Get All Access for $5/mo

Top 10 Tools for Maximizing Business-to-Business Sales Use these tech tools to improve your lead generation and improve your sales relationships.

By Matthew Toren

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Petar Chernaev | Getty Images

Anyone who's been in the business-to-business (B2B) space for any amount of time knows that, depending on the product or service you're selling, sales cycles can range from days to years. Anything marketers and salespeople can do to expedite decision-making without pressuring prospects too much can help increase sales volume.

But, most sales pipelines are hardly optimized. In fact, a recent study from LeanData found that nearly 80 percent of B2B sales reps are unsatisfied with the way their companies route leads, and over 57 percent believe that their existing lead workflow systems turns off prospects.

Don't fall into those traps. Here are 10 next-generation tools to help your team build strong relationships with leads faster so you can maximize your B2B sales.

1. Growbots

Powered by sophisticated artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, Growbots is an all-in-one outbound sales automation platform. This tool mines databases for relevant leads by analyzing users' pipeline data. As Growbots engages with leads, the tool gains insights into what people respond to best, learning by doing.

Since your customer relationship management (CRM) data integrates with Growbots, all you have to do is create your customer profile and schedule your email drip campaign. The difference between this and other tools on the market is that Growbots offers an AI framework to generate demand and set up meetings, which is why it does far more than optimize workflows for people to execute on their own.

2. Attach.io

Who are the key stakeholders at your prospective customer's office? When are they looking at those materials you sent over? Attach.io lets you see what's going on with documents after you've emailed them.

This tool provides data on which prospects are opening your attachments as well as which pages they're reading and who they forward it to. This information allows you to use your time more efficiently, because then you can focus your efforts on the prospects who are engaging with you and know when to nudge the ones who aren't.

Related: 5 Habits of the Wealthy That Helped Them Get Rich

3. Leadfeeder

Are your lead magnets failing to convert audience members into interested parties? In the age of self-service product discovery, you aren't alone. Leadfeeder lets you see who's visiting your website even if they don't fill out any forms.

The platform connects with your Google Analytics account and uses a visitor's IP addresses to identify the company they're with. Better yet, the information is enriched with data from LinkedIn. This way, you can determine if you have any existing connections at the company you want to reach out to and qualify leads for relevance. For social sellers or account-based sales pros, this data is outreach rocket fuel.

4. JustCall.io

JustCall is a cloud-based phone system made specifically for sales teams. You can use it anytime, anywhere and from any device, making it easy to connect with leads and customers no matter where you are.

In just a few seconds, you can set up custom phone numbers in 58 countries so you can start making and receiving calls. It integrates with your CRM and helpdesk tools so you can make or receive calls straight from the pipeline management dashboard of your choice. JustCall generates logs of all calls, conversion tracking, call recordings, voicemail recordings and even text message functionality.

5. Unomy

Who are the best people to reach out to? Unomy is a powerful B2B prospecting tool for finding targeted business contacts to build your outreach lists.

You can search and filter by various parameters like industry, location, funding and revenue, and you can drill down into individual roles and contacts within organizations, even revealing personal social media profiles. You can also use it to add more data to your lists of leads and CRM data, thereby allowing you to build better relationships more efficiently, improve retention and improve customer loyalty.

Related: Habits of the World's Wealthiest People (Infographic)

6. Hunter.io

Hunter.io helps you find email addresses for any company in a matter of seconds. Simply search for a domain and get a list of emails associated with that domain.

Search results screens also reveal source information, so you can double check that you're seeing accurate email addresses. You can also use it to ping email servers and verify deliverability.

7. Dux Soup

Want someone to know that you're regularly checking up on him or her via LinkedIn? Dux Soup automates profile visits for LinkedIn-based lead generation purposes. Unleash it on profile search results or entire LinkedIn groups.

You can even export spreadsheets with the dates of all profile visits, messages and the manual notes you take about prospects.

8. MailLift

Tech is great and all, but what about the power of handwritten notes? MailLift makes this tactic scalable for sales professionals. Each letter is actually written by a person, white-labeled and mailed from your location using distribution centers all across the US.

The service integrates with more than 100 business apps to make the process easier for you. You can automate sending thank you letters to customers once they've placed an order,or signed a contract.

Related: 8 Reasons a Powerful Personal Brand Will Make You Successful

9. Appoint.ly

Appoint.ly is an appointment-scheduling tool that saves time by saving you from going back and forth over email. The tool integrates with all major calendars, so there's no need to work with multiple calendar platforms to keep track of your schedule.

Just provide your prospects with your Appoint.ly URL and they can book their own sales meetings. And, because everyone chooses their time slots with instant calendar sync, there is no chance of double-booking. Each person on your team can set their own availability and allow contacts to pick from among predefined time slots.

10. Proposify

Proposify simplifies sending proposals to clients and handling their responses. The platform will handle the creation of proposals and everything in the process until the deal is closed. See when clients open proposals, what they find the most interesting and when they sign off.

Because it's a cloud-based service, your clients can view proposals anytime and anywhere. Digital signatures make it faster to sign proposals into closed deals.

Any combination of these tools can combine effectively with your sales and support teams and make it easier to find, build and sustain relationships with clients and close more deals.

Matthew Toren

Serial Entrepreneur, Mentor and co-founder of YoungEntrepreneur.com

Matthew Toren is a serial entrepreneur, mentor, investor and co-founder of YoungEntrepreneur.com. He is co-author, with his brother Adam, of Kidpreneurs and Small Business, BIG Vision: Lessons on How to Dominate Your Market from Self-Made Entrepreneurs Who Did it Right (Wiley). He's based in Vancouver, B.C.

Want to be an Entrepreneur Leadership Network contributor? Apply now to join.

Business News

Alexis Ohanian Says This Is His Best Investment So Far: $10,000 Turned Into More Than $17 Million

Ohanian has backed 40 unicorns, but one investment stands out the most.

Management

AI is the Coworker of the Future — 3 Ways Employers Can Get Ready

Companies are eager to embrace AI, but many employees are not fully prepared for it. To turn their AI aspirations into reality, businesses must first foster a company culture where employees feel comfortable with the new technology.

Growing a Business

How to Prepare Your Small Business for Impactful Investor Partnerships That Go Beyond Funding

Here's how investorpreneurs transform startups with mentorship and strategic investments.

Business News

Amazon Pulls Merch Celebrating Alleged UnitedHealthcare CEO Killer Luigi Mangione

Apparel and home goods featuring the phrase "deny, defend, depose" have been pulled from Amazon.