10 best sales pipeline management tools to close more deals

How much difference does your pipeline management app really make?

While it’s difficult to give an exact data-backed answer to that question, one thing is clear: companies with well-structured sales processes close substantially more deals. Pipeline management tools are all about adding structure and clarity to sales. 

You might have the best sales team in the world and ready-to-buy customers queuing at your door. However, without a tested process, you’ll almost certainly see subpar results. 

The right software can transform the way your reps handle leads, with more meetings, deals, and revenue as a result. Over time, the ROI these tools drive more than justifies the long-term investment. 

Let’s find a platform that fits your business needs perfectly. 

Why Use Sales Pipeline Management Tools? 

Pipeline is a term that anyone who's worked in sales is intimately familiar with.

But what exactly is a sales pipeline?

In essence, it’s a visual tool. It represents the various stages of a company’s sales process and the prospects moving through them. When a sales team talks about “generating pipeline,” it’s referring to adding more potential customers to its well-defined sales pathway. 

Sales representatives work with prospects using specific methods at different stages of the pipeline. An early-stage marketing-qualified lead (MQL) requires a different approach to a ready-to-buy repeat customer, for example.  

In all cases, however, effective pipeline management improves sales outcomes and streamlines conversions. It helps reps prioritize leads, target them with the most relevant outreach, and forecast effectively. And apps are a fundamental part of modern pipeline management. 

So, Which Sales Pipeline Management Software Do You Actually Need? 

Pipeline management software can be complex to navigate. Big enterprise platforms have hundreds of features, often with industry-specific nuances. 

However, there are some core areas of functionality that you’ll need, irrespective of industry or niche. 

Let’s look at these to get a clearer idea of what pipeline management software actually does. 

Visual Pipeline Stages and Deal Tracking

Pipeline management apps allow you to create customizable visual representations of the various aspects of your sales flow. 

Most apps will use lead and sales data, often supplemented with information from your CRM system, to create a range of visual representations. These encompass pie charts, flow diagrams, graphs, and more. If you outsource sales or lead gen tasks, management tools can sync data.  

Automated Stages and Workflows

Pipeline management software automates the following tasks:

1. Capturing and updating lead information.

2. Assigning tasks to reps based on prospect activity and customer interactions. 

3. Sending follow-up email campaigns and messages to prospects.

4. Entry of data related to prospect actions, often synced from other apps. 

5. Tracking performance metrics and generating reports. 

Increasingly, AI sales enablement tools are enhancing the already significant automation capabilities of pipeline and sales funnel apps. 

Lead Generation

The boundary between pipeline management apps and lead generation apps is often blurred. Often, platforms will provide both areas of functionality. 

Pipeline platforms may include the following lead-generation features: 

• Access to a lead database

• Integrations with third-party lead sources like LinkedIn 

• Lead prospecting, filtering, and scoring 

• Automated outreach via email, SMS, social media, and cold calling

• Integrations with inbound marketing tools for tracking MQLs

Sales Automation Tools

Modern pipeline management platforms usually include the following tools for automated and semi-automated sales tasks:

1. Using auto-dialers to cold-call leads and leave pre-recorded messages. 

2. Automating meeting scheduling with integrated calendars

3. Sending personalized email sequences for prospecting and follow-up.

4. Automatically prioritizing leads based on ICP and behavioral criteria.

5. Notifying salespeople about follow-ups, meetings, and deadlines.

6. Creating and sending customized proposals, quotes, and contracts based on templates.

Automation of this type–especially when coupled with AI prospecting and outreach tools—can be particularly useful to small businesses that don’t have large sales teams. It allows them to run complex campaigns cost-effectively. 

Detailed Analytics and Reporting

Pipeline management tools provide full-picture sales performance analytics and tracking of KPIs and conversion rates. It’s usually possible to segment data at a very granular level.

Reporting tools typically track the following main metrics: 

• Number of leads generated

• Conversion rate by stage

• Average deal size

• Sales cycle length

• Win/loss ratio

• Closed won deals

• Revenue by sales rep

• Pipeline velocity (speed at which leads move through your funnel)

• Lead response time

• Customer acquisition cost (CAC)

• Predicted vs. actual revenue

In addition, platforms will also track more specific metrics like email open rates and number of meetings booked. 

Sales Forecasting

Because pipeline management platforms act as hubs of data about sales activity, they have powerful forecasting features. 

Here are some examples of forecasting scenarios:

• Revenue based on number of prospects and pipeline velocity

• Sales patterns based on historical analysis 

• Team or individual performance forecasting

• Scenario planning with data-based simulations

• Outcome adjustment based on resolution of bottlenecks

Integrations with Other Business Tools

Pipeline management tools often act as a “central dashboard” for team members to coordinate other apps and tasks, such as meeting scheduling, cold email outreach, and automated lead generation.

Pipeline tools normally integrate with apps that provide the following functionality:

• CRM and ERP systems

• Email marketing 

• Calendars and scheduling

• Dialing and call management 

• Document signing and eSignatures

• Business intelligence and analytics

• Lead generation

• Team messaging and collaboration 

• Payment and invoicing 

Third-party connectors like Zapier are also common for filling in the gaps not covered by native integrations. 

10 Best Sales Pipeline Management Tools Available 

1. Artisan 

Artisan is an AI outbound sales platform for email and social media outreach. It uses an AI business development representative (BDR) called Ava to manage all aspects of the early and mid-stage outbound sales pipeline. This includes prospecting, personalized message creation, email domain warm-up, delivery and follow-up, and ongoing optimization.

AI is transforming the way teams approach their marketing automation and sales strategy. However, many so-called AI platforms take an icing-on-the-cake approach, adding limited AI functionality to their existing feature set. Artisan approaches things differently. It builds solution capabilities around the AI. This means that it can offer much more in the way of advanced automation. 

Key features

• Database of over 300 million B2B leads

• AI-powered prospecting, email outreach, lead management, and campaign optimization

• Social media outreach

• Bulk personalization of outreach messages

Reviews

Artisan is a relative newcomer to the pipeline management space but has received several positive reviews on G2. 

Pricing

Pricing is on a custom basis to cater cost-effectively to teams of different sizes. Get in touch with the sales team to discuss plans. 

2. HubSpot Sales Hub

HubSpot’s sales platform is called Sales Hub. It’s a well-priced solution (starting at $20/month per user) and is suitable for businesses of all sizes. Its intuitive platform makes it a good option for smaller companies. 

Features cover sales engagement (including automated outreach), contact management, and reporting and analytics, with AI tools also included. It integrates easily with HubSpot’s popular CRM platform. 

Key features

• Lead management

• Automated outreach

• Analytics and reporting

Reviews

HubSpot Sales Hub has a 4.5/5 rating on G2 based on 12,054 reviews. 

Pricing

Plans start at $20/month per user. A limited free plan is available. 

3. Salesforce Sales Cloud

Any comprehensive list of pipeline management tools must include Salesforce. Along with HubSpot, Salesforce is one of the most recognizable brands in sales and marketing. 

Sales Cloud refers to Salesforce’s various cloud-based sales packages. There’s significant variation between what’s offered on different plans, so do your research before taking out a subscription. 

Sales Cloud includes an AI sales development representative (SDR) that, among other capabilities, “autonomously nurtures” leads.

Key features

• Lead status tracking

• Contact information management

• Messaging automation 

• AI agent (not included in all plans)

Reviews

Salesforce Sales Cloud has a 4.4/5 rating on G2 based on 23,163 reviews.

Pricing

Pricing starts at $25/user per month, but there are lots of plans available. Review them all carefully. 

4. Pipedrive

Pipedrive is a popular “pure management” solution and has a large number of features for speeding up or automating repetitive tasks, such as meeting scheduling and sending contracts for e-signature. It doesn’t have database access or prospecting tools.

Overall, it’s a well-priced tool and integrates easily with other apps for full sales cycle automation. 

Key features

• Outreach management

• Analytics and forecasting

• Large integrations library

Reviews

Pipedrive has a 4.3/5 rating on G2 based on 2,188 reviews.

Pricing

Pricing starts at $24/month.

5. Monday Sales CRM

Monday is best known as a project management and workflow automation app. However, it has expanded its suite of tools to include a sales-focused CRM system. It’s a well-priced solution that offers features for deal and contact management, AI email content creation, and activity logging. 

It’s a good option for smaller businesses given its low entry price ($12/month per user) and integrates smoothly with Monday’s main platform. 

Key features

• Contact and deal management

• AI email copy creation

• Customizable pipelines and workflow automation

Reviews

Monday CRM has a 4.6/5 rating on G2 based on 821 reviews.

Pricing

Plans start at $12/month per user. It’s one of the most inexpensive pipeline management solutions available. 

6. ActiveCampaign

ActiveCampaign is primarily an email marketing platform for online merchants and companies with mailing lists. Its core feature set includes email broadcasts, web forms, landing pages, and ecommerce integrations.

Its marketing CRM, which is included on all but the “Starter” plan, allows for deal management, lead scoring, and storage of customer data. If you’re also looking for a suite of email marketing tools with pipeline management as an add-on, ActiveCampaign is worth considering. 

Key features

• Email marketing

• Pipeline and deal management

• Sales forecasting

Reviews

ActiveCampaign has a 4.5/5 rating on G2 based on 13,668 reviews. 

Pricing

Pricing is based on the number of email subscribers. $15/month is the lowest-priced subscription. 

7. Copper CRM

Copper is an excellent choice for smaller businesses—plans start at $12/month per user—and enterprises looking for a platform with unlimited usage caps. It has gained significant traction among Google Workspace users due to its native integrations. 

It’s a solid pipeline management solution with contact management, activity tracking, workflow automation, bulk email delivery, pipeline templates, and a comprehensive integrations library. 

Key features

• Deal management

• Bulk email delivery

• Google Workspace compatibility

Reviews

Copper CRM has a 4.5/5 rating on G2 based on 1,132 reviews. 

Pricing

Plans start at $12/month per user. The “Business plan” costs $134/month per user and has no cap on the number of contacts you can add to the CRM. 

8. Nimble CRM

Nimble is notable for its feature-rich Outlook and Gmail integrations. If you run your outreach from either of these email clients, it could be the platform for you. As far as pipeline management goes, it has a CRM capable of storing 25,000 contacts with data enrichment tools and a browser prospecting plugin. 

It also has something of a unique pricing mode: $29.90/month per seat with no additional tiers. 

Key features

• Gmail and Outlook integrations

• Browser prospecting

• Pipeline management for up to 25,000 contacts

Reviews

Nimble CRM has a 4.5/5 rating on G2 based on 1,092 reviews. 

Pricing

Nimble has one pricing tier of $29.90/month per user. 

9. Close

Close pitches itself as a solution for small businesses and startups looking for ease of use and efficiency. It has an excellent pipeline view and the capacity to store 25,000 leads on the entry-level plan. It also has bulk email, calling, and SMS features. 

Interestingly, and despite its focus on smaller businesses, Close has one of the best-priced enterprise options we’ve seen, at $149/month per user for unlimited contacts. 

Key features

• Management of multiple pipelines

• Outreach and sales automation

• Integrations library

Reviews

Close CRM has a 4.7/5 rating on G2 based on 1,520 reviews.

Pricing

Plans start at $59/month per user. 

10. Insightly

Insightly’s feature set covers pipeline management and visualization, lead activity tracking, and sales workflow automation. It can be used as part of a broader Insightly tech stack that includes marketing and customer support software (Insightly All-in-One). 

Insightly lacks advanced AI functionality, but it does have excellent data analysis and visualization tools. Much of the platform is also highly customizable. 

Key features

• Lead management

• Analytics and reporting

• Access to marketing and customer service apps if you opt for “Insightly All-in-One”

Reviews

Insightly CRM has a 4.2/5 rating on G2 based on 914 reviews. 

Pricing

Plans start at $29/month per user. 

Generate Sales and Revenue With the Next Generation of AI Sales Tools 

A new wave of AI tools is changing the way companies manage their sales cycle. 

AI business development representatives (BDRs) are now capable of running substantial portions of a typical pipeline. This frees human sales reps to focus on what matters most—meeting with leads and closing deals. 

Artisan is an outbound email platform that covers all aspects of prospecting, personalization, outreach, and follow-up. Artisan’s virtual BDR, Ava, takes care of all of these processes with a minimum of manual input. 

Artisan offers the following powerful features: 

• Prospecting from a database of 300 million B2B leads

• Filtering, scoring, and segmentation based on your ideal customer profiles (ICPs)

• Ongoing enrichment of leads and data scraping from multiple sources

• Email warmup and deliverability optimization

• Bulk personalization of subject lines and email copy that matches human inputs 

• Automated personalized follow-ups

• Campaign management based on tested playbooks 

• Multi-channel outreach across email and social media

• A/B testing and automated optimization

• Integrations library (CRMs, accounting, meeting apps, etc.)

• Real-time, in-depth analytics and reporting