When you get new leads from a form, add them to Breakcold CRM
Typeform + Breakcold
Not long ago, I kept running into the same problem: leads were coming in, but I wasn’t closing fast enough. I’d forget to follow up at the right time, miss key details from earlier calls, and waste hours jumping between my inbox, CRM, and calendar trying to stay on top of everything.
It wasn’t a pipeline problem—it was a process problem. Too many manual steps, too many things slipping through the cracks. I needed a way to keep everything in sync without adding more to my plate.
That’s when I started testing tools built for sales, not just general productivity. The right ones helped me automate follow-ups, track deals more accurately, and keep conversations moving without the daily scramble.
In this article, I’ll break down the tools that made a real difference. If you’re spending more time managing your pipeline than actually selling, this is for you.
What is sales automation
Sales automation is all about using software to take repetitive, time-consuming tasks off your plate—so you can spend more time actually selling.
Instead of manually entering data, chasing leads, or setting reminders, automation handles it for you. Here’s what that looks like in practice:
-
Capturing leads. Automatically pull new leads from forms, chatbots, or website visits straight into your CRM. No more copy-pasting.
-
Sending email sequences. Set up a series of follow-up emails that go out on a schedule, based on how a lead interacts with your messages.
-
Updating the sales pipeline. Move deals through stages automatically when certain actions happen—like when a lead replies or books a meeting.
-
Scheduling follow-ups. Create tasks or reminders without thinking about it. If a deal goes quiet, the system can nudge you to reach out.
-
Tracking deals and contacts. Keep all activity in one place: emails, calls, notes, and updates, synced across your tools without manual effort.
The goal isn’t to replace the human side of sales—it’s to support it. Sales automation helps you stay organized, respond faster, and focus your energy where it matters most: closing deals.
We’ve also prepared a guide on marketing automation―check it out on our blog. And here, you will find some automations for marketing and sales you can set up with Albato.
Benefits of using sales automation apps
Before I started using sales automation tools, my days were packed with small, manual tasks—logging calls, writing the same follow-up emails, updating the CRM after every meeting. It felt endless. And even with all that effort, I’d still miss a lead now and then or forget to update a deal stage.
Once I brought automation into my workflow, everything changed.
-
I got hours back each week. The follow-ups I used to write manually? Now they go out automatically, personalized and timed right. That alone freed me up to focus on real conversations.
-
My data got cleaner. No more missing fields or outdated info in the CRM. Automated updates keep everything accurate, which helps when it’s time to review the pipeline or prep for a call.
-
Lead follow-up became consistent. Every new lead gets a response—fast. I don’t have to think about it, and nothing slips through the cracks.
-
And yeah, conversion rates improved. Responding quickly, staying organized, and keeping the right info in front of me made a noticeable difference. Deals started moving faster.
Now I’ll share the best apps for sales automation that helped me get there.
Top sales automation apps
1. Breakcold
What Breakcold does is bring social and email outreach into a single view. You can see what your leads are posting on LinkedIn or Twitter and interact with them directly. That helped me personalize my outreach without wasting time digging through profiles. I still had to do the work—but at least everything I needed was in front of me. For social-first outreach, that’s a real plus.
The email side is pretty basic. You can set up sequences and track opens, but it’s not as advanced as tools like Lemlist or Mailshake. It worked for me when I was running simple campaigns, but if you need detailed automation logic or complex branching, it’ll feel limited. I also noticed that the interface, while clean, can be a little too minimal. Sometimes I wasn’t sure where to find certain features or what a button would do.
The built-in CRM is simple—which I liked. I didn’t need to read a manual to use it. I could tag leads, set follow-up reminders, and keep track of conversations without jumping between tools. But it’s clearly built for smaller teams or solo users. If you need detailed reporting or team collaboration features, you might outgrow it quickly.
Breakcold offers three subscription tiers:
-
CRM Essentials – $29 per user/month
-
CRM Pro – $59 per user/month
-
CRM Max – $79 per user/month
Each plan includes a 14-day free trial, allowing you to test the platform before committing.
2. HubSpot
What I liked about HubSpot is how it pulls everything—email outreach, CRM, automation—into one place. If you're already using other parts of HubSpot, like their marketing tools, it all works together seamlessly, which makes life easier. One feature that stood out to me was the automatic lead enrichment. When I added contacts, HubSpot filled in extra details like company info, social profiles, and recent activity. It saved me a lot of time digging around online.
Email-wise, it's pretty solid. You can create templates, schedule follow-ups, and track opens and clicks. It's not as specialized for cold outreach as something like Mailshake or Lemlist, but for following up with warm leads or running nurture sequences, it works really well. You also get personalization tools and A/B testing built in, which is a nice bonus.
Where HubSpot really shines is the deal pipeline. The board is visual and easy to use—you can drag deals between stages, automate follow-ups, and even assign leads to different team members based on rules you set. The automation is a step up from basic tools—it’s flexible enough to support more complex workflows as you grow.
That said, the interface can feel a bit overwhelming at first. There’s a lot going on, and it takes a little time to get used to where everything lives. But once you get the hang of it, it’s pretty smooth. I especially liked the Gmail and Outlook integrations—being able to track emails and pull in CRM data right from my inbox saved a ton of clicks.
The free CRM is actually pretty generous. You get contact and deal tracking, tasks, notes, and even some basic reporting without paying anything. But if you want advanced automation, deeper reporting, or custom lead scoring, you’ll need to upgrade.
Pricing (as of 2025):
-
Free – $0/month: Great for basic contact management and tracking
-
Starter – $20/month per user: Adds email tools, scheduling, and limited automation
-
Professional – $500/month (for 5 users): Unlocks full automation, forecasting, lead scoring, and more
-
Enterprise – $1,500/month (for 10 users): Built for large teams with advanced needs
3. Pipedrive
Pipedrive is all about keeping your sales process organized without weighing you down. What stood out to me right away was how intuitive the interface is—you land on your pipeline, and everything you need is right there. Moving deals between stages is as easy as dragging a card, and updating details never feels like a chore. It’s clearly built for salespeople who’d rather sell than fiddle with their CRM.
One thing I appreciated is how customizable it is. You can tweak your pipelines, add custom fields, and set up automations without needing to be technical. For example, I had it send me a Slack message every time a deal hit a certain stage, and that kind of workflow took minutes to set up. You can automate repetitive tasks like assigning leads, sending follow-up emails, or updating deal statuses, which helps reduce manual work.
Email tools are baked right in. You can track opens and clicks, sync with your Gmail or Outlook, and even send emails directly from inside Pipedrive. The built-in templates are basic but useful. If you're doing high-volume outreach, it's probably not as advanced as tools like Lemlist or Instantly, but for most sales reps, it's more than enough. Plus, having everything under one roof just keeps things cleaner.
The reporting is surprisingly good for such a lightweight tool. You get visual dashboards, custom reports, and forecasts that actually make sense. It’s not overwhelming, but it still gives you the insights you need to stay on top of performance. That said, if you’re managing a large team or need deep analytics, you might find the reporting a bit too surface-level.
One of Pipedrive’s biggest advantages is how quickly you can get going. I didn’t need onboarding or training to figure it out—it’s plug-and-play. That makes it a great choice for small teams or solo founders who want to stay focused on closing deals, not managing software.
Pricing (as of 2025):
-
Essential – $14/month per user: Basic pipeline and activity management
-
Advanced – $29/month: Adds email tracking, templates, and workflow automation
-
Professional – $49/month: Deeper reporting, revenue forecasts, and team permissions
-
Power – $64/month: For larger teams, with more advanced automations and security
-
Enterprise – $99/month: Full customization, priority support, and unlimited everything
4. Salesforce Sales Cloud
Salesforce Sales Cloud is the heavyweight in the CRM world—and it shows. It’s packed with features, deeply customizable, and designed to support everything from solo sellers to massive enterprise teams. But with all that power comes complexity. It’s not the kind of tool you just pick up and run with—there’s a learning curve, and setup takes some planning.
What makes Salesforce stand out is its flexibility. Almost every part of the sales process can be tailored—pipelines, dashboards, automation rules, even the way records are displayed. If you’ve got a unique sales process or a multi-step B2B motion, this is the kind of CRM that can bend to your needs. You can create complex automations, trigger actions based on any data point, and route leads intelligently across teams.
The email tools are solid but tend to depend on the version you’re using or how much you’ve integrated with other Salesforce products. You can log and track emails, create templates, and set up sequences—though often, the real magic happens when it’s combined with something like Pardot or Marketing Cloud. Outreach-wise, it’s not as plug-and-play as tools like Pipedrive or Breakcold, but if you invest the time, it becomes incredibly powerful.
The reporting and analytics capabilities are a huge win. Salesforce doesn’t just show you numbers—it lets you slice data from every angle. You can track team performance, forecast revenue, build custom dashboards for specific roles, and even use AI (via Einstein) to highlight at-risk deals or recommend next steps. It’s overkill for some, but a game-changer for data-driven teams.
Integrations are another strong point. Pretty much every tool out there plugs into Salesforce, from Slack and Zoom to custom internal systems. It’s the kind of platform that can act as the foundation for your entire go-to-market tech stack.
That said, it’s not cheap. And while you can technically “start small,” most teams end up needing an admin (or even a consultant) to get the most out of it. It’s ideal for organizations that are scaling fast or already have a complex structure—less so if you’re a solo founder looking for something lightweight.
Pricing (as of 2025):
-
Starter Suite – $25/month per user: Basic CRM, leads, and pipelines
-
Professional – $80/month: Full pipeline customization and forecasting
-
Enterprise – $165/month: Advanced automation, team roles, and integrations
-
Unlimited – $330/month: Everything unlocked, plus AI and premier support
-
Einstein 1 Sales – $500/month: Includes AI predictions, analytics, and full workflow automation
5. Apollo.io
Apollo.io is all about helping you find leads, reach out to them, and keep everything in one place. If your sales process starts with prospecting, this tool shines. What sets Apollo apart is its built-in B2B database—you can search through millions of contacts and companies using filters like job title, tech stack, funding rounds, and more. It’s like LinkedIn Sales Navigator, but layered with contact data (including verified emails and phone numbers) and built right into your outreach workflow.
The email outreach tools are surprisingly robust. You can create multi-step sequences, A/B test subject lines, use personalization variables, and track opens, clicks, replies, and more. It feels closer to Lemlist or Instantly in terms of raw outbound power—it’s clearly made for SDRs and outbound-heavy teams. Plus, everything is fast. You can go from finding a lead to adding them to a sequence in seconds.
Apollo also lets you track calls, record notes, and even use dialers directly in the platform if you upgrade. It's not a full-fledged CRM like Salesforce or HubSpot, but it covers the core basics: you can manage deals, track activities, and get visibility into who’s engaged.
The automation side is solid, especially for the price. You can build rules to move leads into different sequences, notify reps when someone replies, or pause outreach when a prospect engages. It’s not as advanced as HubSpot’s branching workflows, but it covers most outbound use cases really well.
The interface feels modern and fast, though there are moments when it can feel a bit busy. There’s a lot packed into the platform, so if you're new to outbound tools, it might take a day or two to really settle in. But once you do, it becomes a powerful daily driver.
Pricing (as of 2025):
-
Free Plan – 10,000 lead credits/year + basic email outreach
-
Basic – $49/month per user: Adds calling, integrations, and more credits
-
Professional – $99/month: Unlocks advanced automation, A/B testing, job change alerts
-
Organization – Custom pricing: Includes everything + dedicated support, advanced analytics, and team features
How to choose the right sales automation app
Choosing the right sales automation app can feel like trying to pick a needle out of a digital haystack. I’ve been through the process a few times, and here’s what I’ve learned that might save you some headaches:
1. Team size matters
Some tools are tailor-made for small, nimble teams—they’re lightweight, easy to set up, and don’t overwhelm you with features you’ll never use. Others are better suited for larger sales organizations, offering more robust analytics, deeper customization, and broader user management. Make sure the app you’re considering fits the scale of your current team and where you expect to grow.
2. Know your budget
There are some great tools out there with free tiers, which is fantastic if you're just getting started or working with a limited budget. But always check what’s actually included. Sometimes what looks free becomes costly once you need basic features like CRM integration or advanced reporting. We made the mistake of going too cheap once and ended up switching platforms six months in.
3. Check the integrations
Your sales automation app should play nicely with your existing tools—email platforms, CRMs, calendar systems, you name it. Double-check the integration list before committing. In one case, we loved a tool’s features but didn’t realize it didn’t sync with our CRM until after we signed up. That was an expensive oversight.
4. Focus on the features you’ll use
It’s easy to get dazzled by bells and whistles, but focus on what you really need: automated emails, pipeline tracking, call scheduling, etc. Look for tools that do a few things really well rather than ones that try to do everything halfway. We found more value in simple, targeted features than in bloated suites.
Tips for implementing sales automation successfully
Getting the right tool is just step one. Here’s what helped us actually make the most of it:
Start small
Pick one sales process to automate—like lead follow-up emails—and build from there. Trying to automate everything at once is a fast track to confusion.
Review and improve
Once things are running, keep an eye on your automation flows. Are leads dropping off at a certain point? Are emails getting replies? Tweak as needed. We set up a monthly review to look at what’s working—and what’s not.
If you’re also looking for email marketing automation tools, check out this recent article on our blog. We’ve also previously reviewed tools for LinkedIn automation.
Summing up
At Albato, we know choosing the right sales automation app can feel overwhelming—but it doesn’t have to be.
That’s why we’ve built a platform that helps you integrate all your favorite tools and create effortless workflows that actually move the needle. Whether you’re automating a single email sequence or building a full pipeline flow, Albato makes it easy to start small, scale fast, and keep your team focused on what they do best—closing deals.
Read more:
