08 Jun The Best Sales Software For Optimizing Your Sales Process
One of the best ways to rise above your competitors is to have a sales strategy. For your strategy to be successful, you’ll need to incorporate sales software.
It is easy to miss several vital opportunities when every part of your sales process is executed manually. On the other hand, the best sales software makes it easy for you to visualize and understand data to make informed decisions about your business.
There are tons of sales software available, so it can be overwhelming to choose from. This article will help you understand different types of sales software so you can choose the one that suits your business best.
What Types of Sales Software Do You Need?
You might be thinking you’re in the clear since you have a CRM platform, but that alone won’t cut it. You’ll need more than a CRM to optimize your sales process. Several platforms offer more than one functionality, which gives you more bang for your buck. If you’re unsure where to start, consider the following four types.
1. Sales Automation
Sales automation software is what you need to mechanize manual, time-consuming tasks that take up your salespeople’s time. It streamlines sales by automating tasks at each step of the sales process. Sales automation software automates data entry, logs activity, and fast tracks communication with prospects through calls and email.
It also optimizes your sales process by facilitating communication across the entire organization and with your customers. It gives your salespeople the space to focus more on essential activities that drive revenue.
What are some of the benefits of sales automation software?
- Increases productivity and performance of sales reps
- Saves you time
- Helps forecast sales data that is useful in decision-making
- Accelerates your sales process
- Increases customer satisfaction by reducing response time
- Enables your salespeople to focus on selling
Some of the best sales automation platforms include Pipedrive, HubSpot Sales, Monday.com, Chilipiper, Yesware, Prospect.io, and Growbots.
2. Sales Prospecting Tools
Sales prospecting is the process of looking for potential customers and connecting with them to grow your client base and generate more revenue. Sales reps spend a lot of time prospecting, especially now that customers are becoming increasingly demanding.
Generating good-quality leads can be grueling and time-consuming, but it is an essential part of your sales funnel — it is responsible for building your sales pipeline. You can save your teams’ time and effort by investing in sales prospecting tools.
Sales prospecting tools boost efficiency and significantly impact your sales process. With sales prospecting tools in place, all you need to do is enter the criteria used for targeting prospects. The tool then will build a lead list with their contact information. This way, you get good-quality leads in less time.
A sales prospecting tool will benefit you in various ways:
- Saves time
- Helps to uncover qualified leads
- Improves your customer service
Some of the best sales prospecting tools include Leadfeeder, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, FollowerWonk, and ZoomInfo.
3. Sales Enablement Software
Sales enablement software gives your team a central location to access all the materials and content they need for their job. With a sales enablement software solution, your team can access your content, marketing, and sales cycle at any time. Sales enablement software usually comes with many organizing tools and a dashboard for your sales funnel.
Providing your team with all the tools, materials, and resources they need enables them to sell more efficiently and effectively. This will have a tremendous impact on your revenue generation. Moreover, maintaining open lines of communication between sales and marketing makes it easier for them to collaborate on creating content to be shared with customers and prospects.
Some popular sales enablement software solutions include Ambition, Boomerang, Cloze, Datanyze, HubSpot, and Salesforce.
4. Scheduling Software
In some instances, leads fall through the cracks simply because your sales reps forgot to reach out to them or do a follow-up. Investing in scheduling software solutions can help you improve work efficiency, reduce costs, and maximize productivity.
Scheduling software makes it easier to book and manage meetings with leads, which means fewer chances of losing prospects due to oversight. Moreover, it dramatically boosts your access to a lead — a key determinant of success in today’s market where the customer is used to instant gratification.
Scheduling software will also help you keep your business in order. Switching from manual scheduling to scheduling software gives you better visibility, which helps prevent scheduling conflicts. With everyone on the same page, employee engagement and productivity will increase.
Calendly, Chilipiper, AppointmentPlus, and DriftMeetings are scheduling software to consider.
How To Choose the Right Software
Every business has a unique sales process, client base, and growth dynamics. You know your company best, so it’s up to you to decide what works and what doesn’t. These are some of the factors you should consider when choosing the best sales software.
What Are the Needs of Your Sales Organization?
Most companies make the mistake of focusing more on vendors and options instead of their business needs. Your primary focus should be on your organization’s needs and priorities. What are some of the pressing challenges that you need to fix? How will the software be received by your staff? What is your budget? Before diving into the market, these are critical questions you need to answer.
What Is Your Sales Process and Strategy?
You should also consider your sales process and the strategies you need to implement. This way, you’ll know exactly what you’re looking for in a solution, and you won’t waste your money.
Look at Ease of Use
Remember that your employees have to embrace the new software, so make sure it isn’t overly complicated. Otherwise, you’ll have to spend more time and resources to train your staff on how to use the software.
Does It Provide Analytics and Data?
You’ll need constant, regular feedback to make decisions that’ll grow your business. The best software offers analytics and data to help track performance.
Does It Integrate With Your CRM?
One of the reasons you’re investing in software solutions is to streamline operations. Thus, you don’t need another independent working system. Instead, you should consider a solution that will integrate seamlessly with your existing CRM.
What Functions Are You Looking For?
It is not advisable to commit to a standard, inflexible sales automation platform. You don’t want to pay for functions you won’t use, so you should determine what you have and what you’ll need from the new solution before making a decision.
Can You Test It?
It is always wise to request a demo or free trial before purchasing software solutions. This is a learning process where you can ask questions and get a feel of how everything works and whether or not something is a good fit for your business.
Supplement Your Tools With Conversational AI
The advances in Artificial Intelligence have made it possible to move prospects through the sales process without software. AI solutions like Aktify can contact, nurture, and schedule meetings with prospects without learning any new software.
AI agents are customizable, so they can easily become knowledgeable of your company’s unique processes. Additionally, you get near-instant speed to a prospect via conversational AI over SMS, giving you a significant edge over your competitors.
Embrace the future today by partnering with Aktify. We offer the best sales software that uses data science and machine learning to delight your customers through conversation, helping you develop deep, meaningful connections. Reach out to us today and let us connect you with your customers through positive experiences.
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