0:00 - Intro
0:15 - Why trust us?
0:45 - What is a CRM?
1:36 - Don't Use Airtable & Notion as a CRM
4:20 - folk for soloprenuers + small teams
6:58 - Copper & Pipedrive CRM
8:40 - Save 20+ Hours per week
10:30 - Workflow Automation & Reporting
11:00 - Limited Time Offer (Free $1,200 Course)
11:12 - Avoid HubSpot and Salesforce
11:26 - CRM Bonus Tip!
12:54 - Best CRM Software Final Verdict
13:25 - Next: Best project management software
0:00 - Intro
0:15 - Why trust us?
0:45 - What is a CRM?
1:36 - Don't Use Airtable & Notion as a CRM
4:20 - folk for soloprenuers + small teams
6:58 - Copper & Pipedrive CRM
8:40 - Save 20+ Hours per week
10:30 - Workflow Automation & Reporting
11:00 - Limited Time Offer (Free $1,200 Course)
11:12 - Avoid HubSpot and Salesforce
11:26 - CRM Bonus Tip!
12:54 - Best CRM Software Final Verdict
13:25 - Next: Best project management software
The CRM space is probably the largest software category in the world, just ahead of project management. That said, there's 2 types of CRM categories:
Okay, let me explain. Most software will eventually get to a point where they need to determine if they should tack on the "CRM" category to their product offering. And because a CRM at the end of the day is really just a database, most software will justify "adding it" to their toolset.
The CRM for small + medium teams (200 or less) that use Google Workspace.
If your team is using Google Workspace and you haven't yet considered Copper—take a minute right now to do just that.
Copper spends an absurd amount per-month in server costs alone, just to give you the deepest Google Workspace integration of any CRM out there.
As compared to all of the CRMs on the market, Copper has one of the most user-friendly experiences (which helps with team adoption), as well as a fully baked Chrome extension that allows you to use Copper (view tasks, past activity, and easily add new contacts to the CRM), without ever needing to even leave Gmail or Google Calendar.
There's a lot that it doesn't do out-of-the-gate, like automated email campaigns, but pair it with Outfunnel (which is what you're getting when upgrading to the business tier of Copper—a white-labeled version of Outfunnel) and you'll get most of what you'll need on that front.
If you're more technical, you can even use Zapier or Make to build custom integrations where Copper might otherwise fall short.
We've excessively used the API of all the major CRM's on the market and I'm here to tell you that their API is fantastic. Copper's API is one of the most powerful and user-friendly to build on, especially as compared to that of HubSpot which has some incredibly odd API design decisions.
While this might not sound like a big deal, if you ever plan on integrating your CRM (or hiring a company like ours to do it), I'm here to tell you that building the same integration in HubSpot takes 2–3x as long and is more of a pain to maintain. All factors that affect the integration cost at the end of the day, so API design matters and affects you even if you don't think it does. 🤖 Learn more about our top Copper Integrations here.
If you're using Google Workspace at your company and you want a modern CRM for your team, look no further than Copper. Not using Google Workspace? We recommend checking out Pipedrive or HubSpot instead. Just an individual and stumble upon Copper because you were considering either Airtable or Notion as your CRM? Use Folk instead.
There is currently no promo code for this app but we are close partners, so if you use the link above to visit the site and then let their team know that Efficient App sent you, you may just get a little something... extra 😉
There is currently no promo code for this app—we'll update it here if that changes in the future!
Once you pay for your first month of Copper (after the 14 day free trial) using our referral link, we'll send over the full Copper Crash Course course at no cost.
folk is a simple yet powerful spreadsheet-like CRM for individuals.
folk is great if you're an individual trying to use something like Google Sheets, Airtable, or Notion as your CRM.
They built it in a way to feel familiar to how you might use a spreadsheet to manage your contacts and important information:
An example of when I've recommended folk to a friend is when they brought up to me all the business concerns they had, which a CRM would traditionally solve, but they are currently a solopreneur or incredibly price sensitive.
Hearing things like "I'm wondering if I could just use Notion to manage all of this" is a great indicator that something like folk is right for you.
If you are planning on scaling or working with a larger team (or expect to integrate with a myriad of other tools), you'll want to use a more business-friendly CRM like Copper.
They do have some cool CRM features baked in like mail merge (for sending out personalized templated emails in bulk), as well as quick access via a Chrome extension when on Gmail and LinkedIn.
folk has built a new custom field type called "Magic Fields" which allows for an AI prompt to do a bit of legwork, whether it be generating a personalized email across groups of contacts, or even more complex data sanitizing functionality. Of all the CRM's we've seen on the market, folk has taken an incredibly unique approach to how their choosing to implement AI to improve their tool:
This is one of the main areas that we struggle heavily with folk. While they have a basic Zapier connector, it's incredibly limited in the functionality. For example, certain custom field types aren't yet supported (like number fields), which makes it nearly impossible to build more complex integrations. While this will be built out over time, they still have a long way to go before having any level of feature parity to that of a more business-focused CRM.
Usually this isn't as big of a deal because if you're more technical you can just fallback on their API, and even use Zapier's Webhook functionality to build out some custom endpoints. The problem though is that they don't actually have an Dev API accessible at the moment, making building any meaningful integration quite limited and difficult.
If you're an individual using Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 and you're looking to make the upgrade to the CRM world from that of a basic Spreadsheet, folk will be your best option. It's like a more opinionated version of Airtable and Notion, that is actually built with proper CRM features like Email and Calendar activity tracking.
On the other hand, if you're working on a team or looking to scale your company behind a handful of team members, we highly recommending a more powerful CRM like Copper, Pipedrive, or HubSpot, if nothing more than just to have a properly fully-featured API as you scale (you're going to need this). That said, if you're in any way considering Airtable or Notion as your CRM, we highly recommend you use folk instead.
There is currently no promo code for this app but we are close partners, so if you use the link above to visit the site and then let their team know that Efficient App sent you, you may just get a little something... extra 😉
There is currently no promo code for this app—we'll update it here if that changes in the future!
Get 10% off any annual plan for the first year if you use the link above and use the promo code at checkout.
Curious how this app compares to others?