10 Tips for Efficient Pipeline Tracking RevOps 10 min When times are tough, you need twice as many opportunities to close one deal. And to get more opportunities, you need quality prospects. A sales pipeline can give you an overview of what your selling cycle looks like. But how do you zero in on the right deals? How do you know they won’t fall flat a month down the line? Meticulous pipeline tracking is the answer. It brings sales reps closer to the moment of truth – will the deal close or not? Let’s get started. What is Sales Pipeline Tracking? Pipeline tracking puts every deal under the scanner.  It tells you how each one stacks up in terms of revenue potential – which deals are likely to convert, by when, and what stage they are currently in. Reps can then work backward from the goal and focus on the ones that will give them the best chance of hitting quota.  Let’s understand with an example. Let’s say your conversion rate for the month is 12% on a pipeline worth $1 million.  To achieve a quota of $300,000, you will need to double the number of opportunities you have lined up. Many people think the sales pipeline and sales funnel are the same.  There’s a difference, and it’s this: Sales pipelines represent the sales cycle from the seller’s perspective.  Sales funnels visualize it from the other side – the customer’s perspective. Related Resource: 5 Ways to Improve Your Sales Pipeline Visibility With sales pipeline tracking, you can: Pinpoint lagging deals and take steps to revive them. Estimate how many deals are likely to close in the next month or quarter. Analyze sales productivity by individual or team and see if they are doing the right activities. Share actionable advice on the best way forward. Make deal forecasts more accurate Identify opportunities for sales optimization What are the Components of Pipeline Tracking? Pipeline tracking has three key components: 1. Opportunity Stages These stages show the relative position of a deal since entering the sales funnel. 2. Conversion Rates This is the rate at which leads turn into opportunities and opportunities into sales. 3. Pipeline Value This is the total dollar value of the pipeline as a whole. It represents the total revenue potential of every active opportunity. 10 Tips for Efficient Pipeline Tracking For pipeline tracking to be effective, sales teams must: 1. Define the right pipeline stages Pipeline stages like ‘closing’ or ‘negotiation’ can be confusing for reps in the middle of a busy day.  To be fair, many sales managers use the default stages available in Salesforce or other tools.  But this ends up affecting pipeline visibility, forecasting accuracy, and revenue numbers.  The key is to: Be as specific as possible when describing each stage. For example:  ‘first call – no answer’ or ‘quote sent for approval.’ Make sure that pipeline stages relate to the sales process. Have a limited number of deal stages – no more than 7. 2. Define clear exit criteria for each stage Now that we’ve defined our pipeline stages let’s think about the exit criteria for each.  You can do this through a series of Yes/No questions based on the status of an account.  Depending on the deal stage, a few good questions could be: Has the rep qualified the customer by asking relevant questions? (Needs Analysis stage) Is the rep in contact with the economic buyer or the champion? (Initial Meeting/Needs Analysis stage) Has the customer confirmed they’re OK with the proposal/ mutual action plan? (Proposal stage) Has the customer agreed to sign the contract? (Negotiation stage) Clear exit criteria enable reps to move deals from one stage to another with ease.  Why not specify review criteria so reps can clean up their pipeline too?  You can benchmark the average closing time per rep and then track the following: The number of days a deal has been open The number of days since the last activity The expected close date mentioned by the rep In any case, tell your reps to reach out one last time before dropping a lead. You never know if they might have a future requirement. 3. Define the right pipeline metrics Pipeline metrics play a key role in setting KPIs and sales quotas based on the goal.  Some key metrics are: a. Number of new leads This is the total number of new leads entering the pipeline. Many businesses track new leads by source. Others prefer to track them at the opportunity stage. b. Pipeline value This is the total projected value of the opportunities you currently have. c. Conversion rate This includes converting leads to opportunities or closing opportunities into deals. d. Sales Cycle Length This represents how long it takes your reps to finally close a deal. Other key pipeline metrics include: Annual recurring revenue Average revenue per user Average deal size Pipeline velocity Related Resource: 15 Sales Metrics You Must Track 4. Streamline lead scoring Why do some opportunities score high but don’t convert?  And what about opportunities you didn’t pay much attention to but ended up closing?  If this happens too many times, it could be a sign that reps are not qualifying leads enough.  And this could create bottlenecks a couple of months down the line.  Review your lead scoring criteria – plus the lead qualification methodology.  This can help focus on opportunities with the best potential for closing. 5. Prioritize pipeline reviews Many sales managers focus all their attention on late-stage (negotiation) deals.  And that’s important from the revenue point of view.  But sales reps do need a big-picture view of the pipeline as a whole.  Pipeline reviews can help identify the winnable deals earlier in the funnel and find ways to achieve quota.  Managers can verify the ‘real’ opportunities and coach accordingly.  Now, it’s not possible for busy sales teams to have pipeline reviews every day.  But managers can share pipeline reports so that reps know what’s going on. Beginning of the 90-Day Phase: Vision and Execution 6. Customize Salesforce

7 Salesforce Reporting Tools to Consider in 2025 RevOps 10 min Salesforce reporting tools are vital assets for businesses that want to go beyond just acquiring leads and closing deals. These comprehensive solutions are a game-changer for sales leaders who want to ace their sales and customer relationship management. Salesforce reporting tools also enable data-driven decision-making, which is a must-have for a successful business. If you are looking for a reliable reporting tool for Salesforce, you are in the right spot. This article will explore the top seven options offering various features and salesforce reporting capabilities to address your reporting needs. So, let’s get started. What is a Salesforce Reporting Tool? Salesforce‘s reporting tool is a data reporting software that helps extract, organize, and analyze data from the Salesforce platform. The platform provides users with functionalities to transform raw data into meaningful insights. As a result, it helps businesses make informed decisions, track performance, and drive growth. Salesforce reporting tools offer varied capabilities to cater to diverse reporting needs. They empower users to create customized reports and dashboards, visualize data in various formats, and drill down into specific details for deeper analysis. These tools also integrate seamlessly with Salesforce’s data model, allowing users to leverage the full potential of their sales data without the need for complex coding or technical expertise. 8 Salesforce Reporting Tools for 2023 Let’s look at the top Salesforce reporting tools in 2023 you can consider for your business: 1. Tableau Tableau is a powerful Salesforce reporting tool that offers seamless integration within the Salesforce ecosystem. With its built-in reporting module, Tableau allows users to connect directly to Salesforce data and create interactive reports.  Tableau’s ability to embed visuals directly within the Salesforce application sets it apart, providing users with a cohesive experience. Moreover, data can be securely passed back and forth between Tableau and Salesforce, ensuring the confidentiality and integrity of your data throughout the reporting process. Key features: Full information availability Self-service analysis and visualization Data blending Knowledge and skill sharing 2.G-Connector G-Connector bridges the gap between Salesforce.com and Google Spreadsheet, enabling efficient data exchange between the two platforms. With G-Connector, users can effortlessly connect their Google Spreadsheet to Salesforce.com, allowing manual and automatic data synchronization.  The versatile tool offers multiple methods to create data snapshots in Google Sheets, ensuring flexibility and convenience. A standout feature of G-Connector is the ability to set up a shared Google spreadsheet, enabling the Sales team to enter and update sales data in one central location easily. Key features: Automatic data exchange Snapshots of Salesforce data Single shared Google spreadsheet Notifications for team members 3. Jotform Jotform is a supercharged online form builder that offers a number of subproducts and features, eliminating manual data entry and automating your workflow.  It makes generating Salesforce reports effortless by allowing users to collect data and create beautifully designed dashboards & dynamic reports – all automated and ready to go at any time. Jotform also offers a handy analytics tool so you can keep track of where you are with your projects easily. Key features: Dynamic reports and dashboards Analytics and visualization Integrations to automate other apps including Salesforce Building complex workflows with approval flows 4. Klipfolio Klipfolio offers a cloud platform app for building real-time business dashboards. Users can create highly customized dashboards with tailored metrics and data visualizations fueled by multiple data sources, including Salesforce.  The tool connects businesses to hundreds of data sources, ensuring comprehensive and up-to-date reporting. The beauty of Klipfolio lies in its flexibility and accessibility, as the dashboards can be monitored from anywhere, on any device. As a result, Klipfolio enables businesses to gain real-time insights and easily make data-driven decisions. Key features: Flexible data connection Highly customizable metrics and data visualization Data mashups Publish data to TV wallboards Pre-built content 5. Conga Composer Conga Composer is a robust Salesforce reporting tool that empowers businesses to create error-free, templated digital documents directly within Salesforce. The application automatically populates richly-formatted templates with data from Salesforce.  Businesses can effortlessly generate reports, proposals, contracts, and other important documents, saving time and ensuring accuracy. In addition, seamlessly merging Salesforce data into customized templates streamlines the reporting process. It enables businesses to create professional documents easily. Key features: Generate documents in multiple formats Store documents wherever possible Accurate, consistent, pixel-perfect documents 6. Smartsheet Smartsheet is a Salesforce reporting tool that aims to increase the productivity of sales teams. It also enhances visibility into sales operations while maintaining the established workflows. With Smartsheet, collaboration and sharing become effortless across both Salesforce and non-Salesforce users, eliminating the need for manual data exports to spreadsheets.  The tool streamlines the reporting process by enabling auto-synchronization between Salesforce and Smartsheet. It eliminates redundant steps and allows teams to manage their pipelines efficiently. Key features: Synchronize Salesforce data to Smartsheet to make bulk changes Set criteria for real-time alerts Real-time data with advanced sharing across teams Auto-synchronization between Salesforce and Smartsheet.   7. InsightSquared InsightSquared offers several advanced features to enhance your sales operations. With real-time updates, InsightSquared’s RevOps dashboards provide immediate access to critical data. As a result, you can stay on top of your business performance in real time.  The tool’s Activity Capture feature generates insightful reports on your team’s activities and seamlessly shares the data. In addition, automated activity tracking eliminates the need for manual updates, boosting your sales team’s productivity. Key features: Real-time updates of RevOps dashboards Activity Capture  Analytics and visualization Current Challenges in Salesforce Reporting Let’s explore some of the challenges in Salesforce reporting and how you can overcome them: 1. Data complexity and integration Sales data can originate from various channels, including CRM systems and marketing platforms. Integrating and consolidating this data into a cohesive reporting framework can be daunting. Organizations must invest in robust data integration solutions and ensure data quality and accuracy to overcome this challenge. 2. Manual and time-consuming processes Many businesses still need to rely on manual processes for sales reporting, which can be time-consuming and error-prone. Extracting data from multiple sources and creating

10 Best Deal Tracking Software for 2025 RevOps 10 min Imagine your sales team juggling multiple deals at once. They’ve got meetings, follow-ups, and deadlines to manage, and it feels like the weight of the world is on their shoulders. Sound familiar? Well, what if we told you there was a way to make your life easier? A way to streamline your sales process and close more deals? That’s where deal tracking software comes in. We’ve seen first-hand how deal-tracking software can transform a sales organization. That’s why we’ve compiled a list of the 10 best deal-tracking software for 2023. Each software solution will help you stay organized, focused, and efficient so you can focus on what you do best – selling. So, if you’re ready to take your sales game so the next level, keep reading. The possibilities are endless with the right deal tracking software at your fingertips. 10 Best Deal Tracking Software for 2024 1. Nektar 2. EngageBay 3. Kapture CX 4. Salesmate CRM 5. Pipedrive 6. Insightly 7. Nutshell 8. Salesflare 9. BigContacts 10. FreshSales What is a Deal Tracking Software? Deal tracking software is a tool that helps sales professionals manage their sales pipeline by keeping track of all their deals in one central location. Deal tracking software provides an overview of each deal’s status, from initial contact to final close, allowing salespeople to quickly and easily assess the state of their pipeline.  Let’s say you have dozens of deals in your pipeline, ranging from small accounts to large enterprise deals. A deal tracking software will allow you to see deals that: are in the negotiation phase need follow-up calls are on track for a close Think of deal tracking software as a solution that provides end-to-end visibility into your sales pipeline, allowing you to stay organized and focused on closing deals. Overview of 10 Best Deal Tracking Software for 2025 Now that you know everything about deal tracking, it’s time to look at the software solutions that can help you. Here’s our pick of the top 10 deal tracking software: 1. Nektar   Nektar is one of the best deal tracking software that helps businesses spot real opportunities sooner, progress deals faster, and ultimately drive revenue growth. One of the key benefits of Nektar is its ability to automatically analyze every buyer interaction, providing valuable insights and actionable intelligence to sales teams. Using advanced algorithms and machine learning, Nektar can identify upside and at-risk opportunities in real time, enabling sales teams to focus their efforts where they’re most needed. Nektar helps sales teams prioritize their time and resources, ensuring they’re always working on the most promising deals. Key features: Offers the buyer-seller activity as a key leading indicator to understanding the deal progression Allows time measurement at each stage to optimize sales cycles Identifies high-value opportunities that require more focus 2. EngageBay   EngageBay is an intuitive deal tracking software that helps businesses manage every individual lead in their sales pipeline tracking. The software enables businesses to streamline their lead flow, view important information about each lead, and close deals more efficiently. Businesses can filter and sort their leads based on different criteria, such as lead source, lead score, and lead status. It helps businesses prioritize their leads and focus on those most likely to convert into paying customers. The software also allows businesses to set up automated workflows that move leads through the pipeline based on their behavior and actions. Key features: Unified sales lead information Centralized client data Estimated revenue generation forecast 3. Kapture CX   Kapture CX offers an intuitive interface that makes it easy for businesses to keep a tab of their leads and prioritize them. The software helps businesses optimize their relationships with clients, boosting sales. The software allows businesses to set up custom hierarchies and view their sales performance data at different levels of the organization.  Businesses can identify trends and opportunities for improvement and track the progress of individual sales reps and teams. It also provides businesses with various tools to help them engage with their clients more effectively, such as effective personalization. Businesses can build stronger relationships with their clients and increase the chances of closing deals. Key features: Omni-channel support Integrated sales monitoring Easy API compatibility 4. Salesmate CRM   Salesmate CRM comes equipped with a sales activity tracker, which allows you to plan and stay on top of your sales pipeline. With Salesmate CRM, you can easily track your team’s activities and monitor their progress in real-time. This feature is particularly useful for sales managers who need to keep tabs on their team’s performance and identify areas for improvement. You can use the software to automate repetitive tasks, like sending follow-up emails or updating your CRM system. It will help free up your team’s time and allow them to focus on more important tasks like closing deals and generating revenue. Key features: Automates sales activities and playbook Sales timeline for easy tracking Smart calendar view 5. Pipedrive   Pipedrive is another excellent option that allows you to create the stages of your sales funnel. You can easily track your deals and stay organized throughout the sales process. With Pipedrive, you’ll receive automatic alerts and reminders to stay on track and ensure no deal falls through the cracks. These notifications are customizable and can be set up to suit your specific needs and preferences. Pipedrive also has advanced analytics capabilities that provide a range of useful metrics and reports, allowing you to identify opportunities to close more sales and improve your overall performance. The platform also incorporates AI technology to help you prioritize leads and identify which deals will likely close successfully. Key features: Visual sales pipeline Customizable pipeline Team collaboration 6. Insightly   Insightly helps businesses stay on top of their sales pipeline through its customizable dashboards. Users can break down the data they want to track in a way that makes sense for their business. Whether you’re interested in tracking deals by stage, salesperson, or product, Insightly can help you do it.

Everything You Need to Know About Revenue Forecasting RevOps 10 min As much as 80% of sales organizations miss the mark on revenue forecasting by 25% or more. That’s a particularly worrying number, primarily because of 3 reasons: Global volatility and economic downturn  Complex buyer journey and sales processes Added pressure on revenue leaders to deliver predictable growth  A revenue forecast serves as a guide to achieving realistic revenue goals to tide over unpredictability.  This exhaustive guide lays down everything you should know about revenue forecasts and how to do them right, including: – What is revenue forecasting? – Why is revenue forecasting important? – What are the key foundations of revenue forecasting? – Accurate Forecasting Using Revenue Forecasting Models If you’re short on time, here’s a quick summary of this blog: What is Revenue Forecasting? Revenue forecasting predicts how much revenue your business may earn for a certain period.  It uses historical data to make educated speculations about the potential revenue. Contrary to common assumptions, revenue forecasts aren’t based solely on quantitative data. They’re also enriched by qualitative data. To sum it up, revenue forecasting models answer the key business question: How does your current performance take you where you want to go? It’s not unheard of, even in SaaS circles, to confuse revenue and sales forecasting. But there are 3 key differences you must know if you want to build accurate forecasts. Why is Revenue Forecasting Important? A revenue forecast gives you, quite literally, the “foresight” to see what the future brings. Here’s how you can benefit from it: 1. Know expected revenue & budget  Revenue forecasts give you insight into how much money you can expect to generate from product sales. This, in turn, will give you the information to set up budgets for RevOps and other teams.  On the other hand, you can also track expenses for the period and optimize your cash flow. 2. Strategize growth You can strategize with key stakeholders by figuring out your expected revenue and budget. These meetings throw light on what actions you can undertake to increase earnings.  Two-thirds of businesses consider revenue process optimization important to achieving customer retention goals. Whereas 63% think revenue strategy is important for adapting to new market expansion. Revenue forecast provides the basis of growth strategy showing you: How quickly can you scale What will be your future expansion in terms of earnings, expenses, and markets How can you set and adjust revenue goals to bridge gaps between predictions and real-world performance 3. Set appropriate long-term goals Other than business goals, you can use revenue forecasts to set other long-term goals for marketing campaigns, software purchases, and resource allocation.  For instance, they can be used to decide how much staff you will need in RevOps teams and how many resources you must hire corresponding to each function.  4. Make informed decisions  Revenue forecasts ensure you’re not caught off guard in unpredictable times and can make data-backed decisions with accurate analyses.  For example, while preparing a forecast, you may find that sales for June-July 2022 were lower than the rest of the year.  The first thought would be to attribute this to seasonal demand.  But if you know how to forecast revenue, you dig deeper into the data. Then, you find the underlying reason–your sales head left the company during this time.  You can decide not to base next year’s forecast on the same numbers in June-July 2022.  5. Helps secure funding Revenue forecasting is responsible for your organization’s general profitability.  To secure funding, you can make serious financial projections (including the profit & loss statement and cash expectations). Investors look at these numbers and decide whether to invest in your business. Now that the benefits are on the table, you can understand more about what is revenue forecasting and how to create one. To begin, we look at its key foundations.  Key Foundations of Revenue Forecasting To understand further why revenue forecasting is important, you must take great care in maintaining these 3 foundations: 1. Revenue goal Revenue goals are realistic financial targets that improve business growth. These targets or goals must be based on actual market data, not gut data. 2. Revenue pipeline Your revenue pipeline includes active, upcoming, and prospective deals. It acts as a map to show where prospects and existing customers are placed in your sales funnel. The pipeline is where your leads turn into customers and is, therefore, the primary revenue source. 3. Product delivery  You must track and manage the delivery of your product or solution. This includes monitoring: How much of each contract is earned How much of it is due in the future It also covers the management of customer payments and lowering customer churn due to poor delivery. How to Forecast Revenue Using Models Businesses primarily use 4 revenue forecasting models. We’ve discussed each one below. 1. Straight Line Revenue Forecast The simplest of all models, straight line revenue forecast, uses historical data to project revenue growth for a specific period.  It typically assumes that the previous year’s growth rate will remain the same for the next.  The method first determines the revenue growth rate and then calculates forecasted revenue. The formula is:  Current Revenue (1 + Growth Rate / 100) = Revenue Forecast Let’s break this down with an example.  If you’re experiencing a revenue growth rate of 30% in 2022 with current revenue at $100,000, your forecasted revenue for 2023 will be: 100,000 (1 + 30 / 100) = $130,000 Given its simplicity, the straight line model works best for startups or companies preparing their first revenue forecast. A few major drawbacks of this method are that: It assumes the growth rate will remain constant It doesn’t factor in macroeconomic changes  2. Weighted Moving Average Revenue Forecast The model considers moving averages of historical data to create a forecast. Most commonly, businesses use 3 and 5-month forecasts. But feel free to explore, experiment and use this for as short as 1 month, too.  You must add weights to each average to build a more accurate revenue forecasting model.  For example, the revenue for Q1

10 Best Sales Forecasting Tools to Consider in 2025 RevOps 10 min Imagine going on a sailing expedition without any knowledge of the sea conditions or a map to guide you. Sounds scary, right? Just as a skilled sailor carefully studies the currents, weather patterns, and landmarks to plan a successful course, salespeople in today’s ever-evolving sales landscape must harness the power of data, market insights, and strategic foresight to sail their businesses toward success. But wait, let us give you a shocker.  By 2025, over 90% of B2B enterprise sales organizations will continue to rely on intuition instead of advanced data analytics.  The consequences of using intuition are pretty obvious – inaccurate forecasts, broken sales pipeline, and unfulfilled quotas. Now, if you want to become a part of the 10%, having the right sales forecast tools in your tech stack is important.  And we know how hard it is to add tools to your business’ tech stacks without extensive research which is why in this article, we have put together the top 10 sales forecast tools you can choose from.  What is Sales Forecasting? Sales forecasting is the process of estimating future sales of a business based on historical data, market trends, and other relevant factors.  It involves analyzing past sales performance, considering market conditions, and making predictions about future customer demand and purchasing patterns.  The goal of sales forecasting is to help businesses with: Anticipating customer demand, allowing them to align their production, inventory, and resources accordingly Aiding in budgeting, financial planning, and setting realistic sales targets Strategic decision-making, including product development, marketing campaigns, pricing strategies, and expansion plans Evaluating performance, identifying gaps, and making adjustments to achieve sales targets Identifying emerging trends, market opportunities, and potential threats, enabling them to make proactive strategic moves Providing a basis for setting sales targets, incentivizing sales teams, and monitoring individual and team performance Enhancing investor confidence by demonstrating a clear understanding of market dynamics, growth potential, and the ability to generate future revenue What are Sales Forecasting Tools? While we just learned what sales forecasting is. And there are tools available in the market to do just that.  Sales forecasting tools are platforms that assist businesses in predicting and analyzing future sales performance. These tools utilize advanced data analysis techniques, algorithms, and statistical models to provide accurate and actionable sales forecasts.  Common features found in good sales forecasting tools are:  Pre-built or customizable forecasting models Interactive dashboards and visual representations of forecasts Scenario analysis and historical analysis  Collaborative features and performance tracking Real-time updates and integration capabilities  Reporting and analytics Top 10 Best Sales Forecasting Tools to Consider in 2025 Now, we will get straight to the point. After screening through the zillions of sales forecasting tools in the market, we have curated the top 10 out of them. Time to sit back with a notepad and a pen in your hand.  1. Nektar Nektar is an AI for RevOps platform that helps revenue teams get a true view of their CRM data, allowing them to make data-driven decisions and optimize their sales process. Nektar can integrate with any existing GTM (Go-to-Market) tools, so sales teams can use it in conjunction with their current sales stack. By leveraging AI-powered analytics, Nektar provides real-time insights into the sales pipeline, enabling sales teams to identify bottlenecks, opportunities for improvement and forecast their sales accordingly.  Key features of the platform are: Automated tracking of leads, deals, and pipeline metrics Collaborative forecasting & scenario planning Rules configuration  Real-time notifications and alerts Historical data analysis and trend forecasting 2. InsightSquared InsightSquared is a powerful sales analytics platform that provides comprehensive reporting and dashboards. It enables accurate forecasting and pipeline management, empowering businesses with revenue intelligence and data-driven insights.  With its robust tracking and benchmarking capabilities, sales performance can be optimized and strategic future decisions can be made based on actionable analytics. Key features of the platform are: Powerful sales analytics Robust reporting and dashboards Forecasting and pipeline management Revenue intelligence and data-driven insights Sales performance tracking and benchmarking 3. Gong Gong is a conversation analytics platform that revolutionizes sales effectiveness. By recording and transcribing sales calls, it offers valuable insights for coaching, training, and improving sales performance.  Gong’s AI-powered technology provides deal, market, and customer intelligence, helping teams make data-backed decisions and drive revenue growth. Key features of the platform are: Conversation analytics and insights Call recording and transcription Sales coaching and training Deal, market, and customer intelligence AI-powered insights and recommendations 4. Nutshell Nutshell is a user-friendly CRM platform that offers robust contact and lead management. Its intuitive interface simplifies sales pipeline tracking, enabling teams to manage deals effectively.  With seamless email integration and automation, businesses can streamline their communication. Nutshell’s sales analytics and reporting features provide valuable insights for informed decision making.  Key features of the platform are: Contact and lead management Sales pipeline tracking Email integration and automation Sales analytics and reporting 5. Anaplan Anaplan is an integrated business planning platform helps businesses with scenario modeling, forecasting, and budgeting capabilities.  It facilitates sales and operations planning, allowing businesses to align strategies with financial goals. Real-time data analysis and visualization drive informed decision-making, enhancing performance and enabling agile business planning. Key features of the platform are: Integrated business planning Scenario modeling and forecasting Budgeting and financial planning Sales and operations planning Real-time data analysis and visualization 6. HubSpot Sales Hub HubSpot Sales Hub is a comprehensive platform that combines contact and lead management with email tracking and automation. It provides a visual sales pipeline, assisting teams in tracking deals and managing their progress effectively.  With sales analytics and reporting, businesses gain valuable insights to make data-driven sales forecasts. It also offers task and activity management for streamlined sales processes. Key features of the platform are: Contact and lead management Email tracking and automation Deal and pipeline tracking Sales analytics and reporting Sales task and activity management 7. Pipedrive Pipedrive is a visual sales pipeline management tool that helps teams track deals and monitor progress.  It offers contact and lead management, sales reporting, and analytics. With email integration

Top 10 Sales Enablement Software of 2025 RevOps 10 min Your sales reps have a mile-long to-do list. They need to generate leads, manage the pipeline, attend customer meetings, and follow up on a ton of other activities.  You’d agree it’s overwhelming.  With so many things to juggle, it can be difficult for them to figure out where to focus their energy. This multi-tasking is one of the biggest blockers for sales teams today. Shockingly, only 35.2% of a sales rep’s time is spent actively selling.  So, what’s the solution?  Give your sales reps the power they need to succeed with great sales enablement software. In this article, we’re going to cover everything you need to know about sales enablement – from what it actually is, to the benefits you’re missing out on if you’re not using it for your sales team.  Plus, we’ll be sharing the ultimate list of the top 10 sales enablement software that you can use to turn your reps into super-reps.  Top 10 Sales Enablement Software of 2024 1. Nektar 2. SalesLoft 3. Groove 4. Cirrus Insight 5. InsideSales 6. Mixmax 7. Spotio 8. salesSimplify 9. Buzzboard 10. VanillaSoft What is Sales Enablement?  Sales enablement is no longer a nice-to-have — it’s a must-have for any organization that wants to stay competitive in today’s rapidly evolving business landscape. Forrester Research Sales enablement is a term that’s been gaining popularity in the business world over the past few years. In a nutshell, it’s all about providing sales teams with the tools and resources they need to be able to sell more and better.  This can include things like product knowledge, sales training, customer insights, sales automation software, and other resources that can help sales reps get better at what they do.  The ultimate goal of sales enablement – increase sales.  Overview of Top 10 Sales Enablement Software of 2024 Now that you know what you should look for, we will give you a detailed comparison of the top 10 sales enablement software in the industry and how they can turn the tables for your sales processes. 1. Nektar   Nektar is a sales productivity platform that helps sales reps improve their performance and hit their targets by using data-driven insights and automation. It offers various tools and features that help streamline the sales process including automated data collection.  The platform enables sales reps to focus on what they do best – building relationships with prospects and closing deals. Nektar’s primary focus is to equip sales teams with the necessary tools and resources to kickstart their sales funnel effectively. The platform enables sales reps to focus on what they do best – building relationships with prospects and closing deals. Nektar’s primary focus is to equip sales teams with the necessary tools and resources to kickstart their sales funnel effectively. Key features: Automated tracking of leads, deals, and pipeline metrics Collaborative forecasting and scenario planning AI-powered revenue optimization insights Rules configuration for sales updates Real-time notifications and alerts for revenue insights Historical data analysis and trend forecasting User-friendly interface with customizable dashboards Integration with popular CRM platforms 2. SalesLoft   SalesLoft is a comprehensive sales engagement platform that is designed to help sales teams streamline their workflows and drive revenue growth.  The platform is known for its focus on personalized outreach and building strong relationships with customers, as well as its ability to provide managers with valuable insights and data to help them optimize their teams’ performance. Overall, SalesLoft aims to help businesses improve their sales processes, drive growth, and achieve their revenue goals. Key features: Email tracking and scheduling Sales automation and cadence management Call tracking and recording Analytics and Reporting Social selling tools Sales coaching and training resources Customizable sales workflows Mobile app for easy access to the sales dashboard 3. Groove   Groove is a sales engagement platform that helps sales teams increase their productivity and efficiency. It offers various functionalities, with a focus on email tracking, CRM integration, sales automation, and analytics and reporting.  The platform is known for its user-friendly interface and ability to be customized to fit the specific needs of each sales team. Its goal is to streamline the sales process, improve collaboration, and ultimately drive better results for businesses. Key features: Email tracking, scheduling, templates, and scheduling Real-time analytics and reporting Customizable sales workflows Sales coaching and training resources Mobile app for on-the-go sales 4. Cirrus Insight   Cirrus Insight is a sales engagement platform that is designed to integrate customer relationship management (CRM) tools like Salesforce, Gmail, and Office 365 into a single, unified platform The main focus is on improving sales productivity and efficiency by enabling sales teams to manage all of their customer interactions and data in one place, while also providing managers with valuable insights to optimize team performance and drive growth. Key features: Email tracking, scheduling, and templates Sales automation and workflow management Analytics and reporting Customer data management and segmentation Lead and opportunity tracking Campaign and pipeline management Calendar integration and scheduling 5. InsideSales   InsideSales is a sales engagement platform that leverages AI and machine learning algorithms to help sales teams prioritize leads, personalize outreach, and close deals more effectively. The tool allows sales reps to work together on deals, share insights and information, and collaborate on sales strategies. The platform’s AI capabilities can also help sales teams identify hidden opportunities and potential areas for growth. Key features: AI-powered predictive analytics  Lead scoring and routing Email and call tracking  Sales coaching and training  Real-time insights and analytics  Mobile app for productive sales  Pipeline management and forecasting  6. Mixmax   Mixmax is an all-in-one sales productivity and communication platform that provides a range of features and tools to help sales teams streamline their workflows, improve productivity, and close more deals.  The platform offers real-time collaboration and commenting, allowing team members to share insights and feedback on sales activities and customer interactions.  Key features: Email tracking and scheduling Email templates and snippets Calendar scheduling Automated and personalized email sequences Analytics and reporting 7. Spotio   Spotio is a

A Revenue Leader’s Guide to a Successful SKO 2025 Sales 10 min As revenue leaders, you must be busy preparing for your Sales Kick Off (SKO) for 2025. With so many challenges being carried forward from the last two years, are you wondering what a modern SKO might look like for the coming year? The approach you take must communicate your go-to-market strategy for the year ahead, and set up your sales reps for success. To make this happen, you will have to address some of the most pressing challenges that your sales reps face. In this article, we have compiled top tips from 15 revenue leaders on what they plan to do differently for their SKO 2025. These are the top use cases these leaders plan to focus on. We believe it will be helpful in making your next SKO a game-changing event and will help you drive your revenue acceleration plans. 1. Understand who your reps are speaking to and at what stage Your sales reps probably speak to multiple prospects on a daily basis. However, the most initial prospects might not always be the most valuable when it comes to closing deals. As the sales cycle proceeds, it’s not uncommon for different personas or buyers to enter the conversations. The more information your reps have on these new entrants, the easier it will be for them to close deals faster. In short, your sales reps must be adequately equipped to handle dynamism with respect to buyer queries at different stages of the sales cycle.  For instance, a deal might be at a later stage in the sales process, and a new persona might enter into the conversations through your email threads. This should not go unnoticed, and your system should alert on the role that this new stakeholder might play in the deal journey.  Instead of being lost on new buyer personas entering the sales conversations, the right tool can help you figure out some of the following questions: Is the new persona valuable in accelerating my deal cycle? Does the new persona have a say in the decision-making process? Does the new persona affect my deal size? Depending on the answers you get, your sales managers can coach reps about the persona(s) that are now a part of the buying committee. They can also educate reps on how to handle the probable objections that might come with them. This way, your sales reps will be alerted and prepared to mould the forthcoming conversations with the new persona in mind.  2. Use activity data to understand if the deal is real Sales pipeline management continues to be one of the most challenging aspects of managing a sales team. While there are automation tools that have made it simpler for sales managers to create detailed sales pipeline reports, the quality of these reports might not always be of value. The key reason is sales pipeline bloating. Over a period of time, your sales pipeline might get bloated with many opportunities that are no longer viable. This happens because your sales reps might not want to eliminate any deal opportunity, even if no conversations have taken place in a long time. Your sales reps might also believe that the bigger the pipeline is, the more value it holds or creates a positive image of their selling skills for their managers. However, the truth is that these opportunities end up wasting time and resources when conversations are missing. They need to be eliminated from the pipeline so that reps can focus on deals that are actually valuable.  If your sales managers have a clear picture of where the pipeline looks bloated, they can decide on how to drive predictable quarters for themselves. The activity data of the reps can be used as a leading indicator to determine which deals are real and whether the deal has a potential to be closed or not.  This significantly improves the sales cycle and helps focus on deals that actually yield positive returns for your organization.  3. Monetize the value of your CRM Sales technology, such as CRM tools have become an integral part of the sales process for top-performing organisations. While CRMs solve a lot of challenges sales teams face, they also have certain limitations. Sales people spend 17 percent of their day entering data into their CRMs. This struggle to find clients, research and keep CRMs up-to-date can suck out the energy of your sales reps, leaving less time for them to spend on more strategic and revenue-generating activities.  CRMs also run the risk of carrying incomplete data as manual entry is prone to error. Overtime, CRM data can also become stale and not really add any value to closing deals. Your sales reps are busy. You need to give them automation solutions that make their lives easier. According to Hubspot’s Global Sales Enablement Report 2021, leaders and managers who use automation as a part of their sales process are exceeding revenues.  Automation is helping reps improve their productivity and close more deals by eliminating manual tasks from their everyday life. By automating parts of their sales process, sales leaders free up rep time to focus on selling.  A system that logs all activities of your sales reps, creates contacts and updates business objects such as accounts and opportunities in your CRM without any human intervention can potentially free up five to six hours of their time per week. Nektar maintains CRM hygiene by automating the data entry process and provides timely and accurate insights on revenue activities, delivering 3 key values -100% CRM hygiene, higher win rates, and increased deal velocity. 4. Improve playbook compliance for consistent selling Poor internal processes can be the major reason causing deals to slip through the cracks. When reps from your teams communicate differently with customers, it might harm your brand’s reputation.  A playbook freezes the sales process to be followed, and helps create a strong foundation for your teams. An HBR study found that 50 percent of high performing sales organisations had sales processes that were closely

How Activity Tracking Can Help You Get Better Visibility into Deals RevOps 10 min There hasn’t been a time that demanded sustainable revenue growth more than now. Economic headwinds of the last few months have forced businesses to rethink their revenue growth strategies and focus on efficiency. This means getting away with anything that does not make a positive dent in revenue or causes revenue to leak across the sales funnel. But cutting deep costs is not the only way to increase profits. It’s about doubling down on what’s working. And investing time and resources in strategies that help the whole company march towards the same objective – increased revenue.  And there is one sure shot way of achieving this. By knowing exactly what’s happening with your deals. And how can you do that? Activity tracking. Let’s dive deep.   What is Activity Tracking? Activity tracking in sales refers to monitoring and recording the various actions and behaviors undertaken by sales professionals as they engage in their sales activities. It involves tracking and measuring the specific activities performed during the sales process, such as the number of calls made, emails sent, meetings scheduled, demos conducted, and deals closed. The purpose of activity tracking in sales is to gain insights into the sales process, assess individual and team performance, and make data-driven decisions to improve sales effectiveness.    What is an Activity Tracking Software? An activity tracking software is designed to monitor and record the various activities performed by sales representatives or teams. These activities typically include interactions with leads and prospects, customer communication, follow-ups, and other sales-related tasks. The primary purpose of activity tracking software is to help sales managers and team leaders assess and improve the productivity and effectiveness of their sales teams. Why Do We Need Activity Tracking? Accurately and comprehensively capturing activity data poses a significant challenge. Despite 67% of businesses utilizing 4 to 10 digital tools, they need to track the activity data generated by these tools completely and precisely. Additionally, 79% of opportunity-related data sales representatives collect never enters the CRM. Moreover, the data recorded in systems like CRM could be more reliable, plagued by issues like outdated, missing, or incomplete entries. This lack of data accuracy is a concern for as many as 70% of revenue leaders, leading to substantial financial losses averaging around $15 million per year for organizations. The presence of accurate and complete activity data in systems like CRM creates misalignment among teams in terms of their technological tools and objectives. When sales teams grapple with questions about updated prospect contact information or the correctness of email IDs in the CRM, their efficiency could improve, positively impacting both businesses and customers. Due to lacking confidence in the data, sales, and marketing teams work in the dark, unable to leverage the full potential of significant investments like CRMs. This situation results in poor returns on investment for such resources.     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GO6zZpHUoIg&t=1s How Does Poor Activity Data Affect Revenue? Poor data and a lack of activity data in the CRM can harm gaining accurate insights and lead to revenue leakage throughout the customer journey. Here are some key points to consider: 1. Inaccurate or incomplete data When data quality is compromised, it becomes challenging to extract meaningful insights. Only complete or updated information can lead to correct assumptions and flawed decision-making. 2. Missed opportunities Important customer interactions and touchpoints may go undocumented without comprehensive activity data. This lack of visibility can result in missed opportunities to engage prospects, address their needs, and nurture relationships, leading to potential revenue leakage. 3. Ineffective sales strategies The absence of activity data hinders the ability to analyze and optimize sales strategies. Without a clear understanding of which activities drive results, aligning sales efforts with customer preferences and needs becomes difficult, resulting in suboptimal outcomes. 4. Inefficient resource allocation With activity data, it’s easier to assess the productivity and effectiveness of sales teams. This can lead to misallocation of resources, including time, effort, and budget, resulting in revenue leakage and diminished returns on investment. Clean data is essential for Activity Tracking Software as it ensures accurate and error-free information, leading to reliable insights into sales team activities and facilitating better decision-making and performance analysis. With clean data, the software can provide a comprehensive view of sales interactions, prospect engagement, and customer behavior, enabling businesses to identify opportunities, optimize processes, and enhance overall sales efficiency.  Moreover, clean data minimizes the risk of misinterpretation or skewed reporting, fostering greater trust in the software’s output and empowering sales managers and teams to take data-driven actions to achieve their goals. Benefits of Activity Tracking Software Here’s a look at the various advantages of an activity tracking software: 1. Clear visibility into deals Increased visibility into deals serves as a prerequisite for enhancing productivity. When you have comprehensive activity data, you better understand each deal’s status, identify areas that require improvement, and prioritize values that need immediate attention.  Consider the importance of deal reviews in a successful sales process. By utilizing insights derived from unified activity data, deal reviews can evolve from impromptu events to impactful sessions, where sales managers gain clear visibility into the intricacies of every deal.  As activities related to each deal are automatically captured and updated, managers no longer need to remind sales representatives to input data into the CRM constantly. Instead, both reps and managers can access a comprehensive view of contacts and deal specifics within the pipeline, allowing them to focus on urgent matters. 2. Identification of winning rep behaviours Activity data enables you to correlate the productivity of your sales representatives with their performance. For instance, you can obtain crucial insights to answer important questions such as:  Activity data helps map sales reps’ productivity to their performance It provides answers to critical questions such as time allocation, engagement with high-value customers, decision-maker involvement, adherence to best practices, sales target progress, account engagement, and lead follow-up Insights from activity data serve as leading indicators for real-time coaching and decision-making Managers gain

Buyer Intelligence: The Secret to Reduce Customer Churn Churn carries high costs for businesses. Find out how access to buyer intelligence unlocks churn prevention secrets. Customer Success To compensate for one lost customer, you need to acquire three new ones. Believe it when McKinsey says it. Churn carries high costs with it. That’s why retention is a top priority for businesses today. Yet, churn is on the rise, with 64% of companies expecting it to increase. What’s more surprising is that the issues behind churn can be managed or resolved. And as much as 96% of subscription businesses agree. So, how can you uncover the real reasons behind churn, use buyer intelligence to reduce it, and improve growth? Let’s find out. What is Buyer Intelligence? First things first, let’s have a clear understanding of the buyer intelligence concept. Buyer intelligence analyzes past patterns to predict and direct future customer interactions. It assesses ongoing customer data gleaned from omnichannel interactions. Then, it produces insights on these customers. B2B buyer intelligence could look at a wide range of data, including but not limited to: Customer behavior Business goals Business challenges and priorities Purchase decision Successful use cases Communication Company background Segments Financial standing The beauty of buyer intelligence is that it derives this information from several channels. After doing so, it combines and drives insights. Channels include emails, meetings, product usage, service consumption, and more. Its primary goal is to enrich the CRM with complete and reliable data. This gives customer success managers (CSMs) the information to optimize future client interactions. CSMs can use B2B buyer intelligence insights to not just look at customer behavior. They can also dive further into the buyer committee. They can verify contact data and messaging patterns to reach the right stakeholder at the right time. Buyer intelligence is the key to solving emerging problems in customer experience today. Emerging Customer Success Pain Points Resulting in Churn Businesses are strategizing for resilient growth by concentrating on retention. And customer success plays a pivotal role in seeing this effort through. But as the spotlight on customer success shines bright, so do its glaring problems. Notably, the last few years have thrown up multiple issues. Some emerging pain points in customer success include: 1. Customer success rigour doesn’t match sales A singular focus on sales leads to rigorously planned workflows and playbooks. However, leaders don’t follow a similar rigor for customer success. This is despite businesses keeping client experience as their number one priority. 2. Missing engagement Customer success talks to just one person (the champion) instead of engaging with the entire buyer group. This is specifically important as buyer committees are more complex today. 82% of companies say that difficult purchases involve two to nine departments in the client’s company. Other times, CSMs engage with the top 10% (best-performers) and lowest 10% of clients (at high risk of churn). But they miss the remaining customers. These left-out customers could have the potential to become a bigger account (expand) or feel overlooked and leave (churn). 3. Inconsistent information At times, customer success doesn’t know what is happening in the client’s organization. They possess information that is incomplete, inaccurate, siloed, or non-compliant. As a result, CSMs don’t know how to use the available information to strategize the next steps in the customer journey. 4. Too many tools The global customer success platforms market is expected to grow more than double—from US$ 2.07 billion in 2023 to US$ 4.35 billion in 2027. But this growth doesn’t necessarily spell a boon for CSMs. They may have too many tools to gather buyer intelligence from. And end up getting confused. They may not know how to apply these tools to monitor customer behavior. Nor will they know how to help clients make the most of your solution. On the other hand, these tools may also need extensive manual inputs. It becomes overwhelming for CSMs to keep up with the tools alongside other responsibilities. 5. Impersonal client interactions As a result, CSMs can’t personalize communication for each account. Instead, they send generic messages and content for ongoing offers and new features, among other updates. As much as 65% of customers don’t like the impersonal approach, expecting companies to adapt to their evolving preferences. 6. Ineffective renewals Because CSMs don’t have complete information on clients, they hold renewal conversations closer to the due date. There’s no communication or relationship-building activity beforehand. At this time, if you decide to increase costs without an intimation well in advance, customers may be discouraged from continuing with you. The above pain points present a picture of ineffective customer success. What, then, is the effective version? What Does Valuable Customer Success Look Like? Effective customer success is when customers find value in their relationship with your business. And this value is strong enough for them to stick around. Customers assess value by determining their success since deploying your solution. They also look at the experience of working alongside your team. If you deliver high-value experiences to your clients, they’re 3.5 times more likely to advocate for you. But what could CSMs do differently to achieve this feat? Effective CSMs use buyer intelligence to: Work with customers (not despite them) and Understand each buyer’s pain points, business goals, and KPIs. They give customers the resources to be effective, achieve business goals, and feel confident in growth. They don’t create strategies around short-term wins. They also optimize for long-term, sustainable growth. You’ve seen the power of effective customer success. Now, let’s find out how you can build valuable relationships and reduce customer churn using buyer intelligence. The Role of Buyer Intelligence in Reducing Churn B2B buyer intelligence deliberately uses insights gathered from clean data to nurture customers. It enables them to grow with your business, encouraging the customer to associate their success with you. Here are six ways in which buyer intelligence could reduce churn: 1. Single-threaded to multithreaded accounts Poor quality data leads to 56% of CRM users losing existing customers. Owing to incomplete information, CSMs may know who is the day-to-day point of contact. However, they may not know who is involved in deploying and using

10 Key Traits to Look Out For in Your Next Sales Representative Sales 10 min When it comes to recruiting a sales representative, traits trump competencies.  Traits are unique characteristics in a rep’s personality. Competencies or skills can be developed over time through training, mentoring or coaching. However, the right traits take long periods of time to develop, and training or coaching might have very limited impact in enhancing them.  For example, for a sales rep job, a candidate can learn skills such as “product knowledge,” “presentation skills” or “business writing” once hired. But traits such as “self motivation” or “accountability” might not be learned on the job. These are traits that need to be a current part of their personality. Having the right set of competencies can be a great add-on. But having the right traits while hiring is non-negotiable. When you hire for your sales reps, dive deep into their personalities to figure out their unique traits, and if they can translate to the sales environment.  Let’s see what are the top traits you must look for when hiring a sales representative. 1. Hunger Hunger refers to the burning desire to do anything that it takes to achieve one’s goals. This is a trait that needs to come from within the sales representative, and goes a long way in establishing relationships and closing deals. Hunger is defined by the “why” of getting into sales. Is it just money, or is there a larger goal they want to achieve for themselves? For some, it may be providing for their family, for others it may be financial stability. Whatever that end goal is, it will push them towards bringing their best version to work every single day.  As Tony Robbins puts it, “Hunger will destroy that fear of failure.” When sales reps have an innate hunger to make it in sales, they are always ready to hustle and roll up their sleeves to get the job done. Hunger offers that platform for ambition to take off from.  If there is hunger in sales reps, they will be motivated to close more high-value deals, face obstacles head-on and walk that extra mile whenever needed. 2. Coachability Coachability is a key contributor to the success of sales reps. A sales representative is coachable when they are open to being taught and trained as they progress at their jobs.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSI_OSEpot8 Abhijeet Vijayverigiya, CEO at Nektar.ai says, “I look for a strong intent to learn. It’s very important for sales reps to have that learning ability. Even if you don’t know the product, domain or the solution, you can always pick it up, provided you have the learning intent. Whenever I see this as a negative, I tend to not go for the candidate.” Top sales representatives are aware of their own performance, strengths and weaknesses. They use that awareness to continuously learn from their peers, seniors and their prospects and grow as professionals.  This focus on continuous improvement to keep their skills sharp helps reps stay ahead of the curve and become “great” from “good.” Coachable sales representatives are all ears for constructive feedback, and believe in the power of mentorship from their managers. 3. Confidence Confident reps truly believe in what they sell, and most importantly the value that your product or service adds to the lives of customers. Only when reps believe that their product is the absolute best in the market will they be able to genuinely and confidently showcase that to their prospects. Along with the product, great sales reps believe in themselves and their vision. They can confidently explain how your product or service is going to solve a problem for the customer. A great sales representative also instils decision confidence in their prospects by helping them see the true value of the product they stand for. In today’s digital world, where B2B sales are happening online, the best sales reps confidently help their customers articulate the nuances of your product and differentiate it from the competition, leading to more sales. 4. Tenacity Sales is hard. The number of rejections might be higher than approvals. And that’s okay. What’s important is to stay focused and determined on the goals and carry on. Being tenacious keeps reps focused on the larger picture. Sales reps who are tenacious are always ahead of the curve. They are always trying to fill in their knowledge gaps and visualise scenarios from a customer’s perspective. They are constantly on the lookout for how they can solve their customer’s problems effectively. Because of their constant pursuit to improve and learn, these candidates are not only open to feedback, but also willing to incorporate them in making themselves better. They are always open to learning and improving their work ethic. They take accountability for their mistakes and always welcome constructive feedback. These reps demonstrate a high level of emotional intelligence and they look at challenges as opportunities to learn, improve and grow. 5. Honesty Authenticity, honesty and integrity are key traits to make a brand stand out in today’s world.  The best sales reps are honest. They speak the truth, even when it is hard. They do not let their enthusiasm draw the wrong picture for their clients.   They never bend the truth or exaggerate their offerings, just to close a sale. Building credibility takes time and honesty from the very beginning is what creates that level of trust among prospects.  For example, if a solution does not meet the expectations of a prospect, a sales representative should not say otherwise. Giving a false timeline of deliverables without consulting the team or having certainty of outcomes can cost businesses their reputation. Great sales reps always set realistic expectations for prospects and never put their reputation at risk. They are committed to their ethics and they always choose the establishment of trust over finding ways to manage short-term profit. They act as a reliable resource, rather than plain sellers.  Make sure you hire reps who abide by the principles of