CRM Platforms

Semra Maksud

Hi there!

I currently don't have the right CRM platform and looking to see what others are using to track Customer Success. We're using Monday.com to add accounts and notes but you can't do much reporting from it. I have experience using Salesforce and I love it. Our sales team is currently using Hubspot but I'm not sure if that would work for CS. It would be great to have the sales and CS teams on the same platform, it would make a seamless transition from Sales to Onboarding/Customer Success.

Jacques LeCour

Good Morning Semra, I've worked with a bunch of toolsets along the way.  All have pros and cons.  From Salesforce to Gainsight to Hubspot to Act all over the spectrum.  My 1000% ft advice would be to find the tool that suits how you are running CS and core components that your CS team covers.   

Hubspot does offer an addon Service/Support package.  With it you'll be able to do NPS, Track a customer's Journey along a Lifecycle measure Customer Health and Maturity and build out automation and workflows for onboarding.   I do find that with Hubspot you find yourself in a pattern of needing something and then having to pay for that additional feature so a lot of nickel and dime add-ons and integrations in my opinion.  Salesforce is a one stop shop but A) you'll pay for it and for a lot of the workflows, tracking maturity curves and lifecycles you'll be doing some customizing.  If you have a SFDC admin then this is not a problem, if you don't then it could be time consuming or cost you in services to build out.  Additionally, with SFDC's open style architecture companies struggle with big ideas that eventually cause a mess down the road.  So, if you do go the SFDC route (and I love the solution) be wary of wild west building and the subsequent mess that follows. 

Now if you want a truer CS platform you could look at Gainsight (or others) which is customizable and provides all the tools that CS would need and integrations into Hubspot and SFDC. Where I'm going with that is that you have your Account 360 view, NPS, and customer journeys and health metrics in Gainsight and then your Renewals (If CS is responsible for them) in your sales CRM.  with the integration you give your team and others visibility into customer accounts but also enable your CS team to run renewals alongside sales in their CRM.  Depending on how your org handles upsell/xsells this may be a good option. 

There are others out there and hopefully this helps.  If you want to add a blurb around the expectations and areas your CS team owns I and others might be able to get a little more specific on what tools may help. 

Best
Jacques
Head of Customer Success at ThreatSwitch

CHIEMELA OJI

Hi Semra, 

From my experience, I will say that Salesforce is the best CRM platform, and I will always recommend using that for both CSM and Sales. Just like you mentioned, having CSM and Sales on the same platform has a lot of advantages, being that the two departments always work hand in hand.

HubSpot is also a great CRM platform, with many similarities with Salesforce. I have used HubSpot in my past role, and it works great.

One difference to consider before making your final decision is the cost. As you might already know, HubSpot is a lot cheaper than Salesforce.


Regards,

Rolie R

For CS, I would not be looking for a CRM.  Instead, I would be looking at CS Software like Gainsight, Totango, ZeroChurn, which all have integrations with Hubspot in some form or another to keep relevant account data synced.

Doug Havlik

Semra,

Our sales team uses HubSpot and in CS we use ChurnZero which like most CS platforms syncs accounts, contacts, tasks, email, and more with the CRM platform, so largely the best of both worlds. 

Josh Loe

Salesforce would be the best option here, but I wouldn't do it unless your Sales department moves to it.   It's best to be on one tech stack or you'll have a mess with new logos and install base.

Jeff Heckler

Hi @CHIEMELA OJI,

I am very interested in using Salesforce as a CS platform.
In my past, I have had success building CS environments with CRMs.
What has your experience been, please?
Many thanks!
Jeff

Jeff Heckler

Hi @Josh Loe,
Are you, or have you, run your CS team's environment/platform on Salesforce?
If so, what has been your experience?
Thanks!
Jeff

Scott Hopper

As others have said it could be done in a CRM. 

1. You own more customization and need to ask the question does your org has the skill-set to execute
2. Have business partners that can build what you need.    
3.  Willing to have users accept a more friction-filled experience.
4.  Uplift skills in your CRM.
5. Have a plethora of CRM Skills in your larger organization that is willing to support your CS organization.

It's like Excel in some respects which could be a big part of an initial CS system. 

It can do database
                 analytics 
                  graphics
                  RPA

However, lots of better specific tools that do these things better. 

The question is if you choose a CS solution. 
 
How long do you want to live with it?
What is the integration effort to key inputs?
Have you already invested in CS Ops?

Joshua Lyons

Hi @Jeff Heckler,

I've spent a lot of time working in SFDC to make it our CS platform along with creating the associated processes.  Happy to schedule a call to discuss it real-time and show you sample customer objects, dashboards, etc.

-Joshua