Discover folk - the CRM for people-powered businesses
LinkedIn has evolved beyond a mere networking platform: It has become the largest B2B sales battlefield.
Selecting the right CRM can be the determining factor in whether you excel in your pipeline or get drowned out by the competition. When comparing Salesforce and Pipedrive, the critical question extends beyond features; it's about which platform offers you the strategic advantage in building relationships, monitoring engagement, and converting LinkedIn conversations into tangible deals.
While Salesforce and Pipedrive are both excellent options, if you're looking for a CRM specifically designed for LinkedIn workflows, folk CRM frequently sets a new standard.
Why a CRM for LinkedIn Is Essential in 2025
LinkedIn has emerged as the command center for B2B sales. By 2025, nearly every decision-maker you wish to connect with will be active there, sharing insights, engaging with others, and making purchasing decisions in real-time. If your sales strategy isn't tailored for LinkedIn, you're missing out on valuable opportunities. A CRM designed for LinkedIn isn't just a luxury anymore; it's the foundation of effective prospecting, relationship-building, and pipeline expansion.
Its strength lies in its ability to facilitate a multi-touch sales journey. A single cold email no longer suffices. With the right CRM, you can efficiently track, manage, and engage prospects across multiple channels:
- Initiate conversations on LinkedIn. Connect, comment, and establish rapport where your buyers already interact.
- Follow up through email or calls. Your CRM maintains context, ensuring each touchpoint is personalized.
- Cultivate relationships over time. By syncing LinkedIn activities, you can determine the optimal moments to engage and close deals.
In 2025, success will belong to teams that engage prospects in their online spaces. LinkedIn is where business transpires. Without a CRM crafted to maximize its potential, your outreach efforts will become slower, less targeted, and increasingly difficult to scale.
What is Salesforce?
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Salesforce stands as the premier enterprise CRM globally, offering unparalleled customization and scalability. Its powerful platform encompasses sales, service, and marketing clouds, all supported by the AppExchange ecosystem. With advanced analytics and AI-driven Einstein capabilities, Salesforce equips teams to create personalized customer experiences at scale.
What is Pipedrive?
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Pipedrive is a sales-centric CRM designed for visual pipelines and user-friendliness. Its intuitive interface simplifies deal tracking and activity scheduling. With automated workflows and smart contact data integrations, Pipedrive ensures your sales process runs seamlessly.
Feature comparison of Salesforce and Pipedrive
AI Follow-ups
Salesforce lacks a native feature for capturing LinkedIn profiles, meaning there's no straightforward way to import a contact directly from LinkedIn into your CRM. Even with the integration of Sales Navigator, you can only view LinkedIn data in Salesforce without the ability to extract it. To convert LinkedIn profiles into CRM leads, you'll have to manually copy the information or utilize third-party Chrome extensions such as Surfe or Wiza. This process significantly hampers workflow for outbound teams.
Pipedrive also doesn't provide native LinkedIn profile capture, but it does facilitate this through third-party tools and extensions that can import essential details like name, company, job title, and profile URL into the contact record. Although it's not an in-built feature, the integration works seamlessly and serves as an effective solution for teams engaged in high-volume LinkedIn outreach.
Automated Contact Enrichment
Salesforce does not automatically enrich CRM records with LinkedIn data. While the Sales Navigator integration allows you to view job titles, company information, and shared connections within the contact view, none of this data syncs with your database. As a result, you cannot import this information into fields or automate enrichment. Teams that depend on LinkedIn for sourcing still require additional tools or manual entry to properly enrich records, leading to unnecessary friction in managing leads at scale.
Similarly, Pipedrive does not automatically enrich contacts with LinkedIn data. Although the Sales Navigator add-on enables you to view profile details such as job titles and company information, there is no synchronization with CRM fields. To enrich records with emails, phone numbers, or company details, you'll need to use a separate enrichment tool like Lusha or Kaspr. This creates a manual gap in the lead qualification process, particularly for pipelines heavily reliant on LinkedIn.
Smart Fields
Salesforce lacks the capability to automatically track conversations on LinkedIn. When a representative sends a message or InMail, there is no logging or activity capture unless they do it manually. While the integration provides visibility into profile data and allows InMail sending, none of this information syncs back to the CRM. As a result, sales managers seeking a comprehensive view of multichannel engagement encounter a significant blind spot.
Pipedrive also falls short, as it doesn't support message templates for LinkedIn. You can create templates for emails and campaigns within the CRM, but these are not available for LinkedIn DMs. Moreover, the Sales Navigator add-on does not facilitate message automation or prefilled outreach. Consequently, representatives must copy and paste their messages every time, which is far from ideal for teams aiming to streamline and scale their LinkedIn prospecting efforts.
AI-Powered Message & Sequence Generation
Salesforce lacks the capability to automatically track LinkedIn conversations. When a representative sends a message or InMail, there is no automatic logging or activity capture unless done manually. The integration provides visibility but not tracking; while you can view profile data and send InMails, none of this information syncs back into the CRM. For sales managers seeking a comprehensive view of multichannel engagement, this results in a significant blind spot.
Similarly, Pipedrive does not automatically track LinkedIn conversations. If a representative sends a DM or InMail, it will not be recorded in the CRM without manual input. Even with the LinkedIn Sales Navigator integration, the platform only displays the contact's profile information and fails to retrieve messaging history. Sales managers aiming for complete visibility of outreach efforts will find LinkedIn activity in Pipedrive lacking.
Next Best Action
Salesforce lacks a dedicated Chrome extension for LinkedIn workflows, meaning there's no overlay on LinkedIn profiles, no capture button, and no messaging support within the browser. Although the Sales Navigator integration operates within Salesforce, it doesn't improve your browsing experience. To boost LinkedIn productivity in Chrome, you'll need to rely on multiple third-party plugins, which adds both cost and complexity.
Pipedrive's official Chrome extension is tailored for Gmail and doesn't interact with LinkedIn. There’s no overlay for LinkedIn, no capture button, and no messaging support. Nevertheless, the Surfe Chrome extension bridges that gap, enabling reps to capture and sync LinkedIn data directly into Pipedrive. While it isn't a native feature, it's the sole method to integrate LinkedIn functionality into your browser with this CRM.
folk CRM: The Ultimate CRM Alternative for LinkedIn!
folk is the sales assistant every team has been craving. Designed to be uncomplicated, integrated, and proactive, this CRM handles repetitive tasks, allowing your reps to concentrate on what truly matters: cultivating real relationships on LinkedIn and beyond. With an impressive 4.5/5 rating on G2, folk stands out as one of the most trusted AI-powered CRMs for lean, ambitious teams.
Tailored specifically for startups, agencies, and sales-driven teams, folk makes AI practical, efficient, and straightforward. It accelerates the transformation of LinkedIn connections into qualified opportunities while simplifying your workflow.
1. Instant LinkedIn Prospect Capture with the folkX Extension
Prospecting on LinkedIn can be time-consuming, but folk streamlines the process. With the folkX Chrome extension, you can swiftly capture leads from LinkedIn or Sales Navigator and seamlessly add them to your CRM with a single click. Whether saving an individual profile or hundreds from a filtered search, all details—including 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 synced with your workflows, empowering your team to act quickly and turn connections into opportunities instead of spending hours on manual data entry!
2. Smart Data Enrichment and Always-Clean Contact Profiles
Engaging with decision-makers is effective only when you possess accurate and complete data. folk removes the hassle of tedious research by automatically enriching your LinkedIn contacts with verified emails, company details, phone numbers, and roles. With just one click, you obtain everything necessary to personalize your outreach and initiate meaningful conversations.
The platform's intelligent deduplication feature keeps your database clean and reliable, even when multiple team members add the same contacts. Rather than wasting time on messy spreadsheets or guessing lead ownership, folk guarantees your data remains organized and up-to-date, making each LinkedIn outreach relevant and impactful.
3. Personalized LinkedIn Outreach with AI-Generated Message Templates
folk revolutionizes your approach to LinkedIn prospects by providing AI-powered message templates directly within the LinkedIn inbox. When you initiate a conversation, you instantly receive smart suggestions for connection requests, follow-ups, and outreach messages tailored to your prospect’s profile and context.
You can modify these suggestions, personalize them, and send them manually to ensure compliance with LinkedIn’s policies. No risky automation, no cumbersome copy-pasting between tools. Everything unfolds where the conversation begins, making your outreach quicker, more relevant, and far more natural.
Summary: folk CRM's LinkedIn Features
- Instantly capture leads using the folkX Chrome extension, adding LinkedIn and Sales Navigator profiles in one click, with all details organized in your CRM.
- Easily enrich contact data by acquiring verified emails, company details, and roles, while maintaining a clean and accurate database through smart deduplication.
- Send smarter LinkedIn messages with AI-powered templates right inside the LinkedIn inbox, enabling you to personalize outreach quickly and without relying on risky automation!
Conclusion
When comparing Salesforce and Pipedrive, Salesforce excels in customization and extensive features for larger enterprises, while Pipedrive offers a user-friendly interface and visual sales pipelines. However, if your focus is on optimizing LinkedIn workflows, folk CRM emerges as a superior choice. It streamlines lead capture, enhances contact data seamlessly, and provides AI-driven messaging suggestions, making it the ideal solution for teams aiming to convert LinkedIn connections into valuable opportunities.
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Discover folk CRM - Like the sales assistant your team never had
