Top 6 Sales Intelligence Tools to Rev Up Your Selling Machine

Sales intelligence is simply data related to your audience and prospects.  It includes everything that tells you if a prospect is interested in your product or service, and when they’re ready to buy. 

You can simplify lead qualification with such insights. 

Diving deeper, sales intelligence data typically comprises buying signals, intent, behavioral data, and often sentiments, helping audiences as cold, warm, or hot. 

Timo Aijo, author of Sales Intelligence, says, “Sales is a constant state of information gathering and analysis. There are numerous factors that will affect your sale – from market position, to manufacturing capacity, to a seemingly harmless tidbit of information received over lunch.” 

Aijo adds, “The more quality information you have, the better your analysis, and the better your sales results will be.” Sales intelligence tools help you aggregate such data with accuracy. It helps you know the audience as real people rather than circular avatars on your CRM. The more you know them, the easier it is to sell.

What are sales intelligence tools?

Sales intelligence tools help SDR, AE or pre-sales teams gather, analyze, and apply their activities and engagement data to make their sales approach or strategy more effective. These tools bring to attention useful information like talk to listen ratios, or pipeline leaks so that salespeople can close deals faster.   

Sales intelligence tools can be of two types - One that offers intelligence about the prospects like contact data including phone numbers and or email addresses, and social profiles. And the other that offers insight into a salesperson’s engagement or pipeline activities. Without sales intelligence, much of what happens within a pipeline is missing information–one that’s crucial for sales success. 

Abhishek Anand, Regional Head - APAC at LeadSquared, says, “Sales Intelligence tools are like maps. They help you navigate through the difficult, persisting but meaningful sales journeys with ease.They add value to the customer engagement process with actionable and accurate insights.”

So without further ado, let’s get into some tools you can add to your sales tech stack. 

Top 6 Sales Intelligence Tools You Must Include in Your Tech Stack

Below are some notable tools in the sales intelligence market. These software often supply the analytics needed to make informed decisions.  They offer deep insight into prospects and into the pipeline–both of which can help sales reps close deals faster. 

1. ZoomInfo

‍

ZoomInfo is an operating system for revenue teams. You can get details such as personal or business email addresses and phone numbers, helping you reach out when the timing is right. The software recognizes high-value accounts for you and empowers you to speak to the right decision-maker with content that resonates with them. 

Top Feature

Many users have appreciated ZoomInfo’s organizational charts and contact identification capabilities in their reviews. Some users also talk highly of ZoomInfo’s conversational intelligence. 

Pros and Cons of ZoomInfo

Below are some pros and cons picked up from the latest ZoomInfo reviews.

Pros

• Extensive database of contacts and companies.
• Accurate and frequently updated data.
• Integrates seamlessly with major CRM and marketing platforms.

Cons

• The platform could have been easier to navigate (G2)
• Scrolling through information is a bit clunky (G2)
• Data  may not update in real time (G2)

Pricing

Available on request

Ratings

Users give 4.4 stars out of 5 to ZoomInfo on popular review platforms.

2. Storylane

Storylane is a demo automation platform helping revenue teams deliver personalized and interactive sales demos. Demo analytics offers sales intelligence by conveying views, clicks on call to action (CTA), last views, time spent, and various other insights when sales reps showcase them to prospects during live demos or when adding automated demos to their follow-ups. It helps AEs understand the intent levels of different buyers. Suppose, a decision maker has checked out a demo multiple times, it’s a good sign to follow up. 

You can also dive deeper into individual demos and look at the exact steps the reader took while interacting with your demo. 

Top Feature

Demo analytics is a popular sales intelligence feature of Storylane. It helps teams understand how to better engage customers, and when to give them a nudge. 

Pros and Cons of Storylane

These pros and cons are sourced from the latest Storylane review on software review websites.

Pros

• Creates easily shareable demos
• Ease of use and negligible learning curve
• Competitive pricing
• Helps to assess a prospects’ engagement levels
• Responsive support
• Offers reasonable pricing for high-quality and immersive demo

Pricing

Storylane offers a free plan to publish one demo with the ability to record screen. (keep this line only) 

Ratings

4.8/ 5 - G2.com

3. Gong 

Gong is a revenue intelligence platform that enables salespeople to maximize sales and improve sales productivity by analyzing prospect conversations and sales pipelines. From the moment you make a cold call till the last minute of signing a purchase, this tool guides you through and through. 

With a focus on deal stages, sales rep performance, forecasting, and sales strategy, it’s an all-in-one intelligence tool that strengthens your entire revenue team. 

Tool Highlight: 

The Gong Forecast is a feature that lets you see the entire sales pipeline in full view shedding light on all the crevices that go unnoticed. No follow-ups to be missed, no deals slipping through the cracks. Here’s a useful add on: View the engagement status of all of your sales reps’ activities - all  in one place.

Pros and Cons of Gong

Below are some pros and cons picked up from the latest ZoomInfo reviews.

Pros

• The ability to view call data and share it both externally and internally
• The ability to tag colleagues within the platform if you want to keep them in loop

Cons

• Declining customer service (G2)
• Many complain about the accuracy of the speech to text conversion on sales calls scripts (G2)

Pricing

Pricing unavailable

Ratings

Users give 4.4 stars out of 5 to ZoomInfo on popular review platforms.

4. LinkedIn Sales Navigator

LinkedIn Sales Navigator helps sales professionals to find, understand, and engage with leads and prospects. It builds upon LinkedIn's vast network of professionals, providing advanced search filters, actionable insights, and personalized algorithms to locate the right decision-makers in an organization. 

Top Feature

The advanced search feature stands out as it helps users to conduct highly targeted prospecting. It ensures sales efforts are directed at the right decision-makers in an organization. 

Pros and Cons of LinkedIn Sales Navigator

Below are some interesting pros and cons to assess if the tool fits your needs.

Pros

• More targeted and refined searches
• Access to a vast database of professionals
• Connects with popular CRM tools
• Custom lists organize and save leads
• Allow reaching out to professionals who aren’t first-degree connections through In-Mail. 

Cons

• It takes some time to master and utilize all features (G2)
• Pricing is on the higher side (G2)
• Can lag or slow down if you use other tools like Lusha, or Apollo.io (G2)

Pricing

The company offers pricing upon request. Users can take a free trial and get in touch with the team to know the pricing and any promotions available. 

Ratings

4.3/5 - G2.com

5. Apollo.io

Apollo offers a combination of tools, including data analytics, engagement strategies, and insights about leads and customers. It provides businesses with millions of data points to find, engage, and close their ideal customers more effectively.

Top Feature

Comprehensive database and advanced analytics are some notable features of Apollo. It helps businesses find and reach out to potential leads while refining their engagement strategies based on data. 

Pros and Cons of Apollo

Below are some notable pros and cons users observed while using Apollo for sales intelligence. 

Pros

• Combines lead scoring, task prioritization, and engagement in a single platform.
• Facilitates email sequencing
• Data accuracy exceeds expectations
• Easy to search and filter leads

Cons

• Needs a mobile application to help users on the go (G2) 
• Sometimes emails scheduled through sequencing land in spam (G2)
• Some data isn’t updated in real time (G2)

Pricing

Apollo offers a free plan and it’s Basic plan starts from $39 per month per user. Take a look at other pricing plans below. 

Ratings

4.8/ 5 - G2.com

6. Cognism

Cognism streamlines lead generation and outreach processes for B2B.  It uses patented AI technologies to provide up-to-date business data and actionable sales triggers. This helps businesses identify and target their ideal customers in real-time.

Top Feature

Cognism's standout feature is its Sales Triggers mechanism. It helps sales people act on fresh opportunities and reach out to clients when they’re most receptive.

Pros and Cons of Cognism

Below are some notable advantages and challenges uses experienced while using Cognism. 

Pros

• Data remains current and relevant
• Alerts teams about funding events or leadership changes
• Filters and segments data based on multiple criteria
• Cuts hours or tedious administrative tasks
• Data quality is remarkable
• Offers excellent support and onboarding

Cons

• Employee count and revenue information can be different from LinkedIn or other platforms. (G2)
• Needs email verification systems (G2)
• Lags and slows down while generating large lists (G2)

Pricing

Cognism conveys pricing on request. You can reach out the Cognism team to talk about pricing plans and promotions.

Ratings

4.7/5 - G2.com

7. Kaspr.io

Kaspr provides valuable contact data to sales and marketing teams to enable effective prospecting. The software offers contact information, automates LinkedIn outreaches, and enriches data while integrating into other sales applications you love. 

Top Feature

Kaspr's standout feature is its outreach automation. It helps you send automated follow up LinkedIn messages on the date and time you choose.

Pros and Cons of Kaspr 

Below are some notable benefits and challenges of using Kaspr as a sales intelligence tool. 

Pros

• Helps to differentiate between a mobile or a landline number
• Obtains contact details of C-suite executives
• Offers integration with LinkedIn
• Extracts contact information in bulk
• Complies with GDPR and CCPA

Cons

• Sometimes contact details can be incorrect if someone has moved to a new company or are no longer in their role (G2)
• Contact’s number doesn’t appear at times (G2)
• Slack integration needs work (G2)

Pricing

Kaspr offers a Free plan while the Starter Plan starts at 45€ per month per user. Below are more details about other pricing plans and features that come with it. 

Ratings

4.4/5 - G2.com

Bonus: AI Tools To Increase Sales Effectiveness

Below are some AI tools you can use to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of your sales cycles. Unlock high-velocity sales with: 

8. Humantic AI

Humantic AI offers personality insights to help you connect with the prospect at a deeper level. It tells you what to say, and what to avoid during a prospecting call. While writing emails, it delivers personalizing and structuring tips. These insights allow salespeople to establish and nurture connections with the prospect more naturally. 

Top Feature

Personality insights is a notable feature of Humantic AI. It also offers personality insights as a  service through APIs. 

Pros and Cons of Humantic AI

Below are some benefits and challenges that come together when you onboard Humantic AI. 

Pros

• The customer service team is responsive and proactive
• Give insights into behavioral information

Cons

• Email recommendations sometimes come out as if a computer wrote them (G2)
• Accuracy of AI information needs work (G2)

Pricing

Humantic AI’s pricing is available on request. Contact its sales team to learn more. 

Ratings

Uses give 4.8 out of 5 stars to Humantic AI on popular review platforms.

Why do you need sales intelligence tools?

Sales intelligence tools help revenue teams avoid wishful thinking and rely on data to accelerate sales cycle. Below are some reasons why you should consider using them. 

• Makes prospecting effective. You can uncover the insights to know more about the prospect, and whether they fit your organization’s buyer persona. Sales intelligence tools help you find details like team size, revenue, recent business activities and technology stack. These details prove to be beneficial when you’re identifying the right decision-maker within a business.
• View sales engagement activity with a new lens. The amount of data that can be uncovered by conversation intelligence tools is vast, and it's now at the fingertips of anyone who wants to leverage it to shorten sales cycles. 
• Keeps sales teams proactive. You need proactive intelligence to stay on top of an ever-changing market. When your pitches reflect the same and you reach out at the right time, it creates a lasting impact on the prospect. Sales intelligence tools help you aggregate and make sense of all data points so you can act without relying on intuition.

Strategic sales intelligence is like fuel to your sales engine. The more data you have about your prospect, the better are your chances to engage and convert them into paying customers. 

Bottom line

Sales intelligence tools not only streamline and refine the sales process, but also eliminate the guesswork teams go through while assisting potential buyers. You can stop worrying about if it’s too early to pitch or too late to cross-sell. The software helps you act when the time is right, and the buyer is likely to be receptive.

With the competition picking up pace, sales intelligence isn’t a luxury anymore. It’s more of nitrous oxide racers use to plunge forward on racing tracks. Leverage these tools to rev up your sales engine, and reach your customers quickly when they expect you. 

Q1. What tools do successful salespeople need?

Apart from being natural communicators, successful salespeople also use tools to become the best at what they do. Some popular ones include CRMs, sales intelligence platforms, sales enablement software, demo automation platform, scheduling software, and tools with task management capabilities.

Q2. What is the role of AI in sales intelligence?

AI plays a pivotal role in predictive analytics, personalization, and recommendations. Through machine learning, AI predicts the likelihood of conversions based on a specific combination of events such as visiting a pricing page, seeing an interactive demo, and more. The recommendation engine suggests you act based on the acquired intelligence.