Post Snapshot: Learn about 3 free sales intelligence tools that top performing B2B sales folks use to have better conversations with their buyers.

Over the last year or so we’ve witnesses a drastic rise in the number of sales automation tools within the B2B sales and marketing space. However, if you talk to any modern sales leader, they will tell you that “automation is hurting sales.” That was actually a quote from Ray Carrol, VP of Sales at Engagio, from a recent SalesTO event.

We’ve all received the wonderful 5-7 automated email drip campaign with the final email asking why we didn’t respond - please select A, B, C or D. I’ve come to get pretty angry at these emails.

This types of sales automation can really kill a customer relationship right from the beginning. It’s important to use the right tools that can help you build authentic relationships.

Sales Intelligence Tools for the Modern Sales Pro

Building a real relationship with buyers takes time, however there are sales intelligence tools available to help you learn more about their personalities, interests, challenges and more.

We work with a lot of sales folks, and during these conversations we get to learn what the top performers use in order to crush their quota. Here’s 3 free sales intelligence tools that are quick and easy to get started and will help you have a better conversations with your buyers:

Crystal - Personality Platform

Sending that perfect first sales outreach takes a lot of work and research. On top of all the information you need to know about your buyer before reaching out, understanding how they communicate is incredibly important.

If I get a cold sales outreach email that spans 3 paragraphs, includes links and a lot of fluff…I never respond. Some people might enjoy that full overview - not me. That’s what makes Crystal so powerful as a simple sales intelligence tool.

I’d say this is pretty accurate for anyone sending me cold sales emails:

In a simplified description, Crystal scans written data from many sources and connects with your communication platforms to understand a contacts personality. You’ll be able to quickly get insight into how you should communicate with this person to match their unique style.

Before you send that cold outreach to your next big opportunity, use some of your free monthly contact views to get to know your buyers personality. This can have a huge impact if you’re working on larger deal sizes where you’ll be communication with this person on a regular basis across multiple channels.

Nudge - Modern Sales Platform

Of course I’ll be mentioning our own sales platform since it’s completely free for individual users and provides a ton of insight to help you build and nurture relationships with anyone - prospects, customers, influencers and more.

Since Nudge tracks the strength of relationships based on interactions across platforms, you can quickly see who in your network already knows the person you are trying to engage. Getting a warm introduction from someone you already know is one of the best ways to get into any account by avoiding the cold outreach.

It’s also a challenge to keep up with key contacts when you’re managing large prospect and customer lists. If you can’t access someone through a referral or you simply need a reason to re-engage a cold lead, Nudge surfaces news and social updates on them to help you reach out in a more authentic way.

Jamie Shanks, CEO of Sales for Life, is an influencer I definitely need to keep up with. He just released his book, “Social Selling Mastery” which Nudge surfaced as a personal news mention in an article talking about this book. It’s an easy way to keep up with key contacts and quickly know what’s happening in their world…for free.

Owler - Competitive Intelligence Platform

It’s great to get an overview of an organization and their industry before you start doing any outreach. Rather than digging around their website and spending all day searching the web, head over the Owler to get a free competitive intelligence overview on any organization.

Owler provides a ton of insight on the executive team, competitors, revenue, funding, acquisitions, company blog posts and a few other competitive insights. Many sales professionals that I’ve chatted with found the funding announcements, company blog posts and news the most useful bits of insight for reaching out.

There’s nothing worse than jumping on a call with a new potential customer and being completely in the dark about what’s happening to their company or the industry at large. Although company insight and competitive intelligence on your buyer is incredibly valuable, it takes a bit more time to turn those nuggets into something you can use to reach out.

For example, funding announcements are overused by sales professionals in the tech space as it’s pretty common that organization is more likely to buy at this stage. Take that information and craft it around the current challenges they are facing such as a need to drastically improve a major business process in order to achieve their business objectives.

I’ve purposely left out LinkedIn for this post to highlight some newer tools, although it’s usually the best place to start when doing research on your buyers. If you can learn to take advantage of the free sales intelligence tools I’ve outlined above, you’ll be on your way to crushing your sales goals and building future pipeline.

Did I miss any other great free sales intelligence tools? Give us a shout on Twitter and we’ll look into adding it to the post!