How to Build a Sales Software Stack

How to Build a Sales Software Stack

Many sales teams are under immense pressure to drive revenue. They need to generate a list of qualified leads, nurture them, close deals, and deliver great customer service while working hard to meet their quota. 

As a result, they are always on the lookout for new tools and technologies that can streamline their processes and enable them to work effectively. 

In this article, you will learn how to build a sales software stack, especially if you deal with outbound marketing. Let’s get started. 

What is a Sales Software Stack? 

A sales software stack is a collection of tools and technologies that a company’s sales reps use to execute their work. This sales tech stack often varies by the specific needs of the sales team, ensuring they get the best results out of their efforts. 

These sales tools come in different forms including data sourcing tools, data scraping tools, data enrichment tools, sales copy generators, sales engagement software, and lead management software.  

As technology evolves, businesses continue to take advantage of these tools to track their sales performance and maximize efficiency. 

How to Build Your Sales Stack from Scratch: 15 Essential Outbound Tools to Have

Here is how you can build your sales tech stacks from scratch with these 15 outbound tools. 

1. Start with your Data Sources

Unrefined or inaccurate data often results in targeting the wrong person and ultimately, wastes your sales efforts. This is why you must get your data sources right. 

With the right data, you can identify and target the right prospects. Alice de Courcy, the Group Chief Marketing Officer at Cognism says, “Good lead to sales conversions come from having instant access to quality data.” 

In other words, having the right information enables you to predict your prospect's pain points, offer solutions, and nurture them till conversion. But, from where can you get this quality data? Here are three tools you can add to your sales tech stack to source B2B data.

LinkedIn 

LinkedIn remains the best platform for attracting warm, qualified leads to your sales funnel. About 40% of B2B marketers say LinkedIn is the most effective channel for driving high-quality leads. 

It's a treasure trove for many decision-makers and professionals, enabling you to access detailed profiles and relevant information such as job roles, company details, latest accomplishments, and more. This provides you with valuable insights that you can use to discover, nurture, and convert prospective clients. 

Additionally, LinkedIn Sales Navigator enables you to reach your ideal customers. You can create filters based on criteria such as your prospect's city or country, educational background, job role, company, industry, and more. 

In the example below, you can see the term “marketing manager” in the search bar and this result is filtered based on two locations. If you want to conduct a more narrow search, you can include more criteria like their companies, skills, and more. This will create a specific list of the prospects you need to work on.  

‍Pricing

LinkedIn offers a version for its users. But you can opt for the platform’s premium version for $29.99 per month as a career person or $59.99 per month as a business owner or manager.  

On the other hand, LinkedIn Sales Navigator’s core plan costs $99 per month while its advanced plan costs $149 per month.

Rating on G2

LinkedIn’s rating: 4.5 out of 5

LinkedIn Sales Navigator’s rating: 4.3 out of 5

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Apollo

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‍Apollo is another data platform where you can obtain large quantities of customer data. With over 275M global contacts from 73m companies, you can connect with your ideal customers based on different criteria such as their names, job titles, location, company, and more. 

The screenshot below shows you can source data using Apollo. Here, you can filter the search based on criteria like job titles, number of employees, companies, persona, location, industry, funding, revenue, and more. 

‍Pricing

Apollo's free plan doesn't include numerous features to pursue your prospecting deal. So, it’s best advised to opt for the paid version. Its basic plan costs $49 per month while its professional plan costs $79 per month. 

Ratings

Apollo’s rating on G2 is 4.8 out of 5

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Ocean

Ocean is another B2B data platform that provides a seamless experience in finding your ideal customers. Unlike other data platforms, Ocean's advanced search feature makes it easy to find perfect-fit prospects within seconds. 

This lets you know who to target, filtering out prospects that don't meet your objective. The tool’s AI search feature will even suggest similar companies to advance your search. 

Pricing

Ocean’s minimal plan costs $275 per month

Rating

Ocean’s rating on G2 is 4.2 out of 5

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2. Scrape Custom Data

Not all data is available on a standard database like Apollo and Ocean. In this case, you can consider specific tools to extract data from multiple websites. This approach is known as custom data scraping. 

Custom data scraping is useful for extracting data from different sources such as competitors’ websites, forums, and social media platforms. It provides valuable insights that enable you to identify potential customers and extract their contact information. 

With the wealth of data available, you can focus your efforts on these promising prospects that yield results. Here are some tools you can use to scrape custom data.

Instant Data Scraper

Instant Data Scraper is a web extension that extracts and exports data from any website. As an automated data extraction tool, it uses AI to detect the most relevant data on a web page and save it in an Excel sheet or CSV file. (XLS, XLSX, CSV). 

Pricing

The tool is completely free for users. 

Ratings

It’s not available on G2 or Trustpilot. 

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Clay

Many sales process involves conducting manual account research. They search for a particular company on Google, click on the websites, and scan through it to determine whether it’s an ideal prospect. 

However, custom data scraping tool like Clay makes it easy to get this information without going through the manual tasks. Clay’s AI web scraper conducts all manual searches and provides you with real-time data to target your potential customers.
It researches a particular company based on its website or any public details and finds its detailed information. For instance, the AI web scraper can discover the company’s competitors, office locations, job positions, and more. 

It can also research the people at a company — an employee’s time spent at a company, the type of email addresses (personal or work emails), and more. With the AI web scraper, you can automate all these searches and get relevant information to find your potential client. 

Pricing

Its starter plan costs $149 per month while the Explorer and the Pro plan cost $349 and $800 per month respectively.

Ratings

Clay’s rating score on G2 is 4.9 out of 5

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3. Enrich your List with Contact Information

Once you have your list of prospective clients, chances are you don’t have their verified email addresses or other contact details. Without this data, you can’t reach your prospects and eventually sell to them. 

However, these two tools in your sales tech stack work wonders to help you obtain these email addresses and even their phone numbers. They include: 

Prospeo

Prospeo allows you to find your prospect’s verified email addresses and scale your sales efforts. 

You can obtain the email address by inputting your prospect’s first name or last name, their company’s domain name, their LinkedIn profile URL, or any relevant info relating to them. 

If your list features many prospects, you can create a list and export it after verifying the email addresses. 

Pricing

Its starter plan costs $39 per month. Meanwhile, its growth, pro, and business plan costs $99, $199, and $349 respectively. 

Ratings

Prospeo’s rating on G2 is 4.8 out of 5

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FullEnrich

As the first Waterfall enrichment service, FullEnrich finds your prospect’s email addresses and phone numbers. The tool uses over 15 premium data sources to discover these details and verify their authenticity. 

Whether you use a spreadsheet or export your list in a CSV file from LinkedIn, FullEnrich can provide all these contact details and maximize deliverability to your prospect’s inbox.

Pricing 

While its starter plan costs $29 per month, its pro plan costs $55.

Ratings

Its ratings on G2 or Trustpilot aren't available.

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4. Identify Buying Signals and Trigger Events

Prospecting without looking out for buying signals and trigger events is like driving with your eyes closed. When you don’t look out for the actions or behaviors of a prospect, you reduce your chances of success. 

“Leveraging trigger events can lead to more qualified prospect customers who are more likely to engage,” says Paul Bilodeau, VP of Sales at SalesQB. They show you opportunities to move forward with potential clients, increasing your likelihood of success. 

In other words, these buying signals and trigger events help you to identify the prospects on which you must focus your sales efforts. For example, when a web visitor fills out a form or requests a quote, that’s a buying signal that should encourage you to work with the prospect.

Likewise, when a company announces new funding, that’s a trigger event that shows they are ready for growth. Again, this is an evident sign that shows a sales opportunity. 

To identify these buying signals and trigger events, here are some tools that contribute to your sales tech stack. These sales tools include:

RB2B

RB2B identifies US-based visitors on your website and provides you with their LinkedIn profile URLs and email addresses. Based on the page they visit on your website, you can gauge their level of interest in your prospecting solution. 

Pricing

RB2B offers a free version but its pro version costs $495 per month.

Ratings

RB2B’s ratings on G2 is 4.9 out of 5

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Humanlinker

Humanlinker monitors the account activity in your CRM and notifies you when an event arises. It can be a funding event, a new office opening, an acquisition or merger, a C-level executive changing their position, and more. This relevant information shows you opportunities you can use to re-engage your top accounts and access more sales opportunities.

Pricing

Humanlinker offers both free and paid versions. Its paid version, starter, and pro plan, cost €31 and €55 per month.

Ratings

Humanlinker’s ratings on G2 is 4.6 out of 5

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5. Create a Well-Tailored Sales Copy

Your sales tech stack isn’t complete without a well-tailored sales copy. These copies persuade your prospects and drive them to take a specific action. 

Whether you want them to subscribe to your mailing list, try a free demo, or sign up for a free trial, you need some texts to capture your prospect’s interests and drive them to perform the desired action. Here is an example of a notable sales copy generator you can include in your sales stack. 

Twain

Twain is a notable sales copy tool you can include in your sales software stack. The AI writing copilot creates attention-grabbing outreach messages that capture your prospect’s attention and get results. 

Pricing

It’s free for all users

Ratings

Twain’s rating isn’t available on G2.

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6. Engage your Leads and Stay Out of Spam

Once you have crafted your sales messages, you don’t want to send them out individually. This will not only waste time but also make you tired of the process. 

Instead, you want to speed up the process with a tool that can automate the process and deliver your messages at once. This enables you to efficiently manage leads. Plus, when you send out these sales messages, you want to make sure that they don’t land in spam.

To achieve this goal, here are two tools you can include in your sales technology stack. 

Heyreach

HeyReach allows you to automate your LinkedIn outreach efforts by engaging with your prospects at a fast pace. You can connect and manage up to 50 LinkedIn accounts from one place, automate thousands of invites each week, and manage conversations from a unified inbox.  

Pricing

Heyreach’s individual plan costs $79 per month. But its agency plan costs $799 or $1,499 per month. 

Ratings

Heyreach’s rating on G2 is 4.9 out of 5.

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Smartlead

Smartlead is another outreach tool you can use to engage your audience. This outreach tool scales your process with unlimited mailboxes and allows you to reach prospects across various channels such as Twitter, WhatsApp, SMS, and more. 

Plus, you don’t have to worry about reaching your daily limits or getting your emails in spam. Its warm-up feature improves your sender reputation and uses AI natural conversations which lands your emails in your prospect’s inbox.

Pricing

Smartlead’s basic plan costs $34 per month, the popular plan costs $66 per month, and the pro plan costs $79 per month.

Ratings

Smartlead’s rating on G2 is 4.8 out of 5

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7. Manage your Pipeline

Every company requires revenue to keep them afloat. This is why it’s essential to manage your pipeline. When you track and manage your leads effectively, you can end up closing deals to drive revenue growth. 

In addition, you may tweak your entire sales process to create a long-term relationship with your clients. That said, here are some software tools you can include in your tech stack to manage your sales pipeline.

HubSpot

HubSpot is the gold standard for customer relationship management (CRM). This tool which integrates with many software acts as a central database to store, manage, and view your customer information from one place. This information includes your prospect’s full name, email address, phone number, website, and more. 

The CRM software also manages all communication with your prospects and tracks every aspect of the buyer’s journey. You can check every interaction you’ve had with a prospect including emails, phone calls, messages, and more.

Plus, the tool gently reminds you to follow up with a specific prospect. You can automate repetitive tasks if you intend to send messages to many recipients. 

Pricing

HubSpot’s sales plan for professionals starts at $90 per month. Meanwhile, its sales plan for enterprise starts at $150 per month. 

Ratings

HubSpot’s rating on G2 is 4.4 out of 5. 

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Breakcold

If you’re big on social selling, Breakcold is your best option. The sales CRM enables you to build and nurture B2B relationships through emails and social media platforms such as LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and more. 

With this CRM software, you can access an unlimited sales pipeline, manage your cold email activities, and get news about your prospects with ease. You can also use the tool to create notes, set up reminders, and integrate with other platforms when necessary. 

Pricing

Its essential plan costs $29 per month while the pro plan costs $59 per month. 

Ratings

Breakcold’s rating on G2 is 4.7 out of 5

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Attention

Attention is a sales enablement tool that helps businesses to achieve their full potential. The AI sales tool analyzes conversations from your sales team and provides them with actionable insights to win deals. The insights which solely focus on your customers serve as real-time guidance to manage your sales pipeline. 

This sales enablement tool collates all insights in your CRM, enabling you to access all your information from one spot. It integrates with various software such as HubSpot, Zapier, Slack, Zoom, Google Meets, Gmail, and more.

Plus, it automates your follow-up activities by crafting emails that sells and resonates with your customer’s needs. If you also don’t want your sales team to miss opportunities, you should consider using the tool’s real-time coaching feature for your sales reps. 

Over all, Attention remains one of the most valuable team in generating the best results from your sales efforts.

Another advantage of using this tool is its real-time coaching to sales reps. Its sales training program enables your sales team to discover opportunities and scale winning conversations. It  

Pricing

Attention’s pricing details aren’t available on its website but you can fill out a form on its website to get a quote. 

Ratings

Attention’s rating on G2 is 5.0 out of 5. 

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Conclusion

In conclusion, various sales technology stack serves different purposes. While some are best for sourcing data, others work best for engaging leads. The goal is to use each tool to obtain the best results. 

If you aim to implement your sales tech stack and generate opportunities on autopilot, ColdIQ is your best option. Our sales consulting services analyze your tech stack to identify gaps, improve existing workflows, and create sales opportunities. 

Plus, we offer sales prospecting services where we handle most of these sales processes for you, saving you time and effort. All you need to do is to close the deal. If this sounds like what you like, book our strategy call today!