The best sales prospecting tools can transform your search for untapped customers and smooth the road to successfully closed deals.
Lead generation strategies deliver a multitude of potential prospects. Unfortunately, your sales team then needs to spend time ensuring that they pursue the most likely customers. Sales prospecting tools seek to refine these results and increase the productivity of sales teams.
While your exact sales strategy will depend upon a host of factors, such as client profiles and prospecting channels, the importance of using the right sales prospecting tools will always be a constant. We’re here to help you understand the sales prospecting process as well as its benefits and common challenges.
We’ll also guide you through the best sales prospecting tools currently available, so you can be sure you have the right fit for your business.
Understanding the sales prospecting process
Statistically, sellers spend an average of 6–8 hours per week researching prospects—and 40% say it's the hardest part of their jobs. The reward is worth the effort, however, as those who have a quality sales prospecting strategy along with the proper tools are far more likely to convert than those who don't. The trick lies in doing it right.
To better execute your sales prospecting strategy, it helps to take a mile-high view of what the process actually entails. Developing a starting definition, comparing types of prospecting, and looking at the benefits of using sales prospecting tools can help.
Definition of sales prospecting
What exactly is sales prospecting? Sales prospecting is the process of identifying prospects or leads who have expressed interest in what you or your company has to offer.
The sales prospecting process comprises three main parts:
Research. Here, you'll do your homework on potential leads to gain as much information as possible and potentially refine them into prospects. You'll do this by checking LinkedIn profiles, subscribing to their social media channels, checking out their website, and studying up on their company.
Qualification. Once you've gathered information on all your prospects, you need to prioritize them so that you know which ones to target first. The urgency of contact, their interest in your product, and the amount of value they could bring to your business are a few parameters to factor into your ICP (Ideal Customer Profile) as you compute their score, but make sure your priorities are correct.
Outreach. Now that you're informed and targeting the right prospects, craft a personalized message to send to each one. Some professionals prefer to be contacted by email or text, while others prefer a personal call. So, reach out according to your prospects' preferences if possible.
Where do sales prospecting tools fit in?
The best prospecting tools are designed to support sales professionals with every element of finding and contacting potential leads. They allow you to enjoy automated prospecting at many points in the process, from searching for suitable contacts, through reaching out to them, to tracking their progress through the sales funnel.
The business benefits of prospecting tools
Sales prospecting tools improve your team's chances of closing the deal. We'll look at some specific sales prospecting tools in a moment, but some of their main benefits are:
Greater efficiency
Using the right prospecting tool will increase how effective prospecting is for your business. Your sales team will be able to quickly find information like purchasing history, website behavior, company size, contact information, and more. With simplified, automated prospecting, they’ll be able to close more successful deal.
Better prospects
Candidates may look like legitimate prospects until sellers find out that the budget doesn't fit or that they've been speaking to someone who doesn't have the authority to make the purchase. The best prospecting tools for sales provide clarity for these metrics to ensure your sales team doesn’t falter at the finish line.
Higher volume
Sales prospecting tools give sellers access to a larger pool of prospects by helping them uncover hidden customers. They also make it easier to reach out to prospects with included contact information. As well as increasing efficiency due to the number of potential prospects, a high-quality sales prospecting tool will provide reliable contact information so your sales team gets in touch with the right person every time.
Compliance
The Dealfront sales prospecting software includes a suite of tools that all comply with General Data Policy Regulation (GDPR) requirements, helping your company abide by complex data regulations. This takes the pressure of compliance off of your sales team, allowing them to confidently complete deals.
Choosing a sales prospecting tool: What you need to know
The four main types of sales prospecting tools
They can range in complexity and comprehensiveness, but sales prospecting tools are anything that helps you better scout out potential buyers. Some of their capabilities may include:
Identifying high-quality prospects,
Qualifying your prospects,
Finding contact information and other data about your prospects.
Contacting your prospects by email, text message, phone call, etc.
Let's take a closer look at the four main types of prospecting tools for sales.
1) Customer relationship management (CRM) systems
The goal of a CRM is to give businesses a more circumspect view of the client and their needs. Their exact functionalities vary with each system, but most CRMs display all of your client's contact information, purchasing history, and more. They can also give sales teams indications of when the best time to contact the client would be.
More modern CRMs are leveraging AI (artificial intelligence) to complete time-consuming and repetitive tasks like data entry to make sellers even more efficient. Some can also identify new opportunities to make a sale, giving sellers greater clarity on buyers' potential needs. With these capabilities, CRM tools give sellers a deeper understanding of which candidates qualify as prospects and how their needs can best be met.
2) Sales engagement platforms
Similar to CRMs, sales engagement platforms help keep marketing and sales departments aligned as they target a prospect. There's some overlap between the two, and many sales engagement platforms can be conveniently integrated into CRM systems to add on any needed functionalities. The functionalities of sales engagement platforms can include:
Orchestrating daily activities
Analyzing sales and consumer data
Generating reports
Reaching out to prospects according to their preferred mode of contact
Essentially, sales engagement platforms foster communication between your sales team and the customer—a critical part of outreach.
3) Sales intelligence tools
While CRMs and sales engagement platforms are good for enhancing communication and developing a clearer client profile, sales intelligence tools, like Dealfront, offer more concrete data and give insights into how sales teams can improve. Some of their functionalities include tapping into B2B databases to obtain contact information and job titles, while others identify trigger events so that salespeople know the right time to reach out. Possible trigger events include:
Changes in ownership
Recent fundraising
Changes in tools or processes
Data from buyer intent tools
Changes in job role
Dealfront offers a host of B2B prospecting tools that can enhance all your sales prospecting processes, especially your sales intelligence. For example, Datacare lets businesses review, cleanse, enrich, and optimize their data records all from within their CRM system of choice. Its functionalities include everything from data enrichment and reachability checking to detecting company forms and address changes, improving your research and your prospecting.
4) Email outreach and automation tools
Once you've done your research and qualified your leads with lead prospecting tools , you need a way to reach out. Email automation tools help you contact a higher volume of prospects, which gives you a chance to convert more sales. That makes them an essential sales prospecting tool.
Despite their benefits, the drawback to email automation tools is that they can sound automated unless they're not personalized. People prefer a tailored message over one that sounds like it came from a template, try personalizing them by including information that you found as you did your research. That way, your outreach efforts will be more likely to turn into a product demo or further connection—and eventually a sale.
Common sales prospecting tool challenges
Most B2B sales prospecting challenges relate to buyer rejection. A prospect may turn down a sale for many reasons, some of which are:
Poor lead quality. It's all too common for a salesperson to invest heavy time and energy in a prospective client, only to find that they were never a viable candidate. You cannot ever eliminate it entirely, but simply conducting research with reliable lead prospecting tools can prevent you from chasing unsuitable leads.
Overcoming objections. 80% of sales require five follow-up calls to get the job done, but only 44% ever call back. Thus, it's vital that sales teams have the automation and alert tools they need to ensure multiple outreach attempts—persistence pays off.
Failure to adapt. Economic conditions, shifting consumer demand, and other factors can contribute to changes in buyer behavior. Sellers must be flexible and adapt to these changes. This way, they're always prepared with an offer that meets the client's needs.
Overcoming the risks with sales prospecting best practices
There's a solution for each of these challenges, and having the best prospecting tools can help you get there.
Use your sales intelligence tools to glean clearer insights on your leads, resulting in higher-quality prospects.
Nurture long-term relationships with prospects, and use a sales engagement platform to let you know when to reach out again.
Keep up with current trends, and use programmatic advertising to target the right prospects with relevant offers.
Armed with the right sales prospecting tools, you can overcome the most prevalent challenges faced by sales teams as they search for new buyers. All that's left is to convert.
Integrating sales prospecting tools into your sales process
A key part of choosing a prospecting software for your business is knowing which ones can be integrated into your existing sales processes. The best way to integrate your tools is to first develop a structured sales prospecting workflow. This way, your sales team will be organized while searching for potential candidates.
Next, you should decide which tools your team is currently lacking. If communication between marketing, sales, and the client is scattered, a sales engagement platform may work best, while a sales intelligence tool would help those in need of deeper sales analytics. Making sure that each tool is compatible with your existing tech stack is also essential, as you cannot use your tools if they don't play well together.
The 20 best sales prospecting tools in 2024
There are a wide variety of sales prospecting tools available, but they’re not all equal. Here’s a round-up of 20 of the best options available in 2024.
This comparison is intended for guidance purposes only and has been provided in good faith and to the best of our knowledge using the information available at the date of publication. All ‘Trademarks’ are property of their respective owners. We are not endorsed by, directly affiliated with, maintained, authorised, or sponsored by any trademark holder referenced herein.
1) Dealfront
Formed in 2023 via a merger between Finnish sales intelligence platform Leadfeeder and German marketing data platform Echobot, Dealfront now serves over 30,000 clients. It has the largest B2B database of truly compliant business information available.
Our Sales Intelligence solution allows searching by over 100 different filters, including geographics, financials, trigger events, and keywords to enable precisely targeted prospecting. Dealfront also leverages a huge database combined with machine learning to help you uncover potential lead opportunities among visitors to your company website.
Key features:
Over 5,000 integrations, including Salesforce, HubSpot, Slack, and Google Ads.
Huge database of over 40 million companies.
Alert feature notifies you of over 30 trigger events, including financial statement releases or website updates.
2) LinkedIn
LinkedIn is well known for being a business-focused social network, so it’s not surprising that it leverages its native database to offer a sales prospecting tool. Known as LinkedIn Sales Navigator, it comes in three tiers: the Core Edition for individual sales reps, the Advanced Edition for sales teams, and the Advanced Plus Edition, which is the highest-tier enterprise option.
All tiers include lead and account recommendations and advanced filter searching. With the Advanced Edition, you also have access to features such as smart linking, which allows you to track how users engage with your content, as well as support from a dedicated LinkedIn team. But if you want direct CRM integration or data validation, you’ll need to sign up to the Advanced Plus option.
Key features:
Access to over 1 billion members worldwide (of which around 310 million are active monthly users).
Relationship Explorer feature recommends leads based on persona and relationship signals.
Real-time alerts on key personnel including job changes or new content posted.
Potential drawbacks: Direct messaging via the InMail system is limited to 50 per month regardless of pricing tier, which may not be enough for active sales teams.
3) ZoomInfo
ZoomInfo is a multifaceted business data platform that provides tools for different areas of business such as sales automation, digital advertising, and recruitment. Its B2B prospecting tool is called ZoomInfo Sales and features a database with direct numbers for contacts around the globe.
Its Engage platform allows you to set up Salesflows. These are multi-channel prospecting campaigns that include automated emails, calls, or social connections that are triggered by specific market signals you select according to your business goals.
Key features:
Company insights dashboard provides organization charts to help you target the right contact.
B2B search engine provides company attributes for filtering.
Email analytics function highlights characteristics of the users who engage most with your emails.
Potential drawbacks: Complex user interface can take a while to master.
4) Apollo.io
The Apollo sales intelligence platform gives access to a database of companies that an be filtered by buyer intent, job postings, and headcount growth.
The Sales Engagement tool lets you make calls, connect on social networks, and send emails from within a single dashboard, as well as schedule meetings with prospects. There’s also the option to use AI-driven messaging and analytics to fine-tune the engagement process.
Key features:
Living Data Network gathers information from contributors.
Seven-step email verification process for increased accuracy.
Custom analytics dashboards for tracking vital metrics and assessing campaign success.
Potential drawbacks: Apollo doesn’t offer as many integrations as some of its competitors.
5) Cognism
The Cognism database includes mobile numbers for contacts across the EMEA, NAM, and APAC regions. Its Prospector tool lets you build ideal-fit account and lead lists and integrate them with other business platforms such as your CRM.
For premium-tier subscribers, the Contact tool allows you to take advantage of what Cognism calls Diamond-verified data. In other words, the team at Cognism calls up the phone numbers to double-check they’re correct and active, so there’s less time wasted dialing outdated numbers.
Key features:
Intent Data feature allows you to identify accounts that are actively searching for your product.
Mobile numbers are cross-checked against do-not-call registries in multiple countries.
Data quality engine uses a combination of AI and human verification.
Potential drawbacks: Page-level exporting is limited to 25 profiles at a time, which can slow down bulk jobs.
6) 6Sense
6Sense positions itself as an AI-driven platform that focuses on optimizing your approach to what it calls the “Dark Funnel.” This term refers to the phenomenon of buyers doing sales research anonymously online and leaving a trail of data behind them.
The 6Sense sales intelligence platform collects information and generates buyer intent insights from a broad range of digital sources including social networks, product review sites, influencer blogs, and industry publications. You can use these to build contact lists and create prospecting workflows.
Key features:
Database includes verified business email addresses.
Enables search by intent keyword for more targeted prospecting.
Predictive analytics help determine the best time to engage prospects.
Potential drawbacks: Complex user interface requires substantial training to use effectively.
7) Lusha
Lusha’s sales intelligence database focuses on the US and Europe regions. It lists contacts by geography and includes details of their roles and seniority within their organizations.
There’s a free introductory version so you can try out the basic features. However, if you want to take advantage of features like search by funding data, you’ll need to sign up for either the paid Pro or Premium tiers, or negotiate a custom enterprise package.
Key features:
Weekly data refresh to maximize database accuracy.
The Lusha API lets you build your own integration.
Proprietary algorithm cross-checks data from multiple sources and combines data into a single profile.
Potential drawbacks: Not as many search filter options as some of its competitors.
8) Rocketreach
Rocketreach’s sales intelligence database gives users access to verified contacts to create custom lead generation lists using the List Generation tool.
The platform allows you to match social accounts from sites including X and Facebook by uploading a list of Linkedln URLs, which can be useful for unifying contact profiles. You can also save database searches to look up previous queries without needing to re-enter the details.
Key features:
Advanced filters let you search by industry, revenue, employee count, and education.
Data enrichment API to help scale contact intelligence.
AI-powered list building function allows you to edit column type selections to optimize match rate.
Potential drawbacks: Complicated pricing structure, with some key features like intent data only available if you sign up to the highest tier.
9) UpLead
You can use a range of different filters to search through UpLead’s database of contacts. The data is drawn from around the world, so UpLead can be a good option for sales teams looking for global coverage rather than region-specific expertise.
UpLead places a focus on accuracy, and one of the ways it reinforces this is by verifying email addresses in real time when you click to access them. It then allows the user to choose to download only the email addresses that have passed the verification check, so you don’t waste credits accessing unusable information.
Key features:
Search filter results update in real time.
Technographics function allows you to create lists of companies using competitive or complementary technologies.
Intent Data feature tracks consumption patterns to help you time engagements.
Potential drawbacks: Doesn’t offer as many sales tool integrations as some competitors.
10) Seamless.ai
Seamless takes a slightly different approach to sales prospecting than many of its competitors. Rather than drawing from a dedicated database, it provides real-time search engine functionality to pull data from the public web as and when a user searches for a contact.
Its Pitch Intelligence tool uses technographics to provide insights into what technologies and tools your potential contacts are already using, including details like what they use them for and how long they’ve used them. The aim is to give you a clearer picture of how best to approach prospects to increase the chance of closing a sale.
Key features:
Heavy focus on CRM integration, with ready-to-go integrations available for popular CRM platforms.
Chrome extension add-on available for ease of use.
Search accuracy enhanced by topic filters.
Potential drawbacks: Real-time data retrieval model can sometimes lead to slower response times.
11) Instantly
Instantly is another platform that has global reach. However, it only provides email addresses, so if you’re looking for phone numbers, this isn’t the best choice.
As an email specialist, it provides a handy Email Warmup function. This automates the process of ramping up your email account’s outgoing volume step by step. The point of this is to ensure your emails are opened and replied to as often as possible, which in turn boosts your sender reputation. This increases the chances of your emails being delivered to inboxes rather than trapped by spam filters.
Key features:
Campaign Builder tool allows users to deploy variables, sequences, and smart scheduling to maximize response rates.
Inbox Rotation function automates sending emails from different email accounts for a single campaign.
Bulk domain tester checks a user’s domain is optimized for cold emailing.
Potential drawbacks: The outreach and lead prospecting tools are priced separately rather than included in a single package.
12) CUFinder
CUFinder covers a broad range of industries and geographical locations. Its Prospect Engine lets you build lists and then export data in Excel for convenient record-keeping.
One unusual feature of CUFinder is that it has a separate Academic Engine, a tool dedicated to the education sector that lets you find academics at universities across the globe. So if that’s your target market, this could be a good choice.
Key features:
Enrichment Engine helps users fill in the blanks in contact profiles.
Domain to company name converter supplies full names of companies.
Chrome extension add-on available for ease of use.
Potential drawbacks: Pricing model can be a little confusing at first.
13) BookYourData
With BookYourData, you can access B2B contacts from around the globe. The platform’s Prospector tool provides live updates of prospect lists and real-time email verification.
It supplies ready-to-go email lists which users can browse by industry, geographical region, management level, or job function. There’s also a separate list dedicated to healthcare professionals.
Key features:
Pay-as-you-go pricing model for simplicity.
Technographic data points to support strategic lead targeting.
Instant Email Lookup function to speed up contact search.
Potential drawbacks: Customization options are fairly basic.
14) ListKit
ListKit sells its service on a promise of triple verification. In practice, this means when you redeem a search credit, the platform runs the results through three different verification tools in real time. When it finds a verified address, it processes the credit, and if it can’t find one, the credit remains unspent.
The platform lets you build lists using two different filter categories: people-based and company-based. You can target companies in different industries using a wide variety of filterable characteristics, including technologies used, location, and employee headcount.
Key features:
Provides a 1-on-1 onboarding call for new clients to help them get started.
Pre-built search saving function for convenience.
Done-for-you service available to create bespoke cold email campaigns.
Potential drawbacks: Email only, so not suitable for finding phone numbers.
15) GetEmail.io
Another email-only solution, GetEmail.io finds email addresses by determining the email format of the company someone works for and plugging in their first and last names.
It has five tiers of pricing, from free to $399 per month, but the only major differences between the tiers are in the number of monthly credits you receive and the level of customer support provided.
Key features:
API access and CSV downloads available with all pricing tiers.
Easy-to-use interface means it’s simple to set up.
Gmail and Outlook extensions provide direct access to database.
Potential drawbacks: Fairly basic service that doesn’t provide much in the way of advanced analytics.
16) FlashInfo
Branded as a Revenue Acceleration Platform, FlashInfo’s sales prospecting tool lets you apply multiple filters to search its database, including by job postings, company growth, job changes, or social intent.
The platform also provides a broad range of engagement optimization features including its In-Market Timing Engine, which studies intent data and suggests the best times to approach contacts to maximize the chance of closing a sale.
Key features:
Real-time data enrichment to improve accuracy.
Customizable ICP defining function allows more precise targeting.
Parallel-dialer feature lets users manage multiple calls at the same time.
Potential drawbacks: Doesn’t provide as many integrations as some competitors.
17) Kaspr
If your focus is LinkedIn, Kaspr is an alternative option to LI’s native Sales Navigator tool. It sits as an extension that you open from inside any LI profile, list, group, or event page and lets you download all the available contact details.
You can manage and reach out to all your leads from the Kaspr dashboard. There’s also an ROI-tracking function that monitors connection request acceptance rates and provides information about how many phone numbers and emails Kaspr has delivered.
Key features:
Bulk exporting function for easier organization of contact data.
All pricing tiers come with unlimited B2B email credits.
Free plan only allows access by up to 20 users.
Potential drawbacks: Lack of a native database makes Kaspr fully dependent on LinkedIn.
18) Owler
While it doesn’t have the largest database, Owler’s focus on news and market insights can be helpful for fine-tuning your sales prospecting campaigns. It allows you to search for potential contacts by a range of aspects including location, revenue, employee headcount, and public/private company status.
The platform provides detailed company data including an overview of funding history and acquisitions. The Owler Pro tool also monitors news events and cross-references them to companies in its database, then categorizes them by event type.
Key features:
Curated notification emails keep users up to date with market news.
Competitor graph feature for identifying direct and indirect competitors.
Chrome extension available for convenient searching.
Potential drawbacks: Primarily focused on research, so outreach automation options are limited.
19) Success.ai
The Success.ai platform gives access to email contacts and allows users to search their database with a range of useful filters, such as company size, location, industry, or revenue level.
Once you’ve compiled your prospect list, the Outreach function includes useful analytics so you can track metrics including open rates and responses. You can also add unlimited email send addresses to easily scale your campaigns.
Key features:
AI writing tool helps craft outreach messages efficiently.
Warmup functionality boosts your sending reputation to reduce the risk of messages being marked as spam.
Dedicated InboxHub allows more straightforward email management.
Potential drawbacks: Complex interface can be confusing at first for those new to working with AI tools.
20) EasyLeadz
Rounding out our list we have Easyleadz, a company that specializes in lead generation for the Indian market. With its EasyProspect tool, its focus is to collect data for as many small and medium enterprises as possible, including those that don’t have their own online presence.
It also provides an extension called Mr. E that lets users collect and download phone numbers of potential contacts from within profiles in Linkedin, Zaubacorp, Tofler, and Crunchbase.
Key features:
API integration available to support database enrichment.
Allows company search by various filters including industry, state, paid up capital, and customizable keywords.
All paid plans come with a dedicated key account manager.
Potential drawbacks: Credit system can be tricky to get to grips with.
Discover the best sales prospecting tools for your business
Having the right tools is critical for a job well done and prospecting in sales is no different. Your team can slog through countless LinkedIn profiles and social media accounts to find prospects that are likely to convert, or you can furnish them with the sales prospecting tools they need to work faster and smarter, and ultimately, to close more deals. So, outsmart your competition and discover untapped customers with Dealsmart’s leading sales prospecting tool.
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