20 Sales Planning Tools to Skyrocket Sales Productivity in 2024
As a sales professional, your ultimate goal is to close more deals and crush your quota. But in today‘s hyper-competitive landscape, you can‘t rely on cold calls and ad hoc prospect visits alone. To make it into that coveted top 10% of sales performers, you need to work smarter, not just harder. That‘s where sales planning comes in.
Sales planning is the process of defining your sales goals and targets, and mapping out a strategic game plan to achieve them. By analyzing your sales data, market trends, and target customers, you can devise an optimized approach to prioritize accounts, allocate territories, and create a repeatable sales process.
Most importantly, effective sales planning enables you to be proactive rather than reactive. Instead of scrambling to hit your numbers at the end of the quarter, you have a clear roadmap to guide your sales activities. You can forecast your pipeline and revenue with greater accuracy. Issues can be identified and corrected early on before they snowball into bigger problems.
Consider these eye-opening statistics on the impact of sales planning and productivity:
- Organizations with a defined sales process see 18% more revenue growth than those that don‘t (Source)
- 66% of sales teams track the number of prospects they‘ve contacted as their top performance metric (Source)
- Sales reps spend just 34% of their time actually selling, with the rest eaten up by admin tasks, searching for content, and other activities (Source)
Clearly, there is massive opportunity to boost sales performance by providing reps with the right process, tools, and focus. In the digital age, this is more important than ever. Buyers are more informed and have higher expectations. Sales cycles are getting longer and more complex. And sales teams are increasingly dispersed with many reps working remotely.
To keep up with these challenges, sales professionals need to leverage tools to streamline and automate core planning tasks. No more clunky spreadsheets or working off of outdated intel. With the explosion in sales and marketing technology over the past decade, there is now a wide array of software designed to help with every aspect of the sales planning process.
The Ideal Sales Planning Process
Before we dive into the specific tools, let‘s take a step back and look at what an effective sales planning process entails. While every company is different, there are some common elements:
- Goal setting – Defining your high-level sales targets and quotas for the quarter/year
- Territory planning – Segmenting target markets and assigning reps to specific geographic areas or account tiers
- Account planning – Analyzing key accounts to identify stakeholders, goals, and expansion opportunities
- Prospecting – Generating new leads and moving them into the pipeline
- Pipeline management – Tracking deals through each stage and ensuring consistent flow
- Forecasting – Using historical data and rep inputs to project future revenue
- Performance optimization – Analyzing sales metrics and providing coaching to improve
As you‘ll see, there are powerful tools available to help with each of these steps. By thoughtfully integrating the right mix of technology into your planning process, you can empower reps to be laser-focused on the highest-value activities.
CRM and Sales Tracking/Reporting
At the foundation of modern sales planning is your Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software. The CRM serves as the centralized hub to track and manage all interactions with leads and customers. It‘s the "single source of truth" that aligns your entire revenue organization.
When evaluating CRMs for sales planning, look for:
- Contact management – Ability to store and update info on leads, accounts, and deals
- Reporting & dashboards – Real-time visibility into key sales metrics and rep performance
- Customization – Flexibility to match your unique sales process and data model
- Integrations – Seamless connectivity with other tools in your tech stack
Some of the top CRMs for sales planning in 2024 include:
| Tool | Key Differentiators | Pricing |
|---|---|---|
| HubSpot Sales Hub | Intuitive UI, tight integration with marketing automation, free option for small teams | Free – $1200/mo |
| Salesforce Sales Cloud | Industry leading customization, extensive marketplace of compatible apps | $25 – $300/user/mo |
| Pipedrive | Visual pipeline management, built for SMB sales teams, activity-based selling | $14.90 – $99/user/mo |
By centralizing all your customer data in a robust CRM, you set the stage for more targeted sales planning and efficient selling. You can easily report on pipeline health and rep activities to course-correct as needed.
For example, Copper, a CRM designed for G Suite users, makes it easy to track sales productivity right from your Gmail inbox:
Sales Engagement & Automation
With your CRM in place, the next priority is implementing tools to streamline and scale rep activities. Sales engagement platforms help automate outreach across channels like email, phone, and social media. This enables reps to connect with more prospects in less time while ensuring a consistent experience.
Some of the top sales engagement tools include:
| Tool | Key Differentiators | Pricing |
|---|---|---|
| Outreach | Robust reporting, sales intelligence insights, extensible platform | $100/user/mo |
| SalesLoft | Strong focus on coaching and call recording, dynamic personalization | $125/user/mo |
| Groove | Ease of use, Salesforce auto-logging, built-in dialer | $70 – $130/user/mo |
By using sequences and workflows to automate touchpoints, reps can focus on personalizing key messages and handling real-time responses. SalesLoft claims their users see a 32% increase in pipeline, 60% increase in revenue generated, and 26% higher attainment of quota.
For example, a typical sequence in Outreach could look like:
The key is striking the right balance between automation and authenticity. Don‘t over-rely on generic templates. Use the efficiency gains to add more research and personalization into your outreach.
Meeting Scheduling
Another tedious task that eats up too much of reps‘ time is scheduling meetings. The back-and-forth to find a mutually agreeable time can really add up. Luckily, there are now many great tools to streamline meeting booking:
| Tool | Key Differentiators | Pricing |
|---|---|---|
| Calendly | Simple UI, lots of integrations, good free tier | Free – $12/user/mo |
| Chili Piper | Real-time "inbound" scheduling off web forms | $15 – $40/user/mo |
| HubSpot Meetings | Included free with HubSpot CRM, embeddable calendar | Free – $50/mo |
These tools sync with your existing calendar and allow prospects to easily book a time that works for them. Some, like Chili Piper, can even route inbound leads in real-time to the appropriate rep based on territory, account size, or other criteria.
For example, here‘s what an inbound lead scheduling flow looks like with Chili Piper:
By removing the scheduling burden from reps, they can focus their time on preparing for and running great meetings. And with instant booking, hot inbound leads are less likely to slip through the cracks.
Account & Opportunity Planning
Once opportunities are identified, account executives need tools to help strategize and coordinate complex sales cycles. Account planning software provides a centralized view of key stakeholders, relationships, and expansion potential.
Some leading account planning tools include:
| Tool | Key Differentiators | Pricing |
|---|---|---|
| Revegy | Visual org charts, white space mapping, sales coaching | $65/user/mo |
| Altify | Structured account plan templates, sales methodology support | $69/user/mo |
| Quip for Customer 360 | Real-time collaboration, relationship mapping, Salesforce data sync | $25/user/mo |
The goal of these tools is to help sales leaders prioritize accounts and devise winning game plans. By mapping the people and priorities within each account, it‘s easier to get a foot in the door and identify levers to drive the deal forward.
For example, Revegy‘s white space mapping visually highlights areas of opportunity within an account:
What‘s more, account planning tools increasingly use AI to recommend actions and coach reps. According to Gartner, by 2025, 75% of B2B sales organizations will augment traditional sales playbooks with AI-guided selling solutions.
Sales Forecasting
Perhaps the most strategically important aspect of sales planning is forecasting. Leaders need to accurately project pipeline and revenue to make informed decisions. Modern forecasting tools leverage AI and machine learning to increase accuracy and identify risk areas.
Top solutions for data-driven forecasting include:
| Tool | Key Differentiators | Pricing |
|---|---|---|
| Clari | Real-time forecast submissions, deal activity insights, strong analytics | $100/user/mo |
| InsightSquared | Flexible forecast types, roll-up reporting, sales rep leaderboards | $55 – $95/user/mo |
| Anaplan | Connected forecasting across sales, finance, and supply chain | Not published |
The beauty of AI-powered forecasting is it analyzes massive amounts of real-time sales activity data to predict outcomes. It goes beyond hunches and sandbagging to true data-driven projections.
For instance, Clari‘s Flow module shows how deals are progressing compared to historical patterns:
By identifying stalled and at-risk deals early, sales managers can course-correct before it‘s too late. The result is less end-of-quarter surprises and more predictable revenue.
Conversation Intelligence
One of the best ways to improve rep performance is by analyzing their sales conversations. What messaging resonates with buyers? How are reps handling objections? Conversation intelligence tools can capture and extract these insights at scale.
Some of the top solutions in this category are:
| Tool | Key Differentiators | Pricing |
|---|---|---|
| Gong | Real-time insight alerts, deal intelligence, strong onboarding | $1440 – $2400/user/year |
| Chorus | Native Zoom integration, momentum insights, topic tracking | $450 – $1500/user/year |
| ExecVision | Integrated with 10+ dialers, searchable call library, team scorecards | $59/user/mo |
By recording, transcribing, and analyzing sales calls, these tools uncover what‘s working and not working in rep messaging. Managers can easily identify coaching opportunities and scale best practices.
According to Chorus, high-performing reps talk 46% less about pricing, 52% more about business value, and have 36% higher talk-to-listen ratios compared to average reps.
For example, here‘s an analytics view in Gong showing keyword trends across sales calls:
By tapping into these conversational insights, sales leaders can replicate what works across the team. It‘s like having a game tape to review and optimize your sales plays.
Future of Sales Planning Tech
Looking ahead, the sales tech landscape will only continue to evolve and consolidate. More and more AI capabilities will be embedded directly into CRM and other core systems. There will be a greater emphasis on pre-built verticalized solutions. And the lines between sales, marketing, and customer success will blur.
Gartner predicts that by 2025, 60% of B2B sales organizations will transition from experience- and intuition-based selling to data-driven selling. This means planning will become even more analytical and metric-driven.
We‘ll likely see more solutions focused on:
- Buyer enablement – Helping reps deliver personalized content and experiences to prospects
- Revenue intelligence – Combining sales, marketing, and CS data to optimize the revenue cycle
- Talent management – Using assessments and simulations to identify and grow sales stars
- Guided selling – Providing in-the-moment recommendations and next-best-actions for reps
The most successful sales organizations will be those that embrace change and continuously adapt their planning approach. Tools are only as effective as the processes and people behind them.
Key Takeaways
Sales has always been a strategic, process-driven function. But in the 2020s, having the right tech stack is table stakes for hitting your number.
By investing in sales planning tools, you equip your team to:
- Manage all customer touchpoints and data in one place
- Automate busywork and focus reps on selling
- Identify the most promising accounts and deals
- Predict pipeline and revenue with greater certainty
- Coach reps to be more effective in their conversations
Of course, there is no magic bullet. Success requires being intentional about how you implement and use these tools as part of your broader sales strategy.
As a next step, assess your current sales planning process and tech stack. Map it to the key stages outlined earlier. Then identify areas to consolidate, upgrade, or augment. Prioritize the tools that will drive the biggest efficiency and effectiveness gains for your team.
Remember, the goal isn‘t to have the shiniest new gadgets. It‘s to harness data and automation to become a world-class sales organization. One that spends more time understanding customers, delivering value, and closing deals.
Here‘s to making your number in 2024 and beyond!
