The $99 Sales Stack – How to Prospect on a Budget
We’re a Customer Success company. The first rule of Customer Success is to avoid acquiring bad-fit customers. This begins at the prospecting stage.
Back in 2015, I wrote an article describing the suite of tools I was using for sales prospecting. 3 years on and my focus hasn’t changed so much. I’m still looking to find, contact, engage and convert as many prospects as possible. I’m always interested in tools that can help scale my prospecting efforts while retaining the quality of leads and the quality of my outreach. As part of a bootstrapped company, I’m also looking to do this on a budget.
I find there is no getting around some pretty manual graft (if you consider surfing the web and typing graft ) but there are some great tools out there that lighten the prospecting load. Here are my go-to choices:
LinkedIn Premium Business
$47 per month
As a LinkedIn Alumnus I actually receive a free premium profile. Thanks, Jeff Weiner. If I didn’t I would still have to invest in a LinkedIn Premium account. Now, bearing in mind my parsimonious nature, I wouldn’t go with the more expensive ‘Sales Navigator’. I’d go for the ‘Premium Business’ plan instead. All I need is the ability to run as many searches as I need and view an unlimited number of profiles (the free version has limits).
I select from the industry and location filters, then I add a string of keywords into the title field and that gives me the list I need. I also keep an eye on the jobs section to see who’s hiring, this shows me who’s investing in their Customer Success department.
MailTester
Free
Who is the absentee landlord behind MailTester? I’ve been using this free tool for years to check the validity of email addresses and it works. The UI isn’t very sexy but who cares! Plug in the email address – a Green result means it’s a legit address, red means its bad, and yellow means the mail server won’t let us validate. In ‘yellow’ cases you might try using the next free tool in the list…
Sales Navigator Lite
Free
LinkedIn bought Gmail plugin Rapportive in 2012 and left it pretty much unchanged until its recent rebranding as ‘Sales Navigator Lite‘. Hover over an email address in Gmail and a snapshot view of a person’s LinkedIn profile will appear (if they have associated that email address with their LinkedIn profile). This is another way to confirm the validity of email addresses. We can only hope LinkedIn (Microsoft) don’t start charging for it!
Salesforce
$27 per month
The old reliable. There are many CRM platforms out there that can do the job (we integrate with a bunch of them). We’re on the least expensive version of Salesforce and it works for us. I bcc every email into Salesforce and also capture unsubscribes. This allows me to intermittently export and revisit contacts/leads that have not opted out.
Yesware Premium
$25 Per month
Yesware Premium Gmail plugin allows you to track email opens, which is useful in helping to time your follow-ups to perfection. Upgrading to the Premium plan also allows you to schedule follow-up (drip) email campaigns right from your Gmail inbox. For the cash-flow conscious, Yesware now offers a pay-monthly option!
GSuite
Sorry Microsoft but, you know … you can’t beat free ¯ _(ツ)_/¯. Although, if you want to use your work email you’ll need the $5 per month plan. But for email, docs, webex, phone calls etc, it’s a pretty great deal.
Of course, there are tons of great budget prospecting tools out there and I have only scratched the surface.
Related Articles
Best Customer Segmentation Software to Utilize in 2024 
Understanding customers at scale has come a long way. Back in the day, companies used simple attributes to carve up their customer base in some way to apply different resources to support and/or expand those customers. Boy was it blunt though! Generally, it never got far beyond segmenting your account list by their spending or […]
Best Customer Success Software for Your CS Department in 2024 
If you are reading this, you are faced with a real challenge. Either you already manage a customer success function and your existing toolset is not fit for purpose, or you have decided to start a customer success department and want to implement the right software as a solid foundation for your Customer Success Managers […]
Top Customer Retention Software to Reduce Churn in 2024 
Figuring out the right customer retention management software to help manage your Customer Retention goals can be tricky. It really comes down to what your specific goals are, what type of market you serve, the customer data you retain and where that data resides. There are some specific types of tools you should consider. Customer […]
How to Start a SaaS Customer Success Department? 
Customer success is about doing all you can to help your customers succeed with your SaaS product. A well-functioning customer success department can improve customer retention and satisfaction and drive revenue growth. Therefore, having a customer success department in SaaS can help you succeed.
What is a Customer Success Plan and How to Create it? 
Your business’ success depends on the success of your customers. If you help your customers achieve their goals with your product, you’ll also help your business grow and increase revenue.
15 Customer Onboarding Statistics and Trends in 2024 to Note 
In the SaaS world today, each lead you turn into a customer is a call for celebration. Still, to ensure them a smooth journey and success with your product, it is crucial to first help them understand how they can use your product or service effectively to get all the benefits they offer in the […]
How to Become a Customer Success Manager: All You Need to Know 
Nowadays, it seems that acquiring each new customer calls for celebration. Yet, their choosing you over competition is merely the beginning of a beautiful friendship, as retaining them is equally, or usually even more, difficult.
Voice of the Customer Best Practices and Tips in 2024 
When we aim to understand someone or something, the first step is to listen or observe carefully. The same rule applies for customers. If you wish to truly meet your customers and understand their concerns and goals, you must not only solicit and gather their feedback but also act on it. This is precisely what […]
What Is Product Discovery: Definition, Benefits and How to Do it? 
Developing, launching and promoting a new product or feature is not only time and energy-consuming but also expensive. This is why frustration is inevitable if the new feature of a product goes unnoticed or unused. To avoid that, companies must first understand market trends and customer needs to be able to create products that address […]