Read our independent editorial review of the best contact management software for salespeople, including the best use cases for each option.
Lead distribution software is a tool that helps salespeople and marketers route leads to the correct rep or team. The top software streamline lead distribution by scoring leads on preset criteria and automating assignments to agents based on predefined rules. There are dozens of lead distribution options available spanning both sales and marketing automation software; we’ve evaluated the top tools to help you find the one that best fits your organization’s needs.
Here are the best lead distribution software, however, some tiers listed do not include lead routing:
Most of the lead routing options above also offer robust lead scoring that helps automate the distribution process. If you're looking for software that also helps with lead scoring, check out our article on the best lead scoring software.
The best lead distribution software are either CRMs, marketing automation software, or lead routing tools that integrate with CRMs, all of which include lead distribution or workflow automation as a primary function. When evaluating the best, we scored each option quantitatively across six weighted categories to arrive at an overall score for every lead routing tool, including the identification of primary use-cases for each.
Overall, the top scorers were CRM software offering native lead routing, native workflow automations, or integrations with third-party tools. Check out our evaluation criteria below:
Note: All per-user prices are with a one-year commitment unless noted.
Per our evaluation, Zoho CRM is the best lead distribution software with a first-place tie for core CRM features and above average scores in other categories. Read on to see how every lead distribution option fared across all six criteria.
Zoho CRM offers routing automations that distributes leads from social media, web forms, email, and more.
Price Range: Free to $52 per user, per month (15+ day free trial)
Zoho CRM is a fully-featured CRM pipeline tool that automates lead distribution across social media, web forms, email, and more. Both its free and paid tiers offer workflow automation, and those using any paid plan can set up routing triggers for social media, and those upgrading to Zoho's Professional plan and above can create lead assignment rules for any inbound lead as well as take advantage of AI-powered assignment suggestions.
Freshsales streamlines lead distribution for businesses through territory-based lead assignment and in-app call routing.
Price Range: Free to $69 per user, per month (21-day free trial)
Freshworks' Freshsales is a leading CRM with workflow automation available in all paid plans and robust lead routing features in its Pro and Enterprise tiers. Its territory management system allows sales managers to distribute leads based on geography, industry, or other pre-defined criteria. Plus, each territory can get its own phone number for easier routing via Freshsales’ built-in phone. You can even score leads using Freshsales' AI-powered automations.
HubSpot CRM workflow automations and intelligent conversation routing for inbound chat and email.
Price Range: Free to $1,200 per month (Sales Hub)
HubSpot CRM is a popular CRM offering a robust free option as well as premium tiers offering lead distribution and workflow features such as automated lead rotation and customizable scoring criteria. While its automation and routing features are specific to its paid plans, its Starter tier offers intelligent conversation routing for inbound chat and emails, helping the right rep respond to customer queries fast.
Helps phone-based sales representatives reduce response times and maintain contact with their assigned leads.
Price Range: Free to $159 per user, per month (30-day free trial)
Bitrix24 is a CRM with unlimited open channel settings so sales teams can connect with leads across the phone as well as, Telegram, Slack, Facebook Messenger, and many other messaging platforms. Route chat or inbound phone queries to all available online agents to reduce response times, or use intelligent routing to ensure leads are matched with specific account managers. This is especially useful for call centers or companies receiving high-volume calls.
Offers flexible fields to create custom lead distribution rules as well as robust third-party routing integrations.
Price Range: $25 per user, per month (14-day free trial)
Salesforce Essentials is the small business CRM that's part of the larger Salesforce Sales Cloud. Native to Salesforce Essentials is lead distribution offering custom lead routing rules, letting you create workflows based on things like lead source, deal size, geography, demographics, and more. Specific to Salesforce is its AppExchange offering integrations with top third-party routing tools like Distribution Engine and LeanData to supercharge your distribution efforts.
Helps global enterprises by using an intelligent lead routing engine that learns how to assign leads to the best sales reps.
Price Range: $149 to $699+ per month for 10 to unlimited users
Lead Assign is a lead management platform with a number of advanced assignment features. It has what’s billed as the “most intelligent lead routing engine,” which learns how to match reps to leads based on location and skillset over time. There’s also performance scoring, which evaluates how quickly agents provide feedback and gives preference to the top scorers. Lead Assign is geared toward global enterprises with a large amount of inbound leads.
Leadfeeder is a marketing tool that coverts online B2B traffic to leads by identifying anonymous companies visiting your website and routes them to your CRM so your sales team can follow up. Not only does Leadfeeder identify the company, but it also sources the best contact to reach out to as well as scores the leads so you can prioritize for the best results. Leadfeeder syncs with most major CRMs as well as creates individual and team notifications so the right sales rep can follow up.
Chili Piper is a web form conversion and meeting scheduling tool that integrates with HubSpot CRM and Salesforce. Add Chili Piper to your online forms to supercharge your lead distribution efforts by qualifying and routing leads who fill out your forms in real time. It can also auto-schedule meetings such as product demos or consultative calls based on availability.
Similar to Lead Assign, LeanData is an enterprise-level lead routing and automation software used by many Fortune 500-level brands and highlighted in the Salesforce AppExchange. Create visual distribution workflows and optimize those flows through advanced automation and intelligence. Receive robust data insights into your lead system; must call for a quote.
Distribution Engine is a third-party lead routing tool featured in the Salesforce AppExchange. Integrate with your CRM to create lead distribution rules based on a variety of criteria, including round robin, load balancing, pull distribution, and more. However, this may not be a viable option if you don't use Salesforce.
It’s prudent for sales and marketing teams to stay on top of leads before they go cold. Lead distribution software automates the assignment process to prevent the likelihood of any prospect being ignored or overlooked. Any of the top CRM or marketing options we’ve featured on our list will play a significant role in increasing conversions and bolstering your company’s bottom line.
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