Lead management sits at the heart of successful franchise operations. It bridges the gap between raw data and viable business opportunities. With the right tool, salespeople can convert prospective data into actionable leads.
Choosing the right lead management software, however, can be overwhelming, given the vast options available in the market.
From cloud-based systems to customizable programs, it’s confusing to find the right one for your franchise.
This article aims to simplify that process. We will provide an unbiased review of the top 10 franchise lead management software, helping you select the one that best suits your franchise’s needs.
What Is Franchise Lead Management Software?
Before we delve into our top picks for franchise lead management software, let’s first establish what it is and why it’s important.
Lead management is the ongoing process that involves attracting potential customers, qualifying these leads, and using strategic approaches to convert them into clients.
It’s a pivotal process for franchises, bridging the gap between an interested prospect and a committed customer.
Now, lead management software is the tool that aids this process. It helps sales and marketing teams manage leads coming through the pipeline efficiently.
The software typically includes tools for lead generation, qualification, segmentation, nurturing, scoring, and routing.
Additionally, it also measures the success of various lead management strategies.
However, it’s worth noting that lead management software is not the same as customer relationship management (CRM) software.
While both help manage customer interactions, lead management software is more focused on new potential clients — identifying, tracking, and nurturing them through the sales process.
In essence, franchise lead management software offers a targeted approach, aiding franchises in turning potential interest into viable business opportunities.
This focus and functionality make it an invaluable tool in the franchise sector.
Top 10 Franchise Lead Management Software Solutions
With that out of the way, let’s dive into our list of the ten best franchise lead management software solutions.
We’ll be providing an overview of each product as well as highlighting their standout features.
1. Apptivo CRM
Apptivo CRM is a cloud-based software that has risen to prominence due to its all-encompassing nature.
Founded to cater to small businesses’ unique needs, its suite of apps ranges from lead management to invoicing and even project management.
It’s intuitive interface and scalable functionality stand out among competitors. Apptivo CRM’s unique app structure offers a degree of customization and scalability that few other platforms can match.
This factor, combined with its cost-effective nature, makes it a solid contender in the world of lead management software.
The software’s tiered plans cater to varying business needs. The starter plan offers eight CRM apps, while the enterprise plan includes 65 apps that extend beyond standard CRM functionality.
This advanced feature set includes opportunity and lead management, support for multiple sales pipelines, automated workflows, custom reports and dashboards, and product catalogs.
Apptivo CRM also offers several ways to capture new leads, from bulk importing contacts to manual input, and even allows embedding a lead capture form on a website.
Despite its extensive offerings, however, it is worth noting that Apptivo CRM’s strength lies in its ability to scale and adapt to a business’s growing needs rather than providing the most cutting-edge, advanced features.
Features:
- Intuitive interface for easy customization
- Multiple sales pipelines
- Automated workflows
- Lead capture forms for website embedding
- Bulk contact importing and manual inputting of leads
Pricing:
- Lite: $10/month
- Premium: $15/month
- Ultimate: $25/month
2. Zendesk
Zendesk stands as a powerful yet easy-to-use CRM lead-tracking platform that streamlines the task of monitoring potential customers.
Offering pre-built features that businesses can deploy immediately or customize to their specifications, Zendesk hits a unique balance between out-of-the-box functionality and flexibility.
Customizable sales pipelines are at the heart of Zendesk’s offerings, allowing businesses to track prospects through every stage and tailor the pipelines to align with specific needs.
Additionally, Zendesk’s funnel report helps analyze lead and deal progression, adding another layer of insight into your lead management.
A standout feature is Zendesk’s pipeline conversion report, designed to spot bottlenecks in your sales process.
Alongside this, the smart list feature grants access to top prospects swiftly.
The platform’s activity report keeps tabs on the deal and lead-related activities over time, providing useful business metrics.
Finally, with Zendesk Sell, sales reps can focus on perfecting sales emails, templates, and follow-ups.
At the same time, the platform automatically captures and tracks key details related to deals, contacts, and leads.
Despite its vast capabilities, Zendesk remains user-friendly, making it a top choice for many businesses.
Features:
- Pre-built features for swift implementation
- Customizable sales pipelines
- Pipeline conversion report
- Activity reporting feature
- Smart list feature to prioritize top prospects
Pricing:
- Suite Team: $49/agent/month
- Suite Growth: $79/agent/month
- Suite Professional: $99/agent/month
3. Zoho CRM
Zoho CRM stands out as an ideal choice for medium-sized franchises, offering a comprehensive 360-degree customer lifecycle platform.
Its capability to seamlessly integrate with more than 500 popular apps enhances its compatibility and ease of use.
The platform excels in lead tracking features, offering tools like targeted email marketing and card scanners.
Its omnichannel communication option, coupled with an AI-powered conversation assistant, allows businesses to reach prospects across platforms, enhancing customer engagement.
Zoho CRM’s starter plan includes features like customer dashboards, sales pipelines, and up to 10 fields for lead-scoring rules.
The platform further distinguishes itself with Google Ads integration, demonstrating a keen understanding of contemporary marketing strategies.
In summary, Zoho CRM strikes a balance between utility and adaptability, making it an attractive solution for medium-sized franchises seeking a comprehensive CRM tool with ample lead management capabilities.
Features:
- Targeted email marketing and card scanners
- Omnichannel communication option
- AI-powered conversation assistant
- Google Ads integration
- Lead scoring rules of up to 10 fields
Pricing:
- Standard: $14/user/month
- Professional: $23/user/month
- Enterprise: $40/user/month
- Ultimate: $52/user/month
4. Pipedrive
Pipedrive caters to the needs of small and medium-sized franchises, offering a visual and intuitive interface used by over 100,000 companies globally.
Its core offering is pipeline management, allowing users to create and customize any number of pipelines to reflect their unique sales processes.
A standout feature of Pipedrive is the Leads Inbox, a tool designed to declutter CRM and improve pre-sales communication with prospects.
It offers a dedicated space to store incoming leads until they’re ready to be qualified, ensuring that no opportunity slips through the cracks.
Pipedrive’s Activities Management feature ensures you stay on top of all tasks, while Smart Contact Data simplifies the import of information from the web with a single click, making it convenient to fill your pipeline with quality leads.
In a market crowded with CRM tools, Pipedrive differentiates itself with a focus on visual, intuitive pipeline management, aiding businesses in effectively managing leads and ensuring a smoother sales process.
Features:
- Leads Inbox for pre-sales communication
- Customizable sales pipelines
- Activity Management feature
- Smart Contact Data for speeding up the import of data from the web
- Pipeline management tools to visualize sales processes
Pricing:
- Essential: $9.90/user/month
- Advanced: $19.90/user/month
- Professional: $39.90/user/month
- Power: $49.90/user/month
- Enterprise: $59.90/user/month
5. ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign is a sales CRM automation tool known for its superior lead scoring and nurturing features.
It gives businesses the tools necessary to generate and nurture qualified leads with a higher conversion chance.
ActiveCampaign’s standout feature is its ability to track a prospect’s activity at every point of the sales lifecycle.
This feature enables businesses to understand how engaged their prospects are, assigning a higher lead score to more engaged leads.
The platform also notifies sales reps when a lead’s score increases, allowing timely outreach.
In addition to its robust lead-scoring capabilities, ActiveCampaign includes features such as sales pipelines, split action, and attribution.
The platform also supports one-to-one email communication, reinforcing its commitment to personalized lead engagement.
ActiveCampaign is a comprehensive CRM solution that prioritizes lead scoring and nurturing.
For businesses that want a robust understanding of leadership behavior and engagement, ActiveCampaign emerges as a top choice.
Features:
- Lead scoring and nurturing.
- Sales pipelines
- Split action and attribution options
- Real-time notification when the lead score increases
- One-to-one email communication with prospects
Pricing:
- Plus: $49/month
- Professional: $149/month
6. Keap
Keap is a CRM lead management tool that has been meticulously designed to nurture customer relationships from the first impression onwards.
It provides all the essential tools needed for streamlining and automating the sales process, enabling franchises to convert prospects into customers efficiently.
A unique offering of Keap is its diverse pricing models, which allow franchisees to scale according to their needs.
The lowest pricing tier includes up to 500 contacts per user, catering to both growing and established businesses.
Keap excels in lead nurturing with features like lead magnet blueprints, landing pages, dedicated sales funnels, and internal forms.
Businesses can apply tags, score leads, and automate their entire sales pipeline, ensuring a systematic and organized approach to lead management.
The tool also includes functionalities for managing multiple sales pipelines and handling payments, quotes, and invoicing.
Overall, Keap offers a comprehensive suite of tools for businesses focused on nurturing customer relationships and streamlining their sales process.
Features:
- Lead magnet blueprints
- Landing pages for campaigns
- Dedicated sales funnels and forms
- Tags and lead scoring options
- Payments, quotes, and invoicing management
Pricing:
- Pro: $159/month
- Max: $229/month
7. HubSpot CRM
HubSpot’s Sales Hub, a CRM sales lead management tool, empowers franchises by centralizing all prospect data and activities.
It enables businesses to keep track of every customer touchpoint, facilitating timely and relevant engagement.
HubSpot excels in scoring and prioritizing potential customers, segmenting them into distinct lists, and tracking real-time email exchanges.
Its pipeline feature is particularly useful, allowing businesses to access contact details and customer interaction histories.
Furthermore, HubSpot offers additional functionalities like meeting scheduling, email tracking and notifications, a reporting dashboard, and email reply tracking.
Its mobile app enhances accessibility, making it easier for teams to manage leads on the go.
With HubSpot CRM, franchises can maintain a 360-degree view of their prospects, ensuring they never miss an opportunity to engage at the right moment.
Features:
- Lead scoring and prioritizing.
- Pipeline feature
- Meeting scheduling and email tracking
- Reporting dashboard
- Mobile app with offline access
Pricing:
- Starter: $18/month
- Professional: $450/month
- Enterprise: $1200/month
8. monday.com
monday.com is a versatile CRM tool suitable for small to large franchise businesses.
Its strength lies in pipeline management, seamlessly connecting every department within your organization regardless of size.
The platform allows franchises to manage customer data, interactions, and processes in a manner that best suits their needs.
It also offers the flexibility to build and customize dashboards according to specific business requirements.
monday.com impresses with its automation capabilities, helping with repetitive tasks and ensuring that the sales process runs smoothly.
It allows the automatic insertion of leads captured on any form and imports leads from various tools.
In addition, the platform offers ‘Won & Lost Groups,’ which provide insight into your sales efforts’ performance.
In essence, monday.com is an all-encompassing CRM tool that streamlines lead management for franchises of all sizes.
Features:
- Pipeline management
- Dashboard customization
- Automation of repetitive tasks
- Lead import from various tools
- Won & Lost Groups
Pricing:
- Basic: $8/seat/month
- Standard: $10/seat/month
- Pro: $16/seat/month
9. Lead Docket
Lead Docket is a comprehensive lead flow software tool catering to individuals, mid-sized franchises, and enterprise firms.
Its standout feature is the use of web forms to capture new prospect contact details efficiently.
The platform ensures seamless follow-ups with automated communications, keeping potential customers informed and engaged.
It also offers marketing optimization, providing insights into where leads are coming from and assessing the efficacy of campaigns.
Lead Docket integrates seamlessly with popular business apps like Mailchimp, CallRail, and DocuSign, enhancing its functionality.
Being a secure cloud-based solution, it assures data safety while maintaining accessibility.
The tool also provides reporting features to track indicators like revenue by source, referral fees, lead volume over time, and others, aiding in better decision-making.
For franchises seeking a secure and comprehensive lead management tool, Lead Docket is a solid choice.
Features:
- Use of web forms
- Automated communication for follow-ups
- Marketing optimization
- Integrates with popular business apps
- Reporting features to track performance
Pricing:
- Custom
10. ClickPoint
Serving various industries, from education and B2B to travel and insurance, ClickPoint is a CRM tool designed with salespeople in mind.
Its objective is to improve franchise reach to prospects, ensuring businesses tap into their full potential.
ClickPoint prioritizes the deals that matter most, enabling salespeople to focus their efforts effectively.
Its actionable sales reporting feature gives an insight into which sources bring in the most value and which ones underperform, helping businesses make informed decisions.
The platform boasts native integrations with lead providers like Zillow and LendingTree and form providers like Formstack and Unbounce through Zapier.
It enhances user experience with a calendar reminder system, call logging, auto-dialer, marketing automation, and field sales management.
In essence, ClickPoint offers a comprehensive solution to franchises looking to improve their lead management and sales processes across various industries.
Features:
- Prioritize deals that matter
- Actionable sales reporting
- Integrations with lead and form providers
- Calendar reminder system
- Call logging and auto-dialer
Pricing:
- Starts at $450/month
Comparison Of Top 10 Franchise Lead Management
| Name | Year Founded | Free Trial | Pricing | Capterra Rating | Headquarters |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apptivo CRM | 2009 | Available | $10/month | 4.4 | Fremont, CA, USA |
| Zendesk | 2007 | Available | $49/agent/month | 4.4 | San Francisco, CA, USA |
| Zoho CRM | 2005 | Available | $14/user/month | 4.3 | Chennai, India |
| Pipedrive | 2010 | Available | $9.90/user/month | 4.5 | New York, NY, USA |
| ActiveCampaign | 2012 | Available | $49/month | 4.4 | Boston, MA, USA |
| Keap | 2003 | Available | $159/month | 4.3 | Chicago, IL, USA |
| HubSpot CRM | 2006 | Available | $18/month | 4.5 | Cambridge, MA, USA |
| Monday.com | 2012 | Available | $8/seat/month | 4.6 | Tel Aviv, Israel |
| Lead Docket | 2014 | Demo available | Custom | 4.7 | Morgantown. WV, USA |
| ClickPoint | 2007 | Available | $450/month | 4.7 | Scottsdale, AZ, USA |
Wrapping Up
Effective franchise lead management software plays a vital role in streamlining sales processes, nurturing customer relationships, and converting prospects into valuable customers.
The ten software options mentioned above represent some of the best in the market.
Whether you own a restaurant franchise and need a tool to streamline your sales process or manage a medium-sized franchise and require comprehensive customer lifecycle management, there is a lead management software tailored to your specific needs.
With the right tool, you can optimize your lead management process and maximize your franchise’s growth potential.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why Do I Need Lead Management Software for My Franchise?
Lead management software helps franchises manage customer relationships and streamline their sales processes, thus optimizing customer conversion rates.
It also provides valuable insights into the performance of marketing campaigns to ensure that resources are used optimally.
With these tools, franchisees can maximize their growth potential and increase ROI.
What Are Some Common Features of Lead Management Software?
Lead management software typically offers features such as pipeline management, automated communication for follow-ups, marketing optimization, integrations with popular business apps, and reporting features to track performance.
Depending on the provider, additional features may include mobile access for sales teams or “won & lost” groups to provide further insights into the sales process.
What Are The Benefits of Having Franchise Lead Management Software?
Franchise lead management software helps streamline the sales process, increase ROI, and maximize growth potential.
Companies benefit from improved organization and better customer relationships, as well as insights into customer behavior to inform their decision-making.
Amit Gupta is an experienced expert in digital marketing and co-founder of DrFranchises. With more than 11 years of knowledge in franchise digital marketing, SEO, email marketing, and social media marketing, Amit has helped many brands achieve incredible success online. As a passionate entrepreneur and owner of 7 franchises, he continues to study franchise models, looking at costs, revenue, and profitability to guide brands toward profitable growth. When he’s not working on digital marketing, Amit enjoys spending time playing with his beloved dog.