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Convergence a certified hubspot partner

HubSpot vs. Salesforce

1/27/2024 Update

We routinely hear that EDO's are being quoted $25,000 for Salesforce Onboarding...that's the standard price to get salesforce set up and running for a small organization. That cost does not include the software licenses! 

 

What you need to know. 

 

There are 4 different salesforce partners that work with economic developers.  

There is one salesforce partner, in our opinion, that gets it right. So, if your heart is set on salesforce or if you are required to buy this product, call us and we'll tell you who this partner is.

Here's how to see a free online demo of Salesforce for Economic Development.  

Click Here to view this slideshow from salesforce

 

salesforce for economic development online demonstration best crm for economic development

https://guided-tour.herokuapp.com/tours/economic-development

 

Insights

  • Salesforce is a great fit for organizations with over 100 employees and complex processes and software requirements.
  • Pardot is the salesforce marketing suite - it's priced separately and ranks lower than HubSpot's Marketing Hub Professional package.
  • With the right version of salesforce, you can do almost anything (with enough time and money to pay developers)
  • You can configure salesforce to meet your needs on your own - but you'd be wise to hire a salesforce admin.
  • If you want to become a salesforce admin, read this... These are great, high paying jobs by the way!
  • If you want to become a salesforce architect read this.
  • Plan on paying your salesforce partner a lot of money over the years. Salesforce upgrades are very involved, labor intensive - especially if you're using Custom Objects and or lots of customizations.
  • While you may get a 3 year fixed price, expect price increases annually.

INSIDER TIPS

Ask about price at the beginning of a demonstration. Save time!

Ask for a free trial of the system. If you can't figure the system out on your own, it's going to be a steep learning curve!

HubSpot vs. Microsoft CRM 365 

January 27, 2024 Update

We routinely hear that many small companies are being quoted $9,500 to $25,000+++ for CRM Only Onboarding...

*that's the standard price to get Dynamics set up and running for an economic development organization. That cost does not include the software licenses which are $95 - 150+/user/month.  Marketing software is not included. 

There are 2 different Microsoft partners that work with economic developers.  

Our founder, Tom Wengler, was one of the original founders of Cloud Nine, a Microsoft Partner that built the Cloud Nine Economic Development Accelerator that is still being sold today after the company changed hands 3 times over the last 4 years.

Insights

  • Microsoft  is a great fit for organizations with over 100 employees and complex processes and software requirements
  • Click Dimensions (sold separately) is a Microsoft Dynamics recommended marketing suite - it's priced separately and ranks lower than HubSpot's Marketing Hub Professional license. Microsoft also has offers Microsoft Dynamics 365 Marketing this is sold separately.
  • With the right version of Microsoft Dynamics, you can do almost anything (with enough time and money to pay developers).
  • You can configure Microsoft Dynamics to meet your needs on your own - but you'd be wise to hire a partner. The Do-It-Yourself option will likely be a disaster unless you've got a seasoned, experienced developer with the right Microsoft Certifications. Even then, you'll struggle to build this system. It's powerful and complex!
  • Dynamics 365 Developers Guide - Link
  • While you may get a 3 year fixed price, expect price increases annually.

INSIDER TIPS

Ask about price at the beginning of a demonstration. Save time!

Ask for a free trial of the system. If you can't figure the system out on your own, it's going to be a steep learning curve!

HubSpot vs. the rest...

 

Be sure to investigate the following... 

 

INTEGRATIONS - ABILITY TO WORK WITH YOUR OTHER SOFTWARE

  • Outlook and Gmail integrations should be tested before purchase.
  • It's awfully difficult to compete against support tools and the security technology provided by HubSpot, Salesforce, and Microsoft.
  • Integrations are limited - HubSpot, Microsoft and Salesforce all have over 1,000 systems that integrate.

SECURITY

  • Be sure to check for 2 factor security authentication (minimum) and the stronger, single-sign-on security.
  • Check to see where the data is hosted and ask your IT team to investigate their security model.

SUPPORT AND LONG TERM COST OF OWNERSHIP

  • Check for online courses, searchable knowledge base, and help documents.
  • Is live chat, phone support provided?
  • Check support fees. Understand the software upgrade cycle - do updates require work on your part or is the software updated instantly?
  • Can you and your team add to and modify the software on your own, without assistance? Do you need to be a computer programmer to improve your software?

INSIDER TIPS

Ask about price at the beginning of a demonstration. Save time!

Ask for a free trial of the system. If you can't figure out the basics of how to operate the system out on your own, it's going to be a steep learning curve!

 

 

Marketing software is not included. 

Look for third party integrations with mailchimp, constant contact, Survey Monkey.  HubSpot has these same integrations, but they don't work as well as using HubSpot's built-in email marketing suite.  Our clients typically save money by unsubscribing to mailchimp and constant contact.

Ask how the software works with your website.

Ask about how the software works with online forms, chat tools, email templates, website landing pages, online ad accounts, etc.  You'll see and get all of this with HubSpot.