13 Sales Tools For Startups To Kick-Off Prospecting

You believe that running a startup is hard.

You work day and night to maximize your resources, get from point A to point B, and carve out your place in the market.

But have you considered leveraging AI-driven tools to make your job easier?

These automation tools handle manual tasks, increasing productivity and giving you more time to build relationships and close deals.

In this blog post, I’ll share with you:

• 13 Best Sales Tools For Startups
• How to choose the best sales tool for your needs?
• Why should startups invest in sales software?

So, let’s dig in and discover how these tools can improve your startup prospecting and lead-generation strategies.

13 Best Sales Tools For Startups

Choosing the right sales tools is essential for startups looking to streamline their sales processes, find email addresses, boost lead generation, and improve customer relationship management (CRM).

Here are the 13 sales tools every startup should have on their radar:

1. LinkedIn Sales Navigator
2. HubSpot CRM
3. Apollo.io
4. La Growth Machine
5. Brevo
6. Hunter
7. Saleshandy
8. Reply.io
9. Gmass
10. Owler
11. Crunchbase
12. GetProspect
13. Outreach.io

1. LinkedIn Sales Navigator

If you’re starting a business, the first thing to do is create a company page and even a LinkedIn personal account.

If you look closely, LinkedIn is the biggest networking platform and the ultimate goldmine for potential clients and partners.

To get the most out of LinkedIn, upgrade your account to LinkedIn Sales Navigator, one of LinkedIn’s premium services with advanced features designed specifically for sales managers and reps.

It’s one of the best sales tools for startups. It helps you find and connect with the right prospects and decision-makers by tapping into LinkedIn’s vast professional network.

It provides advanced search capabilities, personalized algorithms, and real-time insights to enhance your prospecting efforts.

Features include:

• Advanced lead and company search
• Real-time sales updates
• Custom lists and notes
• CRM integration
• InMail messaging
• Saved leads
• Alerts: Get notifications on new leads, news, job changes

Pricing

LinkedIn Sales Navigator offers a 30-day Free Trial to access and use its database and features without paying a penny.

However, it offers 3 paid plans for those who want to commit:

1. Sales Navigator Core (Professional): $99/month
2. Sales Navigator Advanced (Team): $169.99/month
3. Sales Navigator Advanced Plus (Enterprise): starts at $1600/year

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You might ask, can this tool scrape emails and other contact data from LinkedIn?

And I’d say not natively, but with Evaboot, you can export data.

Download the Evaboot extension and run it on your LinkedIn Sales Navigator dashboard.

Within seconds, it will pull all the needed data and export it as a neat CSV file.

Evaboot will extract your contact:

• name
• surname
• emails address
• email address validity status 
• company name
• company website and domain
• company headcount
• etc

Then, you’re all set to launch a multichannel outreach and maximize your chances of boosting your reply rates.

2. HubSpot CRM

HubSpot is one of the most influential and popular CRM tools. It offers a comprehensive suite of tools for all aspects of your business.

This all-in-one platform integrates sales, marketing, operations, customer service, and content management services, making it a must-have for startups.

Hubspot also provides quality and accurate B2B data, as provided by Clearbit’s databases.

Its features include:

• Single customer view: Manage all customer interactions- details, communications, and activities in one place.
• Email marketing tools: Automate and optimize email campaigns to nurture leads and stay in touch.
• Live chat and forms: Capture and analyze lead data through chat and customizable forms.
• Sales reporting dashboard: Track the progress and performance of your sales teams.

Pricing

HubSpot offers a special pricing program for startups, providing substantial discounts on their suite of tools, depending on the stage of your business and funding status.

3. Apollo.io

Apollo.io is a sales intelligence and engagement platform that helps companies identify, connect, and close deals with their target audience.

It’s particularly effective for startups looking to scale their outreach efforts and maximize value.

Key uses of Apollo.io include:

• Sales Engagement: This feature enables outreach through multiple channels, including email lists, mobile numbers, SMS, chatbots, and social media.

• Comprehensive Database: Up-to-date, accurate data provider of 275 million contacts and 73 million companies, ensuring you have the correct information for effective outreach.

• End-to-end workflows: Lets you create and automate outbound email sequences, set up follow-ups, and leverage pre-built message templates to improve your outreach strategy.

• AI-powered solutions: AI enhances various functions, including lead scoring, campaign creation, and customer engagement, making your sales efforts more efficient.

• Chrome Extension: This free extension lets you find contact information, connect with buyers, track emails, and more from your browser.

• Sales Pipeline Management: Efficiently track and manage your sales pipelines to ensure all deals are monitored and progressed through the sales funnel.

Pricing

You can use Apollo.io for free to get unlimited emails with basic filters and features. The free plan is perfect for startups and small businesses to find high-quality leads by paying nothing.

Its Basic Plan starts at $49/month.

4. La Growth Machine

La Growth Machine is a powerful multichannel sales automation tool designed to streamline and enhance your prospecting efforts by integrating LinkedIn, email, and X (formerly Twitter) outreach into a single platform.

LGM is an excellent tool for startups looking to raise funds. It provides a custom-built investor database and warms up potential investors before you make contact, increasing your chances of pitching to business angels and venture funds.

Its features include:

• Multi-channel engagement: Reach leads via LinkedIn, email, or X to maximize conversion rates.
• Lead import and enrichment: Automatically enrich leads from LinkedIn, Sales Navigator, or CSV files.
• Lead management: Manage leads with features such as duplicate detection, blacklisting, and advanced tracking.
• Voice Messaging for LinkedIn: Send personalized voice messages directly from LinkedIn.
• Campaign Analytic tools: Analyze and optimize campaign effectiveness to streamline outreach strategies.
• Email automation: Use templates and a visual builder to automate campaigns easily.
• AI-powered writing assistance: Improve your messaging with AI-powered cold email templates.

Pricing

LGM offers a 14-day free trial. Its basic plan starts at $60/month.

5. Brevo

Brevo is an all-in-one digital marketing platform known for its robust features that cater to businesses of all sizes, from startups to large enterprises.

It supports email marketing, SMS campaigns, chat, and more within a single platform.

Brevo is a platform to manage:

• Email Marketing: Design and optimize email campaigns with templates, A/B testing, and segmentation.
• SMS Marketing: Automate and personalize SMS campaigns for direct audience engagement.
• Chat: Engage website visitors in real time with integrated chat capabilities.
• CRM: Track interactions, manage leads, and store customer data with built-in CRM.
• Marketing Automation: Streamline email campaigns, follow-ups, and lead-scoring tasks.
• Transactional Emails: Ensure reliable delivery and tracking of order confirmations and notifications.

Pricing

Brevo’s free demo includes essential email marketing features, with a limit of 300 emails per day.

Its starter plan costs $25/month and offers additional features like A/B testing and no daily sending limit.

6. Hunter

Hunter.io is a powerful email search engine and a Chrome extension designed to help businesses find and verify professional email addresses.

It specializes in discovering emails associated with any domain, making it easier to connect with prospects.

Key features include:

• Email Discovery: Find email addresses associated with any business domain, company name, or prospect name.
• Domain Search: Find all publicly available email addresses associated with a specific domain.
• CRM Integration: Seamlessly integrate with CRMs like HubSpot and Salesforce to manage your contacts.
• Automated Outreach: Automate lead generation and email sending directly from Gmail and Outlook.
• Bulk Email Finder: Perform bulk searches to retrieve multiple email addresses at once.
• API Access: Use the Hunter API to find emails programmatically.
• Email Finder Extension: Use the browser extension to find email addresses directly from the website you’re visiting.

Pricing

You can try Hunter.io for free, which offers 25 searches and 50 verifications per month.

The Starter plan is for €49/month, including 500 monthly searches and 1,000 monthly email verifications.

7. Saleshandy

If you decide to launch a cold email outreach campaign, Saleshandy is the tool for you.

Saleshandy benefits address sales and marketing teams and agencies looking to optimize cold email and marketing campaigns, book meetings, and close deals.

Key features include:

• Unlimited email accounts: Send from multiple accounts for scalable outreach across multiple domains.
• Automated follow-ups: Automatically schedule and personalize follow-up emails to increase response rates.
• Email tracking: Monitor key metrics such as open rates, clicks, and overall engagement.
• Lead Finder: Access a massive database of over 700 million B2B contacts to find and target potential customers.
• Email Warm-up: Improve email deliverability and sender reputation by gradually warming your email accounts.

Pricing

You can start with a 7-day free trial and then upgrade to the Outreach starter plan for $27/month.

8. Reply.io

Reply.io is an advanced sales automation platform that helps startups and enterprises streamline their outbound sales efforts.

You can use it to scale your multichannel communication, to automate and personalize your outreach across multiple channels, including email, LinkedIn, SMS, and WhatsApp.

Its features are:

• AI-powered CRM: Use AI to manage, analyze, and prioritize leads to streamline the sales process.
• Email deliverability tools: Optimize emails to bypass spam filters and reach recipients’ primary inboxes, improving inbox placement and engagement rates.
• AI-generated sequences: Use AI to create effective outreach sequences tailored to maximize response rates.
• AI meeting booking: Schedule meetings directly from your outreach sequences, with AI-powered chatbots facilitating the process to ensure smooth scheduling.

You can use Replu for other startup functions, such as:

• hiring
• marketing/PR
• fundraising.

Pricing

Reply.io offers a 14-day free trial for each of its plans. Upgraded plans start at $49/month and provide essential tools for email outreach.

Eligible startups can apply for a special discount of up to 100% off for the first 3 months.

After that, they receive a 15% discount on subsequent plans.

9. Gmass

Gmass is an email marketing and automation tool that allows users to send mass emails directly from their Gmail account.

It’s popular with marketers, sales reps, and small businesses for its simplicity and effectiveness.

It functions include:

• Send mass emails: Send personalized bulk emails from Gmail with automated follow-ups.
• Email personalization: Use mail merge to customize emails with variables such as name or company.
• Automated follow-ups: Automatically follow up with contacts who haven’t responded.
• Email scheduling: Schedule emails for optimal sending times to increase engagement.
• Campaign Analytics: Track opens, clicks, bounces, and responses to measure performance.
• Google Sheets integration: Import contacts and manage campaigns directly from Google Sheets.
• Response Management: Automatically sort and manage responses to keep your inbox organized.
• Inbox Placement Testing: Test the deliverability of emails to ensure they reach the primary inbox and not spam.

Pricing

GMass offers a limited free plan where users can send up to 50 daily emails.

And the standard plan starts at $25/month.

10. Owler

If your target audience is companies and businesses, then Owler is the right tool.

Owler is a business intelligence platform designed to help users track and analyze data about companies, competitors, and industry trends.

It provides insights on over 20 million companies, covering public and private entities.

Key features:

• Company profiles: Detailed data on revenue, employees, funding, and news.
• Competitive intelligence: Analyze more than 45 million competitive relationships.
• Advanced search: Filter by revenue, industry, location, and company size.
• News monitoring: Get real-time alerts and historical data snapshots.
• Owler Pro: Unlimited access to in-depth research and analysis.

Pricing

The free forever version of Owler allows you to follow up on up to 5 companies, access 3 news event triggers (such as funding, acquisition, and executive changes), and view 10 unique company profiles per month.

The Pro plan starts at $39/month with unlimited company follow-ups. You can contact their sales or customer support for a more advanced enterprise plan.

11. Crunchbase

Crunchbase is a corporate intelligence platform ideal for professionals involved in prospecting, market research, and competitive analysis.

It provides a comprehensive database of detailed company profiles, funding details, industry trends, and access to key decision-makers.

With Crunchbase, you get:

• Company Insights: Detailed profiles, including financials, funding history, acquisitions, and executive information.
• Find Investors: Access over 200,000 investors with accurate contact information to expand your network.
• Advanced Search: Use filters to narrow companies by industry, location, revenue, etc.
• News and Alerts: Receive real-time updates on companies, including funding rounds and acquisitions.
• CRM Integration: Synchronize Crunchbase data with your CRM for seamless prospecting and lead management.
• Competitive Analysis: Monitor competitor performance, financials, growth, and key industry trends.

Pricing

You can benefit from a 7-day free trial for Crunchbase Pro.

12. GetProspect

GetProspect is a B2B email finder and email verification tool.

It features a comprehensive B2B database of over 200 million contacts, making it easier for users to collect B2B emails and focus on effective sales outreach.

Key features are:

• Bulk and Individual Email Finder: Search for email addresses using advanced filters, either in bulk or individually.
• CRM Formatted Pages: Each contact and company has a CRM-style page with detailed information, streamlining lead management.
• Chrome Extension: Search for leads directly on LinkedIn and company websites, simplifying lead generation.
• API Access: Integrate Email Finder with your existing systems via API.
• Integrations: With Zapier, you can integrate CRMs like Zoho, HubSpot, Pipedrive, Salesforce, and over 5,000 other apps.

Pricing

GetContact’s free version includes 50 email searches and 200 monthly verifications, which is ideal for trying out the platform.

13. Outreach.io

Outreach.io is an all-in-one b2b sales engagement platform designed to streamline and improve sales prospecting processes.

Outreach.io helps teams efficiently manage their outreach efforts by automating and coordinating communications across multiple channels, such as email, phone, and social media.

Its benefits include:

• Multichannel automation: Streamline email, phone, and social media outreach for consistent communications.
• AI recommendations: Optimize strategies and increase engagement with AI-driven insights.
• CRM Integration: Seamlessly synchronize with your CRM for seamless data management.
• Pipeline Management: Identify and close gaps in your sales pipeline to improve conversion rates.
• Automated forecasting: Improve forecast accuracy with scenario modeling and data-driven adjustments.
• Sales Rep Coaching: Provide personalized coaching to reps to improve sales performance.

Pricing

Custom pricing is available upon request – contact Outreach for details.

How to choose the best sales tool for your business needs?

There are indeed excellent tools out there. But you can’t just pick the first one that comes along.

Choosing the best sales tool for your business requires careful consideration of several paramount factors before adding them to your tech stack.

1. Business goals and challenges

• Align with goals: The tool should address specific challenges your company faces, such as lead generation, customer relationship management (CRM systems), or sales automation.
• Scalability: Ensure the tool can grow with your business and support your long-term goals.

2. Core Features and Functionality

• Must-Have Features: Identify essential features that align with your sales processes, such as multichannel communication, AI-driven insights, or CRM integration.
• Customization: Look for tools that offer customization options to tailor the platform to your unique needs.
• Automation: This is what’s going to help you save time and focus on other important tasks.

3. Ease of Integration

• Seamless integration: The tool should easily integrate with your existing software stack, including CRM, marketing automation tools, and other key platforms.
• API access: Check if the tool provides API access for custom integrations, which can be critical for complex workflows.

4. User Experience and Adoption

• Easy-to-use interface: Choose a tool with an intuitive design that your team can quickly adopt, minimizing the learning curve.
• Training and support: Choose tools that provide comprehensive onboarding, training resources, and ongoing support to ensure successful implementation.

5. Cost and Return on Investment (ROI)

• Free, freemium, low cost or special pricing plans/offers for startups.
• Budget Compatibility: Ensure the tool fits your budget, considering upfront costs and long-term expenses.
• ROI Potential: Evaluate the potential return on investment by assessing how the tool will improve productivity, sales, and customer satisfaction.

Focusing on these factors can help you select a sales tool that meets your current needs and supports your business’s growth and success.

Key Takeaways

Now that you understand the importance and effectiveness of sales prospecting tools, investing in the right tool can significantly enhance your lead-generation strategies.

These tools will streamline your sales processes and empower your team to reach new customers, nurture leads effectively, and drive business growth.

Benefit from the free versions, test each tool, and equip your startup with the best sales prospecting tool today.

This is what will set the stage for long-term success.

FAQ

Why should startups invest in sales software?

Investing in sales software is critical for startups because it streamlines processes, increases productivity, and enables data-driven decision-making.

Sales tools minimize the time and effort needed to build strong customer relationships by automating tasks and optimizing lead nurturing. It also ensures that your startup is equipped to scale efficiently and competitively.

What are the top 10 sales tools for startups?

The top 10 sales tools for startups are:

1. LinkedIn Sales Navigator
2. HubSpot CRM
3. Apollo.io
4. La Growth Machine
5. Brevo
6. Hunter
7. Saleshandy
8. Reply.io
9. Gmass
10. Owler

Which Is The Right Sales Tool for Your Business?

The right sales tool for your business often starts with a robust CRM that is the foundation for monitoring sales activities, analyzing your pipeline, and creating a clear strategy.

A CRM helps you manage customer relationships and track every interaction, making it an essential tool for any sales team.

These tools can automate routine tasks, provide AI-driven insights, and enhance team collaboration to optimize your sales processes for success.

How can startups improve their sales process with automation tools?

The right sales tool for your business should help you streamline and optimize your sales processes by automating menial tasks so your team can focus on high-impact activities like customer calls and demos.

Platforms like HubSpot, La Growth Machine, Apollo.io centralize contact management, task tracking, and data analysis, giving your team members powerful tools for efficiency and strategic decision-making.

How can startups choose affordable and effective sales tools?

When choosing affordable and effective sales tools, startups should prioritize key factors such as essential features, ease of use, and reliable customer support.

While affordability is critical, balancing it with comprehensive functionality ensures better value. Choose tools that offer scalable licensing to start small and grow your business. Reviews and user feedback can also help you make the best choice.

Disclosure

This content was partly written by AI (ChatGPT 4), I added my own perspective, fact-checked it and made sure it is helpful for you.