups from the right team members.
• Team Follow-up Coordination: Schedule automated reminders within your CRM to ensure proper lead distribution and that no prospect is contacted by multiple team members.

4. Nurture Existing Leads, Customers

Strategies for team-based upselling and cross-selling:

• Team-Coordinated Offers: Use CRM data to create personalized upselling and cross-selling offers that can be executed consistently across your 20-50 person team.
• Automated Team Nurture Streams: Set up automated nurture streams that route leads to appropriate team members based on engagement and qualification criteria.
• Track Team Engagement: Monitor customer interactions across all team members within your CRM to identify the best opportunities for coordinated upselling efforts.

How to evaluate and choose a CRM platform

Choosing the right CRM as a Smartlead user managing 20-50 people can be a challenge, especially if you're unsure where to start. We suggest adopting the following pointers in your decision making process for mid-sized teams.

1. Define your requirements

For Smartlead users managing teams of 20-50 people, identifying the key features is crucial. Look for CRM platforms that offer robust team collaboration, user permission management, and automation capabilities that can scale with your growing team. Consider features like team dashboards, role-based access, integration with existing tools, and advanced analytics to enhance your team's lead generation and conversion processes. We've listed other key features you should consider below.

Key features of a CRM for Smartlead

• Team collaboration tools: Streamlines coordination across 20-50 team members by providing shared workflows and communication features.
• Contact enrichment: Automatically finds leads and customers email addresses and contact information for your entire team, enhancing efficiency.
• Multi-user pipeline management: Tracks leads and customers through defined stages with proper assignment and visibility across all team members.
• Team mail merge: Increases communication efficiency with follow-up templates and automated sequences that all team members can use.
• LinkedIn integration Seamlessly imports leads and customers from LinkedIn and tracks conversations within the CRM across your entire team.
• Team analytics: Provides essential data analysis and predictive insights for better planning and performance management across 20-50 users.

2. Budget considerations

Balancing cost and return on investment is essential for teams of 20-50 people. While some CRM platforms may offer extensive features, they might come with a hefty price tag when multiplied across your entire team. Evaluate the pricing models of different CRMs and determine if the features align with your Smartlead needs and team size. Consider scalable options that can grow with your business without incurring excessive per-user costs.

3. Selection process

Researching and choosing the right CRM vendor for mid-sized teams involves several steps. Start by shortlisting vendors that specialize in solutions for growing teams of 20-50 people. Check reviews, request demos, and consult with other Smartlead users managing similar-sized teams for recommendations. Assess the vendor's support and training resources to ensure smooth implementation and ongoing assistance for your entire team.

4. Get a demo

Trial and comparison are key in making an informed decision for your team. Sign up for free trials of shortlisted CRM platforms and evaluate their performance with your Smartlead processes across multiple team members. Compare usability, feature sets, and customer support. Gather feedback from your team to ensure the chosen CRM aligns with your business objectives and enhances your lead management efforts. Start by clicking here to schedule a demo with folk.

👉🏼 Try folk now to sync Smartlead contacts and never miss a follow-up

3 tips for implementing a CRM

When you're ready to introduce your new CRM to your tech stack for your team of 20-50 people, there are a few things you should have top of mind including the following.

1. Import your data in your new CRM

Transitioning to a new CRM for Smartlead users with teams of 20-50 people is seamless when you import your existing data. This way, your entire team doesn't have to add contact information manually and can have as minimal disruption as possible. Start by exporting your data as a CSV file into your new CRM with proper user assignments.

2. Create your first pipeline

Designing your initial pipeline is essential for efficient lead management across your Smartlead team of 20-50 people. Customize the pipeline stages to reflect your team's sales process, ensuring each status aligns with your Smartlead strategy and can be managed by multiple team members. This tailored approach will streamline your workflow and enhance productivity across your entire sales team.

3. Onboard your team

Successful CRM implementation hinges on team adoption across all 20-50 team members. Conduct comprehensive training sessions to familiarize your entire team with the new system. Highlight the benefits of the CRM and demonstrate how it can simplify their tasks and improve overall team efficiency. A well-onboarded team will maximize the potential of your Smartlead CRM integration.

The 5 best CRMs for Smartlead

1. folk

folk is the ideal modern CRM platform for Smartlead teams of 20-50 people, offering multiple customizable pipelines, AI-driven tools, and seamless integrations specifically designed to enhance deal management and prospecting for mid-sized sales teams.

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Key features

• Contact enrichment: Automatically enriches contact details by finding emails and LinkedIn URLs for your entire team of 20-50 people, enabling efficient outreach without manual data entry or additional per-user costs for email services.
• Team-focused dashboards: Create multiple pipelines with user permissions and custom fields that perfectly align with your Smartleads imports across all team members.
• LinkedIn integration: Seamlessly import contacts from LinkedIn across your entire team, track conversations within folk, and use templates for quicker, streamlined communication for all 20-50 users.
• Team mail merge: folk is compatible with Gmail and Outlook for all team members. Expect a full email sync, templates, and tracking features, enabling your entire team to manage all communications directly from the CRM.
• AI-powered team features: AI tools assist in managing contacts and relationships across your team, automating routine tasks, and suggesting actions to improve productivity for all 20-50 users.
• Team integrations: Beyond Zapier and Make, folk offers an open API and native integrations such as Kaspr and Allo (call leads from folk), Salesforge (LinkedIn and multichannel outreach), and PandaDoc (contracts and e-signatures), in addition to native email sync.

Pros

• Perfect for mid-sized teams: folk is specifically designed for teams of 20-50 people, offering intuitive interfaces and quick onboarding that gets your entire team productive fast.
• All-in-one team solution: folk streamlines your team's workflow by allowing all members to import contacts from LinkedIn, automatically find their emails, reach out through customizable email sequences, and track interactions in shared pipelines, eliminating the need for multiple tools and saving significant costs for 20-50 users.
• Team social media integration: Seamlessly import contacts from LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram across your entire team to track conversations within folk, and use shared templates for quicker, streamlined communication.
• Team customizability: Custom fields, pipelines, and workflows that can be configured for proper team collaboration and user permissions.
• Cost-effective team integrations: folk connects via its open API and includes native integrations (e.g., Kaspr, Allo, Salesforge, PandaDoc), alongside Zapier and Make, enabling broad automation and connectivity without extra per-integration costs.

Cons

• Advanced reporting: folk CRM provides advanced analytics, including pipeline and deal stage reporting, weighted forecasting, performance breakdowns by owner, channel, industry, region, or any custom field, plus revenue insights and segmentation.

Price and plans

You can try Folk for free with a 14-day free trial perfect for testing with your team of 20-50 people. After that, a monthly or annual subscription plan is as follows.

• Standard: $20 per user, per month - ideal for growing teams of 20-50 people.
• Premium: $40 per user, per month - perfect for established teams needing advanced features.
• Custom: Starts from $60 per user, per month - designed for teams requiring enterprise-level customization.

2. HubSpot

HubSpot CRM is a comprehensive platform offering integrated tools for managing sales, marketing, customer service, and operations, though it can become expensive and complex for teams of 20-50 people.

Key features

• Marketing Hub: Includes email marketing, ad tracking, landing pages, and lead generation tools, though these features can be overwhelming for focused Smartlead teams of 20-50 people.
• Sales Hub: Provides deal tracking, pipeline management, sales automation, and reporting, suitable for converting Smartlead leads but with a steeper learning curve.
• Lead scoring: Prioritize leads with predictive scoring, though setup complexity may slow implementation for mid-sized teams.
• Service Hub: Offers customer service tools like ticketing and live chat, which may be more than needed for Smartlead-focused teams.
• Operations Hub: Syncs and automates business processes, though complexity increases with team size.

Pros

• User-friendly interface: HubSpot offers an intuitive interface, though teams of 20-50 people may find the extensive features overwhelming initially.
• Comprehensive free plan: Offers basic CRM features for free, but limitations become apparent when scaling to 20-50 users.
• Marketing integration: HubSpot integrates marketing, sales, and service tools, though this may be overkill for Smartlead-focused teams.
• Automation capabilities: Provides automation tools, though setup becomes complex for larger teams.
• Reporting capabilities: Allows customized dashboards and reports, though advanced features require higher-tier plans.

Cons

• High cost for teams: HubSpot's pricing becomes prohibitive for teams of 20-50 people, especially when moving to professional tiers required for team collaboration features.
• Limited free plan scalability: The free plan lacks essential team collaboration features needed for 20-50 person teams.
• Complexity for focused teams: Advanced features have a steep learning curve and may require extensive training for mid-sized Smartlead teams.
• Email marketing limits: Free plan email restrictions become problematic for teams managing large prospect databases.
• Additional team costs: Many team-essential features come as paid add-ons, significantly increasing costs for 20-50 person teams.

Price and plans

Prices and plans on the CRM suite for an annual subscription are as follows.

• Starter: $15 per user, per month.
• Professional: $450 per user, per month.
• Enterprise: $1,500 per user, per month.

3. Pipedrive

Pipedrive is a web-based CRM focused on sales pipeline management, offering lead management and automation, though it lacks some advanced team collaboration features needed by growing teams of 20-50 people.

Key features

• Lead and deal management: Centralized tools to manage customer data and sales pipelines, though team collaboration features are limited for 20-50 person teams.
• Sales automation: Workflow automation for repetitive tasks, though advanced team coordination features may require higher tiers.
• Email integration: Email sync and templates, though lacks some advanced team communication features needed for larger teams.
• Reporting and analytics: Real-time analytics and custom reporting, though team-level insights may be limited in basic plans.
• Customization options: Custom pipelines and fields, though team permission management is less sophisticated than specialized solutions.

Pros

• User-friendly interface: Intuitive design that's easy for individual users, though team collaboration could be more streamlined for 20-50 person teams.
• Sales pipeline focus: Visual pipeline management works well for sales teams, though lacks some team coordination features.
• Customization: Good customization options, though team-level permissions and workflows are less advanced.
• Mid-range pricing: More affordable than enterprise solutions, though costs add up quickly for teams of 20-50 people.

Cons

• Limited team collaboration: Lacks advanced team collaboration features essential for coordinating 20-50 person sales teams effectively.
• Basic reporting for teams: Team-level reporting and analytics are limited in lower tiers, requiring expensive upgrades.
• No built-in email marketing: Requires third-party integrations for email marketing, adding complexity for Smartlead users.
• Scaling costs: Price increases quickly with team size and required add-ons for 20-50 person teams.
• Limited project management: Focuses primarily on sales, lacking comprehensive team coordination tools needed for larger teams.

Price and plans

An annual subscription plan basis is as follows.

• Essential plan: Starts from $24 per user, per month.
• Advanced plan: Starts from $44 per user, per month.
• Power plan: Starts from $79 per user, per month.
• Enterprise plan: Starts from $129 per user, per month.

4. Salesforce

Salesforce is a comprehensive CRM platform designed for large enterprises, offering extensive tools for sales, marketing, and analytics, but often proves too complex and expensive for focused teams of 20-50 people using Smartlead.

Key features

• Comprehensive ecosystem: A unified platform with extensive features, though often more complex than needed for Smartlead teams of 20-50 people.
• Extensive customization: Highly customizable platform, though setup complexity can overwhelm mid-sized teams.
• AI integration: Salesforce Einstein provides advanced analytics, though implementation requires significant expertise.
• Enterprise integrations: Extensive third-party integrations, though many are designed for larger organizations.
• Enterprise security: Advanced security features, though often unnecessary for teams of 20-50 people.

Pros

• Comprehensive features: Extensive feature set covering multiple business functions, though often more than needed for focused Smartlead teams.
• Enterprise customization: Highly customizable for complex needs, though complexity exceeds requirements of most 20-50 person teams.
• Extensive integrations: Connects with numerous applications, though many integrations are enterprise-focused.
• Enterprise scalability: Handles very large organizations well, though over-engineered for teams of 20-50 people.
• Advanced analytics: Powerful reporting tools, though setup and management require significant expertise.

Cons

• Prohibitive cost for mid-sized teams: Extremely expensive for teams of 20-50 people, with licensing fees that can quickly become unsustainable.
• Excessive complexity: Requires extensive training and expertise that's impractical for focused Smartlead teams of 20-50 people.
• Complex implementation: Setup requires consultants and specialists, adding significant costs for mid-sized teams.
• Overkill for focused teams: Enterprise features are unnecessary and overwhelming for Smartlead-focused teams of 20-50 people.
• Performance challenges: Can be slow and cumbersome, impacting productivity for teams that need quick, efficient workflows.

Price and plans

• Starter Suite: $25/user/month provides basic CRM features for small businesses.
• Pro Suite: $100/user/month includes advanced tools for growing businesses.
• Enterprise Plan: $165/user/month offers extensive customization and automation for large companies.
• Unlimited Plan: $330/user/month provides comprehensive features for large enterprises.
• Einstein 1 Sales: $500/user/month provides AI-driven insights and advanced features for large enterprises.

5. Zoho

Zoho is a CRM system with sales and marketing features including lead nurturing and workflow automation, though it can become complex for teams of 20-50 people to implement and manage effectively.

Key features

• Sales automation: Automates sales tasks, though setup can be complex for teams of 20-50 people to coordinate effectively.
• Lead and contact management: Manages customer information and segments contacts, though team collaboration features are limited.
• Multi-channel communication: Integrates multiple communication channels, though coordination across 20-50 team members can be challenging.
• Custom reporting: Allows custom dashboards and reports, though setup requires technical expertise that may burden mid-sized teams.
• Workflow automation: Automates routine processes, though complexity increases significantly with team size.

Pros

• Competitive pricing: Affordable pricing tiers, though costs can accumulate quickly for teams of 20-50 people with necessary add-ons.
• Customization options: Extensive customization available, though complexity can overwhelm mid-sized teams without dedicated IT support.
• Zoho ecosystem: Integrates with other Zoho products, though this creates vendor lock-in that may limit flexibility.
• Multi-channel support: Handles various communication channels, though coordination across team members can be challenging.
• AI features: Zia AI assistant provides insights, though implementation requires expertise that may exceed mid-sized team resources.

Cons

• Steep learning curve for teams: Extensive customization options become overwhelming for teams of 20-50 people, requiring significant time investment to master.
• Complex team setup: Initial configuration becomes increasingly complex for mid-sized teams without dedicated technical resources.
• Performance issues with team scale: Reports of slow performance with multiple users and large datasets affect productivity for growing teams.
• Limited non-Zoho integrations: While integrating well within Zoho suite, third-party integrations needed by Smartlead teams can be limited.
• Team migration challenges: Moving data and coordinating setup across 20-50 team members can be difficult and time-consuming.

Price and plans

Free plan limited to three users suitable for small businesses. After that, an annual subscription plan is as follows.

• Standard: $20 per user, per month.
• Professional: $35 per user, per month.
• Enterprise: $50 per user, per month.

Conclusion

Choosing the best CRM for Smartlead teams of 20-50 people can significantly enhance your business operations by streamlining processes, improving team coordination, and boosting sales efficiency across your entire organization. Among the top contenders, folk CRM stands out as the clear winner with its robust contact enrichment, intuitive team-focused dashboards, seamless social media integration, and AI-powered features specifically designed for mid-sized teams. While HubSpot offers comprehensive features, it becomes expensive and complex for focused teams. Pipedrive excels in basic pipeline management but lacks advanced team collaboration features. Salesforce provides extensive enterprise capabilities but proves overkill and prohibitively expensive for teams of 20-50 people. Zoho offers affordability but creates complexity challenges for mid-sized team coordination. folk CRM delivers the perfect balance of powerful features, team collaboration tools, and cost-effectiveness specifically designed for teams like yours. Each CRM has its unique strengths and potential drawbacks, but for Smartlead users managing teams of 20-50 people, folk CRM provides the optimal solution that scales with your needs without breaking your budget. Try folk for free here.

👉🏼 Try folk now to centralize Smartlead-generated leads and manage contact-based reminders with your team

Need a helping hand? Use our free tool to find your perfect CRM match.

FAQ

Can Smartlead replace a CRM?

No. Smartlead handles cold email and campaign automation. A CRM centralizes contacts, pipeline, team activity, and reporting so Smartlead-generated leads are tracked, assigned, and followed up without duplication.

Which CRM works best with Smartlead for 20-50 person teams?

For mid-sized teams, folk offers contact enrichment, LinkedIn import, shared pipelines, and email sync at a simple per-user price. Other options include HubSpot, Pipedrive, Salesforce, and Zoho. Try folk.

How do you integrate Smartlead with a CRM?

Connect via Zapier/Make or API, or import CSVs. Map fields (email, company, status), set owner assignment and dedup rules, sync replies and bounces, and trigger tasks for follow-ups. Test with a sample campaign before team-wide rollout.

How much should a 20-50 person team budget for a CRM?

Plan for $20–$60 per user/month for pipelines, automation, and reporting. Advanced analytics or marketing suites can push costs to $100+ per user. Include onboarding, add-ons, and email sending limits when comparing vendors.