A Killer Sales Technology Stack for Tight Budgets

Just stop the excuses, get out of your comfort zone, and modernize your sales efforts by using the latest technology!

Either you read that sentence and said “hell yeah” in agreement, or you were thinking that type of technology “isn’t really made for sales organization’s like mine.” As a huge advocate of #salestech that goes beyond the CRM, I get it a lot. People are either embracing the trends, or they are citing the size of their team/budget as a last ditch effort to justify the status quo.

Thankfully, if you fall into the latter group then you’re 5 minutes away from losing that excuse because now any sales team, of any size, can build an awesome sales stack to make their sales department more effective and grow sales. To prove it here’s a downright incredible complete example sales stack that can be implemented on a manageable budget that breaks down to under $300 a month…

SalesLoft ($125 a month)

Let's start with the most expensive solution on this list. At $125 a month SalesLoft is a big chunk of our $300 budget, but so much is included in that price that it still might be the biggest bargain in this stack. Included in that price is a dialer complete with call recording, LocalDial, and voicemail drop, and a robust email tool that allows you to personalize at scale. You’ll also get built-in analytics that give you the best time of day to connect based on your success rates, and a step by step cadence that allows you to set your follow-up and forget about it until the task is due. Plus, they have integration's with Owler & Crystal that allow you to truly understand your prospect prior to contacting them. All in all it’s one of the best sales tools you can get, and for only $125 it becomes the foundation of our budget-based sales stack.

Ryver (Free)

There are a lot of great options when it comes to centralizing your team’s communications, but Ryver is both feature-rich AND 100% free, making it a no-brainer to include in this stack. With Ryver your team can engage one another in real time, and upvote posts on the best practices and strategies that are working. It’s basically an interactive intranet that houses your playbook right next to your team’s real-time communication, and at a cost of nothing it’s an immediate win for any sales manager.

WideAngle ($27 a month)

Continuing on with communication, the 1 on 1 is well known as the most important coaching tool that sales managers have in their arsenal but now you can do it better with WideAngle. Their automated rotating questions feature keeps 1 on 1’s fresh and allows you to gain insights that go past the standard questions you often ask. Also, you can document the 1 on 1 with feedback and track the effectiveness of the meeting with real data. Great solution for any manager who wants to stop wondering what they asked in last week’s meeting!

LinkedIn Sales Navigator ($48 a month)

Everyone knows the importance of social touches and inmail is still one the best methods of reaching your top targets, but is that worth shelling out the money for premium? Yes, because in addition to inmail, LinkedIn Sales Navigator gives you advanced search capabilities for prospecting, lead suggestions, activity monitoring, and the ability to bypass LinkedIn’s commercial search limit. Obviously it’s not designed for a spray and pray approach, but if you’re working a true account-based sales model then it’s worth the investment.

Datananas/Ringlead/Datanyze ($60 a month)

Now I’m cheating a bit here by listing a few options for list-building tools, but Datananas, RingLead, and Datanyze are all worthwhile and similar in price so it really comes down to personal preference. No matter which 1 you choose you’ll have the power to build your own prospect list at the click of a button either individually by name/social profile, or by searching for prospects that meet your ideal client profile.

Cudasign ($9 a month)

E-contract solutions have become a necessity in today’s modern sales environment and Cudasign does all the heavy-lifting you need at a true bargain price. You can save templates, track sent proposals, and give your clients the ability to sign on the go. Plus, they have a growing list of integrations to help make sending contracts as easy as possible.

Join.me (Free/$20 a month)

Unless you deliver all of your sales presentations in person you’ll need a screen-sharing solution, and in my opinion Join.me is the best for the price. They have a free version that you can use if you’re budget is really tight, and for just $20 a month you can customize the interface, record meetings, and gain access to unlimited audio options.

Calendly (Free/$8 a month)

Instead of going back and forth with your prospect to find a time that works you can simply send them your Calendly to book an open slot for your demo. They have a free version so Calendly is accessible to everyone, but if you have the budget the paid version does offer some nice additional features like booking a team, email notifications and reminders, as well as reporting.

In total that’s 8 incredible pieces of #salestech for under $300 a month! That means that everyone can craft a killer sales stack that works for their organization’s needs and budget - even if your budget is "free." In fact, even if you’re a lone wolf AE or SDR there’s still no excuse not to build a sales stack because many of these products offer single user accounts for the individual rep looking to boost their productivity and get ahead.

So now that you know how affordable this tech actually is, you no longer have any excuses for why you haven’t modernized your sales efforts. Start with a few low cost/free ones to ease into it, but start building your sales stack today. No doubt your competition already is.

 Mark Bliss is a Senior Manager and the Head of Sales Development at iDashboards. He is a true data nerd who’s passionate about the modernization of sales and marketing. Follow him on Twitter @BlissmanDetroit.