Are you a small business wanting to boost sales engagement for your product and services?
Sales engagement tools are what you should be looking for. Sales and marketing play a significant role in any organization. You can use technology to help your business set for success so that your sales and marketing activities are as effective as possible.
Sales engagement software assists your sales reps in engaging with your buyers. It will help them with emails, phone calls, texting, voicemails, email campaigns, analysis reports, video meetings, and more.
However, making these engagement activities as frictionless as possible is only the tip of the iceberg. Read on to know more.
- Reduce sales sequence complexity and increase adherence to sales playbooks.
- Improve the quality and speed of interactions by leveraging buyer intent data points.
- Use automation to relieve sellers of manual and time-consuming data entry tasks.
- Make messaging recommendations based on the unique circumstances of each buyer and seller.
- Compliance with data and compliance regulations
- Use integrations to make it easier for sellers to execute actions across channels.
- Examine data to ensure that sellers are using the appropriate workflows and assets.
- Make the most of the existing technology stack.
As a result of improved workflows, the sales engagement platform that meets these requirements enables sellers to achieve maximum productivity with minimal wasted effort. Reps, for example, can complete their tasks with fewer clicks, plan more effectively, and ensure the most CRM adoption.
So it’s no surprise that 51% of B2B companies use b2b sales engagement software, and another 13% plan to add it to their tech stack this year.
Generate more qualified leads with cold outreach!
What qualities make a good sales engagement software?
There are numerous technical requirements, but to keep things simple, great sales engagement software should assist you with the “three Ps”:
1) Productivity
Sales representatives spend less than 36% of their time selling. However, with the widespread adoption of sales engagement software, this is set to change as businesses invest in new ways to boost sales productivity. Sales dialers are being used by businesses to automate key processes such as dialing and leaving voicemails. They are especially useful if they can automatically log data in your CRM without requiring manual effort from reps (e.g., a Salesforce dialer). To boost your sales reps’ productivity, your sales engagement software should include features such as:
- Automated Data Logging
- Tracking incoming calls
- Automated voicemail
- Texting integrated into an automatic dialer
- Automated Email
2. Personalization
Personalization has been identified by McKinsey as the “primary driver of marketing success” over the next five years. But it requires access to the right data in the right context. Companies frequently store massive amounts of customer data in CRM or BI tools. But how useful is this data if reps can’t access it in the right context? CRM, telephony, and other sources of customer data can be integrated to provide reps with the data they need to personalize calls, such as communications history, notes, ad preferences, and more. Among the features that aid in personalization are:
- Computer Telephony Integration (CTI) delivers customer data at critical times.
- Conversation intelligence on calls in real-time.
- Email snippet libraries that make it simple to personalize emails.
3. Prioritization
Sequencing tools help to eliminate guesswork by providing sales representatives with a dynamically prioritized list of “next best actions” that reveal who to contact, how to contact them, and what to say. If prioritization is a key business goal for you, look for features such as:
- Outbound email sales cadence solution.
- Sequences that can be automatically triggered based on predefined criteria.
- The ability to provide “next best action” recommendations to sales representatives.
- Lead response routing and alerting that is intelligent.
What Does Sales Engagement Software Do?
Any application that streamlines the engagement process between sales reps and their prospects and customers is considered sales engagement software. Although different tools have different capabilities, a sales engagement platform will allow sellers to:
- Automate communication: You should be able to create custom communication sequences using sales engagement tools. For example, you could begin by scheduling an email to be sent to new leads that is followed up three days later with a phone call.
- Organize your conversations: Sales engagement software increases seller efficiency by centralizing all communication data. This saves sales reps time switching between programs and searching for specific email threads.
- Assist you in selling more effectively: The majority of sales engagement tools include some form of sales intelligence. That means your preferred platform should track when you make calls, send emails, follow leads on social media, and so on. With this information, you can develop more effective sales strategies that result in more closed deals.
Want to know How To Choose the Right Sales Engagement Software?
5 Benefits of Sales Engagement Software
Now that you know how sales engagement software can make a difference, let’s dive into detail and know key reasons why you should go for a sales engagement platform for your organization :
Productivity increases
A typical sales representative spends less than 36% of their time selling. The remainder of their day is spent on non-deal closing tasks such as scheduling calendars, sending emails, and updating CRM software. While these tasks are necessary, they are time-consuming and divert attention away from more important revenue-generating work.
Sales engagement software enables sales professionals to automate lead communication and make the most of their limited selling time.
More Data
The lifeblood of a modern business is data. It is extremely difficult to sell at scale without information about your customers and their preferences. Sales engagement software provides sales associates with the information they need to sell at a high level.
Sellers can easily determine which of their leads is most valuable (in a business sense) and focus their efforts on them by tracking engagement metrics like email opens and clicks. Furthermore, the data can be analyzed to improve future sales strategies.
Improved Communication
Sales engagement platforms assist teams in automating routine processes by establishing templates, schedules, and sequences across disparate sales tools. Depending on the sales team’s objectives, these messages can often be customized and personalized on the spot or sent as-is.
The benefit of using software for sales engagement is that it allows for real-time messaging across platforms, allowing sales members to respond quickly and never miss a potential sale due to a delayed response. It also allows reps to build a scalable and repeatable process by utilizing previously successful templates.
Increased Success Rates
Increased productivity and data collection will inevitably result in higher success rates for your sales team. Your communications will have a greater impact if you optimize and automate them to send at specific times.
Increased Revenue
Revenue growth is one of the most important advantages of a sales engagement platform. Your sales team can expect to see an increase in revenue by improving communication, becoming more efficient, and being able to optimize sequences through data.
Best Sales Engagement Platforms
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SendBuzz
Stop switching between platforms to convert your leads! To achieve peak performance, leverage powerful integrations, automation, and personalization. Engage with the right leads across platforms to close more sales. With the click of a button, you can reach out to your prospects across all channels.
SendBuzz has features that help you boost sales with efficiency. Some of these features are:
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Inbox rotation: Email rotation will help you send emails from different email inboxes while running an email campaign. This helps to protect the reputation of your email account. As you can send emails from different accounts, this will enhance your sending limits.
- Multichannel outreach: Reach out to the prospects where they are present. Connecting with the prospects on multiple channels is more rewarding as it makes it easy for the prospects to engage with you. Therefore, with multi-channel outreach, you can get access to multiple ways in which you can connect with prospects.
- Smart sequences: Consistent follow-up with the prospect is an essential part of the sales process as these efforts move the prospect ahead in the sales pipeline towards closing the deal with the prospect. With smart sequence, you can achieve this by scheduling your emails and forming sequences to reach out to prospects.
- A/B testing: There is no sure-shot way to know which email messages will get your sales rep more responses. This can be done by experimenting with different email messages. And with A/B testing you can know which email is giving you more response which will help you connect with the prospects with the best message.
- Flow testing: Flow testing helps you reach out to the prospects with the right mix of channels where you can reach out to the prospects at scheduled times. It helps you find the best sequences that are suitable for you.
- Email tracking: A custom tracking domain is a unique domain that is used to track the opens and clicks of your email campaign. It helps you retain your sender reputation resulting in increased deliverability and at the same time tracking your prospect’s journey.
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SendBuzz ensures a seamless sales engagement process that lets you connect with prospects. Therefore, if you want to optimize the sales process then choose SendBuzz for your sales engagement process.
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Outreach
Phone and email are the primary modes of communication. The best feature outreach offers are that reporting features show the best times, channels, and sequences for reaching out to prospects.
Outreach, as the name implies, is a sales engagement software that assists you in communicating with prospects and improving those interactions. This platform includes calling and email integration, as well as automated email sequences.
With features like Sales Reporting based on the previous outreach activities’ data and displays information such as the average call answered ratio, the best time of day to call based on connection rate and more. Customizable lead views also provide useful information for remote sales teams, such as the current time and weather in the lead’s location.
Outreach also includes a scheduling tool that integrates with sales teams.
One disadvantage that sales managers should consider when considering Outreach for sales engagement is the high price tag, as well as the fact that this tool must be integrated with your CRM to be effective.
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Outplay
The ONLY Sales Engagement Platform that simplifies selling, Outplay understands that selling is difficult. But at the same time, it believes in changing this notion. Outplay has it all: multichannel outreach, outbound sales automation, prospect tracking, reports, and more.
Outplay also has what you want: free white glove onboarding, fast 24/7/365 support, tried-and-true outreach templates, and a simple user interface so you can start multichannel prospecting right away, not next quarter.
Want to know where SendBuzz is better than Outplay?
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Yesware
Every sales team must close sales. Yesware provides a comprehensive set of tools for your sales team to track email outreach activity, quickly test what works and what doesn’t, and share it all with your team to drive better results faster.
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SalesLoft
The core aim of SalesLoft is that their sales reps should not miss quotas, shaky forecasts, or squandered time on dead-end opportunities. When your entire revenue team is working in one comprehensive platform with the most important tools and integrations for digital selling, you will be able to close more deals.
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MixMax
The tagline for Mixmax is “email for closers.” Users of this sales engagement software have access to several email tools that can be used to increase response rates and meeting availability.
You can schedule and track your email communications with Mixmax, share your calendar with ease, embed surveys or polls in your emails, and automate time-consuming tasks like Salesforce data entry (an integration partner).
Although Mixmax focuses more narrowly than the other sales engagement software mentioned, it is still very affordable because of its email automation features, which start at just $24 per user per month.
It can be difficult to pick the best software for your team. The best sales software is the one that your team enjoys using the most, Rameez Ghayas Usmani, a Digital Marketing Executive at PureVPN, advised. Keep that in mind if you’re feeling overwhelmed by your options.
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Klenty
Maintain focus despite using multiple channels of engagement. You can easily switch between emails, calls, and LinkedIn from a single screen. Organize tasks into groups based on channel or sequence and then complete them as scheduled. Greater conversation openings and faster activity rates.
Therefore, these platforms are some of the best platforms that are present in the market. It’s best to choose the platform that suits you.
How to choose the right sales engagement software for your team?
You’ll need the appropriate tools if you want to succeed at sales engagement.
But how can you choose the best sales engagement software for your team when there are so many options available?
Let’s discuss some elements to take into account when selecting a sales engagement platform:
Look for a tool that supports multiple channel touches:
Your prospects may prefer certain communication channels. But it’s unlikely that your sales engagement software will only give you that option.
Throughout your sales process, your sales team will interact with prospects on several different channels.
Find an omnichannel tool that allows you to interact with prospects through a variety of channels or that works well with other tools to give you access to multiple channels for engagement.
Establish the metrics that are most important to your team:
We’ve already discussed how crucial analytics is to a fruitful sales engagement strategy. The ideal software will guide you with the KPIs that are most important to your team rather than overwhelming you with a tonne of irrelevant data.
The sales metrics you see, how they’re delivered to you, and even your ability to export them to another program for additional analysis should all be customizable.
Choose the best tool for the specific structure of your sales team:
Because your team is special, you need a tool that will hone their strengths and bolster their weaknesses.
Why does this matter?
For instance, if your sales team is distributed, you’ll want to ensure that your sales engagement software supports clear team transparency. That will give everyone a simple way to view the most recent interactions their teammates had with prospects. Additionally, you should confirm that your software is compatible with remote-first communication tools like Zoom.
Or, you’ll want to make sure you have a system that logs each of those interactions. If your team is made up of SDRs who hand off qualified leads to AEs, then hand-offs can be more seamless.
Additionally, the best sales engagement software will seamlessly integrate with other tools that your team already uses. Thus, maintaining existing workflows and systems while also enhancing the overall engagement process.
Identify the points in your sales funnel where prospects require more focus:
What stages of your sales funnel does each of your touchpoints fit into? Do you employ various communication methods according to the pipeline stage your leads are in?
For instance, sales representatives may use email or social media more frequently when prospecting or scheduling the first sales call. Online forms and other sales tools on your website would also be used to engage inbound leads during these stages.
Though, your reps would probably communicate more by phone or video conference later in the sales process.
Consider those particular areas of your sales funnel and note the significant interactions that prospects have at each stage. There will likely be more touches in less time in stages with more touchpoints like the early stages of prospecting and qualifying. Make sure your sales engagement software enables simple automation within those channels wherever there are more touches.
Search for the ideal harmony between automation and customization:
The standard “spray-and-pray” approach was used to elicit some responses in the past. Now if sales teams want to grab leads’ attention, they must step up their game.
This is why you must personalize your engagement. This involves creating a message that explicitly states to the prospect, “This is for you,” rather than just including [first-name] at the beginning of the email.
Of course, it would take far too long for today’s sales teams to manually construct each email (or text, or voicemail, or LinkedIn message) from scratch. Because of this, you require a sales engagement platform that combines the best automation with the capacity to tailor your message to each unique prospect.
For your sales engagement software, establish a precise budget:
Budget is a very important factor to take into account when adding any new technology to your sales stack. We know it’s not your favorite topic to broach.
Prioritizing the platforms your team can afford will help you narrow your options and decide how much you are willing to spend on sales engagement software.
Improve sales engagement—close more deals
It can be simple to make the mistake of focusing on quantity rather than the quality of sales engagement when examining the options with the sales engagement software described above.
Always keep in mind that a successful sales engagement strategy consists of high-quality touchpoints that motivate prospects to advance through the sales process to close a deal. The platforms we’ve covered above allow you to automate and scale your outreach. But you should never skimp on content just to send out more emails.
You will be able to win over new leads, demonstrate your concern for them, and persuade them to make a purchase when you improve the overall strategy of sales engagement for your team.
Are you prepared to start raising sales engagement? Why not start with the all-inclusive tool:
Calls, emails, and SMS in addition to a customizable CRM.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Ensure the success of your sales team.
Because you give them the resources they need to function effectively, close deals quickly, and be successful, your sales team will adore you.
- Facilitate the closing of deals.
With our effective guided selling playbook, you can deliver a seamless sales process and free up reps to concentrate on selling rather than administrative tasks.
- Increase recurring income.
Apply your pricing strategy with exactitude. Automate renewal and upsell revenue, and with strict margin approvals, please your CFO.
- Provide superior customer service.
With a digital DealRoom, you can create a unique buyer experience. The deal-closing process is more precisely executed thanks to real-time collaboration and distinctive buyer intent insights.
Let’s talk about some factors you should consider when choosing a sales engagement platform:
- Find a tool that supports touches across multiple channels.
It’s possible that your prospects prefer certain communication channels, but it’s unlikely that your sales engagement software will only give you that option.
Throughout your sales process, your sales team will actually interact with prospects on a number of different channels.
- Establish the metrics that are most important to your team.
We’ve already discussed how crucial analytics is to a fruitful sales engagement strategy. The ideal software will guide you with the KPIs that are most important to your team rather than overwhelming you with a tonne of irrelevant data.
The sales metrics you see, how they’re delivered to you, and even your ability to export them to another program for additional analysis should all be customizable.
- Find the best tool for your particular sales team setup.
Because your team is special, you need a tool that will hone their strengths and bolster their weaknesses.
- Identify the points in your sales funnel where prospects require additional attention.
What stages of your sales funnel does each of your touchpoints fit into? Do you employ various communication methods according to the pipeline stage your leads are in?
For instance, sales representatives may use email or social media more frequently when prospecting or scheduling the first sales call. Online forms and other sales tools on your website would also be used to engage inbound leads during these stages.
- Find the ideal combination of personalization and automation.
The standard “spray-and-pray” approach was used to elicit some responses in the past. Now, if sales teams want to grab leads’ attention, they must really step up their game.
This is why it is crucial that you personalize your engagement. This involves creating a message that explicitly states to the prospect, “This is for you,” rather than just including [first-name] at the beginning of the email.
The process of increasing sales through proper rep support and training is known as sales enablement. It may sound like a lot of jargon, but at its core, sales enablement entails giving your team all the resource, including training, technologies, and communication tools that they need to successfully close a deal.
Today’s businesses frequently employ a specialized sales enablement role or team. It is frequently necessary for sales representatives to manage time-consuming and repetitive tasks effectively due to the complexity of their job. By giving your team the tools they need to attract more high-value opportunities, shorten sales cycles, and increase revenue for your business, sales enablement improves the performance of your reps.
Sales EngagementSales engagement entails enhancing the buyer-seller relationship through data, customer feedback, and strategic communication. Providing a top-notch customer-centric experience that is tailored to the interests and needs of your target audience is the aim of sales engagement, which will then result in the conversion of leads into prospects.
Technology and the requirement for an online purchasing experience that exceeds customer expectations change along with the sales world. Engagement integrates your customer relationship management (CRM) and marketing automation platforms to deliver a seamless customer experience. It also helps businesses build a framework for connecting with customers.
Sales enablement is about supporting the sales team. But sales engagement is about cultivating and optimizing customer interactions.