Succeeding in sales in the 2020s won’t be an easy task, but there is a vast array of tools on the market that make salespeople’s life easier by automating as many sales processes as possible and increasing efficiency.
In order to stay competitive and thrive in a technology-based business world, most companies rely on the following software tools to boost their sales:
- A good CRM to help manage and maintain customer relationships
- Sales analytics software that helps interpret changes in the pipeline
- An easy to use electronic signature to simplify and speed up contract management
- Customer service software to cater for the customers’ needs
- A sales intelligence tool to identify and segment the audience
- Video conferencing software, for optimal communication with prospects and clients
- A marketing automation tool for automating repetitive marketing tasks
Based on these categories and on customer satisfaction rankings, we made a list of 7 must-have software tools for sales in 2020.
1. HubSpot CRM - CRM software
HubSpot’s free CRM gives you the tools you need to organize, track and nurture your leads and customers.
Sleek and easy to use, the CRM offers you an overview of your entire sales funnel on a visual dashboard. You can sort deals by name, owner, amount or stage with custom filters and you can see a list of all the won or lost deals or all scheduled appointments.
HubSpot CRM tracks customer interactions automatically – whether they’re in an email, across social media, or on a call and allows you to see everything about a lead in one place. Gone are the days when you had to search through your email inbox or a spreadsheet to figure out where you left off with a client.
2. Clari: sales analytics software
Clari’s Revenue Operations platform is targeted at B2B organizations and provides actionable analytics and predictive insights to help them increase closing rates, shorten sales cycles and improve forecast accuracy.
The most useful analytics provided by the app are pipeline, forecast and activity analytics. Pipeline analytics give you a complete picture of the health of your pipeline and help you understand the changes in it and how much pipeline you need to generate to hit your target.
Forecast analytics use historical conversion patterns to predict whether you will reach your target.
Activity analytics analyze sales activity and show you which accounts need more attention and which salespersons need coaching.
3. Xodo Sign: electronic signature and document tracking
Xodo Sign’s eSignature tool helps you spend less time managing contracts, allowing you to focus on sales activities.
With this tool you can prepare, sign and manage contracts online from any device, without having to print or scan them.
Electronic signatures created with Xodo Sign meet the most stringent security and authentication requirements defined in the U.S., Europe and around the world. Your documents will be legally binding and enforceable in court.
Both unfinished and completed documents are securely stored on Xodo Sign's encrypted cloud infrastructure and can be retrieved anytime. You can choose to store completed documents in your Xodo Sign account, schedule them to auto-expire, export them to a private location or permanently remove them from Xodo Sign systems.
Another useful Xodo Sign feature, a complete audit trail containing signers’ names, email & IP addresses, as well as timestamps, helps you keep track of every past and present transaction.
4. Zendesk Support: customer service software
Zendesk Support is an easy to use system for tracking, prioritising and solving customer support tickets. The app gathers all customer support interactions in a single, dynamic help desk interface, so communication is seamless, personal and efficient.
Zendesk Support is flexible - it can work right out of the box, or it can be configured to your preferences. You can also create customized workflows or integrations with other apps.
Features like web widgets, predefined ticket responses and customer search history help you give your customers faster support on their preferred channels.
Zendesk Support also offers customer satisfaction ratings and performance reports, so you can measure and improve your customer service.
5. Vainu: sales intelligence
Vainu collects all information available about a certain company and provides it to salespeople.
With Vainu, you can follow target accounts, get notifications, and pull the information into your CRM. Then you can use this information when tailoring your messages to your audience.
Vainu enables you to identify and segment your best-fit accounts for each campaign based on hundreds of company filters. This way you can target your marketing efforts to the companies showing relevant buying signals.
The app also allows you to create smart rules for your email campaigns to show different content based on what company the visitor is from.
6. Zoom: video conferencing software
Zoom is a cloud-based video conferencing platform that can be used for video conferencing meetings, audio conferencing, webinars, meeting recordings, and live chat.
The app offers video, audio and screen-sharing across Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Blackberry, Zoom Rooms, and H.323/SIP room systems.
You can sync Zoom to your calendar, so you can schedule Zoom meetings that appear on your calendar, or you can easily add a Zoom Meeting link to events on your calendar, so remote participants can join.
You can also record meetings to your device or to the Zoom cloud for later reviewing.
7. ActiveCampaign - marketing automation software
ActiveCampaign gives you the tools you need to automate repetitive marketing tasks and market more effectively on multiple online channels.
Marketing automation is easy with ActiveCampaign - you can set up automated workflows in a matter of minutes using the drag-and-drop automation builder. For example, you can send trigger emails and notifications based on customer health, feature adoption or other factors.
The app lets you use tags to segment your audience based on their interests, industry, activity and other criteria. Using the data you collect, you can target your audience across platforms with text message automation, site messages, and Facebook Ads.
There are plenty of useful sales tools out there, you just need to assess which of your processes need attention, choose the right tools for your specific needs and build an integrated tech stack that will help you generate more sales.