Tools for Modern Prospecting

Sales Technology is a 65.6B market with 10,000+ software applications. I run a $3.6M/year prospecting agency and tested 200 tools for 100+ clients. Here’s what your stack needs: 1️⃣ A reliable B2B database The biggest predictor of outreach campaign success relies on your ability to put your message in front of the right person. I suggest B2B databases such as: - LinkedIn Sales Navigator (Arguably the most up-to-date B2B database on earth) - Ocean.io (A solid database to find niche data, with features that let you target similar companies to your existing clients) - Apollo.io (Cost-effective database with similar data to LinkedIn). Also heard great things about Keyplay & Cognism. 2️⃣ Clean data enrichment solutions You’ll likely contact your leads via phone, LinkedIn DMs or email. This means you need valid email addresses, phone numbers or both. You’ll find some data from B2B databases. For the data you can’t find, enrichment solutions come in handy (e.g: Prospeo.io, LeadMagic & Icypeas) You can also use ‘waterfall’ solutions that combine several enrichment tools in one. (FullEnrich, Clay & lemlist do that) 3️⃣ AI Agents or Workflow Orchestration solutions Agents & Workflow orchestration solutions have been popularised in 2024. Examples include tools like Clay, Relevance AI, Unify & Common Room. Creating cold outreach campaigns used to be fragmented across 5-6 tools and involved moving around .csv files. You’d build a list on a platform. Import it to another to find emails. Then, a 2nd one to verify these emails. Finally, you’d import it to your engagement platforms… but not before trying to find unique data points to leverage in your outreach. Whether you use agents or workflow builders, you’ll save time by not repeating unnecessary manual tasks. Also, they allow you to perform deep research & qualification, mimicking an army of assistants, as you learn how to properly prompt/configure these tools. 4️⃣ Sales Engagement platforms Whether you plan to engage your prospects via email (Instantly.ai), LinkedIn (HeyReach), or both (lemlist)… There’s a tool that will help you automate a good chunk of actions. An essential part of cold outreach via email is deliverability. Make sure your platform of choice invests resources on the matter. 5️⃣ Technologies to close deals Hopefully, your outreach campaigns give you plenty of leads to work. You’ll want one source of truth, typically a CRM. Typical solutions include HubSpot. Newer ones include Attio, folk. There's also a new breed of CRM, made for social media, like Breakcold. Finally, a life-saver for your sales calls is to add a note-taking solution. Attention does it for us. Other solid picks include Circleback, Fathom, tldv. I’d focus on these 5 ‘categories’ first. I'm curious: what’s the ONE tool you’ve tried in 2024 that you’d recommend?

I wasted $47k testing 200+ AI sales tools so you don't have to. Here's the exact stack that took us to $6M ARR: 1,300+ AI sales tools exist in 2025. Most are unnecessary. Here's what you actually need: 1/ Accurate B2B data Data quality determines campaign performance. Everything downstream depends on this foundation. Your sourcing options: - Standard databases: LinkedIn Sales Navigator, Ocean.io, Apollo - Niche targeting: Openmart for local business focus - Custom scraping: Apify, Instant Data Scraper for specific requirements - Intent signals: Clay, Common Room - prospects showing buying behavior - AI agents: Claygent, Relevance AI, Exa, Linkup - automated prospect discovery 2/ Reliable data enrichment Valid contact information is non-negotiable. You need verified emails and phone numbers. Two approaches: - Point solutions: Prospeo.io, Wiza, LeadMagic - specialized tools - Waterfall platforms: FullEnrich, Clay - multiple data sources in sequence 3/ Engagement platforms - Email solutions: Instantly.ai - LinkedIn outreach: Expandi.io, Valley - Multi-channel: lemlist - email + LinkedIn 4/ Deal execution When prospecting generates consistent pipeline, you need a system to close those deals: - CRM: Attio, Breakcold for deal tracking - Intelligence: Attention, Momentum.io - call recording, CRM enrichment, next-step recommendations The strategic advantage comes from integration, not tool quantity. What's your latest stack addition? Want weekly breakdowns of the tools that actually work? Join 10,000+ reading getting our AI sales newsletter.

Over the last 2+ years I have placed top-tier candidates at 27 different companies. While the roles range from Leadership to Engineering to GTM to Marketing & beyond, the thing that stays consistent for me is the combination of having the right mindset and using the right tools. A few years back, I wrote a book, No Limits, that highlighted the role that mindset has played in my professional success which emphasized a “find a way or make a way” approach to accomplishing difficult things. It has proven extremely beneficial when it comes to the myriad challenges that’s recruiting offers daily. However, mindset alone is not enough. To handle the insane volume of a daunting workload, you also need the right tools for the job. Over the course of my career, I have embedded inside a lot of hiring machines. CoreWeave, Databricks, Splunk, and through Recruiting Juggernaut I have worked with an array of early stage AI startups at the exact moment smart hiring decides whether they make it. The best part of seeing that many talent teams from the inside? You learn fast which tools every great team keeps and which ones quietly get cancelled at renewal. Clients ask me constantly what to buy, so here are my go-to tools that help me win daily: 👑 - Claude, from talent mapping to client research to automating the most mundane part of the jobs, this is the most versatile and important tool I utilize for recruiting purposes. The possibilities are endless and will only continue to grow with creative application of the model’s full capabilities. 💲- Noon AI, agentic sourcing and outreach running in the background, trained on the candidates each team actually wants to talk to. This is the tool I have watched change the math the most. Sourcing becomes continuous instead of something recruiters batch between screens, and it keeps surfacing relevant people while the humans spend their time on calibration, candidate conversations and closing. 🎥 - BrightHire, makes candidate interviews seamless. The Ai notetaking features transcribe entire conversations and summarize key points in the areas I’m digging into the hardest. Lets me stay fully engaged throughout the call.  📅 - ModernLoop, for scheduling. Whether it is a 30 person AI startup or a Fortune 500, slow scheduling reads as disinterest to candidates with options. This tool simplifies the process and makes it pain-free. While the tools handle the repetitive layers, nothing can viably replace the critical human element. Reading whether a candidate can survive the chaos of an early stage environment, presenting talent that actually fits, and the all-important close. That stays human and ensures AI will never completely eliminate the vital role that recruiters play in building world-class teams. Founders and talent leaders, what is in your stack? Always curious what I am missing and how I can get even better results to uplevel my game.

The phone is dead for mortgage prospecting. iOS 18 requires caller identification before the phone rings. Generation Z doesn't answer unknown numbers. Ever. Even Millennials screen every call. The old playbook: • Auto-dialers • Cold calling scripts • "Smile and dial" training • Volume-based metrics The new reality: • Personalized videos get 80% open rates • AI-generated local content builds trust • Persona-based bots nurture relationships • Conversation rates matter more than call volume What's working now: 1/ Personalized videos 2-minute videos mentioning their neighborhood, property value, and specific opportunity. 2/ AI-generated local content Neighborhood-specific market reports, school district updates, local development news. 3/ Persona-based bots Different engagement flows for first-time buyers, investors, and move-up buyers. The companies still training loan officers to cold call are preparing for 2015. The companies building video-first, AI-enhanced outreach systems are preparing for 2030. Your phone isn't a prospecting tool anymore. It's a confirmation device.

AI has made executive prospecting almost unfair. Not because it replaces the seller. Because it compresses the research, relevance, and writing that used to take hours into minutes. I’ve carried a quota for 25 years. I’ve booked meetings the old way: Cold calls. Manual research. Long account plans. Guessing at the executive angle. Trying to write the perfect note from scratch. Now? I use Copilot, ChatGPT, LinkedIn, Sales Navigator, annual reports, websites, press releases, and executive posts to build a point of view faster than ever. The goal is not “send more emails.” The goal is send better ones. More specific. More mission-aligned. More executive-ready. More worthy of a reply. Here are 5 prompts I’ve actually used lately to book meetings: 1. Executive research “Analyze this executive’s company website, mission, annual report, recent press releases, and LinkedIn activity. Identify their likely top 5 priorities, the language they use, and the strongest reason they would take a meeting with me.” 2. Two-sentence hook “Based on this executive’s mission, LinkedIn tone, current initiatives, and likely priorities, write a 2-sentence outreach hook that is specific, value-focused, non-salesy, and strong enough to earn a reply from a C-level executive.” 3. High-probability email “Write a 2-paragraph email to this executive that maximizes my probability of earning a meeting. Use themes from their mission, website, annual report, and LinkedIn page. Make it short, executive-ready, value-focused, and include a subject line designed for open rate.” 4. Sales Navigator targeting “Based on this organization, my solution set, and the outcomes I can help drive, identify the highest-probability executive titles and functions to target in Sales Navigator. Include keywords, seniority levels, departments, and likely buying committee roles.” 5. Account strategy “Build me a meeting strategy for this account. Identify likely business problems, executive stakeholders, mission-aligned value, the best first message, the best follow-up, and the strongest reason they should meet now.” Those prompts power 80% of my prospecting motion. AI didn’t replace the craft. It amplified it. It made me sharper. Faster. More prepared. More relevant. Most sellers are using AI to write. The best sellers are using AI to think. That is the difference. Save this if you’re building your own AI prospecting system. What is one AI prompt or workflow that has genuinely changed how you sell? For my entire playbook, check out Moneyball Sales 📘 Paperback: https://lnkd.in/gHunVM8R 📱 Kindle: https://lnkd.in/g-3N52Hu 🎧 Audible: https://lnkd.in/gdY6nHkw All proceeds go to The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research

I wasted 3 hours a day on LinkedIn… for a 2% reply rate. Scrolling. Copy-pasting. Sending “hope this finds you well” connection requests. It looked like prospecting. It was actually blind guessing. Everything changed when I stopped using Sales Navigator like a basic filter tool… and started using the features 99% of people ignore. Here are 5 Sales Nav features that completely shifted our pipeline: 1️⃣ Competitor Connection Mining There’s a filter called “Connections of”. Most people ignore it. Here’s how we use it: • Connect with sales reps or team leads at competitor agencies • Go into Sales Nav • Use “Connections of” → select their name • Layer in your normal filters (industry, job title, company size) Now you’re looking at people your competitor already qualified and connected with. They’re in-market. They’ve likely been pitched. They might not be thrilled with the results. One six-figure conversation started from that filter alone. 2️⃣ Buying Intent Signals (Timing > Targeting) Two filters together: • Changed jobs in last 90 days • Posted on LinkedIn in last 30 days When someone starts a new role in marketing/PR, they need quick wins. If they’re also posting, they’re active. So instead of cold timing, you’re reaching them at a moment of leverage. 3️⃣ Technology Filtering This one is hidden because it’s only in Account Search, not Lead Search. You can filter companies by the software they use. If someone is using tools aligned with your service, they’re already spending money in that category. For example: If a brand is using Shopify + Google Analytics, they take e-commerce seriously. That changes your message from: “Want help?” To: “I noticed you’re running X. Here’s what you might be missing.” Relevance triples response rates. 4️⃣ Smart Links + Advanced Analytics Sales Nav lets you send bundled content through Smart Links. But the real power? You can see: • What they opened • How long they stayed • What pages mattered Now your follow-up isn’t: “Just checking in.” It’s: “Noticed you spent time on our case study about tech startups - want to explore something similar?” That’s a different level of conversation. 5️⃣ Boolean Searches (Used Correctly) Most people type random keywords and hope. Boolean lets you stack logic: ("VP of Marketing" OR "Head of PR") AND ("funding" OR "series A" OR "series B") Now you’re targeting senior marketing leaders at recently funded companies. That’s not broad prospecting. That’s precision. If you struggle with formatting,  you can just plug your search into ChatGPT and ask for it in boolean format. When we stopped guessing and started using these features properly, our pipeline went from unpredictable to consistent. If you’re still treating Sales Nav like a fancier search bar, you’re leaving leverage on the table. Which of these are you actually using right now?

Most outbound teams don’t struggle because they lack leads. They struggle because they keep pulling prospects from the same 1–2 databases. Same filters. Same contacts. Same inboxes getting hit by everyone. So we mapped 20 B2B data sources GTM teams use to find prospects across different niches, from enterprise SaaS to local SMBs. Instead of relying on a single tool, strong prospecting systems combine multiple data layers 👇 A. Core Contact Databases These are the starting point for most outbound lists — large datasets of companies and decision-makers. 👉 Apollo → High-volume SMB → mid-market prospecting with built-in contact data. 👉 ZoomInfo → Deep enterprise dataset with org charts and advanced firmographics. 👉 Cognism → Strong EMEA contact data with compliant mobile numbers. 👉 LinkedIn Sales Navigator → Most accurate source for roles, headcount changes, and org mapping. B. Enrichment & Contact Finders Once you know the company or the person, these tools help turn them into contactable prospects. 👉Prospeo → Email finder and verifier used to build clean outbound lists. 👉 Wiza → Extract and enrich LinkedIn prospects into verified contact data. 👉 RocketReach → Useful for long-tail contacts or hard-to-find roles globally. 👉 People Data Labs → API-first dataset used by teams building custom GTM data pipelines. C. Technographics (Stack-Based Targeting) Sometimes the best leads are companies already using a specific tool or technology. 👉 BuiltWith → Detects technologies installed on company websites. 👉 Wappalyzer → Lightweight tech detection for quick stack discovery. 👉 TheirStack → Tracks SaaS tools used in companies’ GTM stacks. 👉 HG Insights → Enterprise-grade technographics and installed software data. D. Intent & Buying Signals These tools help prioritize accounts already showing buying intent. 👉 Bombora → Intent signals based on what companies are researching online. 👉 6sense → Combines intent data with account scoring for ABM programs. 👉 Crunchbase → Find funded and fast-growing startups. 👉 PitchBook → Deep intelligence on PE- and VC-backed companies. E. SMB & Niche Databases If you sell to local businesses or ecommerce brands, these are often better sources than classic B2B tools. 👉 Google Business Profile → Discover local SMBs by location, category, and reviews. 👉 Data Axle → Large structured database of US businesses with firmographic filters. 👉 Yelp → Categorized local service businesses across thousands of industries. 👉 Storeleads → Dataset of Shopify and ecommerce stores segmented by size and activity. The best prospecting systems don’t rely on one database. They combine: → company discovery → technographics → buying intent → contact enrichment …to build much stronger targeting. Save this if you're building outbound lists. And if we missed a great B2B data source -> drop it below.

A market map with 10,000 companies is impossible to prioritize. These are the 300 to know. I was a VP of Product in sales tech. And I was frustrated with the maps I found. So I've been studying the space and speaking with experts. Here's the players you need to know: — ONE - Core: Revenue Operating System This is your CRM, your system of record - where your sales operation begins. I break this into 3 segments: Enterprise Platforms → Built for large organizations with complex workflows and high-volume deals → Salesforce, Oracle, Microsoft Dynamics 365, SAP Growth-Stage Solutions → Designed for growing businesses that need scalable tools but with flexibility to adapt → HubSpot, Pipedrive, Zoho CRM, SugarCRM Modern CRMs → Startups and fast-scaling companies looking to move fast without rigid systems rely on modern CRMs. → Attio, Affinity, Close.io, Copper, Freshsales. — LAYER TWO - Engagement & Intelligence These tools power outbound outreach, automate sequences, and provide real-time data on prospects: → Outreach, Salesloft, VanillaSoft, Groove Engagement tools ensure your team hits the right prospect at the right time. — LAYER THREE - Revenue Acceleration These platforms shorten deal cycles: → Gong, Salesloft, Chorus.ai, Ebsta With real-time feedback and actionable insights... — LAYER FOUR - Data & Enrichment Your outreach is only as good as the data backing it. These platforms ensure you’re reaching out to right prospects. → ZoomInfo, Apollo.io, Clearbit, Lusha, Hunter io, Cognism — SATELLITE CLUSTERS - Modern GTM Stack These tools enhance parts of the GTM journey. AI-Enhanced Tools → Automate and personalize content creation at scale. → Writer, Grammarly, CopyAI, Jasper Product-Led Motion → Identify sales-ready leads through product engagement. → Pocus, Intercom, Breyta Sales Enablement → Equip sales teams with training, resources, and playbooks to perform at their best. → Seismic, Spekit, Allego Conversational GTM → Convert prospects directly through real-time chat. → Drift (now part of Salesloft) — SATELLITE CLUSTERS- Emerging Categories These are adjacent categories sales teams often still use. Product Analytics → Track user behaviors post-sale for better upsell and retention opportunities. → Amplitude, Mixpanel Customer Success → Ensure long-term customer retention and success beyond the initial sale. → Gainsight, Catalyst, Totango Workspace Integration → Enable seamless collaboration across sales and operations. → Notion, Slack, Airtable, monday.com Revenue Orchestration → Connect workflows across different systems to streamline revenue operations. → NektarAI, Tray.io, Workato, Boomi — This took a lot of time. Reshare ♻️ if you loved this post. What tools would you add?

Most sales orgs have too many tools and not enough results. Ya'll are spending money in the wrong places. You've got a CRM. You've got a dialer. You've got an SEP. You've got conversation intelligence. You've got 14 dashboards nobody looks at. And your reps are still manually researching prospects. Still sending the same generic sequences. Still doing demos that don't convert. The stack is bloated with the WRONG things. The results are flat. Meanwhile, the modern buyer has changed. They want to self-educate. They want data. They want to move on their timeline, not yours. Or your still using what was cool 2-5 years ago because it was 'on the quadrant' If your tech stack isn't built around AI, data-driven decisions, and meeting buyers where they are — you're already behind. Tech has changed. There are some new up and comers that are just rocking right now 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗖𝗔𝗧𝗘𝗚𝗢𝗥𝗜𝗘𝗦 𝗧𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗔𝗖𝗧𝗨𝗔𝗟𝗟𝗬 𝗠𝗢𝗩𝗘 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗡𝗘𝗘𝗗𝗟𝗘 These aren't tools I just talk about. I actually use them with my team. One of the few "influencers" left that's still in the trenches building. I get asked all the time my 'stack' so kicking the year off with some of my favorites. Here's where I'm focused for 2026: 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗮 & 𝗘𝗻𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗵𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 Bad data = wasted activity. Period. If your reps are calling wrong numbers and emailing dead addresses, no amount of "more dials" fixes that. Using: Cargo, ZoomInfo, TitanX 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗳𝗹𝗼𝘄𝘀 & 𝗔𝘂𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 The manual stuff that eats your team's time — follow-ups, research triggers, multi-touch sequences — needs to run without humans babysitting it. Using: Swan AI, Trigify 𝗗𝗲𝗺𝗼 𝗔𝘂𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 Your AEs are doing the same demo 47 times a month. Most of those demos are qualification calls in disguise. What if prospects could experience the product on their own time? 24/7. Customized to their use case. Scalable. Repeatable best practices baked in. Better qualified prospects. Shorter cycles. Higher conversion. Using: Consensus 𝗔𝗰𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁 𝗗𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 "Find me companies that just raised a Series B, are hiring SDRs, and use Salesforce." That level of specificity used to take hours. Now it takes seconds. Using: Exa 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗕𝗜𝗚𝗚𝗘𝗥 𝗣𝗢𝗜𝗡𝗧 Stop buying tools because they're "cool" or because your competitor has them. Buy tools that solve a specific constraint in your funnel. If connect rate is killing you — fix the data. If cycle time is too long — fix the demo process. If reps are drowning in admin — fix the workflows. Constraint first. Tool second. The orgs that win in 2026 will be the ones using AI to make smarter decisions, move faster, and meet buyers where they actually are. Most orgs have it backwards. They buy the tool and then try to find a problem for it to solve. That's how you end up with 47 logins and the same results. Be intentional with your stack, ya'll.

Ever wondered how tools like ChatGPT, Grok, Otter, and Fathom can actually help you scale as a recruiting leader? Let me share a story from one of the leaders I coached recently. She was feeling overwhelmed, juggling candidate outreach and team meetings. Enter ChatGPT. She started using it to draft personalized follow-ups, which saved her hours each week. The moment she handed off those mundane tasks to AI, she found herself able to really connect with her candidates and her team, and her strategic vision came to life. So, how do we use these tools effectively? Here’s a simple framework to get you started: 1. Identify repetitive tasks that drain your time. 2. Explore which tools best fit those tasks. 3. Set guidelines for tone and message personalization — make sure it’s true to you. 4. Test and refine the output, then let it do the heavy lifting. This framework works because it allows you to be strategic with your time while maintaining authenticity. When you offload the repetitive, you gain the freedom to invest your effort where it makes the most impact: building relationships and crafting your vision. Remember, recruiting isn’t just about filling positions. It’s about shaping futures and leading a mission-filled team. So lean into these tools, but always keep the human element front and center. You’ve got this.