Card 3: Sprout Social (Trellis) · 09 Battlecards

Their pitch: a mid-market to enterprise suite with the Trellis AI agent and 100 credits per seat a month on every plan (pricing page change, 24 Aug 2026, via PricingSaaS) [A].
Our edge: governance in every seat rather than tiered, built around many individual voices.
Ask: "Ask which tier you need for approvals, and which for approvals by someone outside the team."
Where they win: analytics and reporting depth, a shared inbox, network breadth; a listed company's stability and a large review base (G2 4.4, about 7,000 reviews, via Syncly) [R][C]; a 30-day free trial, which we do not offer at launch.
Where we win (GREEN): governance included, not tiered (rules check, approval chains, client sign-off in every seat); per-person voice; Holly with a per-person trust ladder; UK data rights built in (download or delete from Settings; admins can erase someone on request).
Landmines: the approvals-tier question, then "Ask what listening and advocacy cost, since they're quoted separately." "Ask how the agent's credits work when twenty people use it daily, and what happens when they run out."
If they say:
"Sprout has a free trial. Why don't you?" Say: "We've chosen not to at launch: you pay at signup and get a person on hand from day one. What I can do now is show you Holly drafting for someone in your role, on a demo workspace, and you can judge it for yourself." Law firm: "For a firm like yours, the route is a paid, scoped pilot at the published price."
"Sprout's reporting is better." Say: "For brand-channel analytics it's very strong. Ours answers a different question: who in your team is posting and what's working for each of them. If channel analytics is the main need, Sprout may be right."
Never say: that Trellis cannot publish (undocumented); any Sprout revenue, retention or segment figure; "Sprout is moving upmarket and dropping small customers" (our reading of an earnings call, not their statement).
Switch story: same split as Hootsuite, with the standard switch kit for the people.
Reference (Upload-Post citing sproutsocial.com/pricing, 23 Sep 2026 [C]; consistent with eesel, 29 Aug 2026 [C]): per seat a month, annual (monthly): Essentials $79 ($99); Standard $199 ($249); Professional $299 ($399); Advanced $399 ($499). Trellis Plus $28 ($35). Listening, advocacy and premium analytics are quote-only add-ons. Bulk approvals from Professional; external approvals on Advanced. Buyers: marketing teams in mid-market and enterprise.