Act! CRM vs. LinkedIn Sales Navigator

Swiftpage ACT! would be well suited if you are using a desktop computing environment. ACT! is an old product and they were on the desktop for many years (and still are). Also, ACT! would also be well suited if you are not as concerned about implementing a CRM product that might require a little more training (e.g. if you had employees/salespeople that needed to be trained). Also, ACT! seems to be more generic than some of the industry focused products you see nowadays. For example, MethodCRM works well with non-profits that are on the cloud.

Incentivized

Flexible Saved Searches: I love how we can save a very complex search created for future use so that we don't have to repeat it again and again. The cherry on the top is that you can even share this saved search with your other colleagues having the LinkedIn Sales Navigator license. Access to Decision Makers: With a single click, I can filter out decision-makers in any company. This is again a time saver in many ways. Alerts and Reminders: which can be set custom-based covering specific use cases. For example - if prospect A changes companies today, I can get an alert for it on my email (the only drawback being I need to manually save this prospect in a list first).

• Integrated Email Marketing: For a small business, you can have a strong method to handle email marketing in an integrated non-disparate solution.
• Tailoring: There are no limits on what data you can store in the system and the ease of making changes can be done by a nontechnical person.
• User Interface: The tool is easy to get around in both the desktop (fat client) and (webclient) which both are quite similar in functionality.
• Integration: The tool integrates with Word, Excel, and Outlook nicely. And, it integrates with Google Mail and Contacts. There is a nice selection of third party tools available for various needs like AddressGrabber which allows for easy input of contacts from various sources such as email signatures, webpages, etc.
• Templates: I have enjoyed being able to store tons of various templates for letters which we use over and over for various communications like sales proposals, quotes, and nudging clients along the funnel and sales process.
• Automation: SwiftPage ACT! has a small business automation engine which allows for reminders and workflow to be administered by the system. It's not as sophisticated as some enterprise workflow automation solutions but for the price it's an awesome addition.
• Maintenance: Very rarely have a problem which needs to be dealt with and costs to upgrade are minimal at best. We hosted the system internally for the web client and implemented it ourselves initially but had upgrades subsequently done by a local partner simply due to time/cost scenario. In other words, less to have someone else do it.

• Lists - Very intuitive, simple, way to create and track prospects for campaign purposes
• InMails - The ability to send direct messages to prospects via InMails can be a differentiator for some reps
• News Feed - Stay up to date on organizations you are targeting to send relevant messages that resonate

Incentivized

• Not intuitive to use. I will have to contact support for help if I haven't used some functions in a while.
• It's near impossible to delete duplicates as they have to be deleted individually. This is a problem if you have more than 5000 contacts.
• Reporting is difficult.

• LinkedIn Sales Navigator is very powerful, but not super well documented.
• The tool does not allow for the export of list names, which is disappointing for a tool at this price.
• LinkedIn's search is loosey goosey, you'll find that it includes names that just barely fit the criteria.

Incentivized

There are a lot of good SaaS options on the market but SwiftPage ACT still has a place in the mix today. It depends on your needs, goals, processes, and people

This question is a no-brainer. The tool is the industry standard for anyone tied to sales and marketing. The name "LinkedIn Sales Navigator" is synonymous with streamlining relevant customer and account data in an easy to use format that is actionable and intelligent. The focus on continuous improvement and richer means of communicating with customers and prospects is evident each time new features are rolled out. The social component of the tool even includes a gamification component to ensure that peers remain relevant among each other, which is refreshing and enjoyable for those who engage the tool on a daily basis.

Incentivized

Try printing reports with each record's notes section - really awful output that you are embarrassed to show anyone. Want to add a new record to a group, ACT will present another record for the group assignment. Want to work seamlessly with email? Forget it!

It lets you pull people with specific titles in specific areas and with the criteria you choose--job changes, mutual connections based on schools, roles, and companies, etc. It is easy to upload these lists into other software or download and save them to a drive.

Incentivized

There has been an ongoing problem with Google synchronisation which no one seems to be bothered about fixing, even though it clearly states on the website that the software synchronises with Google. When the customer-facing support team are on the phone, they are brilliant, it's the back-end development support which is severely lacking.

The tool speaks for itself, but the support is definitely a significant portion of why we use the tool. The company cares about their customer's success and it shows. We do not have to wait for long periods of time for the support team to respond; they do so in a timely manner, and virtually always with relevant insights and solutions.

Incentivized

Delay your upgrades! ACT appears to ship out new software with virtually no checking and no concern about bad installs do to their customers.

I am unsure of the rollout, as I was not involved. I was an early adopter, and I have had a lot of success with the tool personally at multiple organizations, but I have no idea whether the implementation process encountered any errors. I can personally say that it works, and that I have not encountered significant issues with the tool since adoption, although a few issues like messages showing up as being unread even though they have been opened have been an on-again/off-again issues throughout the past few years. Overall, the company is doing a great job, and our implementation seems to have been effective.

Incentivized

ACT! CRM is more cost effective than like a Salesforce, but that is for a reason, it lacks a lot of the functionality that a Salesforce has. Pipedrive is actually another cost effective platform I've been evaluating as a potential ACT! CRM replacement. I like it's modern day look and feel versus ACT!.

Incentivized

linkedin has way better data cleanup and relevant contact information. It provides a great insight into how to target personally your prospects, and gives great engagement highlights. ZoomInfo is sometimes outdated, the prospect has moved companies or is no longer employed there-- alot of filtering through the weeds can be hard if you are trying to hit high metrics and make your time valuable

• It's been easy to keep track of progress of goals with the software. This provides the opportunity to know what is working and what is not.
• We have had to adjust a lot of things since the Virus issue took a foothold, but it is providing invaluable to make those adjustments.
• Our ROI has increased at least 30%.

Incentivized

• Helped warm up a few leads that I was having trouble getting in touch with via phone and email
• Allowed me to better identify the key stakeholders at companies I was targeting
• Kept me up to date on what was happening with my prospects and their companies.

Incentivized