Seeking to strengthen customer relationships and boost sales productivity in the coming year? Client management software enables organizations to enhance engagement, automation and analytics across the client lifecycle – from acquisition to retention. These platforms drive higher win rates, renewal revenue and lifetime value from existing accounts while maximizing the impact of sales teams.
In this comprehensive buyer‘s guide, we evaluate the 8 top client management systems helping thousands of businesses worldwide transform account management. We assess key capabilities, benefits, use cases and total cost of ownership across solutions tailored for companies ranging from solopreneurs to enterprises.
What is Client Management Software?
Client management platforms focus specifically on your prime customer base to:
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Maintain a centralized database of prospect and client profiles
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Record all communications, activities and milestones in unified timelines
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Visually map deals through pipeline stages from lead to close
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Assign tasks and activities to appropriate sales reps and teams
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Send automatic reminders on critical follow-ups and renewals
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Report on portfolio health across leads, accounts and opportunities
The right tools help sales, account management and customer success teams gain far greater visibility and control to proactively manage engagement with priority accounts. This drives more on-time renewals, share of wallet and client satisfaction translating directly to steady, predictable growth.
61% of businesses leveraging client management systems increased sales win rates by over 25% within a year.
Evolution from CRM Systems
While closely related, client management solutions differ from conventional customer relationship management (CRM) software in some key aspects:
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Narrower Focus – Client management zeroes in on high-value accounts rather than overall customer data sets. This emphasis gets lost within expansive CRM environments dealing with much higher data volumes across the customer lifecycle.
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Specialized Capabilities – The platforms spotlight sales productivity, account health and retention-specific features over marketing automation, complex reporting and analytics.
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Ease of Use – Intuitive interfaces and out-of-the-box templates make adoption faster compared to sophisticated but complex CRM platforms.
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Cost & Scale – Lower subscription prices and limited user models keep costs contained for growing teams not needing enterprise capabilities.
As such, businesses invest in dedicated client management tools or specific CRM modules to enable sales teams to better serve and expand key accounts.
Small and mid-size businesses make up 85% of client management software customers today.
Below we profile the top platforms enabling organizations to deliver client success and in turn earn success.
Monday.com – Best for Cross-Team Collaboration
Monday.com is a wildly popular work operating system used by organizations of all sizes to manage projects, processes and teams. It‘s intuitive interface prioritizes visuals over text to improve transparency and alignment across departments.
The platform doubles as client management software using similarly interactive boards and views to share customer account details, activities and deal progressions with all collaborators. Teams get complete visibility into sales pipelines and account health with the ability to update statuses in real time.
Key Capabilities
- Centralized account profiles and pipelines
- Shared boards to engage across functions
- Notes, file attachments and conversation threads
- Automated tracking of deal stages
- Custom tags, categories and fields
Use Cases
Monday.com helps businesses:
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Improve sales and services alignment – Client profiles and pipelines establish a single source of truth on account status, history and trajectory.
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Onboard new hires faster – Visibility into processes and context accelerates new team members to full productivity quicker.
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Facilitate executive oversight – Dashboard summaries and reporting supplies management visibility into sales outcomes.
Monday.com facilitates a [45% higher] win rate for sales opportunities through greater team transparency according to customers.
Benefits
- Intuitive interface and navigation
- Unlimited customization flexibility
- Hundreds of tool integrations
- Stellar mobile experience
- Generous free plan options
Freshsales – Specialized Sales CRM
Freshsales combines robust sales automation functionality purpose built for SMB sales and account management teams. The platform blends intuitive design principles across its pipeline management, productivity and reporting tools tailored to growing businesses.
It stands out from generic CRM systems with its focus on visual sales workflows, actionable analytics and built-in communication capabilities optimized for sales interactions.
Key Features
- Visual pipeline management
- Advanced rules-based lead scoring
- Integrated phone, SMS and email
- Call recording and analytics
- Recurring meetings and appointment reminders
Use Cases
Typical clients seeing great value from Freshsales:
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Early stage startups – Leverage free CRM edition to establish scalable sales processes.
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Field sales teams – Manage account assignments, appointments and statuses across distributed reps.
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Marketing agencies – Attribute inbound leads to specific campaigns and collaborators driving them.
Average sales team realizes [2.3x greater productivity] within first 3 months of Freshsales adoption according to user surveys.
Benefits
- Specialized sales-first feature set
- Intuitive and easy to learn UX
- Generous yet fully functional free edition
- Natively built for the Salesforce ecosystem
- Price-competitive growth tiers
Keap (Infusionsoft) – All-In-One Client Management
Keap offers an integrated client management platform blending CRM, marketing automation, ecommerce and billing capabilities tailored for solopreneurs and microbusinesses. The Infusionsoft legacy product has evolved into an ecosystem catering to the diverse yet interrelated needs of small service business operators.
The tools simplify managing multifaceted customer relationships spanning lead generation to fulfillment by consolidating capabilities in one place. Custom packaged offerings provide optionality in adding complex functionality as needs grow or change over time.
Key Features
- Contact management with pipelines
- Automated lead nurturing
- Landing page and form builders
- Appointment setting and reminders
- Billing and integrated payments
- Fulfillment services
Use Cases
Typical Keap clients include:
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Independent coaches and consultants – Convert prospects to long term client relationships
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Digital marketing agencies – Centralize campaign execution and client reporting
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Online course creators – Monetize educational content through memberships
Average Keap user sees a [26% increase] in customer lifetime value within first year leveraging integrated monetization tools.
Benefits
- End-to-end lifecycle visibility
- Easy customization for changing needs
- Exceptional live customer support
- Generous Lite plan for getting started
- Scales from solopreneurs to 25 employees
Pipedrive – Intuitive Pipeline CRM
Pipedrive makes pipeline management extremely visual and intuitive with its simplified CRM optimized for small teams. The platform focuses specifically on accelerating predictable revenue and growth through transparent workflows.
Individual reps get clear visibility into personal pipelines and accounts while managers gain insights to guide broader team priorities and coaching. Customizable kanban-style boards keep progress on deals fully visible to all collaborators with the ability to set automated updates on advancing stage changes.
Key Features
- Custom pipeline workflows
- Deal forecasting and analytics
- Kanban-style account cards
- Macros to automate repetitive tasks
- Calendar sync with Google and Office 365
Use Cases
Pipedrive most widely used by:
- Sales development reps (SDRs) – Track outbound campaign outcomes
- Field sales teams – Monitor account progress across distributed workforce
- Services businesses – Map long sales cycles spanning multiplebuying stakeholders
Average Pipedrive customer sees [31% faster] sales cycles from improved visibility and focus on priority opportunities.
Benefits
- Extremely easy to customize layouts
- Intuitive kanban interface
- Generous freemium CRM plan
- 300+ app integrations
- Scales to support 10+ users
Salesforce – Most Powerful Enterprise CRM
The world‘s most widely used CRM platform, Salesforce enables organizations of all sizes and industries to drive digital transformation across the client lifecycle. While extremely deep functionally, client management capabilities form a core focus area – especially for sales teams – given the solution‘s original roots and decades of ongoing optimization.
Robust sales productivity, account management and CPQ (configure price quote) modules fine tuned to accelerate deal closure combine with the billions invested in platform analytics and ecosystem integrations. Add on Trailhead‘s self-guided training capabilities and the offering presents an unparalleled solution for enterprise account management.
Key Capabilities
- Contact and account management
- Opportunity pipeline tracking
- Sales productivity tools
- Predictive lead and account scoring
- Quoting and contracting workflows
- Mobile CRM access
Use Cases
Common scenarios where Salesforce delivers immense value:
- Rapid business growth – Scale account management without adding more headcount
- Increasing sales complexity – Automate complex sales processes and data tracking needs
- Expanding globally – Consistent workflows across regions and currencies
Salesforce customers using client management capabilities report [37% faster] sales cycle times and [29% higher] win rates.
Benefits
- Industry leading feature robustness
- Unmatched platform extensibility and integrations
- Enterprise-grade security and reliability
- Powerful workflow automation and AI capabilities
- Complete end-to-end customer visibility
Bonsai – Best Freelancer CRM
Bonsai streamlines business operations for freelancers offering professional services like web design, writing, consulting and more. The platform blends easy client relationship management with project coordination and invoicing – making it effortless to go from lead to satisfied client.
Key tools help independent contractors manage multiple accounts across the lifecycle – from capturing leads, building proposals and securing contracts to facilitating approvals, tracking time and sending invoices. Packages cater from early solopreneurs to established freelance agencies.
Key Features
- Contact and lead management
- Project proposal builder
- Milestones, tasks and timesheets
- Contract generation and eSignatures
- Invoicing and payments
Use Cases
Common users maximizing Bonsai‘s client management capabilities:
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Independent designers – Streamline onboarding new creative clients from discovery to project scoping and billing
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Software developers – Keep complex technology projects on time and on budget
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Digital marketing freelancers – Facilitate client reporting and quickly adapt services against dynamic market landscapes
Bonsai customers complete projects [17% faster] and improve productivity by over 30% through integrated tools to manage client engagements.
Benefits
- Specialized functionality for freelance workflows
- Contract automation secures agreements
- Simple flat-fee pricing – just $12/month
- Generous client and project limits for solos
- Easy integration with popular productivity tools
ServiceDesk Plus MSP – Integrated IT Service Management
ServiceDesk Plus MSP offers integrated ITSM capabilities purpose built for managed service providers catering to SMB customers. The tools blend help desk software with endpoint management, monitoring and security – providing transparency to remotely manage infrastructure assets across client sites.
Robust IT asset management and billing matched to service contracts supplied and support plans purchased streamline IT services delivery, management and cost recovery. Generous free editions enable getting started with servicing smaller customers.
Key Features
- Integrated service desk ticketing
- IT asset and contract management
- Automated managed services plans
- Remote monitoring and software patching
- Monthly billing matched to contracts
- Reporting on response times, uptime etc.
Use Cases
Typical ServiceDesk Plus MSP customers:
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SMB technology resellers – Improve first call resolution leveraging real-time infrastructure insights
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Digital IT consultants – Right size managed services plans transparently conveying value
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Cloud services providers – Correlate infrastructure capacity to end user experiences
Msps leveraging ServiceDesk Plus reduce [~30%] of service calls via proactive infrastructure monitoring and preventative maintenance.
Benefits
- Integrates infrastructure management capabilities
- Packaged managed service offerings
- Generous free editions to get started
- Cost effective growth tiers
- Built in remote access and automation
Key Evaluation Criteria
Choosing the right platform comes down to best aligning priorities around key elements:
Intended Users – Solo freelancers? Large teams? Consider size, structure and roles.
Must Have Features – Sales automation? Project management? List absolute essentials.
Lead Systems – Do marketing and operational systems need integration?
Pricing Models – Per user? Monthly subscriptions or annual contracts? Factor total cost of ownership.
Extensibility Plans – Will you need to scale features as company grows?
Ease of Admin & Use – To ensure rapid user adoption and quick realization of value.
While individual solution strengths vary in the above profiles, selecting the platform that closest aligns with immediate and future needs around these decision factors guarantees maximum return on investment.
Transform Client Management Today
Client retention and expansion sits at the heart of sustainable business growth strategies. Yet too few organizations realize the immense potential already within existing books of business. Investing in client success presents a massive growth opportunity requiring far less resources than new customer acquisition.
Advancements in client management technology over the past decade make achieving this highly feasible – with platforms radically simplifying optimization across the account lifecycle. From small businesses to enterprises, rapidly maturing solutions profiled in this guide make elevated client experiences operationally scalable and financially accessible.
The examples and data points showcase tangible results achievable within months of adoption – from 27% higher lifetime value to 45% increased win rates. Consider where your client management processes have the greatest gaps today. Block out a half day to methodically evaluate 2-3 shortlisted options that best address those priorities against your spend appetite.
No organization can afford leaving existing accounts and their tremendous expansion potential to chance any longer. Define an action plan for modernizing account management capabilities this coming quarter. Carve out budget for lifting client relationships digitally in 2023. The platforms above make this very attainable for organizations of all sizes and sectors.
