When it comes to B2B prospecting and lead gen, one thing is crystal clear: you need the right tools for the job.

Just like a carpenter wouldn't go anywhere without their trusty hammer, a sales rep needs a set of essential tools to strike gold.

In this post, I'm going to walk you through some of my favorite must-have tools that should be in your prospecting toolkit.

Let’s get started!

What's a Prospecting Toolkit & Why Do You Need It?

A prospecting toolkit is like a Swiss Army knife for anyone in sales or business development. It's a collection of tools and software that help you identify, engage and convert potential customers into loyal clients.

Having a robust toolset for your team comes with plenty of benefits, including:

  • Efficiency Boost: Good sales prospecting tools make your prospecting way easier, saving you time and energy you can reallocate to closing those deals.
  • Targeted Outreach: With specialized tools, you can pinpoint your ideal prospects and tailor your approach to avoid time wasters and window shoppers.
  • Consistency: A toolkit helps you consistently follow up with leads, reducing the number of missed opportunities because you (accidentally) let a lead go cold.
  • Data-Driven Decisions: Many tools provide valuable insights and analytics, helping you refine your strategy over time instead of relying on guesswork and hunches. (They’re great – just not amazing for decision-making at scale.)
  • Competitive Advantage: Your competitors are likely using these tools, so having them in your arsenal keeps you in the game.

In a nutshell, a prospecting toolkit is your ticket to becoming a more effective, organized and successful salesperson. Let's dive into the specific tools you'll want to include!

13 Tools You NEED in Your Prospecting Toolkit

1. MagicalAI: For Automating Your Messages

MagicalAI is a free GPT4-powered writing assistant tool. If you’re often stuck wondering how to phrase something in a way that won’t inconvenience the prospect, you’ve found your tool. Plus, MagicalAI helps with automation and integrates with plenty of platforms you already use, so you get features like quick replies, AI assistance and contextual accuracy.

Price: Free

Here’s How Sales Teams Can Use MagicalAI:

  • Help with Cold Emails: No more running into writer's block! MagicalAI provides great suggestions for writing personalized cold email copy. In most cases, you won’t rely on these 100%, but they’ll help kickstart your inspiration.
  • Generate Quick Replies to Emails or InMails: Responding to leads promptly is crucial; MagicalAI can streamline the process with quick replies.
  • Automatically Extract and Fill Relevant Details from Profiles: If you asked me what I’d prefer, data entry or swimming with sharks, I’d choose sharks every single time. No one likes data entry, so it’s a good thing that MagicalAI extracts and populates essential prospect details, streamlining the lead qualification process.

I Love It Because…

It slashes the time it takes to craft engaging cold email copy, freeing up more hours for meaningful prospecting and lead-gen efforts. Plus, the suggestions it provides help your messages hit the mark, increasing your overall chances of building relationships and closing deals.

2. Findymail: For Getting Legit Email Addresses

Findymail is a powerful email finder and verification tool that takes the hassle out of prospecting. (Full disclosure: I built it because I was tired of all the other inaccurate tools.)

You can use Findymail to extract emails from domains, names and social media accounts like LinkedIn and Facebook, perform bulk domain searches and even scrape lead generation tools like Sales Nav and Apollo.

Price: $49/month (10 free credits)

How Sales Teams Can Use Findymail:

  • Find Email Addresses with Ease: Quickly find verified email addresses for potential leads within their target companies.
  • Verify Email Addresses: Making sure your emails reach the right inbox is crucial. Findymail offers email verification, helping you maintain a clean and effective email list!
  • Findymail Plays Well with Your Stack: With Instantly, Hubspot, and other integrations, Findymail is a natural fit for your cold outreach stack.

I Love It Because...

Well, it’s my tool that I created because other email finders didn’t quite fit the bill. They’d give bad emails and I’d get bad deliverability rates. With Findymail, you can send off your emails with confidence they’re getting to the right inbox.

3. PartnerTap: For Quickly Scaling Your Business

PartnerTap is your go-to solution for uncovering high-value leads through its Ecosystem Sales Platform. It instantly maps all your accounts against your partners' accounts, providing your sales channels and teams with invaluable reports to find new sales opportunities.

Price: Available upon request (Free version available)

Here’s How Sales Teams Can Use PartnerTap:

  • Unlock New Sales Avenues: PartnerTap's Ecosystem Sales Platform helps you connect the dots between your accounts and your partners, so you get a warm introduction or a sales referral for that big account!
  • Accelerate Deals with Partner Data: By integrating partner data directly into your CRM, PartnerTap helps your sales team expedite deals and close them faster.
  • Enhanced Collaboration: For more active collaboration, PartnerTap offers a co-selling app that helps your team and your partners work together.

I Love It Because…

PartnerTap equips your team to work smarter, not harder. And with the co-selling features, your team can work more like a cohesive unit and get introductions for deals you would normally have a hard time accessing.

4. Bombora: For Gathering Intent Data

Bombora provides real-time insights into the interests and activities of businesses, helping you pinpoint the hottest prospects in your niche. By tracking the way they consume content and use the internet, Bombora identifies businesses that are actively looking for solutions like yours.

(Most tools offering intent data actually use Bombora’s data.)

Price: Available upon request

Here’s How Sales Teams Can Use Bombora:

  • Target High-Intent Leads: You can use Bombora to zero in on businesses showing strong intent signals, indicating a pressing need for your products or services.
  • Personalized Outreach: Armed with intent data, your team can craft highly personalized and relevant messaging, significantly increasing response rates.
  • Data-Driven Decision Making: Bombora helps you understand what’s on your prospects’ radars right now so you can create the right pitch and position statement.

I Love It Because…

Bombora gives my team fine-tuned intent data, so we don’t waste time on the leads where the timing isn’t right. Instead, we see higher close rates because we’ve swooped into their inbox at the right time.

5. Leadfeeder: For Uncovering Your Website Visitors

Leadfeeder is your window into the anonymous world of website visitors, even if they haven't filled out a form or made contact. Who’s “sneaking” around your website? You’ll know! Essentially, Leadfeeder shows you who your next inbound leads will be by turning anonymous website traffic into actionable sales opportunities.

Price: €139/month

Here’s How Sales Teams Can Use Leadfeeder:

  • Identify Anonymous Prospects: Use Leadfeeder to unmask the anonymous website visitors who are showing interest in your products or services.
  • Prioritize Outreach: With insights into which pages visitors have viewed, you can prioritize your outreach efforts to engage prospects who are most likely to convert.
  • Integration with CRMs: Leadfeeder seamlessly integrates with CRMs like Salesforce, making it easy to get in touch with leads ASAP.

I Love It Because…

It helps me uncover new leads I might have missed otherwise. And since they’re already visiting my website, I know they have some interest. So I can combine that with Findymail, get their email address and fire off an email to move them down the pipeline.

6. UserGems: For Finding the Low-Hanging Fruit

UserGems helps you build a bigger pipeline, shorten sales cycles and close larger deals. It transforms job changes of your leads into golden opportunities – warm leads with real buying intent. Just remember the last time you started a new job. Who wouldn’t want to impress their boss with better results?

For you, this means you can execute timely outreach at scale, so you're always in the right place at the right time in the sales journey.

Price: Available upon request

Here’s How Sales Teams Can Use UserGems:

  • Keep High-Quality Leads in Your Pipeline: UserGems helps you fortify your pipeline with a continuous stream of well-qualified leads.
  • Streamline Finding Contacts and Leads: UserGems automates the process of finding the right contacts and pinpointing potential buyers among them.
  • Stay Ahead with Real-Time Insights: Keep up with job changes and movements of your key prospects as they happen.

I Love It Because…

It takes the heavy lifting out of finding buyers genuinely interested in what I'm selling. With UserGems, warm leads flow in steadily and the process of identifying and connecting with them is not only automated but also incredibly effective.

7. Vidyard: For Sales Outreach with Personalized Video

Vidyard is the go-to video prospecting tool that helps you craft personalized videos tailored specifically for potential customers. These engaging videos serve a dual purpose: they educate prospects about the value of your product while addressing their unique questions and concerns. But Vidyard doesn't stop there – it takes your video game to the next level by enabling you to create custom buttons and pages that seamlessly accompany your video content.

One of the best use cases I’ve seen for Vidyard is definitely web design prospecting videos where reps go above and beyond to provide tailored suggestions for the potential client’s website. But even if you’re just hoping to get a quick virtual coffee, it’ll help to show your sunny face!

Price: $29/month

Here’s How Sales Teams Can Use Vidyard:

  • Craft Personalized Video Messages: Create personalized video messages that showcase your personality and enthusiasm.
  • Educate and Engage: Use video to educate prospects about your product's value proposition and address their objections.
  • Custom Buttons and Pages: Customize your buttons and pages to make every video feel tailored to each prospect.
  • Measure Impact with Video View Insights: Gain instant feedback on your outreach efforts by tracking who has viewed your video.

I Love It Because…

It’s different. People are visual creatures and they usually respond well to seeing someone’s body language and presentation. And since that’s exactly what Vidyard offers (at scale), it’s a no-brainer.

8. Overloop: For Automating Your Entire Sales Process

When it comes to managing your entire sales workflow, from prospecting to sealing the deal, Overloop is the go-to all-in-one solution you've been searching for. You can effortlessly build and enrich prospect lists sourced from LinkedIn, create and deploy personalized multi-channel outbound campaigns at scale and keep a watchful eye on all activities to enhance your team's performance.

Price: $99 per user per month

How Sales Teams Can Use Overloop:

  • Streamlined Sales Management: Overloop centralizes all your activities in a single app, from prospecting to the final (virtual) handshake.
  • LinkedIn Prospecting: Build and enrich prospect lists from LinkedIn. And if you want to take it one step further, use Findymail to get the prospects’ verified email addresses.
  • Scale Your Outreach: Overloop doesn't just help you send emails; it helps you build personalized, multi-channel outbound campaigns that easily scale as your prospect list grows.
  • Data-Driven Insights: Track every aspect of your sales process, so you finally understand what’s bottlenecking you (and what you can do about it).

I Love It Because…

Overloop consolidates all your sales activities into one user-friendly app, eliminating the need for multiple tools. So, if you’re just starting or working with a limited budget, Overloop can cover many bases simultaneously.

9. Groove: For Salesforce Aficionados

Groove is an engagement layer built upon Salesforce infrastructure so the two work together seamlessly. Groove makes it easy to understand and measure different aspects of your sales process. So, if you’re a sales manager, you finally get the visibility you need without building custom reports and dashboards.

Price: Available upon request

Here’s How Sales Teams Can Use Groove:

  • Unlock Account Growth Opportunities: With Groove's Flows and Plays, scaling prospecting, automating lead follow-up and expanding accounts become seamless.
  • Increase Seller Productivity: Groove offers automation and AI-assisted selling features that empower salespeople to work smarter and get better results.
  • Fuel Revenue Growth Through GTM Alignment: Groove aligns with your GTM strategy. Then, it ensures you’re using the right messaging for the maximum impact.

I Love It Because…

It transforms strategy execution into a smarter, more agile process, ensuring you make the right moves at the right time. If you’re in the Salesforce ecosystem, Groove is an absolute must-have.

10. Crystal: For Hyper-Personalization in Your Prospecting

Crystal is a powerful tool that provides personalized insights into your prospects' communication styles, personalities and preferences. It models your ICPs (and helps you find the right prospects), so you’re not looking at a vision board with “B2B Bob,” but actual people.

From there, you can communicate, negotiate and sell in a way that resonates with your prospects' preferences.

Price: $49/month

Here’s How Sales Teams Can Use Crystal:

  • Hyper-Personalization: Crystal takes personalization to the next level in prospecting. You’ll get the details you need to adapt your outreach, so every prospect feels like they’ve already met you.
  • Increase Meeting Bookings: With Crystal's insights, your messaging will be top-notch, so you can book more lucrative conversations.
  • Confidently Address Sales Objections: Tackle objections and concerns in ways that match your prospects' personalities.
  • Enhance Discovery Calls: Enrich your discovery calls by providing insights needed to extract richer, more relevant information from your prospects.

I Love It Because…

It deciphers your prospects' preferences and communication styles, giving you a way to create outreach that resonates with them.

11. Gong: For Empowering Sales Team Training

Gong is a revenue intelligence platform that provides sales enablement to sales pros by elevating their training game. It works by capturing, transcribing and analyzing every sales call. From there, you and the team can easily analyze what went well and what your areas for improvement are. It’s great for onboarding and ongoing training, too!

Price: Available upon request

Here’s How Sales Teams Can Use Gong:

  • Targeted Training Insights: Gong goes beyond guesswork, delivering precise insights that pinpoint your sales team's true areas of improvement.
  • Effortless Call Coaching: Say goodbye to traditional shadowing. Gong lets you access calls on-demand and its data highlights exactly where to focus your training efforts.
  • Personalized Coaching at Scale: Identify each sales rep's unique coaching needs using data and deliver the rich, personalized feedback required to help them exceed their quota.

I Love It Because…

Gong redefines sales team training by providing concrete, data-backed insights that elevate your training strategies. It's a tool that doesn't rely on guesswork but instead harnesses the power of call data to show you and your team where you need to do better.

12. Salesfully: For Generating Unlimited Leads

Salesfully is a subscription-based lead generation platform that generates an unlimited stream of B2B or B2C sales leads. Both your sales team and the marketing team can get a curated list of prospects, setting the stage for targeted and effective outreach.

Price: $29/month

Here’s How Sales Teams Can Use Salesfully:

  • Unlock a Wealth of Leads: Salesfully is your gateway to a near-endless supply of B2B sales leads.
  • Data Sourced from Authentic Sources: Salesfully taps into reliable sources such as public registries, business registrations, property deeds and more.
  • Precision in Search and Filtering: Tailor your lead search with search and filter based on various criteria, including geography, age, ethnicity and more.

I Love It Because…

Who doesn’t love unlimited leads – am I right? When you pair this tool with an email verifier like Findymail, you can be confident that you’re getting high-quality lead data.

13. Dialpad: For AI-Powered Sales Outreach

Dialpad is an AI-powered sales automation tool that gives your team game-changing features like sentiment analysis, real-time AI coaching and live assistance. It also seamlessly integrates with your CRM, leveraging artificial intelligence to offer live assistance throughout your sales outreach calls.

Price: $23/month

Here’s How Sales Teams Can Use Dialpad:

  • AI-Enabled Calls: Dialpad's AI assistant bridges the gap between sellers and real-time information. When your reps are on the call, Dialpad’s AI assistant will give them tips for objection handling, live recommendations, scripts and more!
  • Sentiment Analysis: Dialpad analyzes the prospects’ emotions, so your reps know how to respond not just verbally, but emotionally.
  • Seamless CRM Integration: The integration with your CRM ensures that all interactions and insights are captured and reused for better future communication.

I Love It Because…

It gives sales teams on the phone real-time actionable data that can make the difference between them closing the deal or not.

Honorable Mentions

Of course, these tools are just as necessary, but didn’t make the list because they’re already very popular. However, if you’re new to sales, make sure you aren’t missing these:

LinkedIn Sales Navigator

Sales Navigator by LinkedIn is a powerhouse for anyone in sales. It provides a treasure trove of insights into your target audience, enabling you to identify and connect with decision-makers in your industry. With advanced search filters, real-time updates and InMail capabilities, Sales Nav is your ticket to smarter prospecting.

Instantly.ai

Instantly is my go-to cold outreach tool. When you find the right email addresses, Instantly will help you build campaigns with so many layers that it becomes practically impossible to miss a high-quality lead.

ZoomInfo

ZoomInfo arms you with priceless data to identify your ideal prospects and tailor your outreach strategies effectively. It’s definitely one of the biggest B2B contact databases in the world, but it’s exactly what you need if you’re ready to take your sales game to the next level.

Ready to Prospect Like a Pro?

It’s time to put on your working hat and add some shiny new toys to the toolbox! Remember, in the world of prospecting, success favors the prepared. Equip yourself with the right tools and you’ll be free to do what you do best: sell!