Modern businesses recognize how valuable marketing and sales functions are to their success. But if they’re not consistently adapting and evaluating their current tools and processes, they risk lagging behind.
For example, sales tools can help keep acquisition costs low and sales cycles short, while marketing automation can bring new efficiencies. With these benefits in mind, how confident are you that your business is maximizing its sales tech stack’s potential, keeping up with customers’ and prospects’ evolving needs?
Introducing the 7th annual Startup Sales Stack Report
To provide a framework for anyone evaluating sales marketing, customer success or management solutions, Bowery Capital, in partnership with G2, has released its seventh annual Startup Sales Stack Report. Powered by G2 data, rooted in 2M+ verified user reviews — including ratings for overall satisfaction, ease of use, ease of setup, and quality of support — the report sheds light on the top software tools for startup sales organizations.
Providing in-depth insights for anyone looking to buy software to optimize customer acquisition or management processes, this year’s report focuses on 15 software categories deemed to have the highest relevance for the sales stack.
The top software tools across 15 arising and core categories
After evaluating tens of thousands of tools, the top five across these 15 categories (divided into ‘arising’ and ‘core’ groups) are as follows:
Arising categories:
- Email Template Builder: 1) ActiveCampaign, 2) Klaviyo, 3) Constant Contact, 4) Sendinblue, 5) Sitecore (Moosend)
- Proposal: 1) PandaDoc, 2) Proposify, 3) Dropbox, 4) RFPIO, 5) Loopio
- Contract Management: 1) PandaDoc, 2) LinkSquares, 3) Proposify, 4) GetAccept, 5) DealHub.io
- E-Signature: 1) DocuSign, 2) Dropbox Sign, 3) PandaDoc, 4) airSlate, 5) Foxit
- Sales Coaching: 1) Gong, 2) ZoomInfo, 3) Mindtickle, 4) Salesloft, 5) Salesken
Core categories:
- CRM: 1) Salesforce CRM, 2) HubSpot Hub, 3) ActiveCampaign, 4) Zoho CRM, 5) monday.com
- Sales Intelligence: 1) LinkedIn, 2) ZoomInfo, 3) Apollo.io, 4) Groove, 5) Outreach
- Marketing Automation: 1) HubSpot Marketing Hub, 2) ActiveCampaign, 3) Klaviyo, 4) Braze, 5) SharpSpring (Constant Contact)
- Sales Engagement: 1) HubSpot Sales Hub, 2) Salesloft, 3) Apollo.io, 4) Outreach, 5) ActiveCampaign
- Email Tracking: 1) HubSpot Sales Hub, 2) Salesloft, 3) Outreach, 4) Groove, 5) Mixmax
- Live Chat: 1) Zendesk Chat, 2) Intercom, 3) Zoho Desk, 4) Podium, 5) Tidio
- CPQ: 1) Salesforce CPQ, 2) HubSpot Sales Hub, 3) Dealhub.io, 4) PandaDoc, 5) Paperless Parts
- Partner Management: 1) PartnerStack, 2) Impact, 3) Zinfi, 4) Impartner Software, 5) Zift Solutions
- Sales Performance Management: 1) HubSpot Sales Hub, 2) Salesloft, 3) Mindtickle, 4) monday.com, 5) Scratchpad
- Sales Analytics: 1) HubSpot Sales Hub, 2) Salesforce, 3) Gong, 4) Clari, 5) Groove
SalesTech innovations to keep on the radar
Beyond these 15 software categories, there are of course many more. In fact, on G2, there are 169 different sales and marketing categories listed.
According to the report, Digital Sales Rooms and AI Sales Assistants are emerging areas to keep on the radar. Why? Digital Sales Room tools can offer customization in the sales process, helping to achieve buyers’ increasing desire for personalization in the purchasing process. AI Sales Assistant tools, on the other hand, can help automate repetitive and time-consuming tasks such as data entry and analysis.
As sales, marketing, and customer success teams continue to look for new ways to optimize their budgets and results, every software category and tool has an opportunity to make its way into sales tech stacks in the future – as long as they prove significant value.
Uncover the top sales, marketing, and customer success tools for your stack
To learn more about the top software tools for startup sales organizations, and measure the effectiveness of your sales technology, read the complete 2022 Startup Sales Stack Report from Bowery Capital and G2.
by Anna Charity
by Palmer Houchins
by Mike Weir