SugarCRM vs Referral Maker

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Our analysts compared SugarCRM vs Referral Maker based on data from our 400+ point analysis of CRM Software, user reviews and our own crowdsourced data from our free software selection platform.

SugarCRM Software Tool
Referral Maker Software Tool

Product Basics

SugarCRM is a comprehensive platform that effectively manages the customer lifecycle with a set of modules that support each stage of the funnel. It helps organizations locate prospects, nurture leads, close more deals and retain customers. Some capabilities include quote management, forecasting, campaign management and a customizable interface.

It supports multiple currencies and 35 languages with the option to develop support for additional languages. It can integrate with mobile device management offerings as well.
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Referral Maker is a cloud-based solution that helps businesses manage leads, client feedback, databases, performance tracking and more from a central location. With features like a Dashboard and Priority Action Center, it boosts productivity and lead-to-close ratio.

Suited for businesses of all sizes, it maximizes sales efficiency and expands operations through relational marketing.
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$19/User, Monthly
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Tailored to your specific needs
$49 Monthly
Get a free price quote
Tailored to your specific needs
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Windows
Mac
Linux
Android
Chromebook
Windows
Mac
Linux
Android
Chromebook
Cloud
On-Premise
Mobile
Cloud
On-Premise
Mobile

Product Assistance

Documentation
In Person
Live Online
Videos
Webinars
Documentation
In Person
Live Online
Videos
Webinars
Email
Phone
Chat
FAQ
Forum
Knowledge Base
24/7 Live Support
Email
Phone
Chat
FAQ
Forum
Knowledge Base
24/7 Live Support

Product Insights

  • Improve Productivity: Streamline regular tasks through integration with email and calendar apps. Archive customer communications and quickly sync email information with various modules in the CRM. 
  • Centralize Info: Bring sales rep activities like calls and meetings into a central location for easy tracking. 
  • Ease Service Demands: Reduce the customer service workload by creating and managing a repository of searchable, self-service help articles. 
  • Leverage a Flexible DesignLeverage a Flexible Design: Make code-free custom layouts, fields and relationships. Customize modules and plugins to match internal processes and configure core functionality at a system or module level. 
  • Stay Informed About Activities: It’s easy to monitor record updates, create posts and comment, with all activities aggregated into a single stream that’s configurable and available from several different screens. 
  • Save Time: Keep work flowing in an efficient manner by building and applying automated business processes. 
  • Maintain Security: Keep data secure and ensure everyone has the appropriate access with permission privileges that use a combination of roles and team membership settings. 
  • Find Information Quickly: Access data using filters and tags for fast searching globally or within a single module. 
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  • Simplify Access: A simple, easy-to-use interface improves adoption rates while reducing the learning curve. 
  • Ensure Data Security: Ensure data safety through privacy-preserving encrypted data processing and automated scheduled backups. 
  • Leverage Cloud-Based Deployment: Leverage a cloud-based suite that prevents hardware investments and supplies operational agility. 
  • Get Mobile Accessibility: Access the software through a mobile website login and dedicated mobile apps over Android and iOS devices. 
  • Avoid Data Duplicity: Run duplicity scans to solve data duplicity and redundancy issues while managing contacts, listings and document data. 
  • Increase Revenue: Boost revenue by optimizing sales processes and improving win rates for faster ramp-up times and larger deal sizes.  
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  • Campaign Management: Offers multi-channel support and streamlines every aspect of marketing campaigns by: 
    • Benchmarking to see what works and what doesn’t.
    • Gathering campaign performance data for measurement and real-time updates.
    • Capturing email metrics such as bounce rate, click-through rate and open rate.
    • Collecting visitor info via web forms that don’t require technical knowledge to use.
  • Lead Management: Data insights show channel profitability and allow tracking of campaign effectiveness. Also helps: 
    • Segment based on source, channel, industry or other factors.
    • Route leads to the right sales rep based on business rules to define and automate the handoff from marketing to sales.
    • Replicate successful campaigns in a few steps.
  • Reports and Dashboards: View real-time, customizable data to analyze critical KPIs for a number of metrics such as leads, opportunities and sales rep performance. Also offers data on sales trends, customer profiles based on different criteria and case reports. 
  • Sales Forecasting: Models include likely, best case and worst case. Also has: 
    • What-if scenarios for more accurate predictability, using past revenue as the basis for sales predictions.
    • Worksheets for monitoring sales team performance and assigning quotas.
    • Customization options to handle complex sales cycles and situations like staggered or recurring purchases.
  • SugarBPM: Offers a visual interface for designing workflows, alongside tools that speed up troubleshooting and dashboards that save snapshots of tasks and workflows. 
  • Case Management: Customer service reps can efficiently and accurately handle customer cases by viewing all cases per account and receiving reminders for fast resolution. Also includes: 
    • Priority levels that help agents respond quickly to the most urgent cases.
    • KPIs like customer satisfaction and response times.
    • Configurable user journeys.
    • A portal where customers can create tickets, upload and update info, and follow cases to resolution.
  • Knowledge Base: Delivers self-serve information to customers via a portal. Also allows creating an article based on support case details and includes stock fields that can be modified based on needs. 
  • Bug Tracking: Agents can view details including resolution status as well as track product problems and bug frequency. 
  • Project Management: Includes common project management features such as Gantt charts, task management and dashboards to manage projects like campaigns and customer cases without needing a third-party tool. Also offers management of emails, calls and more from one spot, as well as a place to store call records. 
  • Integrations: Including: 
    • Popular Google apps such as Gmail, Docs and Drive.
    • Social media channels so companies can engage with customers more effectively.
    • Online meeting platforms like GoToMeeting and WebEx to start, schedule and join meetings directly from SugarCRM.
  • Mobile App: Offers a mobile app for phones and tablets, with features such as filters, dynamic search, GPS mapping, click-to-text, click-to-call and offline sync. 
  • Quote Management: Easily manage all aspects of customer quotes using a drag-and-drop interface and grouping options that categorize quoted items in an organized fashion. Also includes out-of-the-box customization for formulas and field calculations. 
  • Tags: Allows selecting which modules to include in global search results and changing selections as needed. Filters include multiple criteria for locating data, while tags are phrases or keywords that can be grouped together to organize information. 
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  • Dashboard: Get a visual overview of key metrics, activities and reports with a drag-and-drop customizable dashboard. Track metrics like average list price, average sales-to-close ratio, commission and upcoming appointments in real time. Collect useful insights for decision making at a glance. 
  • Calendar Management: Integrate with Google and iCalendar to get meetings, calls and appointment reminders in a timely manner. 
  • Campaign Management: Create and manage concurrent campaigns across multiple channels while tracking and optimizing them in real time to improve conversion rates. 
  • Contact Management: Store, organize, group and segment contacts centrally. Add tags and custom fields while using smart filters to search for contacts with similar attributes. Linear communication timelines make relevant information readily accessible. 
  • Email Marketing: Engage leads and build customer retention and loyalty through each stage of the buying journey with the email marketing module and customizable dynamic templates. 
  • Goal Tracking: Set up and track quantifiable time-based goals at the user, team, and organization levels to stay on the right track and maintain performance. 
  • Interaction Tracking: Track call and meeting details and attach notes for further information and follow-up activities. Track response rates for email interactions. 
  • Lead Management: Maintain a sales and marketing lead database while recording all marketing interactions between each prospect and the organization, including website visits, email clicks, scoring changes, and data updates and history. Also, track the sales activities for each prospect and their movement along the sales pipeline. 
  • Pop-By: Track clients in the vicinity and schedule visits through advanced mapping technology on the mobile version of the software. 
  • Priority Action Center: Get automatically populated to-do lists for the day with prompts for all activities such as calling prospects, writing notes and planning client meetings. 
  • Referral Tracking: Utilize an existing network of customers and users to send, receive, and track business referrals and sales leads. Keep networking activities up-to-date in one place. 
  • Reporting and Analytics: Access reports about data contained within the system, including sales, marketing and operational activities. Create ad hoc reports according to specific requirements. 
  • Task Management: Access an intuitive task management module that curates meetings and other important tasks and sets up automated reminders and notifications. 
  • Video Messages: Record and attach video messages to emails for increased engagement rates with an add-on feature. 
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Product Ranking

#42

among all
CRM Software

#196

among all
CRM Software

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User Sentiment Summary

Good User Sentiment 1126 reviews
Great User Sentiment 42 reviews
75%
of users recommend this product

SugarCRM has a 'good' User Satisfaction Rating of 75% when considering 1126 user reviews from 4 recognized software review sites.

86%
of users recommend this product

Referral Maker has a 'great' User Satisfaction Rating of 86% when considering 42 user reviews from 2 recognized software review sites.

5.0 (16)
n/a
3.7 (572)
n/a
3.8 (341)
4.31 (21)
n/a
4.3 (21)
3.7 (197)
n/a

Synopsis of User Ratings and Reviews

User-Friendly: Of users who review the functionality and interface, 66% mention the platform is intuitive and easy to adapt to.
Customer Service: The customer support is very responsive and helps fix issues quickly, according to 60% of users referencing it.
Automation: Can handle most daily tasks, helping save time and eliminating manual work, suggest 80% of users who mention this feature.
Integration: The application features wide device deployment and complete social media integration, according to 80% of users citing this element.
Customization: The software is highly customizable, making it flexible for every business need in the experience of 71% of users who reviewed customizations.
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Simple and Easy to Use: Referral Maker is praised for its user-friendly interface and intuitive design, making it easy for users of all technical levels to navigate and utilize its features effectively.
Effective Referral Tracking: The platform provides robust tools for tracking referrals, allowing users to monitor the progress of their referral campaigns and measure their success in real-time.
Customizable Referral Programs: Referral Maker offers a high degree of customization, enabling users to tailor their referral programs to their specific needs and goals, including setting custom rewards, designing unique referral links, and creating targeted campaigns.
Automated Referral Process: The platform automates key aspects of the referral process, such as sending referral invitations, tracking referrals, and distributing rewards, saving users time and effort.
Integrations with Popular Tools: Referral Maker integrates seamlessly with various popular CRM and marketing tools, allowing users to connect their referral program with their existing workflows and data.
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Not Budget-Friendly: The system is pricey for the features offered, say 66% of reviews about pricing.
Compelled Updates: 100% of users reviewing this indicate that the automatic updates reconfigure the system, making it time-consuming to set up every time.
Data Reporting: he system offers limited data reporting functionality and forces the usage of line items, quotes, forecasts and the renewal console, according to 66% of users mentioning this.
Lacks Responsiveness: The dashboard is very cumbersome and takes time to respond, suggest 75% of users reviewing this aspect.
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Limited Integrations: Referral Maker's integrations with other business tools and platforms are limited, making it challenging to incorporate into existing workflows and hindering data synchronization with other essential systems.
Customization Constraints: The platform's customization options are somewhat restricted, potentially limiting the ability to tailor the referral program to specific branding and unique requirements.
Mobile App Deficiency: The absence of a dedicated mobile app can inconvenience users who prefer managing their referral programs on the go, potentially impacting engagement and responsiveness.
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SugarCRM provides a wide array of features that the majority of users report are user-friendly. It automates workflows for easy operation and integrates with almost all apps that are used on a day-to-day basis. Feedback also indicates the customer service is a key benefit. Some limitations include forced updates that hinder productivity, limited reporting and analytics, and a slow dashboard. Users also say it’s on the expensive side given the features available. While there are notable drawbacks, it has plenty to offer businesses looking to automate their sales and marketing efforts on a highly customizable platform.

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Is Referral Maker a cut above when it comes to making referrals? User reviews from the past year suggest that Referral Maker, while helpful for some, might not be the "referring" champion for everyone. Users appreciate its straightforward setup and ease of use, especially for those already familiar with Buffini & Company's systems. The program's task management and contact organization features are praised for keeping users on top of their client relationships, a crucial aspect of real estate. However, some users find the software's functionality somewhat limited compared to competitors like LionDesk or Top Producer CRM, particularly when it comes to advanced features and integrations. For instance, a lack of in-depth reporting tools and limited customization options are common complaints. Referral Maker seems best suited for real estate professionals already invested in the Buffini & Company ecosystem who prioritize simplicity and ease of use over a wider range of features. If you're looking for a basic CRM to manage contacts and stay organized, Referral Maker could be a good fit. However, if you require robust reporting, advanced automation, or integrations with other platforms, exploring alternatives might be worthwhile.

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