15 Must-Have Sales Productivity Tools for Every Sales Team
When did you last ask yourself if your sales stack needs updating?
This question should be posed regularly.
Unfortunately, few sales leaders consistently review their tech stacks. And it’s understandable. Busy with umpteen other tasks, they get used to the comfort and predictability of familiar platforms.
But it means they miss out on a host of productivity and revenue-enhancing features.
With that in mind, think of this post as your overdue stack audit.
Why Sales Productivity Software Is Crucial for Success
Sales productivity software is important for three primary reasons.
First, automation functionality can free up hours of employee time every day that would otherwise be spent on routine, manual tasks.
Second, it facilitates collaboration and communication between teams.
And third, they’re essential for effective lead management, tracking of metrics, and timely follow-up.
Let’s look at each of these points in more depth.
Time Efficiency and Task Automation
Salespeople spend 14.8% of their time on routine administrative tasks. That’s the most time spent on any single task. Productivity tools can reduce this figure substantially.
It’s possible to automate the following tasks either wholly or substantially:
Lead scoring
Email follow-ups
Pipeline tracking
Task reminders and notifications
Data entry
Call scheduling
Sales forecasting
Proposal generation
Performance reporting
When added together, these sales activities can consume multiple hours of rep time every week. And that’s time that could be spent connecting and persuading prospects.
Improved Collaboration and Communication
Sales productivity tools enhance collaboration in two main ways. First, they provide a central dashboard where all activity related to your pipeline is tracked.
This enables multiple reps to work on the same leads without creating any gaps in the buyer journey. It also substantially reduces the chances of prospects slipping through the cracks.
Second, they act as project management tools of a sort. They include communication features— in the form of group chats, notes, and automated notifications—that allow reps to talk about sales activities in a single place.
Better Lead Management and Follow-Up
What happens after the lead generation team has done its work isn’t straightforward. Sales is often viewed as a step-by-step logical process. However, much of the time it’s not.
Prospect journeys resemble jumbled heaps of spaghetti as opposed to straight lines. They might have upwards of twenty or thirty interactions with your brand before they’re ready to buy.
Productivity tools combine customer data into a form that makes tracking multiple complex journeys possible.
For example, AI tool Artisan automates the process of lead follow-up and lead “temperature” tracking, making it much easier to manage messy buyer journeys.
If you would like to see how Artisan can help you hit your KPIs and drive higher revenue, get in touch to book a demo.
Types of Sales Productivity Tools You’ll Need
Here’s an overview of the functionality that every sales tech stack should have at a minimum:
Workflow automation
CRM tools
Email automation
Analytics
Content management
Engagement
Project management
Document automation
Let’s look at what each of these tools does, whether used individually or as part of an all-in-one platform.
All-in-One Sales Automation Software
All-in-one software combines multiple sales tools. In the past, these platforms were seen as inferior to an integrated stack of “point” solutions.
CRM (Customer Relationship Management) Tools
CRMs essentially store customer data for relationship management. The terms CRM and pipeline management solution are often used interchangeably, and many CRMs combine tools for managing both leads and existing customers.
Email Automation Tools
Sales emails fall broadly into three categories: cold emails to new prospects, follow-up emails to unconverted leads, and emails to existing customers coming up for renewal.
Email automation tools help in all of these areas. For example, Artisan can handle all aspects of high-volume cold emailing (including prospecting) and follow-up messaging.
Sales Analytics and Reporting Tools
Implementing a data-driven sales cycle requires navigating a sea of complex, unwieldy data. Analytics and reporting tools make this process much easier. They provide reps with actionable insights and performance reports that can be understood without a degree in data science.
Sales Content Management Tools
Sales content management features are usually included in most CRMs and pipeline management platforms, though there are some dedicated solutions available. They provide reps and prospects with an easy way of accessing sales collateral—brochures, technical documentation, pricing plans, and the like.
Sales Engagement Tools
Sales engagement tools track, automate, and optimize engagement with prospects. They provide sales managers with a 360-degree dashboard for coordinating interactions, and there can be lots of interactions for longer, more complex sales processes.
Project Management and Collaboration Tools
Project management tools fulfill two core functions. First, they allow sales professionals to communicate, which is important for obvious reasons. Second, they provide cross-departmental coordination among all team members involved in the sales process. This includes marketers, content creators, senior executives, and even the legal and accounting departments.
Document Automation and E-signature Tools
Document automation tools streamline the whole document lifecycle, from creation to e-signature. They allow reps to create documents like proposals, contracts, invoices, and so on in significantly less time than it would take manually. They also provide all the technical infrastructure needed to request, collect, and store legally binding electronic signatures.
1. All-in-One Sales Automation Tools
Artisan
Artisan is a comprehensive AI outreach platform. It automates all the early and middle stages of outbound email and social campaigns, from prospecting to personalized email creation and delivery.
Artisan’s AI BDR is called Ava, and she works with your ideal customer profiles (ICPs) to execute self-optimizing campaigns that match and even outmatch the sales performance of human reps.
Key Features
End-to-end outbound outreach automation via email and LinkedIn
At-scale personalization based on a proprietary AI “waterfall” data filtering process
Rapid AI onboarding and campaign setup
Comprehensive B2B contact database of hundreds of millions of leads, including local business and ecommerce data
Email domain warmup and deliverability optimization
Automated A/B and multivariate testing in the background
Pricing
Artisan uses a tailored pricing model so customers get the most possible value. Contact its sales team for details.
Want to see how Artisan can boost your sales and revenue? Get in touch to schedule a demo to see our AI BDR Ava in action.
2. CRM Platforms
HubSpot
HubSpot is one of the big names in the CRM world. The HubSpot brand offers multiple “hubs” across various areas, including contact management, customer support, sales enablement, and more.
Its CRM interface is user-friendly and has a broad set of features. It also has a very large library of integrations for connecting up your productivity stack.
Key Features
All-in-one CRM platform
Email and social marketing automation
Sales pipeline management
Pricing
Pricing varies by “hub” (marketing, sales, service, CMS, etc.), spanning tens of dollars per month per user to thousands of dollars for enterprise plans.
Salesforce
Salesforce offers one of the most popular CRMs among medium and large enterprises, although there is a dedicated SMB option. It has extensive functionality and can be easily customized, although there is something of a steep learning curve when first getting to grips with the software.
Like HubSpot, Salesforce offers multiple products. You can add functionality as you need it. The “Sales Cloud” app will be of most interest to B2B sales professionals.
Key Features
Contact and account management
AI sales agents (Agentforce)
Sales pipeline management
Huge app marketplace for extra functionality
Pricing
Salesforce has an extensive suite of platforms with individual pricing. “Sales Force,” the sales-specific platform, starts at $25/user per month.
3. Email Automation Tools
Mailshake
Mailshake is an automation platform for multi-channel outreach across email, LinkedIn, cold calling, and SMS. It also has a lead database, which is available on its top-tier “Sales Engagement” plan.
It’s a good all-round platform, but AI functionality is limited to content creation, and access to prospect data is on a credit basis.
Key Features
Automated email sequences
Automation for sales calls
Multi-channel outreach
List cleaning and enrichment
Pricing
Starter: Free
Email Outreach: $45/month per user (annual billing)
Sales Engagement: $85/month per user (annual billing)
Outreach.io
Outreach.io is a tool for omnichannel automation across all stages of the sales cycle. Its suite of features covers lead tracking and outreach, cold calling, meeting scheduling, deal management, and forecasting.
It’s a feature-rich platform that’s well-suited to larger teams looking to boost productivity across multiple areas.
Key Features
Email automation and bulk outreach
Cold calling
Meeting scheduling
Pipeline management
Analytics and forecasting
Pricing
Outreach.io does not publicly disclose its pricing information. Contact their sales team for details.
4. Sales Analytics and Reporting Tools
Google Analytics
Google Analytics is practically a household name. It’s one of the most powerful analytics platforms on the market and should have a place in every tech stack, even if other analytics tools are used.
GA 360 is the enterprise version of the software and has higher data limits and direct support. However, it carries a pretty hefty price tag. For most companies, the free version will suffice.
Key Features
Real-time analytics
Audience segmentation
Conversion tracking
Pricing
Google Analytics 4: Free
Google Analytics 360: Starts at $50,000/year (enterprise solution)
Tableau
Tableau is a Salesforce product. It’s an analytics tool that makes complex data accessible and actionable, often with the assistance of AI “agents.”
It’s a good tool for both small businesses and enterprises and works well with other analytics tools and, of course, Salesforce.
Key Features
Actionable data analytics
Predictive AI modeling
CRM integration with Salesforce
Pricing
Tableau Viewer: $15/month per user (annual billing)
Tableau Explorer: $42/month per user (annual billing)
Tableau Creator: $75/month per user (annual billing)
5. Sales Content Management Tools
Seismic
Seismic is a content-focused engagement platform with features spanning enablement, sales, marketing, and customer service. Its content management functionality includes support for dynamic and interactive assets. Seismic can also be used to host rep training materials and facilitate the onboarding of new team members.
Key Features
Sales asset management
Team training and onboarding tools
Analytics and content-related intelligence
Pricing
Seismic does not publicly disclose its pricing information. However, according to third-party sources, it starts at approximately $20 per user per month, with advanced plans ranging from $40 to $60 per user per month.
Highspot
Highspot is a well-regarded enterprise solution with a wide range of features spanning sales productivity, content management, analytics, AI automation for repetitive tasks, and employee-facing training.
It’s a comprehensive solution that can be tailored to individual needs and is best suited to larger businesses.
Key Features
Content management
Sales training tools
Analytics and reporting
Pricing
Highspot does not publicly disclose pricing information and operates a highly customized model. Contact their sales team for details.
6. Sales Engagement Platforms
Gong
Gong bills itself as a “revenue management platform” and has three primary areas of functionality: sales, customer success, and marketing, with a strong focus on data throughout.
If you’re looking for a platform that will give you broad data-backed oversight of your sales and marketing operations along with valuable insights at a granular level, Gong is worth considering.
Key Features
Full sales cycle analytics
Revenue intelligence
Sales coaching intelligence
Pricing
Gong offers its solution on a module basis. Contact the sales team for a quote.
Vidyard
Vidyard is a dedicated solution for recording, editing, hosting, and tracking sales videos. It also offers call recording and AI-generated scripts, which are useful for training. Video is an important part of the sales process, and Vidyard is one of the best tools we’ve reviewed in this area.
Key Features
Video hosting and management
Screen recording and sharing
Video analytics and reporting
Pricing
Plus: $59/month per user
Business: Custom pricing
7. Project Management and Collaboration Tools
Asana
Asana has fast become one of the most popular project management tools in the space. It’s a straightforward cloud-based platform with a user-friendly workspace and an array of time-saving administrative settings and a large integrations library. Asana has also recently introduced several powerful AI features.
Key Features
Task management
Project planning
Team collaboration
Pricing
Basic: Free
Premium: $10.99/month per user
Business: $24.99/month per user
Enterprise: Custom pricing
Monday
While Monday made its name as a project management platform, it’s since expanded its offering to include a CRM with AI automation features (such as an email generator) and a dedicated platform for developers. While the dashboard can be a bit clunky, it’s a powerful solution, and functionality is constantly expanding.
Key Features
Task management
CRM with AI features
Dedicated platform for developers
Pricing
Basic: $8/month per user
Standard: $10/month per user
Pro: $16/month per user
Enterprise: Custom pricing
8. Document Automation and E-signature Tools
Docusign
Docusign is the granddaddy of document automation tools. While there is something of a learning curve and some plans have document-sharing caps, it’s still the best solution when it comes to features. We haven’t come across a competitor that offers more advanced or comprehensive functionality.
Key Features
Electronic signatures
Document management and storage
Document workflow automation
Pricing
Personal: $10/month per user
Standard: $25/month per user
Business Pro: $40/month per user
PandaDoc
PandaDoc is one of Docusign’s big competitors, and it’s worth trialing both solutions before making a decision. PandaDoc offers a document editor (for creating documents from scratch) and a library of prewritten templates.
Key Features
Document generation
eSignatures
Document workflow automation
Templates library
Pricing
Essentials: $19/month
Business: $49/month
Enterprise: Custom pricing
Increase Your Productivity With AI Artisans
The best sales teams treat their tech stack like a car. They give it a regular safety inspection and periodically replace the tires, brake pads, filters, and anything else no longer fit for purpose. Sometimes, they trade it in for a completely new vehicle.
Right now, the most productive teams are updating their "car" with AI.
Artisan is leading the way in AI sales functionality. AI BDR Ava can handle all of the early and middle stages of the outbound sales cycle, from prospecting to outreach.
If you’d like to see how Artisan can boost your sales efficiency and help you reach your ideal leads, get in touch to book a demo.
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