folk CRM x Freshsworks: Which AI CRM is the best?

AI has evolved beyond being just a feature; it now serves as the driving force behind smarter pipelines, quicker decisions, and stronger customer relationships.

With capabilities ranging from predictive insights to automated workflows, CRM platforms are now in competition to see how thoroughly they can integrate AI into every interaction.

While both folk CRM and Freshworks offer intelligent sales assistance, their approaches to AI—regarding depth, usability, and business impact—differ significantly. For teams that prefer simplicity over complexity and cluttered dashboards, folk provides robust AI integration that enables timely follow-ups and insights extraction from calls and emails. This represents the most effective deployment of AI within a CRM.

Why AI Integration Matters?

AI revolutionizes CRMs, transforming them from static databases into proactive sales assistants. Rather than waiting for representatives to sift through contacts or craft follow-up messages, AI automates crucial actions, anticipates outcomes, and instantly enriches data.

• Faster decisions: AI identifies which leads to prioritize based on intent signals and deal velocity.
• Smarter outreach: Tools recommend message templates, optimal timing, and can even analyze tone or sentiment.
• Cleaner data: Say goodbye to manual entry—AI automatically fills in missing information and flags duplicates or outdated records.
• Sales forecasting: Predictive models enable teams to identify potential pipeline risks before they arise.
• B2B data enrichment: AI instantly gathers company size, job titles, LinkedIn profiles, and contact information to complete lead records.
• AI-powered sequences: Personalized cold emails are generated and scheduled automatically based on deal stage, persona, or interaction history.

When AI is deeply integrated into a CRM, sales reps can devote less time to administrative tasks and focus more on actual selling. This distinction is what elevates a CRM from being merely good to one that truly drives revenue!

What is folk CRM?

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folk serves as the sales assistant that teams have always desired. This straightforward, integrated, and proactive CRM manages the routine tasks, allowing sales representatives to concentrate on cultivating genuine relationships. With a remarkable 4.5/5 rating on G2, folk is recognized as one of the most reliable AI-powered CRMs for lean teams.

Tailored for startups, agencies, and sales teams, folk makes AI accessible and manageable.

Extract intel from calls and emails

A standout feature of Folk is its AI-driven call transcript analysis, which aids sales and investment teams in deriving crucial insights from recorded discussions. By integrating with dialers like Ringover, Aircall, or call recording tools such as Grain for Google Meet, users can seamlessly import transcripts into Folk. Subsequently, they can create Magic Fields, a built-in AI feature that enables users to define prompts for extracting specific information from the transcript. For instance, sales teams can effortlessly retrieve details like contract value, number of users, decision-makers, budget, or next steps—eliminating the need for manual note-taking. Investment teams can gain insights like founder backgrounds, fundraising stages, or the specific needs of a startup. These fields are fully customizable: simply draft a prompt, map it to the transcript, and let Folk's AI handle the rest. The outcome is a well-organized, searchable CRM enriched with invaluable data from your calls—streamlining follow-ups, qualification, and reporting for greater efficiency and accuracy.

AI-Powered Follow-Up Reminders

folk's AI Follow-Up feature ensures that no opportunity is overlooked. This intelligent assistant, built into the platform, analyzes your email exchanges to identify when a follow-up is necessary. For example, if you asked a question in an email and the lead hasn't responded, Folk will automatically recognize the lack of reply and remind you to follow up at the appropriate time.

Moreover, this feature works in reverse—bringing to light leads you may have overlooked or conversations that have grown cold. By reviewing past interactions, Folk assists you in prioritizing the right contacts to re-engage and advance deals. This intelligent, context-aware follow-up mechanism saves time, reduces manual tracking, and enhances your chances of closing more deals.

AI features in folk CRM summary

• Suggested actions: Receive proactive reminders and AI-driven suggestions based on recent activities or deal stages.
• Extract intel from calls: Utilize AI to gather next steps, decision makers, your leads' budgets, and all essential details.
• AI-generated messages: Save time with context-aware outreach suggestions tailored for each contact.
• Duplicate management: AI identifies duplicates and cleans up messy contact lists, keeping your CRM organized.

folk is available starting at $20 per user per month, and you can try it free for 14 days without needing a credit card!

What is Freshworks?

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Freshworks’ Freddy AI encompasses both sales and support roles, functioning as a copilot, agent, and analyst. In Freshsales, Freddy evaluates leads, categorizes deals as “Likely to Close” or “At Risk,” and provides a Kanban-style pipeline overview alongside auto-generated email sequences. In Freshdesk, Freddy Copilot drafts response suggestions, translates and summarizes tickets in real time, and powers chatbots for self-service. Freddy Insights offers proactive alerts, root-cause analyses, and trend spotting, empowering you to address service issues before they escalate.

Feature comparison of folk CRM and Freshsworks

AI Follow-ups

Folk’s AI Follow-ups actively monitors your inbox and calendar to identify when a lead requires your attention—such as when someone says, “Let’s chat Tuesday” or “I’ll circle back next week.” You’ll receive a task suggestion along with a draft follow-up message conveniently ready in your dashboard. Simply review, hit send, and stay on top of every conversation.

Freshworks' Freddy keeps an eye on your inbox for meeting requests or date mentions, instantly suggesting a task or calendar event as soon as they are detected. When a prospect mentions, “Let’s chat Tuesday” or “I’ll get back to you next week,” Freddy intelligently parses the text, recognizes the appropriate date and time zone, and prompts you to schedule the follow-up—eliminating the need for manual copy-pasting. You can easily modify the reminder or meeting invite, ensuring you never miss a beat after an important email.

Automated Contact Enrichment

With 1-click Enrichment, your team can effortlessly auto-fill new contacts with essential details like company information, titles, phone numbers, social profiles, and more, all as they enter your CRM. Say goodbye to manual imports and outdated data. For additional technographic or firmographic insights, simply connect with marketplace partners like Clearbit or InsideView for seamless, real-time data hygiene.

Freshsales’ integrated auto profile enrichment utilizes public records and social profiles to enhance every new lead instantly. Freddy AI automatically enriches your contact records with names, titles, company details, phone numbers, and even social media links, ensuring your CRM remains spotless without the need for extra imports. To gain deeper insights into firmographics or technographics, such as tech stacks or funding rounds, just integrate marketplace enrichers like Clearbit or InsideView for immediate, hands-free data enhancement.

Smart Fields

Looking to enhance personalized outreach? folk merges your CRM data with AI to quickly generate contextual email sequences. Just specify the persona and objective—such as 'five-step outreach to marketing leads' or 'post-demo recap'—and you'll receive ready-to-launch subject lines, body text, and sending schedules. Experience full-funnel automation without any writing hassle.

Although Freshsales doesn't specifically label them as 'Smart Fields,' it offers complete control over custom fields, with Freddy ensuring they remain updated. Create any custom property you require, and let Freddy automatically populate those fields by analyzing incoming emails, public data, and your CRM history. The outcome? Dynamic forms and records enriched with AI-generated values, perfect for segmentation, scoring, or personalized outreach.

AI-Powered Message & Sequence Generation

Looking to scale personalized outreach? Folk merges your CRM data with AI to quickly create contextual email sequences. Just specify the persona and goal—like “five-step outreach to marketing leads” or “post-demo recap”—and you’ll receive subject lines, body copy, and sending schedules ready for immediate launch. Experience full-funnel automation without any writing hurdles.

Activate Freddy’s Email Generator and the “Generate Sales Emails” feature to effortlessly draft subject lines, email bodies, and follow-up schedules with just a few prompts. Share the persona and goal—such as “5-step outreach to ISVs” or “post-demo recap email”—and receive polished, on-brand templates in seconds. You can save them as templates or integrate them into Freshsales’ workflow automation, triggering each step based on opens, clicks, or field updates—achieving full-funnel outreach without any copy roadblocks.

Next Best Action

Folk eliminates the guesswork in your pipeline by providing the “best next step” tailored from CRM data, inbox history, and calendar signals. Whether it’s making a call, sharing a case study, or sending a quick check-in, you'll receive upbeat, actionable suggestions directly within your workflow—ensuring that every representative feels confident and supported.

Freddy’s Deal Insights and AI View analyze your pipeline data—including deal size, stage, past win rates, and recent activity—classifying each opportunity as “Likely to Close,” “Trending,” or “At Risk.” These insights drive Next Best Action recommendations, appearing on your deal board or as task suggestions like call reminders, content shares, or personalized nudges aimed at making progress. Integrate them into your workflow rules so that reps always know the precise next step to take, eliminating uncertainty and enhancing win rates.

Conclusion

In comparing Freshworks and folk CRM, Freshworks features a diverse AI support system with Freddy, providing proactive alerts and automated responses. Conversely, folk CRM offers a streamlined approach with its AI-driven call analysis and follow-up reminders, making it easier for teams to manage relationships effectively. For those seeking an intuitive and powerful alternative, folk excels by simplifying AI integration, ensuring that sales teams focus on building genuine connections without the burden of complexity.

Start your 14-day free trial or book a demo today.