PipelineDeals CRM - Why to choose
Updated March 18, 2015

PipelineDeals CRM - Why to choose

Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review

Software Version

PipelineDeals CRM

Modules Used

  • All

Overall Satisfaction with PipelineDeals CRM

PipelineDeals was implemented to solve a broad range of issues across the organization. We implemented at a company that has a tremendous amount of leads coming in from a few automated sources, but also leads input from various personnel. We tested/implemented two other services before PipelineDeals CRM, and the reason we chose PipelineDeals was because it was very comprehensive from the "front of house" operations to the back-office financial and provisioning operations. We used every single module of PipelineDeals CRM because issues from lead generations to sales fulfillment and future customer follow up were critical to the success of the project.

Pros

  • Flexibility - we found that we could modify PipelineDeals CRM very easily (as you can with other services), but that PipelineDeals CRM didn't hiccup with the extent of modifications made to the system. Everyone will need to modify the system to fit their business profile, and the ease of modification is important, but the real key is the ability to easily manage the system and the extensions you've put in place.
  • Support - when you license and implement any solution, you're going to run into issues/bugs. PipelineDeals CRM is very responsive and very good, and they didn't waste our time making us go through multiple levels of support to prove we actually had a problem. There weren't many issues, but the ones we encountered were addressed quickly, and they spent time with us on things that we weren't clear on, even providing some direction on the best way to set up categories of users, products, tasks, etc.
  • Comprehensive nature - we tried other services and found that PipelineDeals CRM did a good job of handling leads through sales and customer follow up. Other services were heavy on lead management or pre-sales functions, or helping with information related to sales activities, but did nothing to support after-the-fact operational personnel.

Cons

  • I wouldn't say no areas for improvement exist, but I will say that PipelineDeals takes customer input, shared product roadmap, and supports what they have very nicely. What they provide works out-of-the-box. Improvements can always be made with respect to pre-packaged integration with 3rd party services/solutions, and with extended attributes, but you also want to avoid something that attempts to boil the ocean.
  • Improved efficiency - this may have happened with any solution, but PipelineDeals CRM has channeled all activities into a single place and has eliminated the paper and other inefficient processes in place before.
  • Integration with other solutions.
  • Better Customer Service - if you have all history and tracking and support information in a single place, your customer and prospect interactions are going to be much better.
  • Thorough Coverage - don't drop leads and opportunities on the floor any more.
  • Salesforce.com,Insightly,QuickBase
SFDC was just too expensive and "too much." Insightly was not comprehensive enough, and we found an awful lot of bugs (this was a year ago+). QuickBase is actually excellent, but it requires an advanced technical person to manage and use, such as a QB Developer, and we wanted a solution that a office administrator could use with little or no help. QB is basically a big database that holds your data, and you build front-end UI's for the functions you want, using their interface and wizard-driven approach to do so. But it takes a lot of knowledge of the system to get where to want to go, and it is not "Intuit-ive" to use for most users. You'll spend $150/hour on a resource to help you implement, which gets costly very quickly. PipelineDeals CRM integrated with Google Apps, which we were using at the organization, and we found it comprehensive, easy to extend, and easy to use.
This is an area where I feel people fall down in the process. First - spend time up front defining your organizational processes, and goals. Don't even think about a solution until you've spent time defining the process. We spent time with every facet of the organizational process, and defined a workflow and diagram of each key process. This allows you to determine where you can get some process automation (service-based automation) versus workflow (human eyeballs and decisions on a procedure). Out of this exercise you will definitely see the critical "must-have" features and functions in any solution, and frankly it's pretty easy from there. Most people start asking a bunch of questions, and they don't know what they're trying to answer. In addition, most organizations avoid this step because it's difficult. But it is essential and lays the groundwork for a successful project and a much, much easier deployment.

Pipeline CRM Feature Ratings

Customer data management / contact management
10
Workflow management
7
Territory management
10
Opportunity management
10
Integration with email client (e.g., Outlook or Gmail)
10
Contract management
10
Quote & order management
9
Interaction tracking
10
Channel / partner relationship management
9
Case management
9
Call center management
9
Help desk management
9
Lead management
10
Email marketing
10
Task management
9
Billing and invoicing management
9
Forecasting
10
Pipeline visualization
10
Customizable reports
10
Custom fields
10
Custom objects
10
Scripting environment
9
API for custom integration
9
Single sign-on capability
8
Social data
9
Social engagement
9
Marketing automation
10
Compensation management
8
Mobile access
10

Using PipelineDeals CRM

40 - Sales and Operations. From the very first data gathering functions all the way through yearly customer follow up.

Comments

More Reviews of Pipeline CRM