Without customers, you wouldn’t have much of a company.
For this reason, spending time and money on sales and marketing related tasks is never time wasted.
Here are a few sales statistics, shared by HubSpot, that are sure to change your mind, in regards to your sales process:
- 44% of salespeople give up on a lead after a single follow-up.
- According to research, as many as 50% of sales go to the sales rep who responds first.
- Only 2% of cold calls actually result in a follow-up appointment.
These statistics aren’t meant to scare you or your sales team. Instead, they’re meant to prove just how important it is to create a sales strategy that you can rely on.
For example, if you spend all of your time cold calling, you may not be happy with where you end up. Fortunately, there are other options to consider, including, but not limited to, cold emails and social selling.
In this post, I’m going to examine some of the top sales tools for boosting results, improving efficiency and organization and helping you generate more revenue.
Let’s get started!
1. HubSpot
Are you seeking a sales platform to handle all the needs of your sales process?
If so, HubSpot fits the bill. When it comes to sales and marketing tools, HubSpot is considered the cream of the crop.
From a sales perspective, there are three distinct solutions:
- HubSpot Sales Free
- HubSpot CRM
- HubSpot Sales Professional
With the free solution, which is a great place for everyone to start, you gain access to tools that boost every aspect of your inbound sales strategy.
For example, there are a variety of email tools, such as access to email templates and sales content.
(via HubSpot)
For those who want to learn more about their prospects, locate the decision maker, HubSpot once again has you covered.
You can collect data related to visitors, broken down by company, as well as the pages that they are viewing. This gives you a better idea of who’s interested in your product or service, thus allowing you to target the right type of prospects who are the decision maker in the sales process.
(via HubSpot)
HubSpot has a tool for every type of sales team, sales managers and sales professionals. With the ability to poke around for free, there’s no reason to put off dabbling with this tool.
2. LinkedIn Sales Solutions
Did you know that LinkedIn has more than 450 million registered users, scattered all over the world?
As the largest professional network, by far, it only makes sense that it’d be full of sales opportunities in digital marketing.
While you can mine for prospects on your own, you’re better off considering the many sales professional tools provided by LinkedIn Sales Solutions.
Comparing available products will open your eyes as to which approach is best for you in social media and digital marketing.
For example, Sales Navigator is a popular choice. With this tool, LinkedIn hopes to make sales prospecting easier than ever before. And, that’s exactly what you’re looking for.
This tool helps in many ways, including:
- Receive custom lead recommendations.
- Access to an advanced search to find the right leads for your business.
- The use of InMail to contact any LinkedIn member.
- A dashboard for measuring and tracking your social selling results.
- Real-time sales updates for customers and prospects.
With a free trial, you should give the Professional Edition of Sales Navigator a try. Even if you’ve never used LinkedIn for a sales process in the past, this could be the push that you need to take full advantage in the future.
(via LinkedIn)
3. InsideSales.com
When it comes to sales lead management, there aren’t many companies that do it better than InsideSales.com.
There’s more to this company than meets the eye, thanks to its large list of product offerings. Options include:
- Platform
- Lead and Accounting Scoring
- Opportunity Scoring
- Predictive Forecast
- Sales Communications
- Email and Web Tracking
While each of these products deserve your attention, especially if you’re seeking assistance in more than one area, my favorite is the email and web tracking tool to enhance blog post traffic tracking.
Described by the company as “Enterprise grade email and web tracking built on data science,” this goes well beyond anything you’ve probably relied on in the past.
This tool is extremely powerful, providing a real-time view of email opens, clicks on email links, web visits and more.
If you’re anything like me, you dig through mounds of data, in an attempt to learn more about your prospects. With this tool, you can better understand how leads are interacting with your emails, blog post and website. Best yet, data is presented in real-time, allowing you to make changes on the fly.
(via InsideSales.com)
If inside sales is a big part of your sales strategy, as opposed to having “feet on the street,” you need to take a close look at the products offered by InsideSales.com to better target a decision maker who can authorize the buy.
4. ToutApp
Are you interested in turning more sales prospects into customers?
Of course you are. With the help of ToutApp, you can equip yourself with the sales tools that you need to reach all of your sales team goals.
One of my favorite features is the ability to create a “pipeline playbook,” complete with all of the data that you and your team need to stay in touch with a contact throughout the sales process.
This feature provides several ways to improve your pipeline, such as:
- Integrated email and phone activities. With email and phone system integrations, it’s easier than ever for sales professionals to schedule meetings and communicate with other team members.
- Sales campaigns. Do you have trouble remaining consistent with your approach to prospecting? ToutApp allows you to stay in touch with sales campaigns that include email, social media and phone, ensuring that everything and everybody are on the same page.
Also, ToutApp offers email, website and document tracking tools. This allows you to track engagement, based on every type of communication including social media platforms. Not only is this done in real-time, but it provides you with actionable data that will help you make more informed sales decisions.
Last, but certainly not least, this is one of the top tools for sales team collaboration. If you have more than one person working on sales and marketing, you need a tool that keeps everyone on the same page. ToutApp makes it simple to share updates with others in real-time.
(via ToutApp)
At first, you may not use all of the tools provided by ToutApp. However, as it becomes a bigger part of your sales strategy, you and your sales reps will turn to it more often.
5. Yesware
Have you set the goal of selling smarter? Do you even know what this means?
There are tools that are meant to save you time and money. Yesware is one of them.
There are several reasons why I recommend Yesware to entrepreneurs who want to sell smarter, but it all begins with its prescriptive analytics tool.
You probably have what it takes to collect data, in regards to your prospects, the decision maker and the sales cycle. But, do you know what to do next? This is where Yesware steps in, to make your life easier.
With access to high level, actionable insights, you’ll never again wonder what you’re supposed to do with the data that you’ve collected. Instead, you can share it with the appropriate team members, to ensure that everyone’s making the right moves.
Yesware takes a three-point approach to describing prescriptive analytics:
- Focused on action. You are provided with actionable advice, based on the most important data.
- Real time results. Yesware provides real-time data, allowing you to take immediate action and improve your chances of success.
- Scale success. Once you know what you’re doing right, you can help other team members implement the same strategy to scale your results.
The only downside of Yesware is that it can be difficult to fully understand its power and functionality, until you have first hand experience. Fortunately, once you get started, there’s no looking back with this sales process tool.
(via Yesware)
6. Calendly
What process are you using to schedule meetings with prospects?
In the past, the preferred option was email or a phone call. While there are still times when this works, you don’t want to overlook the power of an appointment scheduling tool, such as Calendly.
The nice thing about this tool is that it can be used to schedule anything and everything. From sales calls to sales meetings, from interviews to demos, it has all of the features that you require.
Calendly has several high level competitors, but this solution remains my favorite, because of its ease of use for a variety of sales reps.
It all starts with setting your availability preferences. This shows others when you’re available to meet.
(via Calendly)
From there, all that you have to do is to share your personal link with your contacts or the prospective decision maker.
For example, if you want to give somebody a sales demo, you can send them your link and ask that they select a time that works for them. This goes a long way in avoiding the traditional “back and forth,” often associated with scheduling a meeting.
One last thing worth noting is the team scheduling feature. With this, your team’s availability can be viewed from one page.
In addition to a free 14 day trial, there is a no cost package that provides basic features. With no money out of your pocket and a variety of high level features, you should look into using Calendly. It will save you and your sales reps time in the sales process.
7. Zoom
Do you remember the days of meeting with prospects in person to conduct demos?
If you want to leave this experience in the past, at least to a certain degree, you should become familiar with Zoom.
There are many video and web conferencing services to compare, but through my experience Zoom is one of the best in digital marketing sales tools.
With more than 300,000 customers, you know you’ll be in good hands, if you rely on Zoom for your remote conferencing needs.
If that’s not enough to convince you, let’s examine some of its many features:
- Ability to host a meeting with or without video, or with screen share only.
- Mobile screen sharing for iPhone and iPad, making it easy to conduct meetings on the go.
- Webinar capabilities.
- Easy to share a meeting with one or more contact.
- Group collaboration.
On this page, Zoom lays out its many cloud video conferencing features, all of which you’ll enjoy. Some of my favorites include:
- HD video and voice
- Dynamic voice detection
- Full screen and gallery view
Another key feature is the ease with which the other party can join a meeting. Once you create a meeting, it’s as simple as inviting the other person. He or she can then access the event by completing the details shown below:
(via Zoom)
The process is simple and the technology is advanced. That’s what makes Zoom a top dog in the video and web conferencing space.
8. ClinchPad
Do you find yourself struggling to use your CRM software? Have you turned to a more simplified solution, such as a spreadsheet?
When the sales process is on your mind, the last thing that you need is trouble with your CRM solution.
ClinchPad is an online CRM, built for small teams that crave big results.
Not only is it easier to use than a traditional CRM, but it’s more advanced than a spreadsheet. Lying somewhere in between, many sales professionals find that it has all of the features they need, without overdoing it.
It’s hard to pinpoint one feature as being my favorite, but the Sales Dashboard is on par with the best that the CRM industry has to offer for sales professionals.
(via ClinchPad)
With all of the necessary data in one place, you’ll find that the Sales Dashboard feature saves you tons of time, while also helping you to stay up to speed with the sales cycle.
From prospects at the beginning of the cycle to deals that are about to close, everything that you need is right in front of you. And, best yet, you don’t have to jump from screen to screen to stay informed. Sales managers appreciate the more details.
You can create a free account to get started. From there, if you like what you see, paid accounts start at $9/month.
9. Proposify
What is your current process for creating sales proposals?
Believe it or not, many companies are still using Microsoft Word, or a similar solution, to create proposals.
Even if this has worked for you in the past, you should consider a change. A switch to Proposify, or a similar solution, could do wonders for your close rate.
With this software, you can share beautifully created proposals with prospects in the cloud. In turn, you hope to close more deals in a more time efficient manner.
Here are some of the many features that I like:
- Access to a variety of professionally designed templates.
- Drag and drop library for ease of management.
- Access to an online preview tool.
- Use of electronic signatures.
- The ability to track everything, knowing exactly where things stand in the sales pipeline.
The last feature is one of my favorites, as I always like to know what’s going on with a proposal.
You’ll gain access to metrics, such as how many proposals you’ve created, how many you’ve closed and your overall close rate.
(via Proposify)
If the lack of proposal software is holding your business back, let Proposify step in and be your guide. With a free trial and pricing starting at $25/month, it’s an affordable solution that can help boost your bottom line.
10. SalesLoft
Much the same as HubSpot and InsideSales.com, SalesLoft offers many tools to sales professionals and business owners.
In an overall sense, this tool is built to help you “increase qualified demos & appointments.” While this sounds good, you need to learn more about its many options, to see what best fits your business to closing the decision maker.
For example, its email tracking platform is a top solution. It allows you to do a lot, such as:
- Track email via Gmail.
- Implement semi-automation tools.
- Customize batch emails.
Also, you’re able to A/B test many aspects of your email. By creating variants of any step type, you’ll soon have a better idea of what is and isn’t working.
(via SalesLoft)
Thanks to a large selection of features, SalesLoft is one of the more advanced tools for a sales team on this list. But, even if you’re only going to use one of its products, there’s a good chance that it can do wonders for your sales strategy.
Now that you learned about the best sales tools, it’s time to find out what my favorite marketing tools are:
Conclusion
Just as there are many marketing tools that can help you reach your goals, the 10 sales solutions in this blog post will have you on a better path in the months to come.
As you know, the sales process is full of challenges. If you want to achieve more success than your competitors, take advantage of every tool and solution that is available to you.
Do you have experience with any of these sales tools? Would you add any others to the list? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.
Comments (30)