There’s no doubt about it: selling is tougher these days. Sixty-nine percent of sales professionals agree their job is harder now. That’s why sales prospecting tools are so important. They make the process quicker and more accurate for sales representatives. With the right tools, you can free up more time in your day to build customer relationships that turn a prospect into a loyal customer.

If you’re not sure where to start, you’re in the right place to learn. We’ll talk about what sales prospecting tools are, key features to look for, and the biggest benefits.

What you’ll learn:

• What are sales prospecting tools?
• The importance of sales prospecting tools in modern sales
• Benefits of using sales prospecting tools
• Key features to look for in sales prospecting tools
• Types of sales prospecting tools

What are sales prospecting tools?

Sales prospecting tools are software and technologies designed to help sales teams identify, engage, and convert potential customers. With these tools, salespeople can improve their sales prospecting by more quickly and efficiently reaching out to buyers. These tools vary in terms of type, depending on where you want them to integrate with technologies such as Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software and email marketing. Sales prospecting typically refers to outbound marketing — where a salesperson is trying to get someone who has possibly never heard of them (or sometimes not even their company) to take a meeting.

The importance of sales prospecting tools in modern sales

Your prospects are also being contacted by your competitors, and the odds are high that those competitors are using sales prospecting tools. It’s challenging (if not impossible) to remain competitive without sales prospecting tools in today’s environment.

If you’re simply reaching out to names on a list, you are working at a significant disadvantage to sales reps who have these tools at their fingertips. To level the playing field, you need to have the same (or better) technology as the other sales representatives reaching out to your prospects.

With the right tool, you can streamline your prospecting process with AI-powered research and outreach (more on that below). Making connections with the right prospects at the right time is critical to beat the competition.

These improvements alone are game-changing, but the sales processes your team puts into place around those tools are what turns your desired numbers into reality. If the tools aren’t used correctly, you can burn your market, upset potential customers already in the sales funnel, and damage your conversion rate. Because the tools make it possible to contact more people in the same amount of time, many representatives make the mistake of skipping the targeting and personalization step. They contact more people, but they close fewer sales.

To overcome this common mistake, sales representatives need to make sure they are personalizing their approach throughout the process. A feature shouldn’t supersede the importance of the channel and approach you take. Use the data and insights to gain more knowledge, but apply your hard-earned understanding of your target market and specific prospects to tailor each message.

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Benefits of using sales prospecting tools

Companies that use sales prospecting tools typically see significant benefits, often in a relatively short amount of time. However, simply purchasing and using the tools does not give you the benefits. Sales representatives must fully integrate the software into all their processes to reach more people who are likely to purchase the product.

As you look at the following list, you may notice that increased conversations are not among the benefits. They’re not included because not all businesses see this benefit. However, companies that fully integrate the tools into their processes and take advantage of all functionalities to increase productivity and spend more time building personal relationships with prospects often increase their conversion rate.

Here are more top benefits of using sales prospecting tools:

Better targeting

A sales prospecting tool can help prioritize which prospects are more likely to convert and can provide specific messaging that is more likely to appeal to the customer. In my experience, when reach out to the right people through their preferred channel, their conversion rates tend to be higher.

Lower costs

When salespeople can get more done in less time, you can be more successful with a smaller team and often can save on hiring costs. Additionally, sales representatives who are less stressed and able to target the right prospects are more likely to experience high job satisfaction. By reducing turnover, companies also save on hiring and training.

More time and ability to build customer relationships

Relationships take time, which is often hard to find in a busy calendar filled with busywork. In fact, the State of Sales Report found that reps spend nearly 72% of their day on non-selling activities. Because sales prospecting tools save a lot of time, the representative can now spend more time building a prospect’s trust. With the foundation in place, the customer is more likely to turn to the representative in the future and have a career-long relationship with the company.

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Key features to look for in sales prospecting tools

A sales prospecting tool can sometimes cause more problems than it solves. A business may become overrun with too much data if its tool doesn’t help it effectively manage sales data. Or a company may get inaccurate results if the tool doesn’t easily work with other existing systems. That’s why it is important to start with a tool that meets your specific needs.

AI-powered analytics

Every task you perform in the sales process generates valuable data on the process and the customer. You need a tool that makes it easy to collect that data throughout the process (such as when someone responds and how). A tool with AI-powered analytics can create action-based insights to help you make the best prospecting decisions. For example, the tool may provide insights that a prospect may be more likely to respond on social media than to an email. Or it could give you the time of day that your phone call is more likely to be answered instead of going to voicemail.

Ease of use

Your sales prospecting tools should make your workflow easier, not complicate it. By selecting a tool that is easy to use, you can spend less time getting up to speed and troubleshooting. Look for an interface that simplifies powerful functionality so you can click a few buttons and make numerous calls simultaneously. A tool with a dashboard provides the insights you need to guide all your prospecting and next steps.

System integration

Your company likely uses many different types of technology in your workflow — billing software, CRM tools, and marketing automation. Each tool creates valuable data that can provide key insights to help improve your prospecting workflow. To get the most use of your analytics feature, you need all your data to flow through all your tools. When you have a standalone tool that does its own thing, you lose valuable time and information. Because prospecting isn’t the end goal, but the means to closing more deals, you need your tools to talk to each other and work together.

Compliance

It’s often hard to keep all the rules straight when prospecting (and they are constantly changing). You need to make sure your emails and phone calls aren’t flagged as spam. You also have to tread carefully to keep from getting flagged on social media. A single error in prospecting can mean that your message never makes it to your potential customers, which means wasted time — or worse, damage to your reputation.

Sales prospecting tools can automatically verify that your prospecting workflow meets best practices and regulations. However, not all tools include this feature, so you want to make sure the tool you choose does. With a tool that takes this task off your plate, you no longer have to remember what to do on each social media platform, and can instead focus on building relationships with your potential customers.

Customizable and scalable solution

Your organization’s sales process is likely different from that of your competitors. It’s not a one-size-fits-all endeavor. Because your sales prospecting tools need to fit into your existing workflow, you need a flexible tool that can be modified to your needs. For example, your organization may run campaigns differently than other businesses. A customizable solution makes it possible to get the most ROI from your software. Additionally, look for a scalable tool that can grow as your business needs change.

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Types of sales prospecting tools

Sales prospecting tools refer to all types of tools that help with making connections with potential clients. A common mistake is selecting a tool without carefully considering what type of prospecting you are currently doing and what type you want to expand based on how your target customer spends time or is most likely to engage.

Lead generation tools

Lead generation tools make it easier to find prospects who are ready to purchase. In addition to improving the selling workflow and experience for the salesperson, these tools also increase productivity. Companies typically look for these tools when they want to increase their sales in a new market or significantly increase revenue in a current market.

For example, these tools can flag when a prospect searches for topics related to the business problem your product solves. Other lead generation tools also make it possible to reach out to prospects in a mass volume, like a power dialer that lets you call five people at the same time.

The most effective lead generation tool depends largely on your target customer. If your conversation rates are higher through social media than phone, then purchasing a power dialer is not the best choice. Carefully look at your analytics as well as your future goals to determine what tool will help expand the areas where you are currently most successful with prospects.

CRM software

A CRM manages all your company’s interactions with customers and prospects, including sales calls, customer service interactions, social media, and marketing emails. Sales teams often refer to the CRM data as the record of truth. By staying connected to your customers and improving relationships, sales representatives are able to streamline processes, improve profitability, and grow the business.

A CRM is a single source of truth for your sales team. Instead of separate lists and spreadsheets, all sales activities are captured in a central hub and used to create a master to-do list. With the right CRM tool, leaders can easily assign prospects to representatives, which makes prospecting feel more manageable.

Sales teams can also more effectively use analytics to target prospects most likely to convert. An AI-powered CRM tool can provide step-by-step guidance on the next-best action to take with specific prospects and customized workflows for each representative.

Social media prospecting tools

Social media is a powerful platform for business. Some prospecting tools can scrape social media for data that helps you find specific prospects that have a need and demonstrate a readiness for your product. For example, they can identify a social media post that is relevant to the business problem your product solves and then reach out to all of the users who commented on or liked the post.

AI capabilites have made these tools even more popular. Companies are using these tools as an additional channel to phoning prospects and are seeing solid results in this area. As new innovations continue to happen in the AI and social media realm, expect the functionality and capabilities of this type of sales prospecting tool to increase rapidly.

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Make prospecting work for your business

If you are sending your team out into the world to prospect without a sales prospecting tool, they are at a significant disadvantage to representatives at other companies. By finding a sales prospecting tool with the latest features and customizing the tool for your needs, such as pricing structure and campaigns, sales representatives can get more prospecting done in less time with better results.