How To Use Freshworks CRM | FREE Sales-Driven CRM Software (Freshworks CRM Tutorial)

 

Freshworks is a leading CRM software that allows you to accelerate your customer’s journey with your business. 

In this Freshworks CRM tutorial (freshsales), we’ll help you understand how to use Freshworks CRM to better manage your leads, customers, and sales process.

 

Why Should Small Businesses Use A CRM Software?

 

Small businesses require CRM software to better streamline their sales process and relationship development.

Freshworks is a sales-driven CRM tool that allows you to close more deals in less time, nurture customer relationships via better communication, and engage with your leads and customers.

When your business grows, it can be  impossible to manage a large number of leads, costumes, and deals manually.

This is where the role of Freshworks comes into play. Even if your budget is tight, you can leverage Freshworks at no cost with their generous free plan.

Under the free plan, you get:

• Built-in chat, phone, & email
• Account & contact management
• Contact lifecycle stages
• 24×5 support
• Mobile app

You can always start with their 21-day free trial and upgrade to a paid plan when needed.

There’s no cap on the number of users, and you have access to one of the most intuitive user interfaces (UI) out there.

However, the free plan does not include reporting tools, file attachments, and workflow automation capabilities.

Also, unless you upgrade to a paid plan, you cannot enable notifications. We still believe the free plan is sufficient for small businesses.

With the free plan, you cannot integrate Gmail, Google Calendar, Office 365 Calendar, and other tools that the paid Freshworks plans have to offer.

But with all the Freshworks CRM features offered under the free plan, small businesses can manage all their sales activities, deals, and contacts in one place (which are the core activities of a good CRM).

 

How To Use Freshworks CRM (Freshsales)?

Let’s begin with our Freshworks CRM tutorial:

1.      Arriving at Freshsales

Head over to freshworks.com/crm/sales or visit this affiliate link to arrive at the Freshworks CRM web page.

Now, navigate over to ‘Pricing’ and select ‘Sign up’ under the free plan.

 

2.      Freshworks CRM Dashboard

Once you finish the Freshworks CRM sign-up, you’ll arrive at the Freshworks CRM dashboard.

On the top-right, you’ll notice the active plan.

If you see “21-day free trial remaining”, click on it and then select ‘Switch Trial’ because we want to just use the free plan.

Scroll all the way to the bottom, and you’ll find the free plan hidden away in the left-hand corner.

Click ‘Choose plan’ and select ‘Update subscription’ to activate the free plan.

Navigate over to ‘Freshsales’ to arrive at your Freshworks CRM within the free plan.

On your top-right, you’ll find a ‘+’ icon. Click on it to find ‘Add Contact’ to add new contacts in your free CRM software.

You can also create an account by clicking ‘Add account’ to manage all your contacts in one place.

The ‘Add deal’ is for managing your sales pipeline. You can add tasks (a reminder about following up with a lead, for example) and schedule meetings. Here, you’ll find the option to send emails as well.

 

3.      Add/Manage Users (Team Members)

Navigate over to ‘Admin Settings’ on the left-hand side and select ‘Manage Users’.

Click ‘Add User’ and then simply add the details. Hit ‘Save’. Freshworks is a leading, free CRM software for small businesses that allows you to add 100 users under the free plan.

Go ahead and import multiple users or add one user at a time.

 

4.      Add Contacts (Leads/Customers)

Under ‘Contacts and Accounts’, you’ll find ‘Contacts’.

Click on it. Then select ‘Import Contacts’ to simply upload your contacts via a CSV file. Rather than individually adding your contacts, you can use this method to import them all at once.

For this Freshworks CRM tutorial, we’ll add just one contact by clicking ‘Add Contact’ under the ‘+’ icon on the top right.

Enter all the information related to your new contact (a lead in this case) in the next step.

For example, if this individual was working in an organization, you can add the organization under ‘Accounts’ (more on that later).

Under ‘Sales owner’, you can enter the first touchpoint of the lead.

Apart from that, you need to choose the subscription status (subscribed), subscription types (newsletter), lifecycle stage (lead), and status (new).

Below that you can customize these fields if you like. Remember to hit save when you’re done.

Once you’ve added the contact, you can enter more information and move this lead through the sales pipeline.

For each contact, you can view deals (explained later), recent conversations, recent activities and make notes.

Heading back to ‘Contacts’, you’ll be able to see your lead on the list.

 

5.      Add Account (Organization/Company)

Under ‘Contacts and Accounts’, click ‘Accounts’.

Navigate over to ‘Add Account’ and select it. This account is going to be a company that our new contact is going to be a part of. Go ahead and enter the account name.

For this Freshworks CRM tutorial, we’ve named it ‘True Lemons’.

Next, choose a sales owner who is going to be responsible for managing this account and click ‘Save’. Again, you may customize the account fields if needed.

Edit further information such as industry type, address, territory, etc. for this new account.

The rest of the options are similar to ‘Contacts’. Now navigate over to ‘Accounts’, you can see the newly created account in the list.

By selecting the pencil icon on the right-hand side, you can quickly edit the basic information.

Next to the pencil icon, you’ll see the three dots. Click on it to find more options like delete, forget, view all related contacts, add a task, and add a meeting.

Now head over to ‘Contacts’ and select the pencil icon again.

Under ‘Accounts’, you can now see the newly created account ‘True Lemons’ that you can select here. Hit Save.

 

6.      Create Deals

Deals are designated properties to sell your product or service. For each contact, you’ll be able to see the deals if you scroll all the way down.

To create a new deal, simply click ‘Add deal’. Alternatively, you may select ‘Deals’ on the left-hand side.

By heading over to the ‘+’ icon and clicking ‘Add deal’, you can easily create new deals on one of the best free CRM software.

Notice that, we’re going to Name ‘Website design'(For example) for the chosen client (and company). Here, you need to mention the deal value as well.

Then we have ‘Related contacts’ who are part of this account. In the following steps, you need to choose a currency before you hit ‘Save’. You may change the ‘deal stage’ for each deal on your Freshworks CRM.

You can change the view on the top-left according to open deals (which is a default setting), my deals, my territory deals, recent deals, and recently imported.

On the top-right, you’ll find settings. This is where you can customize your sales pipeline.

 

7.      Add Tasks

For each deal, you can create specific tasks. For example, if you need to follow up with your lead, click the ‘+’ icon and select ‘Add Tasks’.

Enter title, description, task type, and due date.

Under ‘Related to’, you can select other tasks that are related to this task.

Click Save. If you hit the ‘+’ icon again, you’ll find the option to add meetings as well.

 

8.      Compose Emails

Click the ‘+’ icon again to find an option called ‘Send email’. This is where you can draft and send emails to your contacts.

 

Additional Features/Elements

On the left-hand side, under ‘Sales Conversations’, we have an inbox and phone.

You’ll find the option to buy a phone number to make calls through your Freshworks CRM on the bottom left. Below the phone, we have the chat button.

On the far-right, we have notes, meetings, tasks, and files. You can also edit your profile in the top-right corner.

Read More: Freshworks CRM Tutorial for Beginners