Last Updated on January 19, 2023 by Alex Birkett
With most companies embracing marketing automation and customer experience management technologies, it’s no wonder that salespeople are struggling with their software options.
Traditional CRM systems just weren’t designed for today’s constantly changing selling environment, leaving salespeople without the right data they need in order to sell more effectively.
And that’s where sales enablement software tools come into the picture.
Sales enablement apps fill this gap by providing a variety of online applications and other solutions that help salespeople to acquire faster and convert higher.
Today, I ranked and reviewed some of the best sales enablement platforms based on their key features, pricing, cons, and more.
What is a Sales Enablement App?
The biggest challenge for salespeople these days is the amount of data they have to deal with. In order to be productive, salespeople need a good overview of their accounts, campaigns, business opportunities, and performance reports.
Sales enablement apps give you a big picture view of key performance metrics such as pipeline progression, revenue progress, pipeline closure ratio, latest industry news, contact productivity, and more.
A sales enablement app offers information and data at the time and place that allows your sales team to plan their activity. The application also allows access from multiple locations and clients. The goal of these apps is to provide you with Sales productivity tools and help you save time while avoiding the need for constant IT support.
These apps empower both marketers and sales leaders to act better on real-time customer interactions and execute smart, tactical deals that increase pipeline velocity without undue effort. They manage the entire deal lifecycle and enable trading teams to optimize the planning, selling, and execution of initiatives.
Sales Enablement apps are designed specifically with the purpose of:
- Improving sales
- Tracking leads
- Presenting information through visuals
- Improving the overall sales cycle
- Bolstering conversation intelligence
- Providing training and marketing materials to sales reps
- Providing quick access to information and stats for better decision-making, etc.
The main motive is all about educating your sales team on the products that you sell. The purpose is to improve performance on a daily basis and earn more as a result.
What Makes a Good Sales Enablement App?
There’s a growing need for sales enablement software in the B2B sphere. As companies grow larger and more complex, it becomes increasingly necessary to provide actionable insights and assistance to each of your sales representatives.
Luckily, there are tools out there to do just this. So what can you look for in a good sales enablement solution?
Make sure to consider these features before you pick a sales enablement app for your sales team.
- Content Library – Large inventory of content with categories like training, guides, product information, case studies, company & industry information, articles, etc.
- Search Option – Sales Team should be able to search existing data, view key details like contact details, CRM data with ease.
- Digital Training – Interactive e-learning modules that are available in audio and video to train sales reps.
- Company Information – Snapshots and details of the organization like its location, size, leadership team, narrative & history, etc.
- Conversation Analysis – This includes the ability to record sales calls and transcribe them, a summary of the latest sales calls, smart alerts, and more.
- Collaborative – Multiple users in the sales team should be able to contribute and view information related to a lead or opportunity.
Other key features include automatic reminders, sales pipeline building, email tracking, gamification, and contact information.
The 9 Best Sales Enablement Apps
- Reply.io
- Mailshake
- Yesware
- Gong.io
- Chorus.ai
- Seismic
- Showpad
- Brainshark
- Highspot
Here is my list of some of the best sales enablement apps on the market.
Editorial note: some of the links that follow may be affiliate links, meaning I’ll get a kickback if you purchase the product. However, that doesn’t change my editorial policy, which is to speak the truth. If a product sucks, I’ll say it. These reviews are as honest as possible.
1. Reply.io
Best For: SDRs (Sales Development Reps) who want to reach out to prospects via LinkedIn.
G2 Score: 4.5
Reply.io is a sales enablement app for top executives at software companies to manage their sales funnel and quickly send out ready-to-go email templates with attached files and contacts based on data from LinkedIn.
One of the best parts of the app is its browser extension. You just have to install the extension, and it will automatically extract potential leads from LinkedIn and their contact details and adds it all to your pipeline.
Reply.io also empowers sales teams to deliver a better customer experience by providing sales enablement videos via emails within the customer engagement process.
Reply.io takes care of your entire lifecycle:
- Discover Leads – Find prospects and business emails wherever you are. It helps you hunt for emails on LinkedIn, Sales Navigator, and LinkedIn Recruiter.
- Engage via Multiple Channels – Once you find your prospects, Reply.io lets you engage them using multichannel sequences. For example, it lets you reach leads via SMS, WhatsApp messaging, LinkedIn outreach, and Zapier steps.
- Execute – This step is where you execute all the semi-automated tasks prepared by Reply.io, including sending connection requests and messages on LinkedIn, viewing LinkedIn profiles, InMails, and more. You can also sync your Reply.io account with Google calendar and book and schedule meetings from your admin area.
- Improve – Use their A/B testing tools and in-depth reporting to track, analyze, and improve your progress.
It all gets executed in a streamlined manner. And you can either follow it manually using Reply.io’s task lists or set it all on autopilot. There’s even a “Task Flow” function that will open up tasks one after another to help you commence your daily tasks in proper order.
The fact that it natively integrates major CRM tools and business apps, including Salesforce, HubSpot, Copper CRM, Pipedrive, Close.io, Zendesk Sell, is also a bonus.
Key Features:
- Text Quality Scoring – Reply.io leverages AI to score text quality, book meetings, and perform automated LinkedIn outreach. The AI assistant functions on GPT-3 and Reply’s proprietary algorithm that helps you check chances of response for each email and subject line you send.
- Built-in Dialer – It lets you call your prospects directly from the app. The dialer also allows inbound calls transfer, VoIP calls via browser, international calls & number support, etc.
- Contact Management – From manual contact data entry to import from CSV files and to contact list segmentation, you can perform major contact management-related tasks. You can even add smart filters, view profile history, recent contact activity, and more.
Cons:
- Not sufficient CRM functions since Reply.io is more of an email outreach tool.
Pricing:
Starts at $50 per month/user. You’ll also get a 14-day free trial initially.
2. Mailshake
Best For: Automated email outreach and following up with leads.
G2 Score: 4.7
Mailshake is a sales enablement app that helps sales teams communicate better. You can leverage its built-in templates and automation to follow up with thousands of leads simultaneously.
There are email templates for multiple scenarios, including guest posting, link building, lead generation, PR pitches, and content promotion.
Here’s an example:
What’s more, communicate and distribute content to your sales team 24/7, track all activities in your CRM with automation, and share documents instantly using one-click publishing. It lets you do all that and more from a central admin area.
Automated email outreach and prospecting are also some of its key selling points. Aside from emails, the sales enablement app also helps you connect with your team and clients via social media and phone.
And it not only helps you generate and nurture leads but also helps you identify how exactly you are generating those leads. You’ll also get to monitor open rate, click rate, and replies for your email outreach campaigns.
And if there’s something unavailable, you can always integrate it with the required third-party tool. Mailshake provides native integration with prominent email service providers, CRMs, other business apps like Pipedrive, HubSpot, Salesforce, and even Zapier.
Key Features:
- Lead Catcher – Mailshake lets you see your most engaged and qualified leads. This helps you focus on the leads that are most likely to convert instead of cold leads that may not even convert into paying customers.
- Split Test Emails – It lets you create and test multiple versions of an email to see which version is working out the best.
- Omnichannel Outreach – Mailshake works as an omnichannel outreach platform that allows you to communicate with your customers across all communication channels: email, SMS, and voice.
Cons:
- Small businesses and freelancers may find it a bit pricey.
- It only works with Gmail and Outlook.
Pricing:
Pricing starts from $59 per user/month. This is the starter plan that comes with features like advanced scheduling & throttling, 5k list-cleaning credits monthly, 5k recipients per campaign, automated email sequences, etc. You also get a 30-day money-back guarantee.
3. Yesware
Best For: Creating personalized outreach campaigns.
G2 Score: 4.4
Yesware is a powerful, fully integrated outreach SaaS solution that is designed to help salespeople close more deals with less effort. It includes email tools, email tracker, meeting scheduler, reporting, analytics, and more.
You also get access to a smart email builder and ready-to-use templates to enable users to create better emails and sales pitches. And if email campaigns aren’t enough, you can also reach out via multiple touchpoints like calls and social media.
It also integrates with your CRM and email tools to keep sales reps connected and organized.
However, it also works only with Outlook and Gmail. You can install and integrate it into your inbox within minutes. Tracking daily activity, scheduling meetings, and more gets easier from here.
Another key point is Yesware’s analytics function. It allows you to view your daily and weekly email performance. You’ll get privy to email metrics like reply rate, who opened your email, weekly trends, and how recipients engage with your emails.
The analytics are also easy to understand – no technical know-how is required to grasp the numbers and reports. These statistics also let you improve your prospecting emails for better engagement.
Key Features:
- Meeting Scheduler – Yesware’s built-in meeting scheduler lets you set your availability and allow your email recipients to choose an appropriate meeting time. You can also sync it with your Gmail or Outlook calendar.
- Prospecting Campaigns – Either run your outreach campaigns on autopilot or choose to send emails manually – Yesware lets you create multi-touch campaigns the way you want. You can also choose touch points like phone call reminders and LinkedIn InMails.
- Email & Attachment Tracking – Get notified when leads open your emails and attachments. This will help you follow up with the most engaged clients.
Cons:
- It doesn’t specify which particular individual opened your email.
Pricing:
Starts at $15 per user/month. The starter plan comes with all core features like unlimited email & attachment tracking, email templates, meeting scheduler, etc. There’s also a 14-day free trial.
4. Gong.io
Best For: Market research and uncovering top-performing sales reps.
G2 Score: 4.7
Gong markets itself as a “Revenue Intelligence” platform that gives you insights into your deals, market, and remote sales and marketing teams.
After all, isn’t it one of the essential parts of sales enablement? Grasping your market situation and making deals accordingly.
Deal insights include understanding potential risks and identifying which deals are real. This becomes a possibility since Gong gives you a complete overview of your pipelines and deals.
What’s more, it leverages AI to extract data that helps you discern opportunities and practices required for more growth. The extracted data, which also includes how each sales rep is performing, also comes in handy to help you assign appropriate deals to the right sales reps.
Don’t like the sales performance by certain reps? Now that you have identified the issue, you can train them appropriately – based on factual data rather than mere guesswork.
With a stellar G2 score of 4.7 (and that too, after over 3000 reviews), Gong is a stellar tool to boost your sales and productivity.
And these Twitter users seem to agree:
Key Features:
- Market Intelligence – Whatever your business, Gong’s market intelligence can help you make critical decisions in key sectors. You get access to customized information across your supply chain to empower informed decision-making.
- Capturing Customer Interaction – Gong captures client interactions across different channels (video calls, phone calls, emails, and text messages), transcribes those interactions, and then delivers insights to help your team close more deals.
- People Intelligence – You get real-time insights into sales rep’s and managers’ activities. You’ll also get access to data that pinpoints how a specific team member is performing vs. the rest of the team and industry benchmarks.
Cons:
- Some online reviews suggest that transcription sometimes struggles with different accents.
Pricing:
Customized pricing structure.
5. Chorus.ai
Best For: Identifying top-performing sales reps and replicating their performance.
G2 Score: 4.5
If you want an all-in-one tool for better pipeline visibility and capturing conversations during conferences, then Chorus.ai is an excellent option. It also helps you analyze the sales meetings of top sales reps and replicate their performance.
Its ability to uncover top performers’ conversation skills, sales skills, deal intelligence, and more also helps you identify the best performers. Once you identify winning behaviors, emulating them is just a few-step process.
And since it works in tandem with video conference tools as well as communication tools like Slack and Salesforce, data flows seamlessly. For instance, Chorus.ai records and transcribes your Zoom conference and can deliver all the data and insights to platforms like HubSpot, Slack, etc.
Key Features:
- Real-Time Transcription – Chorus.ai has a built-in technology that lets you identify multiple speakers in the same conference room. This also means it provides a real-time transcriber functionality that even identifies and transcribes topics that are not generally found in conversations.
- Visibility Into Customer Relationships – It provides visibility into the relationships that drive revenue right into your CRM. You’ll get access to details like where your customer relations stand, the inner workings of deals, key stakeholders involved, etc.
- Proactive Recommendations – Chorus leverages AI technology to provide deal recommendations and alerts to sales enablement managers. These recommendations help them focus on deals that matter the most.
Cons:
- It has a steep learning curve, mainly owing to the massive number of features it offers.
Pricing:
Quote-based plans. Although, online reviews suggest that Chorus.ai is on the expensive side.
6. Seismic
Best For: Managing and providing the right content at the right time.
G2 Score: 4.7
Looking to outmaneuver the competition and automatically create hot opportunities from your CRM’s history? Seismic is the perfect sales enablement app for you!
It works in sync with your CRM and extracts pertinent information at the precise moment a sales rep needs it. Whether you’re a rep with one or thousands of contacts, add your CRM data to Seismic to generate truly personalized outreach at scale.
And not just CRM-based data, Seismic also arms you with product news, market insights, competitive intel, and more. All these details and insights also help you craft a compelling story for your buyers.
Surfacing sales expertise and helping teams get unstuck with the right information at the right time, Seismic gives businesses a strategic advantage over their competitors.
It also helps sales teams keep their leads and activities organized, communicate more effectively with each other, set reporting and notifications, and more.
It’s also worthy to note that it’s used by prominent brands like IBM and American Express, so you’re in good company.
Key Features:
- Pre-formatted Documents – Seismic comes with personalized, pre-formatted documents to help you engage with buyers. You can either automate the workflow or use the freestyle approach for engagement.
- Contextual Recommendations – Not just a mere access point for content. Seismic gives hyper-targeted, in-app content recommendations to help sales reps sell faster. It also works as
- Automate Documents – Now, you can automate the creation of documents your team uses every day. And if required, you can also personalize those documents with a few clicks.
Cons:
- It may appear a bit overwhelming at first. The best way to go about it is by first starting with the basic features and then onboarding your entire team.
Pricing:
You have to contact their sales to request a free demo and obtain a pricing.
7. Showpad
Best For: B2B startups looking for a coaching and content management platform.
G2 Score: 4.7
Showpad is a sales enablement and revenue enablement platform that provides you and your team with relevant skills, content, tools, and industry news to close deals more quickly.
Think of Showpad as your personal sales assistant in the field. You can use it to identify key prospects, get access to talking documents, record and share your sales calls, track activity from prospects and customers, and much more.
Plus, you can easily add and share documents, annotate them with your comments, and then overlay them on your prospect’s contact record. There are branded content spaces as well to help you deliver a great customer experience.
It also provides integration with all the major CRMs, CMS apps, marketing automated systems, and other business apps you currently use or plan to use to streamline your sales processes. Some prominent integrations include Salesforce, Gmail, Marketo, Outlook, and more.
Key Features:
- Sales Content Management – Get insights like win/loss percentage to visualize the impact of your content on your deals and revenue. These stats will also help you make data-driven decisions.
- Coaching Sales Teams – With its built-in interactive content and testing material, you can use Showpad to coach your sales team w
Cons:
- There aren’t many major cons, but some users may find it difficult to navigate.
- It doesn’t provide integration with other sales enablement apps.
Pricing:
Quote-based pricing plans.
8. Brainshark
Best For: Onboarding and training your sales team.
G2 Score: 4.4
Brainshark is full of features designed to help sales teams succeed in the business-to-business market. Some of this app’s highlights include onboarding, content management, and employees’ skill development.
The “Coaching Activities” ensures that your entire team is privy to all the latest messages and updates. It also has unique features like “Scorecards” that are convenient for tracking enablement programs, the performance of individual sales reps, overall team performance, and critical KPIs.
Its ability to share presentations and reports virtually with staff also makes the training process a breeze.
When it comes to coaching content for your sales teams, Brainshark lets you create sales training content and keep it updated and even curate examples of top-performing sales reps to encourage your team.
Key Features:
- Top Content – Get an overview and your latest sales enablement content in one place. You also get access to relevant content from across the web and enrich your pipeline with custom alerts.
- In-depth Reporting – The dashboard gives sales reps deep insights into how their presentations perform. Brainshark helps you identify metrics like audience retention rate, number of views, and more.
Cons:
- While you can automate reporting, it still has some limitations, especially in terms of customization. For instance, you can’t add or remove columns in the reports.
Pricing:
Quote-based pricing.
9. Highspot
Best For: Managing sales content.
G2 Score: 4.7
Highspot sales enablement app helps sales professionals find, create, and share content on demand for each customer or prospect.
The app combines proprietary AI technology with a platform of any user-generated content to provide salespeople with the perfect amount of content, presented in the right way, at the right time.
The sales team can search from a repository of content and even filter results based on their requirements and several other factors.
You can even use it as a “spot” to store and organize your content and share it across your team.
Other than that, Highspot helps deliver content for training sales teams, drive customer engagement, boost revenue, and more. Many sales representatives even use it to share brochures and fillable forms with potential leads and clients.
Key Features:
- Content Management – Highspot supports over 40 content types, allowing you to share, store, manage, and organize decks, videos, and more.
- In-depth Content Insights – Track the performance of your content and see what content is influencing revenue to what extent. It will help you identify what’s working and what’s not.See it in action:
Cons:
- A specific keyword might pull up unrelated documents while searching sometimes.
Pricing:
Contact their sales team for a free demo and pricing structure.
That’s a Wrap!
That was my list of the best sales enablement tools to help you bridge the gap between sales reps and leads.
These apps work as packages of digital content (information, videos, templates, etc.) that work together to assist a salesperson in their job. They are great tools to lead your customers on a journey you set.
That said, each tool has distinct key features, pricing structure, pros, etc. The final choice boils down to your requirements.
For example, if you’re looking for a tool that not only provides and manages content but also lets you reach out to clients through multiple channels, then you should opt for Mailshake, Yesware, and Reply.io. Reply.io is also an excellent option for LinkedIn prospecting.
Apps like Gong and Chorus records and transcribes sales calls and conferences for you.
These apps also give you the opportunity to make sure the right sales reps get on top of the highest priority leads and will automatically track emails sent and calls made.