Top 10 Sales Intelligence Tools (2023)

In a fast-paced, competitive era, traditional sales prospecting isn’t enough to get ahead. Prospects expect customization at every stage in the sales cycle, but without accurate, relevant data, customization is impossible to achieve. That’s where sales intelligence comes in.

Sales intelligence tools allow sales professionals to automate research and customize outreach to book more meetings with qualified prospects. They enable salespeople to identify sales triggers signaling that a prospect may be interested in buying — and that makes it possible to close more deals.

In this article, we’ll cover:

• What is sales intelligence?
• Benefits of sales intelligence tools
• Top 10 sales intelligence tools in 2023

Let’s get started.

What is sales intelligence?

Sales intelligence refers to a wide range of technologies that salespeople use to better understand their prospects, and which facilitate data collection, tracking, and analysis.

Sales intelligence provides data insights into customer prospects and leads. The data can come from a variety of sources, including:

• Customer profiles
• Buying patterns
• Customer surveys
• Intent data
• Financial reports
• Competitor analysis
• Social media monitoring

Using sales intelligence enables salespeople to track critical buying signals and make informed decisions in the selling cycle. This allows them to prospect better, close more deals, and boost their pipeline value.

Benefits of sales intelligence tools

In 2023, it’s more important than ever to have a strong sales team. The competition in every market grows fiercer every day, making it crucial to find ways to get ahead.

Sales intelligence tools can give your team the competitive edge they need to succeed. Here are five key benefits of sales intelligence tools:

1. Better prospecting. Sales intelligence tools offer access to extensive databases of companies and contacts across various industries. You can filter and segment this data based on multiple criteria, such as job title, company size, location, revenue, and industry. This enables you to create targeted prospect lists that closely match your ideal customer profile.
2. Improved personalization. Sales intelligence tools provide detailed information on prospects, such as their job role, pain points, and recent company activities. This information helps your sales team improve their communication with prospects by tailoring their outreach and messaging to prospects’ specific needs and interests.
3. Better timing. Many sales intelligence platforms can track prospects' online behavior and notify you when they show signs of interest or intent to buy — e.g. visiting your website or engaging with your content. This allows your sales team to reach out to them at the right moment when they're most likely to be interested in what you have to offer.
4. Competitive insights. Some sales intelligence platforms offer insights into your competitors' strategies and customer bases. This information allows your sales team to identify potential customers who might be dissatisfied with their current solution and target them with a more compelling offering.
5. Continuous optimization. Sales intelligence tools provide analytics and reporting features that help you track the performance of your sales and marketing efforts. This data enables you to refine your strategies, messaging, and targeting to continually improve the quality of leads generated.

By helping you acquire quality leads through valuable insights on data and potential customers, sales intelligence tools allow your sales team to target, engage, and convert potential customers more effectively and efficiently.

Top 10 sales intelligence tools in 2023

In the early days of sales intelligence, the market used to be dominated by a few key players, such as LinkedIn and ZoomInfo.

While these platforms are still important today, the landscape has evolved considerably since then. In 2023, the market is expanding to include sales development representatives (SDRs) for hire, intent signals, sophisticated contact providers, artificial intelligence (AI) outreach, and more.

Below, you’ll find our top 10 picks for the best sales intelligence tools on the market in 2023:

1. The Org — strongest signals and most accurate org charts

The Org is a sales intelligence tool that tracks live changes to every org chart you care about to deliver warm leads directly to your CRM every morning. The tool enables you to smoothly plan your attack, reach out, and close the champions who need your product most.

Key The Org features include:

• Daily prospect updates. The Org provides a daily list of companies and persons in your ICP most ready to buy. This helps your sales teams reach out to the right people at exactly the right time, making it easier for you to navigate your plan of attack.
• Buying signals. Talent movement is a strong and overlooked signal for the inner workings and needs of private companies. By tracking the movement of millions of professionals, The Org helps you determine which organizations and persons need things like software, office space, or talent.
• Quality leads. The Org prioritizes quality over quantity, providing a steady stream of quality leads throughout the week. Focusing on quality over quantity enables your sales team to focus their time and resources on the leads most likely to convert. For this reason, The Org also boasts the highest outreach conversion rates in the market.
• Org charts and contact information. Navigating your champion, economic buyer, and decision committee is a persistent problem for AEs. The Org provides the visual context of leads within the target organization along with contact information, bio, and seamless CRM integrations for easy outreach.

Pros and cons: The Org provides the strongest signals and most accurate org charts, as well as the highest outreach conversion rates in the market. However, the tool doesn’t provide batches of hundreds of leads per week, which some users may find limiting.

2. ZoomInfo — most comprehensive data

A well-established player in the sales intelligence market, ZoomInfo provides accurate and actionable information on businesses and professionals. The platform is known for its extensive and constantly updated database, which comprises millions of records on businesses and professionals across various industries.

Key features of ZoomInfo include:

• Accurate data. ZoomInfo uses machine learning algorithms and AI to process and validate data, while a team of researchers and data specialists manually review and update records.
• Comprehensive data. The platform offers a wide range of data points, such as phone numbers, email addresses, job titles, company sizes, revenues, and industry classifications. ZoomInfo also provides organizational charts, technographic data, and detailed company profiles.
• Data freshness. Using web crawlers, data partners, and public records, as well as user-generated data and community contributions, ZoomInfo continuously updates its database to ensure that the information on the platform remains relevant and actionable.
• Segmentation and targeting. With ZoomInfo, you can segment and filter data based on multiple criteria, such as job function, seniority, location, and company size. This allows sales and marketing teams to easily identify and target their ideal prospects.

Pros and cons: Users report that ZoomInfo’s extensive and constantly updated database provides the most comprehensive data. However, many users also find that the data which ZoomInfo provides can be outdated or incorrect.

3. Apollo — strong prospecting functionality

Apollo is a sales intelligence and engagement platform designed to help sales and marketing teams identify, engage, and close deals more effectively. The platform combines a powerful sales intelligence database with a suite of productivity tools that can help streamline the sales process.

Key features of Apollo include:

• Prospecting and search functionality. Apollo's database comprises millions of companies and contacts across various industries, providing users with accurate and up-to-date information on their target audience. Users can search and filter data based on criteria such as job title, company size, location, and revenue, enabling them to build targeted prospect lists.
• Email campaigns. Apollo allows you to create and launch multi-stage, personalized email campaigns directly from the platform. The tool provides email templates, open and click tracking, and A/B testing features, helping sales teams optimize their outreach efforts.
• Analytics and insights. Apollo's analytics dashboard provides detailed insights into your sales and marketing efforts, including email open rates, click-through rates, and pipeline progression. This information helps you fine-tune strategies for better results.

Pros and cons: Apollo’s ability to discover and validate leads’ email addresses is an incredibly valuable prospecting feature. However, the company information that Apollo provides is not always 100% up to date.

4. Lusha — up-to-date information

Lusha is a sales intelligence tool that focuses on providing accurate and up-to-date contact information for prospects, particularly their direct phone numbers and email addresses. The platform is designed to help sales and marketing professionals streamline their prospecting efforts, enhance their outreach, and improve conversion rates.

Key features of Lusha include:

• Contact data enrichment. Lusha provides accurate contact information for professionals across various industries. The platform uses a combination of web scraping, data partnerships, and proprietary algorithms to collect and validate contact information, such as direct dials and email addresses. Lusha also provides basic information about companies, including their size, location, industry, and website.
• Browser extension. Lusha offers a browser extension for Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge that integrates seamlessly with popular platforms like LinkedIn and Salesforce. This enables you to access Lusha's contact data directly from prospects’ LinkedIn profiles or CRM records, making it easier to connect with leads and close deals.
• API and integrations. Lusha provides an API that allows developers to integrate the platform's data into their applications or workflows. The tool also integrates with popular CRM and sales automation platforms, enabling users to enrich their existing contact records with Lusha's data.

Pros and cons: Users report that Lusha is an excellent tool for finding accurate email addresses and relevant information from LinkedIn profiles. However, the tool is a little lacking when it comes to business insights and intent data.

5. UserGems — seamless job change tracking

UserGems is a sales intelligence tool that focuses on helping sales and marketing teams identify and engage with high-value prospects who have recently changed jobs or roles.

Key features of UserGems include:

• Job change alerts. UserGems monitors your target accounts and existing contacts for job changes. The tool alerts you when it detects that someone has changed jobs, allowing your sales team to engage with the prospect at their new company, where they might be looking for new solutions or vendors.
• Contact enrichment. When UserGems identifies a job change, it also enriches the contact record with updated information, including the prospect's new job title, email address, and phone number, ensuring that contact details are kept up to date.
• Targeted prospecting. UserGems allows you to build custom search criteria to find prospects based on factors such as job title, company size, industry, location, and more. This helps you create targeted lists of potential leads who are more likely to be interested in your product or service.
• Reporting and analytics. The platform offers analytics and reporting features that help you track the performance of your UserGems-powered campaigns, providing insights into engagement rates, pipeline progression, and revenue attribution.

Pros and cons: UserGems provides seamless tracking of job changes, and its integration with CRM platforms makes it easy to save time on manual uploads. However, some users also report that contact recommendations don’t always fit their ideal customer profile, and that the UserGems onboarding process is lengthy.

6. 6Sense — provides valuable intent data

6Sense is a sales and marketing intelligence platform that uses AI and big data to help sales and marketing teams identify, engage, and convert high-value prospects. The platform focuses on account-based marketing (ABM) strategies and offers a range of features designed to improve targeting, personalization, and timing of sales and marketing efforts.

Key features of 6Sense include:

• Predictive analytics. Based on factors like firmographics, technographics, and behavioral data, 6Sense leverages AI-powered predictive analytics to identify high-value accounts that are most likely to convert. This helps sales and marketing teams prioritize their efforts and focus on the most promising opportunities.
• Intent data. The platform collects and analyzes intent data from various sources, such as web searches, content consumption, and website visits, to identify accounts that are actively researching solutions or products in your market. This information helps you engage prospects the right way, at the right time.
• Personalization. 6Sense offers tools and insights to create personalized messaging and content for each account based on their unique needs, preferences, and pain points. This improves the effectiveness of your marketing efforts and enhances the overall customer experience.

Pros and cons: 6Sense allows you to prioritize target accounts based on intent signals — a key factor to making your sales and marketing efforts resonate with the right accounts, at the right time. However, 6Sense is one of the more expensive solutions on the market. In addition, some users report that the 6Sense UI is clunky, and if you don’t also use systems like Salesforce or Hubspot, you’ll have to do a lot of work manually.

7. Cognism — strong data enrichment

Cognism is a sales intelligence platform that helps sales and marketing teams identify and engage with high-quality leads more effectively. Cognism combines a global database of companies and contacts with advanced prospecting, enrichment, and engagement features designed to streamline the sales process and improve conversion rates.

Key features of Cognism include:

• Data enrichment. Cognism can enrich your existing contact records with up-to-date information, such as email addresses, phone numbers, job titles, and company details. This ensures that your CRM data remains accurate and actionable, improving the effectiveness of your outreach efforts.
• Prospecting and search functionality. The platform offers access to a database of millions of companies and contacts across various industries and geographies. You can search, filter, and segment this data based on multiple criteria, such as job title, company size, location, revenue, and industry, allowing you to build targeted prospect lists to match your ideal customer profile.
• AI-driven prospecting. Cognism leverages AI and machine learning algorithms to analyze customer data and identify patterns that indicate a high likelihood of conversion. This enables the platform to recommend new prospects that closely resemble your existing customers, boosting your chances of successful engagement.

Pros and cons: Cognism informs users on whether a phone number is direct, mobile, or HQ. The tool also advises users on whether email addresses are verified, which helps to reduce bounce rates. However, the data that Cognism provides isn’t always 100% accurate.

8. LinkedIn Sales Navigator — powerful search functionality

Sales Navigator is a LinkedIn product specifically designed to help sales professionals discover, engage, and build relationships with prospects and customers. It offers a range of features that enable users to leverage the power of LinkedIn's professional network for sales prospecting, lead generation, and account management.

Key features of LinkedIn Sales Navigator include:

• Advanced search and lead recommendations. Sales Navigator offers advanced search filters and custom lead recommendations based on your target audience, allowing you to build highly targeted prospect lists. You can filter search results by factors such as industry, job title, company size, location, and more.
• Lead and account tracking. The platform enables you to save leads and accounts to your Sales Navigator dashboard, making it easy to monitor their activity and stay informed about their needs, interests, and changes within their organizations. This helps you engage with prospects and customers more effectively.
• InMail messages. As a Sales Navigator user, you receive a specific number of InMail credits, allowing you to send direct messages to LinkedIn users who are not in your network. This typically ensures a higher response rate compared to cold emails, as InMails leverage LinkedIn's professional context and allow for more personalized outreach.

Pros and cons: Users report that LinkedIn Sales Navigator has one of the most powerful search functions on the market. However, users also agree that the InMail messaging quota is too low, and that the tool should allow you to reach out to more people. The tool also does not provide contact information, which many users find too limiting.

9. Champify — easy access to top users

Champify is a sales intelligence tool that tracks when your customers, champions, and users change jobs. This enables you to build pipeline by tracking people who already know your business, and it helps you prevent churn by monitoring when your primary contacts leave customer accounts.

Key features of Champify include:

• Employment data. Champify leverages publically available employment data, primarily from LinkedIn, to ensure you have complete visibility into customer job movement.
• Customizable audience tracking. The platform leverages product engagement, opportunity, and customer data in your CRM to set criteria for who to track. The tool continuously monitors these audiences as they grow.
• Qualification criteria. Champify allows you to select target job titles and minimum account size, enabling you to ensure that all leads are worth engaging. This saves you from wasting time on engaging leads in roles or accounts that aren’t relevant to your business.
• Engage and measure. The pre-built Champify Salesforce dashboard lets you engage with sales and marketing tools with one click. The dashboard allows you to keep track of lead volume, adoption by rep, and impact on pipeline.

Pros and cons: Champify makes it easy to access top users at new companies. This enables you to set up a high number of meetings without compromising on their quality. The tool is quite new, however, and some users report looking forward to a more explorative user interface.

10. Leadfeeder — excellent insights

Leadfeeder is a sales intelligence tool that focuses on tracking website visitor behavior to help businesses identify and engage with potential leads. By integrating with your website and leveraging Google Analytics data, Leadfeeder reveals the companies visiting your website, how they found you, and which pages they viewed.

Key features of Leadfeeder include:

• Website visitor tracking. Leadfeeder identifies the companies behind your website visits to provide valuable insights into who is showing interest in your products or services. This can help you prioritize your sales and marketing efforts towards the most promising prospects.
• Behavior analysis. The platform not only identifies the companies visiting your site, but also offers insights into their behavior, such as the pages they viewed, the duration of their visits, and the sources from which they arrived. This helps you understand their interests and pain points, allowing you to tailor your outreach efforts accordingly.
• Lead scoring and filtering. Leadfeeder automatically scores and ranks leads based on their engagement with your website, giving you a clear idea of which prospects are most interested in your offerings. The platform also allows you to filter leads by various criteria, such as industry, company size, location, and more.

Pros and cons: Leadfeeder gives you great insights about the kinds of organizations and people who visit your website. It also allows you to assess the content on your website based on which pages are visited and for how long. However, sometimes company information is missing or does not concur with the information on LinkedIn.