With an extensive list of sales tools to choose from, it takes a lot of research and intentionality to figure out what software your sales reps need and will benefit most from. We can help you get started, so let’s look at the different types of sales tools to choose from, how they help your team, and a few examples of the top sales tools for each.
Customer relationship management (CRM)
With sellers managing thousands of relationships at any given time, CRM systems create a central repository of information on each customer, including contact information, past outreach, pipeline status, and much more. Salesforce is the major player in this space, but many other CRMs, like Microsoft Dynamics and Netsuite CRM, are also worth considering.
Productivity + collaboration
While not sales-specific per se, tools like Google, Microsoft Teams, and Slack are critical for internal collaboration and productivity. In fact, a study from Slack showed a 32% reduction in emails and a 23% reduction in meetings from users with the tool. If increasing sales effectiveness is a major concern for you, take a look at our list of 50 sales productivity tools that can help.
Lead generation
Tools in this space allow for the collection, segmentation, and nurture of leads that come in through sourcing, inbound marketing, and demand gen efforts. In B2B businesses, which often have longer sales cycles than e-commerce, lead nurturing can take weeks, months, or even years – so these platforms ensure nothing falls through the cracks. HubSpot is a major player in this space, ensuring automated nurture follow-ups that keep leads warm until they’re ready to buy.
Account-based sales and marketing
Account-based strategies have taken the business world by storm, and now software for sales reps helps organizations tackle account lists with highly personalized selling and marketing strategies. If an ABM tool sounds like what you need, dig in further with our list of 26 ABS tools to consider.
Content management
Between decks, collateral, and demos, sales and marketing teams produce a lot of important content. A sales content management platform, such as the one offered in the Seismic Enablement Cloud™, creates one home for all of your sales content.
Sales engagement
Sales engagement tools accelerate deal cycles with fast delivery of hyper-targeted content, such as those offered by SalesLoft, Outreach, and Groove. Best of all, once content is sent to the prospect, these tools can track content views and engagement.
Sales readiness: learning and coaching
Sales readiness ensures that team members are ready for buyer interactions through engaging training, coaching, and skill assessments. These tools are especially helpful for onboarding new team members on the organization’s product, brand, and selling culture.
Sales intelligence
Sales and leadership teams need a unified view of reporting on current and future performance. While many tools like Seismic bake analytics into each of their tools, there are also many sophisticated business intelligence platforms, such as Domo, to help you forecast.
Sales enablement software is technology that reduces the workload of sales and customer service professionals, streamlines their workflows, and provides teams with valuable insights to improve performance and revenue growth. Many digital sales enablement tools include a number of capabilities mentioned in this list, including sales content management, sales training, and coaching.
Important considerations before making a purchase
It’s easy to get overwhelmed by the thousands of top sales tool options when researching vendors and tools. Consider this roadmap to narrow down your options:
- Ask your sales team: Understand their current pain points and where they feel they could be better supported for success. This can be done at scale, with a survey, or through a focus-group with sellers.
- Review the existing metrics: Weak points are likely to exist in your sales funnel. For example, is there a major drop between marketing-qualified leads and opportunities? Hone in on areas that need improvement to help you choose tools that can serve your team and your business goals.
- Future-proof your GTM teams: Are you hiring rapidly? If so, training and alignment is a valuable investment. Are big changes coming to your industry? Education and enablement materials might be key. Think about not just today, but where you are going — and find the right tech to support the journey.
- Do your research (and demos): Before committing to any platform, make sure you’ve gotten a clear lay of the land in that category. Is the tool easy to use? Easy to train on? Cost-effective? Spend time on the research before you sign the contract. Talk to vendors directly or chat with other organizations that use the solution you’re considering.
