Prospecting Software for the Modern Sales Team: The Complete Guide to Choosing the Right Tools for Your Team

Introduction

These days, humans are dealing with more distractions than ever. It feels like there’s a constant barrage of ringing and buzzing that we just can’t escape.

You’ve got calls, texts, news updates, notifications from your smartwatch, alerts from social media when your favorite creator posts a new video, and that overflowing email inbox that just seems to keep adding tasks to your never-ending to-do list.

That’s a lot of noise to cut through!

But as a sales professional, it’s your job to break through that noise and reach potential customers who are a great fit for your products and services- and with the right prospecting software, you can make this process much faster and more efficient for your team.

The best prospecting tools and platforms today give sales reps a clear view of what future customers need. Plus, they make it super easy to reach out, track responses, and analyze what’s working and what’s not.

In this guide, we’ll discuss the most important features to look for when choosing prospecting software for your sales team. We’ll cover the top options on the market today and walk you through the process of deciding on the right one.

What is Sales Prospecting?

Definition of Sales Prospecting

At its core, sales prospecting is the art of uncovering potential customers who might be a perfect match for your product or service. Often confused with “lead research” and “lead generation” because we tend to use these terms interchangeably- prospecting is the bridge between two steps in the sales cycle: Identifying a target customer and reaching out to them.

Let’s unpack that a bit.

“Lead research” is the process of finding accounts, job titles, or contacts that may perfect customers for your business. Those contacts or accounts are then turned into a list (known as a “lead list” or the process of “lead generation”).

“Prospecting” is the process of identifying which ones to contact and reaching out to them. So, while lead generation is the entire process of creating a list of potential customers, prospecting is specifically focused on identifying high-quality leads and initiating contact with them.

Where The Concept of Prospecting for Sales Comes From

The concept of “prospecting” has its roots in the California Gold Rush of the mid-1800s. Back then, prospectors were individuals who ventured into uncharted territories, tirelessly sifting through dirt, rivers, and rocks in search of nuggets of gold.

In much the same way, traditional sales prospecting was about sifting through large databases of names to find opportunities.

Originally, this would’ve been done with a Yellow Pages and a rotary dial phone, but in modern times, sales teams have turned to digital sales tools for a streamlined approach.

Why is Prospecting Important for Commercial Services?

At first glance, prospecting might seem like a throwback to the old days of selling—something you’d associate with door-to-door sales or cold calls. But don’t let that fool you. Prospecting is still one of the most critical steps in the sales process.

But why is prospecting so important? Let’s break it down.

Importance of Sales Prospecting for Sales Teams

The difference between a sales team that excels in prospecting and one that doesn’t is like night and day. When your team is equipped with the right sales strategies, tools, and software, prospecting becomes a powerful fuel that drives the entire sales engine.

On the flip side, if your prospecting efforts are half-hearted or poorly managed, your sales pipeline can quickly dry up. This results in missed opportunities and can lead to significant revenue loss.

In short, mastering the art of prospecting is key to keeping your sales pipeline full, your sales team productive, and your business thriving.

Benefits of Sales Prospecting Tools

Boost Sales Prospecting Efficiency

Imagine if your sales team could eliminate the most tedious parts of their job—things like data entry, lead research, and tracking down contact details. With the right sales prospecting software and tools, that’s exactly what you can do.

Convex’s sales prospecting solutions, Atlas and Engage, offer the simplest and most efficient way to source potential customers for your commercial services business. Here’s how easy it can be:

1. Find the Property, Contact, or Account that best suits your products and services—this could be anything from a property address to a First and Last Name to a hospital or airport in your area.
2. Check the buying signals category to see who’s in-market and ready to buy (this is the same as a lead score).
3. With just two clicks, use Generative AI trained on an account’s data and buying signals to send them an email or draft a script for a phone call.
4. Set up an automated follow-up or reminder, or add to your pipeline.

These tools are designed to streamline the prospecting process, automating repetitive tasks so that your sales reps can focus on what they do best: building relationships and closing deals.

Prospecting tools free up valuable time and energy by eliminating manual labor and additional tasks, allowing your team to boost their productivity and efficiency.

When administrative tasks no longer bog down your sales reps, they can dedicate more time to high-value activities that drive better sales outcomes. In other words, these tools save time and make your sales team more effective.

Improved Prospect and Data Quality

Have you ever spent hours chasing down a lead only to find out that the contact information was outdated or inaccurate? It’s frustrating, to say the least.

That’s where sales prospecting tools come in. They provide your team with accurate, up-to-date data on potential buyers, including contact details, company information, and even social media insights.

With access to better data, your sales team can make more informed decisions about who to target and how to approach them. This means your outreach efforts are more likely to resonate with prospects, leading to higher conversion rates and a more successful sales strategy overall.

In the world of sales, knowledge truly is power—and these tools give you the knowledge you need to succeed, leading to better communication.

Better Collaboration and Communication for Team Success

Prospecting is often a team effort. In many businesses, “inside” sales reps, sales development reps (SDRs), business development reps (BDRs), and marketing share different aspects of the sales prospecting process with the sales organization.

And the right tools make all the difference.

Speaking of how teams can use these tools, let’s talk about scaling prospecting.

How to Conduct Sales Prospecting at Scale

Scaling your prospecting efforts can feel like an overwhelming task. The lists of names, titles, databases, and comparisons with ideal customer profiles (ICPs) and target avatars are enough to drive you crazy.

But you’ve got to keep the pipeline full… without losing the personal touch that makes outreach successful.

Sales prospecting tools are the answer. Tools like Convex and Cognism allow you to personalize your email campaigns and other outreach activities so you can engage with a larger number of prospects in less time.

Let’s use Convex’s Generative AI as an example. When you come across a contact or account with a high lead score, you can send them a personalized message that’s relevant and timely based on their needs and preferences.

Here’s how it works: Convex’s Generative AI is trained on all sorts of data about the account. This includes everything from account and contact data on the prospect to insights on you and your company. This way, your messages are personalized based on that information to be the most impactful and relevant to the potential customer.

And the best part is that this entire process takes 3-5 minutes. It’s like having an extra set of hands (or several!) to help you scale your sales efforts effectively.

Choosing the Right Sales Prospecting Tool

But, with so many tools on the market, how do you choose the right ones? According to G2, there are 280+ platforms that can be classified as sales prospecting tools. These include lead generation tools, sales, and property intelligence platforms, among many others.

Choosing the right prospecting tool for your sales team involves consideration of these three factors:

Assessing Your Businesses Needs

Start by understanding your business’s specific needs. Consider your industry, the size of your sales team, the complexity of your sales process, and the type of sales prospects you target.

The ideal tool should align with your objectives and offer features that enhance your current process, helping you achieve your goals more efficiently.

If you’re selling products and services to properties in the U.S., Convex is the only tool tailor-made for the space. If you’re selling in European markets, Cognism offers GDPR-compliant tools, and likewise, if you’re looking for tools attached to large professional networks, LinkedIn Sales Navigator offers tools flexible enough for “one-man shows” to very large Enterprise organizations.

Keep this in mind as you consider which tools will best fit your specific needs.

Considering Your Budget

Budget will always be a factor. Don’t just look at the price when selecting a sales prospecting tool. Consider return on investment (ROI), revenue per platform, and other factors that could easily allow a solution that seemed overpriced to begin with to pay for itself.

Prices vary, so weigh the cost against the opportunities that it provides.

Evaluating Tool Features and Integrations

Focus on essential features and how well the tool integrates with your existing systems, like your CRM and marketing automation platforms. Ensure the tool is user-friendly, as ease of use can greatly impact its effectiveness.

Don’t forget to check the quality of customer support to assist you during the transition.

Now that we’ve covered what matters most when choosing a platform let’s discuss the different types of prospecting software.

Types of Sales Prospecting Software

All prospecting tools fall under the industry category of lead generation software. That said, each tool offers a slightly different value proposition, and most were built with a specific type of customer in mind.

Sales Intelligence

Sales intelligence software is designed to provide visibility into the customer’s needs, potential preferences, and behavior. By tracking buying signals and intent data, firmographic data, contact and decision-maker data, and other details about an organization, these tools are invaluable for identifying, qualifying, and engaging potential customers.

Property Intelligence

Property intelligence platforms are like sales intelligence tools but track property data instead of company data and map interfaces that look like Google or Apple Maps on your phone.

Commercial services businesses find property intelligence solutions like Convex particularly helpful in prospecting. They combine many of the lead generation, intelligence, and property data points necessary for sales teams to identify high-potential sales leads based on property characteristics, allowing for a more targeted and effective sales strategy.

Lead Finder Tools for Sales Prospecting

Lead finder tools like LinkedIn Sales Navigator, Hunter, and Datanyze are designed to help sales teams efficiently locate and identify potential customers. These tools streamline the process of building a solid prospect list by providing access to large databases of contact information, company data, and social media insights.

Email Outreach Tools for Sales Prospecting

Email outreach tools like Mailchimp, Constant Contact, and HubSpot are designed to automate and personalize email campaigns effectively.

While these platforms primarily focus on inbound marketing rather than the outbound strategies we’ve discussed, they offer significant advantages. With features such as customizable email templates, automation workflows, and detailed analytics, these tools empower sales teams to streamline their outreach efforts and engage with prospects more personally.

Lead Scoring Platforms for Sales Prospecting

Lead scoring platforms like Convex (although lead scoring is not the platform’s primary purpose), Marketo, and Pardot assist sales teams in qualifying and prioritizing their leads. By assigning scores based on a lead’s likelihood to convert, these tools enable sales reps to focus their energy on the most promising prospects, thereby improving overall sales productivity.

Meeting Scheduling Platforms for Sales Prospecting

Finally, meeting scheduling tools like Calendly, ScheduleOnce, and Doodle are designed to simplify the process of booking meetings with prospects. These platforms offer features such as calendar integration, automated reminders, and analytics, helping sales teams manage their schedules more effectively and keep the sales process moving forward.

All of these tools work together to help you create an efficient sales workflow that is effective at closing deals.

Now, let’s transition to the top tools for sales prospecting.

Top Sales Prospecting Tools

As you’ve probably noticed, there are all sorts of sales prospecting tools out there. We’ve touched on a few already, but in this section, let’s chat about each tool and dive into the cool features and benefits they bring to the table!

Convex

• Overview: Convex is a commercial services revenue acceleration platform specifically designed to provide buying signals, sales, and property intelligence. Its flagship tool, Atlas, offers a comprehensive database of commercial property records.
• Value Proposition: Convex helps sales teams identify and target new opportunities by providing detailed insights into commercial properties. This allows sales reps to focus on high-potential accounts within their proximity, streamlining the prospecting process and improving lead quality.
• Target Avatar: Ideal for sales teams in the commercial services sector, including those in HVAC, janitorial, solar, roofing, etc., who need precise property intelligence to target the right prospects efficiently.

Cognism

• Overview: Cognism is a sales intelligence platform that delivers real-time data and insights on companies and contacts. It includes features such as company and contact data, email verification, and intent data.
• Value Proposition: Cognism enhances the prospecting process by providing sales teams with accurate, real-time data. This allows for better targeting and more effective outreach, leading to higher conversion rates.
• Target Avatar: Best suited for B2B sales teams who require up-to-date, verified contact information in GDPR markets.

LinkedIn Sales Navigator

• Overview: LinkedIn Sales Navigator is a powerful tool that helps businesses find and connect with potential customers through LinkedIn. It offers features like lead recommendations, company and contact data, and InMail messaging.
• Value Proposition: LinkedIn Sales Navigator leverages LinkedIn’s vast professional network, allowing sales teams to directly identify and connect with decision-makers. This tool is essential for building relationships and generating leads within professional circles.
• Target Avatar: Perfect for B2B sales professionals who rely on networking and direct engagement with decision-makers to drive sales.

Clearbit

• Overview: Clearbit is a sales intelligence platform that provides real-time data on companies and contacts, including features like email verification and intent data.
• Value Proposition: Clearbit equips sales teams with valuable insights, enabling them to make informed decisions and tailor their outreach efforts. By ensuring the accuracy of contact data, Clearbit helps improve sales campaigns’ effectiveness.
• Target Avatar: Ideal for sales teams that prioritize data accuracy and need real-time insights to enhance their prospecting and outreach strategies.

HubSpot

• Overview: HubSpot is an all-in-one marketing, sales, and customer service platform that offers tools like email tracking, lead scoring, and meeting scheduling.
• Value Proposition: HubSpot provides a comprehensive suite of tools that help sales teams streamline their prospecting efforts, manage customer relationships, and optimize sales processes from start to finish.
• Target Avatar: Best for small to medium-sized businesses looking for an integrated solution to manage their marketing, sales, and customer service efforts in one platform.

Leadfeeder

• Overview: Leadfeeder is a sales intelligence platform that identifies website visitors and provides detailed company information, helping sales teams turn anonymous traffic into qualified prospects.
• Value Proposition: Leadfeeder enables sales teams to capture leads who visit their website but don’t fill out a form, offering insights into potential customers who are already showing interest in their products or services.
• Target Avatar: Perfect for B2B companies looking to convert website traffic into actionable leads and wanting to understand which companies are engaging with their online content.

Hunter.io

• Overview: Hunter is a tool that specializes in finding and verifying email addresses, offering real-time data on companies and contacts.
• Value Proposition: Hunter simplifies the process of finding accurate contact information, ensuring that sales teams can reach the right people directly and efficiently. This improves the effectiveness of cold outreach campaigns.
• Target Avatar: Ideal for sales reps who engage in email outreach and need a reliable tool to source and verify email addresses.

Apollo

• Overview: Apollo is a sales intelligence platform that provides real-time data on companies and contacts, along with email verification and detailed contact information.
• Value Proposition: Apollo offers a combination of sales intelligence and engagement tools, enabling sales teams to find and engage with potential customers more effectively. It’s a robust solution for managing prospecting at scale.
• Target Avatar: Suitable for sales teams looking for a comprehensive platform that combines data insights with engagement capabilities to drive their outreach efforts.

Datanyze, LLC

• Overview: Datanyze provides real-time data and insights on companies and contacts, including features like email verification and intent data.
• Value Proposition: Datanyze helps sales teams identify high-quality leads by offering accurate and up-to-date information, making targeting and engaging with potential customers easier.
• Target Avatar: This avatar is best for sales teams that require detailed company insights and contact data to support their prospecting and lead-generation activities.

6sense

• Overview: 6sense is an account-based marketing (ABM) platform that uses AI to identify ready-to-buy accounts and craft personalized messages to reach them.
• Value Proposition: 6sense leverages AI to predict buyer intent and timing, allowing sales teams to focus on the most promising leads with highly targeted outreach. This increases the chances of converting leads into customers.
• Target Avatar: This avatar is perfect for enterprise sales teams using account-based marketing strategies who want to enhance their prospecting efforts with AI-driven insights.

So, you have a list of 10 of the top sales prospecting tools on the market – now what? It’s important to remember that no single tool is a one-size-fits-all solution. Depending on your target audience, business goals, and sales process, some tools may be better suited for your needs than others.

Go back to the section on choosing the right sales prospecting tool and carefully consider which features and capabilities are most important for your team. Also, consider your budget and the level of support and training that each tool offers.

Once you’ve chosen the right tool(s), be sure to use all of its features to maximize its effectiveness.

For many of the options listed, you’ll also need supporting tools, such as customer relationship management software (CRM), marketing automation tools, an email marketing solution, or other sales tools.

Conclusion

Final Thoughts on Sales Prospecting Tools

If you choose the right ones, sales prospecting tools are invaluable assets for your sales team. When selecting the right tool, consider your specific business needs, budget, and the key features that will integrate seamlessly with your existing systems.

By examining your business needs and matching those with the unique features of each tool, you can help your sales team boost their outreach efforts and achieve better results.

Ready to take your sales prospecting to the next level?

Schedule a demo of Convex today to see how it can enhance your prospecting efforts and help you close more deals.

With a well-equipped arsenal of the best sales prospecting tools, you’ll be one step closer to reaching your sales targets and growing your business. Happy prospecting!