Looking for an alternative to Gong for your small business or startup?
You’re in the right place. In this article, we look at
- the features that make Gong so popular,
- why you must explore Gong alternatives if you’re an SMB or early-stage business, and
- things to consider when you make a buying decision
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First things first. There’s no denying Gong’s popularity in the revenue and conversational intelligence space. It has been a top player in the market over the last five years. And it has consistently done a great job of finding ways to derive deal intelligence from conversational data.
But this growth and evolution inevitably mean that it excludes a certain set of customers. And if you’re a small business, you’re probably in this category.
Here are some reasons why small companies need an alternative to Gong.
Why startups and SMBs need a Gong alternative
1. Pricing
This one’s a no-brainer. Gong caters to enterprise-level customers, and its pricing reflects that.
It charges a compulsory base price of $5000 per customer with per-user rates ranging from $100 to $200 per year.
This works out to a minimum of $5000 + $1200 per user/year.
That’s a sizeable investment for a cash-strapped startup or a growing small business. And quite honestly, the base price doesn’t even make sense unless you have a big enough sales team that’s guaranteed to provide ROI on the purchase.
2. Features and flexibility
Though positioned as a scalable offering for businesses of all sizes, the reality is different.
For one, a small business doesn’t need most features designed for enterprises.
When you’re a small team, you should prioritize ease of use and an almost non-existent learning curve to see adoption within your organization.
Going by reviews on TrustRadius, a few users claim that they find Gong’s UI clunky and hard to use. In any case, too many enterprise-focused features, or just too many complex features, can leave your employees overwhelmed. And that’s a risk you want to avoid as a small business.
3. No free trial or customizable usage-based plans
It makes sense for a small business to experiment with a solution, familiarize the team with it, observe usage and adoption, and then, scale it within the organization.
Gong, unfortunately, doesn’t fit this bill. There is no room for lowered costs based on usage or a long-term commitment.
And to be fair, there’s no reason for an enterprise player like Gong to customize their software to solve the needs of SMBs and startups.
TLDR: Gong, although a competent offering, is not best suited for startups and small businesses with few employees and sales reps.
With that out of the way, it’s time to look at the features you need to look for in a Gong alternative
Features you need in a Gong alternative for small businesses
Gong’s defining features are AI-powered detailed transcribing and conversational intelligence. It automatically captures and analyzes customer-facing conversations to deliver insights that empower revenue and go-to-market teams.
So, here’s the barebones version of what you need in a Gong alternative for a small business or startup:
AI-powered conversation intelligence solution to capture, transcribe, summarize, analyze, and track/manage every customer conversation.
Here’s a more detailed look at what a Gong alternative needs to do
- Ensure centralized visibility into sales call conversations
- Identify and track sales reps’ performance and improvement
- Identify blockage points, key objections, competitor mentions etc.
- Make sales meetings consistent across reps/teams
- Identify top, average, and struggling performers
- Support faster onboarding of new reps
- Facilitate sales coaching with insights, structure, and systems/processes
Depending on which of these requirements you want to prioritize, there are various platforms to consider – including established names such as Chorus.ai and Salesloft, newer entrants like Avoma and ExecVision, and pureplay conversational intelligence tools like Fireflies and Wingman.
TLDR: The top seven Gong alternatives for you to consider are
Comparison sheet: Compare all Gong alternatives side by side - Download here
We have an exhaustive article comparing 7 Gong alternatives – a quick 5-minute read that we highly recommend.
But in this article, we are focusing on MeetRecord and how it combines all of Gong’s core functionalities at a far lower cost.
MeetRecord, a low-risk, feature-packed Gong alternative
MeetRecord has been designed to take the best features of Gong to small businesses and startups.
It records and automates the transcripts to understand the keywords used, the voice of the customer, key points in the customer interaction, and AI-powered personalized recommendations that you can use to
- Monitor and track sales calls
- Coach and appraise sales teams
- Ensure centralized visibility of all customer meetings
- Provide better product and marketing insights.
It combines all the features you’d look for in a Gong alternative in a light, easy-to-use offering
MeetRecord is used by 35+ startups and mid-market companies. Since it’s designed for SMBs, it comes with integrations not just for heavyweights like Salesforce, but also for SMB friendly CRMS like Pipedrive and Hubspot.
The best part is that it comes with a free trial so you can gauge how useful and usable it is in your own context.
How does MeetRecord compare to Gong.io?
What MeetRecord can do for you
- Pricing: MeetRecord’s per-user price is 40-60% lower than Gong.io’s for the same set of features and there is no setup fees.
- With a strong focus on customer satisfaction, MeetRecord promises round-the-clock support, with a dedicated support manager, throughout the engagement.
Additionally, it is built for organization-wide usage, not just for the sales teams.
Looking for Gong alternatives, check our blog listing 7 of them here