Sales Software Guide and Reviews

According to a recent study from LinkedIn, more than three-quarters of salespeople cite sales technology as “critical or extremely critical to closing deal”. With so many reps trumpeting the need for top sales tech, it’s crucial to ensure your sales team has access to the best available tools.

And those tools are sales software, which is any type of digital application that simplifies, organizes, and streamlines the selling process. These tools run the gamut—from prospecting to lead scoring, customer relations to contract signing.

Despite the huge range of tasks lots of these apps can tackle, not many are one-size-fits-all quick fixes. And a quick internet search of sales software will reveal a dizzying amount of information, making it hard to know where to start.

In this guide, we’ll demystify some of the biggest questions, like how a sales platform can benefit your business, and how to choose the one that’s best for your team. But first, we’ll review 16 of the best sales platforms out there and share a handy comparison chart of price points, trial periods, and top features.

• The 16 best sales platforms

• A comparison chart of the top 16 platforms

• How do sales platforms bring value to your business?

• What does a good sales platform include?

• Choosing the right one

• Frequently asked questions

• Try sales software for free

Let’s dive right in with a list of 16 popular platforms to get you started in your search.

1. Zendesk Sell: Sales CRM

Zendesk is among the leading providers of sales customer relationship management (CRM) software. Trusted by over 170,000 businesses worldwide, Zendesk’s powerful sales tools help companies build long-lasting relationships with their customers, resulting in increased profits and recognition in their industries.

With a host of top-requested sales functions including contact management software, lead management software, and activity tracking, Zendesk maximizes their customers’ software needs. Reps can automate workflows and set up triggers for routine tasks like outreach and follow-up to streamline their day and boost productivity.

And in Zendesk’s Marketplace, you can choose from over a thousand apps to integrate with the platform. Top apps like Trello, Zoom, and Slack make communication between colleagues a breeze. Choose from curated categories including Email & Social Media, Marketing & Lead Generation, and Analytics & Reporting to name a few. App integrations help you customize the platform to focus on your business’s specific needs.

And worry not—despite its long list of features, Zendesk is simple to integrate and use. An intuitive, user-friendly interface lets you customize your sales funnel experience so it perfectly suits your sales strategy. You can even take an interactive product tour on the website to see how your dashboard will function.

Pricing Plan:

• Team: $19 user/month

• Growth: $55 user/month

• Professional: $115 user/month

• Enterprise: Contact sales

Free trial: 14 days

Features

• Sales tracking

• Email tracking

• Personalization

• Sales dialer

• Calendar integration

• Collaboration tools

• Mobile access

• Sales dashboard

• Customizable forms

2. Sales Training Software: Lessonly

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Lessonly (recently acquired by Seismic, which also appears on this list) is a team learning platform designed to help businesses with onboarding and training. Their progressive blended-learning approach combines with a robust content-delivery system to ramp reps in as little as ten days.

Training, enablement, and coaching packages are simple and effective with on-demand practice exercises that hone skills quickly. Teams can be up and running 62 percent faster. Lessonly makes it easy to deliver coaching at scale. Sales organizations with sizable teams will find it worth their consideration, though small teams will find it intuitive to use as well.

In addition to coaching, Lessonly also provides access to LlamaNation, a community that gathers Lessonly by Seismic customers from around the world. Community members can take part in events, access resources, and even compete for swag and prizes.

Lessonly boasts a wide-ranging selection of apps for integration, including Google Drive, Zoom, and Zendesk. Choose from an existing library or work with Lessonly to build an integration as a partner. Customize your team’s experience with a unified tech stack as well as personalized coaching plans that target knowledge gaps to reach up to 76 percent more closed-won deals.

Pricing Plan: Contact vendor for pricing

Free trial: Demo upon request

Features

• Blended learning

• Built-in course authoring

• Content delivery

• Skills tracking

• Performance metrics

• Presentation tools

• Goal setting/tracking

3. Auto Dialer Software: Talkdesk

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Talkdesk is a cloud-based call center platform for customer-centric companies with at least five agents. It offers integrations with over 25 other business tools, and includes a long list of features including phone-key input, text-to-speech, and auto-dialer.

Utilizing a CS cloud platform with flexible deployment options and native cloud architecture, Talkdesk has long helped organizations across the globe create better customer experiences. Automation-first solutions leverage AI to speed up customer service processes, including self-service solutions, customer experience analytics, and workforce engagement.

Streamline employee collaboration by integrating your contact center, phone system, and tools into a single platform. Using Talkdesk, communication between your departments, teams, and individual employees becomes simple and seamless. The software includes integrations and connectors for common apps like Zoom, Slack, and Teams, so you can plug-and-play with the tools you’re already using.

Talkdesk Experience Clouds are purpose-built for specific industries with pre-designed custom workflows and AI. These include financial services for banking and insurance, healthcare providers, and retail. They also boast an impressive uptime SLA along with real-time status updates and world-class customer data production software.

Pricing Plan:

• CX Cloud Essentials: $75 user/month

• CX Cloud Elevate: $95 user/month

• CX Cloud Elite: $125 user/month

• Experience Clouds (Industry): Request quote

Free trial: Demo upon request

Features

• IVR/Voice recognition

• Real-time chat

• Voice customization

• VoIP

• Call recording

• Progressive dialer

• Archiving & retention

4. Sales Gamification Software: Ambition

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The logic behind gamification software like Ambition goes thusly: Games are fun. Working is necessary. Why not combine them to improve the latter?

Designed for midmarket and enterprise organizations, Ambition offers features for motivating teams such as contest management, leaderboards, and performance metrics.

With Ambition, it’s simple to create fantasy contests, sales TVs, leaderboards, and SPIFFs that fuel your team’s competitive spirit and celebrate success with digital clubs and awards. Not only can you foster a friendly competitive culture, you also shed light on your company’s KPIs, making it easy to leverage increased visibility across the organization into improved performance and productivity.

Beyond gamification, Ambition offers a slate of performance management tools, analytics solutions, and coaching software. It’s particularly geared towards sales managers to support their team with toolsets for accountability, encouragement, coaching, and amplification. Reps receive clear expectations, support to improve performance, and recognition for goals met.

Although Ambition offers fewer pre-built integrations than many other sales software options, they do offer workarounds to integrate data via API access, FTP, File Upload or Manual Entry. G2 users recently voted Ambition as the “most implementable” product in their category, so it’s clear they’re widely adopted and regarded well.

Pricing Plan: Gamify, Coach, Pro, and Enterprise plans available — Pricing upon request

Free trial: Demo upon request

Features

• Dashboard

• Benchmarking

• Onboarding

• Learning paths/tracks

• Feedback management

• Gamification

• Goal setting/tracking

5. Contract Analytics Software: Affinitext

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Affinitext is a contract management solution that features an AI-enabled Intelligent Document Format (IDF) for capturing and sharing corporate information. This software protects the full value of your business-critical documents through transformation into an industry-leading AI format so sharing, understanding, and protecting documents is easier than ever.

IDF assists parties in understanding and managing contract documents. Search functionality makes it simple to find critical information and relevant data. Tablet-friendly navigation allows signing parties to access the most up-to-date version on the go. Collaboration is secure and on a permission basis.

In addition to contract management, Affinitext offers support for compliance and oversight from the clause level to the organizational level. Their expert team will review and identify tasks to ensure compliance with industry and/or international standards. Affinitext serves a long list of global industries, including defense, energy, and healthcare, for businesses of all sizes.

Pricing Plan: Contact vendor for pricing

Free trial: Demo upon request

Features

• Data extraction

• Reporting & dashboards

• Contract collaboration

• Notifications & reminders

• Contract attachments

6. Sales Enablement Software: Seismic

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Seismic is a sales enablement cloud with multiple tools for content management, buyer engagement, strategy and planning. With the acquisition of Lessonly (mentioned above), Seismic adds learning and coaching to the list and now serves millions of users.

This sales solution is designed for customer-facing teams to get equipped with content, tools, and skills — everything your reps need for customer engagement and revenue growth. More than 150 integrations streamline your experience into a unified platform so you don’t need to jettison your current tech stack.

Sales enablement, sales, and marketing teams can all benefit from trying Seismic. They serve an assortment of industries including healthcare, media and advertising, telecommunications, and wealth management. Instead of leaving your teams siloed and working in the dark, the Seismic enablement cloud merges everything from training to customer engagement into a single platform.

Seismic allows teams to run faster and accelerate growth at scale because of the “must-have” metrics their platform unlocks and measures. Their goal is to drive buyer engagement and help companies tell their unique story.

Pricing Plan: Contact vendor for pricing

Free trial: Demo upon request

Features

• Lead engagement

• Digital asset management

• Electronic forms

• File sharing

• Performance metrics

• Text editing

• Video support

7. Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) Software: Linksquares

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LinkSquares is an AI-powered contract lifecycle management platform for companies with repositories of 2,000+ contracts and finalized agreements.

Here’s how it works. LinkSquares reads, analyzes, identifies, and extracts the structured data from a contract. The result is a pool of data from all the information across a massive collection of contracts.

Understanding every aspect of a contract is crucial, especially because your business is powered by them. LinkSquares helps you understand them at scale through the full life of the contract. This end-to-end CLM guides businesses from first draft to signing to ongoing management. And if you’re feeling overwhelmed, LinkSquares offers a personalized onboarding process with a dedicated specialist to assist you.

While their integrations are fairly limited especially for CRMs, they do integrate with document-sharing heavyweights like OneDrive, Google Drive, and DropBox. One particularly appealing feature is LinkSquares’ Clause Library. Customers can build their own repository of standardized language from previous documents as well as clauses from third-party contracts.

The full end-to-end suite is the most comprehensive, but your business may benefit from one LinkSquares’ more targeted products for automated contract drafting, e-signature execution, or post-signature analytics and repository.

Pricing Plan: Contact vendor for pricing

Free trial: Demo upon request

Features

• Compliance tracking

• Completion tracking

• Electronic signature

• Version control

• Pre-built templates

• Full text search

• Workflow management

8. Sales Compensation Software: CaptivateIQ

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CaptivateIQ gives teams the help they need for compensation management. Designed for companies with 15 or more commissionable employees, it includes features like compliance management, agency commission, and compensation statements.

Software integrations help customers access commission data easily from their CRM or other data warehouses. Syncing commission data saves valuable time each week, month, and quarter. Instead of collecting and analyzing data manually, you can access reports in CaptivateIQ’s platform in just a few clicks.

Compensation management functionality allows companies to design a unique commission plan that makes sense for their team. Say goodbye to clunky templates that don’t fit your needs. Once you’ve imported your employee data, you can set up a plan logic and automate your calculations with ease.

CaptivateIQ simplifies collaboration and communication for team members so compensation plans are easy to understand and disputes can be quickly resolved. Incentives and agreements are tracked within the platform and information remains confidential with a free DocuSign integration.

The idea is to create more compelling incentives for workforces. That means customer-facing teams have more clarity around goals and compensation plans. And when teams know where they’re going, they tend to get there faster.

Pricing Plan: Contact vendor for pricing

Free trial: Demo upon request

Features

• Commission scheduling

• Commission calculator

• Sliding scale commissions

• Tiered commissions

• Incentive management

• Compensation plan modeling

• Split commissions

9. Contract Management Software: PandaDoc

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PandaDoc is a contract management solution with features for drafting, negotiating, and signing contracts. With mobile signature capture and a variety of tracking and delivery solutions, PandaDoc is at the forefront of contract management. With more than 40,000 companies using their product, it’s easy to see why G2 users have voted PandaDoc #1 in multiple categories.

Sales teams can automate the proposal process with ready-made templates, or design and replicate documents inside the platform. Choose from a variety of themes, color schemes, fonts, and images for a striking and consistent brand image.

Keep track of contract activity with real-time notifications and updates that are seamlessly integrated with the apps your business already uses. PandaDoc’s analytics let you know when your contract was opened, viewed, and signed.

PandaDoc isn’t only about contracts, however. You can also create proposals, quotes, and forms with this software. Streamline your invoicing process and collect payments via signature. Need a notary? PandaDoc’s state-approved software lets you legally sign and notarize documents online.

With a free plan and a 14-day free trial on offer, PandaDoc is worth serious consideration for any business dealing in contract management.

Pricing Plan:

• eSign: Free

• Essentials: $19 user/month

• Business: $49 user/month

• Enterprise: Contact vendor

Free trial: 14 days

Features

• Mobile signature capture

• Online invoicing

• Authentication

• Content delivery

• Tax calculation

• Performance metrics

• Completion tracking

10. Customer Revenue Optimization Software: ClosePlan

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Built for enterprise B2B sales teams, ClosePlan is a customer revenue optimization platform offering features like goal management, graphical data presentation, and attribution modeling.

Recently acquired by People.ai (also on our list), ClosePlan is a top-ranked revenue optimization app on the Salesforce AppExchange. Built natively in Salesforce, it helps sales teams improve conversions with relationship maps, deal scorecards, and sales playbooks.

Relationship maps let your reps visualize the buyer’s organization and target the right contacts. Deal scorecards qualify opportunities so your team knows which leads are worth pursuing. Why waste time on the wrong conversations? ClosePlan’s sales playbooks keep reps on the right track with best practices and leading methodologies.

ClosePlan’s acquisition by People.ai gives your team access to patented predictive algorithms. Maximize your sales rep’s time and effort with automated, intelligent solutions.

Pricing Plan: Contact vendor for pricing

Free trial: Demo upon request

Features

• Behavioral analytics

• Action management

• Collaboration tools

• Customer profiles

• Data import/export

• Trend analysis

• Dashboard

11. Sales Intelligence Software: LinkedIn Sales Navigator

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LinkedIn Sales Navigator is a premium feature on LinkedIn that connects you to its massive database of business contacts. It offers a range of package options, from professional to enterprise, and includes features like lead builder, CRM integration, and private messaging.

Its advanced lead and company search capabilities target the most promising prospects for your business. Lead recommendations are customized specifically for you. Plus, CRM integration allows your reps to save leads and Sales Navigator activities directly into your existing platform for easy access.

Streamline communication with InMail messages and email integration with Outlook. You can reach LinkedIn’s membership of over 500 million users even if you’re not connected with them. With an Advanced plan, reps can share packaged sales content with other LinkedIn users without the need for download. You’ll reach more prospects, and you can even track who has viewed your content.

With a 30-day free trial, your team has ample time to try out the features on offer and see which plan works best for you. Sales Navigator’s Advanced and Advanced Plus features are well worth your consideration, but you will need to reach out to LinkedIn for detailed pricing information.

Pricing Plan:

• Core: $79.99 user/month

• Advanced & Advanced Plus: Contact vendor for pricing

Free trial: 30 days

Features

• Lead capture

• Lead nurturing

• Lead segmentation

• Custom lists

• Advanced lead and company search

• Alerts on saved leads

• Warm introductions

• Content sharing

• Engagement tracking

12. E-Signature Software: DocuSign

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DocuSign is an e-signature software platform that replaces hard copy tasks including faxing, printing, and scanning. Serving over a million customers and a billion users, they’re an industry-leader in electronic contract signing across different devices.

With remote work on the rise, DocuSign makes it a cinch to send and sign documents like sales contracts, invoices, and offer letters quickly and securely. They boast an impressive rate of speed for completing agreements: 82 percent in one day and 49 percent in less than 15 minutes.

Their speed doesn’t sacrifice security, however. DocuSign’s platform meets stringent security, privacy, and data residency requirements around the world. Compliant with US and EU regulations, they also generate and securely store lawful, court-admissible audit trails for each and every agreement.

One of DocuSign’s most attractive features is its ease of use. It’s simple enough for almost anyone to execute signatures whether they’re in the office or on the go. With more than 350 integrations, you can link DocuSign to your CRM and use it alongside your existing productivity solutions.

If all you need is document signing, DocuSign has a free plan. Their single-user Personal plan is only $10 per month. For more bells and whistles, it’s certainly worthwhile to explore their higher-level plans for document and template sharing, comments, advanced fields, and SMS authentication.

Pricing Plan:

• Free DocuSign Plan

• Personal eSignature: $10 user/month

• Standard eSignature: $25 user/month

• Business Pro eSignature: $40 user/month

• Enhanced eSignature: Contact vendor for pricing

Free trial: 30 days

Features

• Audit trail

• Authentication

• Customizable templates

• Mobile signature capture

• Multi-party signing

• Task progress tracking

• Document analytics

13. Field Sales Software: SalesRabbit

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Designed for teams with field reps, SalesRabbit offers features for agents on the go, including territory management, document imaging, and presentation tools. Their unique outside sales app optimizes team and lead management, along with qualification and contract management.

Team management tools include sales territory mapping and leaderboards to keep your team organized, focused, and productive. Messaging ensures every member is on the same page. Managers can track sales reps to see how they’re spending their time and ranking up with their colleagues, making SalesRabbit a valuable coaching tool.

SalesRabbit’s lead management tools are set up specifically for outside sales teams, with easy geographical lead tracking. Leads stack vertically in the app for multiple locations at the same address, like office or housing complexes. Map out the best route with SalesRabbit’s intelligent route planner by uploading and prioritizing your leads.

A sizable array of integrations keeps your outside sales reps in touch with the system you’re already using for your business. The Enterprise plan offers custom integrations as well. You may also consider SalesRabbit’s Essentials Bundle which includes the Pro version of their platform along with DataGrid AI and Digital Contracts. DataGrid AI provides reps with information about their destination through a comprehensive residential and business search. Other add-ons are also available for their learning platform, mover leads, weather reports, and digital marketing.

Pricing Plan:

• Team: $25 user/month

• Pro: $35 user/month

• Enterprise: $59 user/month

• Essentials Bundle (SalesRabbit Pro, DataGrid AI, and Digital Contracts): $66 user/month

Free trial: No free trial, but try the free version of the app SalesRabbit Lite to see how the core features work.

Features

• Content delivery

• Data extraction

• Goal management

• Lead capture

• Lead nurturing

• Training management

• Work order management

14. Partner Management Software: PartnerStack

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PartnerStack is a partner management solution for B2B SaaS partnerships, affiliates, and referrals. It includes features such as referral tracking, channel analytics, and multi-channel marketing.

More than 200 partner programs are currently available in PartnerStack’s Marketplace with access to more than 65,000 active partners seeking to find and build profitable relationships. On average, a PartnerStack customer sees 122 percent revenue growth by onboarding the right partners for their business. What’s more, PartnerStack automates this onboarding process. You can build a custom process for any partner type, then automate emails and trigger new offers based on partner behavior.

Rewards are calculated and paid right in the platform. Whether you offer flat rewards or revenue sharing, PartnerStack automatically calculates the correct conversion to pay out. You can even set up incentive programs for partners to earn bonuses based on performance or new certifications.

PartnerStack also integrates with your existing tech stack so you don’t need to constantly jump platforms. If you want a custom connection, you can build one through the PartnerStack API.

Partner access to the marketplace is free, so you can access and enroll into partner programs without a fee. SaaS businesses should book a demo to learn more about how to promote their company through the PartnerStack Marketplace.

Pricing Plan: Contact vendor for pricing

Free trial: Demo upon request

Features

• Bonus management

• Social engagement

• Rewards program

• Campaign management

• Advocate management

• Commission management

• Fraud detection

15. AI Sales Assistant Software: People.ai

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People.ai is a predictive selling management platform, or AI sales assistant, designed for leaders to help them better manage their teams. They offer a full range of sales, marketing, and revenue management solutions for organizations of varying sizes — all harnessing the next-level power of AI.

By compiling revenue activity data in one platform, People.ai breaks down silos between teams to provide valuable insights to sales reps and team managers. AI-powered technology identifies gaps between buyer engagement and seller performance. Armed with these smart insights, teams can accelerate deals through the pipeline and increase revenue across the board.

Opportunity management capabilities include team benchmarking, pipeline health, and sales methodologies. See which behaviors have the most success and scale them across your entire team. With two years of historical activity data at your fingertips, your managers can pinpoint successful tactics and use these to coach the entire team. Plus, crystal-clear pipeline visibility lets reps know exactly how to be proactive to close deals every quarter.

ClosePlan, listed above and recently acquired by People.ai, is the sales methodology arm of this platform. Purpose-built inside Salesforce, it allows teams to operationalize best practices in their sales process. Use proven methodologies like MEDDIC, BANT, Value Selling, or create a custom methodology that fits your strategy.

Pricing Plan: Contact vendor for pricing

Free trial: Demo upon request

Features

• Analytics/ROI tracking

• Customer journey mapping

• Sales forecasting

• Statistical analysis

• Performance metrics

• Channel management

• Opportunity management

16. Revenue Operations Software: Clari

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Clari is built for B2B companies to help them shorten their selling cycles. It includes modern AI and automation features that deliver total visibility. Offering everything from forecasting to pipeline management, their revenue operations platform streamlines the revenue process from start to finish. The result? On average, Clari customers boost their win rate by 7 percent in their first year and 15 percent in the second.

Strengthen your team with an impressive array of product solutions, including account engagement, revenue intelligence, CRM integration, and conversation intelligence. Instead of struggling with disparate data fragments and siloed teams, Clari collects all of your revenue data in a single space. With applied machine learning, your team receives insights to improve performance and drive revenue growth.

Clari touts an enterprise-grade platform that’s adaptable to businesses of all industries and sizes. Its advanced AI processes real-time and historical data to deliver accurate forecasts and actionable insights. Plus, they take your security seriously. Clari’s platform is certified and compliant with global security and data privacy standards.

Pricing Plan: Contact vendor for pricing

Free trial: Demo upon request

Features

• Exception reporting

• Dynamic modeling

• Graphical data presentation

• Trend analysis

• Statistical analysis

• Performance metrics

• Dashboard

No matter how good your product or service is, your team can’t reach their full potential when their schedules are overloaded with tedious to-do’s. Sales software takes those time-consuming tasks off your reps’ plates, so they can focus on what they’re really there to do: sell.

Here are the key benefits most businesses can expect from a great sales software platform:

• Accelerated sales process. Software makes it easy for reps to set up, visualize, and stay on top of their workflow. Reminders and automations help reps keep leads hotter and increase their velocity through the pipeline.

• Increased rep productivity. With the right software in place, reps can stop wasting precious hours on tedious, repetitive tasks like data entry or follow-up emails. Setting up automations through your chosen sales platform lets reps increase their productivity and close more deals.

• Automated reporting and analysis. Sales software makes setting up automated workflows easy so teams can trigger reports and analysis at designated points in the sales process.

• Centralized knowledge management. Rather than cross-referencing a labyrinth of spreadsheets and file folders, sales teams keep track of customer data all in one place.

• More accurate forecasting. Say goodbye to the gut check. Managers can rely on data-driven, accurate forecasts each and every quarter.

• Intra-team collaboration. With capabilities and integrations for chat and email, it’s easier than ever to keep up with your colleagues so everyone can work together to meet quarterly goals.

• Customer retention and loyalty. Customers want a personalized sales experience and a rep who gets what they need. Robust sales tools mean easy record-keeping and access at a moment’s notice, so customers know they’re valued.

• Greater flexibility. Sales software’s infinite variety means that teams have a lot of choice and flexibility about how and where they’re going to do business. Secure mobile and offline capabilities in particular mean reps can work from their home office, the cafe down the block, or on the road.

• More conversions. With digitization the sales process moves more quickly and smoothly than ever before, meaning higher conversion rates and happier customers.

The world of sales software is huge. But there are a few features that every platform should include for optimum efficiency and ease of use. When looking for new sales functionality for your team, keep your eye out for these vital solutions.

1. Reporting and analytics

   An accurate picture of company performance is crucial. Your sales platform — whether CRM or gamification or anything in between — should have a reporting and sales analytics feature to analyze all the data you’re feeding into it. Greater insight into your sales metrics makes it easier to identify improvements needed to boost profits and productivity.

2. Security

   Both your customers and your team members are trusting you to keep their personal information secure. When shopping around for sales systems, make sure that the providers you’re interested in guarantee security.

   Look at vendors who also provide secure customer service to high-powered Fortune 500 companies. If industry heavyweights put their trust in a particular software platform, it’s a pretty sure bet that you can too.

3. Integration with other apps

   While no one platform performs every single function, most sales systems offer integrations that allow you to connect with other sales apps. Chances are you’re already using several software tools to run your business. A good sales software platform will allow you to seamlessly integrate the apps you already rely on, so you can keep things running smoothly.

4. Mobile access

   Reps no longer need to be in the office to effectively perform their duties. Handheld devices are now the norm for signing contracts, enrolling new customers, and sharing content. More than ever before, it’s crucial for sales platforms to have mobile capability.

There are lots of options out there. Each vendor is doing their utmost to prove that they’re the best providers out there. But not every platform is going to be right for you and your team.

Before committing to anything, here are some steps you should take to ensure you find the best fit for your business.

Be honest about your sales cycle strengths and weaknesses

Before investing, take the time to look at the current state of your business. Talk to all of your teams and ask them where they think they’re excelling, and where they need more help.

Make a list of your strengths and weaknesses, and then do a deep dive into which sales platforms are suited to handle those tasks. This may be time-consuming upfront, but the time saved by using your chosen platforms will make up for it in the end.

Be realistic about your IT capabilities

As much as software developers try to make their platforms user-friendly, there’s still going to be a period of learning.

Consider the future

If you have plans for growth, you should make sure any sales software you invest in now can be scaled to your business plans. There’s no point in learning a software platform now if you’re only going to ditch it later because it can’t keep up with your growth.

If you’re currently running a small operation, you can still look at platforms used by larger companies. Many vendors provide scaled-down versions of their platforms, like CRM for small businesses. Meaning you can master the basics and then grow into the more complex functions later as your business expands.

Bundle your software options

As stated before, there are a lot of different sales software platforms out there. Even with integrations, things can get complicated if you end up using too many different platforms. Remember, the whole point of using sales systems is to simplify the process and make operations smoother.

Consider what your needs are, and try to find software platforms that include multiple features. Many CRM platforms, for instance, provide add-ons for other helpful tools. The benefit of bundling your sales solutions together is that your team will have fewer platforms to learn. Meaning your process will be more standardized across the board.

Go for a test drive

The best way to know if a platform is right for you is to try it. Most vendors provide some way of trying their software for free, either with a free version for small teams or a free trial. Narrow your field of choices down to the best options.

Then sign up for a free trial and commit some serious hours to trying it out. Only by using the platform will you truly know if it’s the best sales software system for your team.