B2B sales teams are encountering a big issue in their pipeline to complete deals with prospects successfully. The vast majority of people visiting a corporate website do not provide their contact information before leaving.

Data in the industry indicates that up to 98% of all traffic visiting a corporate site today is anonymous. Therefore, sales reps must spend an inordinate amount of time attempting to find target accounts manually.

By building lists manually, this creates a longer sales cycle and reduces the speed of being able to compete.

Solving the Structural Pipeline Problem

Selecting the right sales technology will help to eliminate this structural pipeline problem. The appropriate lead generation software will provide the ability to expose hidden corporate customers and deliver verified contact data directly to your sales department.

When evaluating which B2B lead generation tools and software are the best fits for your company, focus on more than just the sheer size of the sales databases being sold.

The modern-day sales leader must evaluate the accuracy of the data, how quickly those leads can be found, and the implications of local laws regarding privacy.

Data Sourcing Evaluation Standards

To evaluate lead generation tools, we used three operational standards by which we rated each of the sales tools reviewed. Actual data freshness was reviewed, the time taken to find a live lead, and the extent of integration.

Many traditional databases have redundant and/or old contact lists used in their databases. Consequently, this leads to the number of bounces of emails getting sent from these corporate domains and ultimately destroys your corporate domain reputation.

Compliance and Platform Criteria

Our evaluations of sales tools cover both tools that were developed for small startups and large enterprise teams. We have also confirmed that all platforms featured in this analysis comply with the region's data safety laws.

To ensure compliance with the law regarding individual privacy and personal data, we compiled a comparison featuring all eighteen major B2B sources listed below. It will be of great value to companies exploring the best options available to manage their sales order, sales pipeline, and prospects.

Each platform was evaluated against multiple criteria. To begin, you should first understand that there are many things to consider when determining what software you should use.

The first important aspect of each software platform is the primary operational goal of that software platform and how that company intends to achieve its goals through using that software. There are several levels of compliance with GDPR across each platform, from full compliance to complete lack thereof.

Deep Analysis of the 18 B2B Lead Generation Tools And Software

1. Leadinfo

Leadinfo's corporate website visitor identification and automated lead routing software provides the means for European mid-market sales teams to identify prospects via web traffic. The software has an entry point of €69 per month for visitor volume, which grows as visitor numbers increase.

Implementations conducted across regions of Europe show that the visitor-identification rate is around 35% - 40% for the Benelux and DACH regions. Cookie-free tracking is done via an easy-to-understand cookie-less mechanism, and the data center operations are restricted to locations within Europe.

One major limitation to Leadinfo is its limited coverage when searching for business accounts in North America. It also has over 70 native integrations with most major CRM systems. This reduces the manual work required to enter the visitor's information into the system before sending it to the salesperson.

2. Apollo.io

Apollo.io is an active sales engagement and data sourcing solution. It is available for all levels of businesses, from small business to growing mid-sized businesses that are outbound-focused.

A base tier is offered at no cost, while paid plans range from $49 per user per month. Apollo.io hosts over 275 million individual records of business contacts and over 73 million corporate profiles.

Apollo.io has an in-built email scheduling tool and a telephone dialing feature within the same interface. Due to the scale of the database, users will need to periodically purge their databases of older records. Apollo.io aligns quickly with top sales platforms like HubSpot and Salesforce.

3. ZoomInfo

The ZoomInfo platform provides an abundance of sales intelligence (sales data) and has many features that enable users to track companies in their field of business.

Although the platform is tailored specifically for the large corporation or enterprise-type organization that invests heavily into sales budgets, potential users must obtain a corporate quote based on the amount of use they would purchase from ZoomInfo.

ZoomInfo currently has the largest and most detailed database of business contact entries used by companies targeting businesses in North America. In correlation with its contact database, ZoomInfo can provide sales teams with accurate direct line telephone numbers for key corporate executives.

It is widely recognized as the best product available for the enterprise space. The biggest barrier to entry is the high annual price, which effectively isolates new and developing sales teams that have limited or no budgets. ZoomInfo allows users to share data in a highly advanced manner.

4. Leadfeeder (Dealfront)

Leadfeeder provides a means to discover who is visiting a website by connecting sales leads from digital analytics. Leadfeeder is designed for use by mid-sized businesses selling to other companies.

A free plan allows access to up to 100 companies, while premium features start at €99 per month. An integrated Dealfront platform allows access to 60 million different company profiles and 400 million verified business contacts.

While an active sales process includes instant notification to sales reps when a prospect opens a page on the website, the system relies on correct placement of the initial web tracking JavaScript code and therefore requires some upfront technical assistance. A user's corporate visitor history can be synced to the user's current active sales process.

5. Cognism

Cognism provides lawful worldwide contact details enabled by mobile source verification. This platform has been deliberately created for enterprise sales teams who require protection when calling by phone to European targeted prospects.

Pricing is available upon request, but the standard contracts typically last from €10,000 to €30,000 a year. Such phone-verified mobile numbers help sales representatives avoid being directed through corporate switchboards.

Compliance checks against DNC national do-not-call databases are built into the database to maintain compliance with various removal laws. The high cost makes it less suitable for a new business without external funding or support.

By integrating Bombora's intent data with Cognism, Bombora displays to a user which accounts are actively looking for the services provided by Bombora.

6. Clay

Clay acts as an advanced automated data orchestration and lead enrichment tool. The solution is built for a revenue operations leader wishing to integrate multiple data feeds.

A free introductory tier of 100 monthly credits is provided, while a basic paid starter is priced at $149 per month. Clay allows users to access data from more than 75 corporate data sources simultaneously.

There is no longer a need to pay for separate subscriptions to each data provider. Clay has a steep learning curve for non-technical users because of the spreadsheet-oriented framework. The enriched account data created in Clay is automatically sent to the respective outbound delivery systems.

7. Clearbit (Breeze Intelligence)

Clearbit (Breeze Intelligence) is focused on providing immediate access to customer data through real-time online sources. The platform has been specifically designed to support inbound marketing and sales teams operating within HubSpot's cloud-based pricing strategy.

All core functions of the product will now be bundled as part of the premium subscription level. When employment record databases are updated, Clearbit (Breeze Intelligence) will automatically notify subscribers of the new updates to their records.

For example, sales representatives will have real-time company information available to them at the point when a lead submits their information to HubSpot. For sales teams focused solely on outbound cold leads, there will be less value in using Clearbit (Breeze Intelligence). However, with the integration of Clearbit (Breeze Intelligence) within HubSpot, it is now easier to manage data as it relates to customers.

8. Lusha

Lusha gives sales reps and small sales teams immediate access to corporate telephone numbers and emails via their web browsing tool. The service allows a rep or small sales organization to find and quickly collect corporate contact information.

There is a free tier which gives users five monthly credit tokens, while most user plans start at $29 a month per user. Lusha allows users to find direct business contacts when browsing professional social networking sites, while providing minimal training to use on an everyday basis.

While users can possibly lose their credit tokens quickly when using Lusha extensively to prospect prospective customers, they will benefit from saving individual contacts into their small business database with the click of a button.

9. 6sense

The 6sense platform provides enterprise-level intent tracking and account-based sales coordination. 6sense services sales organizations focused on developing targeted account strategies.

Pricing for the product requires creating a custom enterprise quote, with many of the enterprise pricing agreements exceeding €50,000 annually. 6sense uses machine learning to assist sales teams to identify which companies they should focus their sales efforts on when researching specific industry challenges.

It will send out notifications to a sales team when a prospective customer enters into an active buying cycle. 6sense is sophisticated and requires total organizational investment to manage correctly and properly utilize the functionality it offers to sales teams.

6sense is integrated deeply with Salesforce; therefore, it can be utilized as a daily guide to assist sales teams in prioritizing which accounts to emphasize during their daily routines.

10. HubSpot Sales Hub

HubSpot Sales Hub is an integrated solution for managing both a customer relationship database and sales workflow. This app has been designed for those growing a team and want to consolidate their inbound leads and sales tasks into a single location.

The free basic edition includes access to a database at no charge, while the professional level starts at €45 per month for each user. Some of the more complicated multi-seat configurations begin at around $139 per month depending on what configurations you require.

Feature capabilities of HubSpot include message tracking, scheduling, and revenue forecasting. This program has a simple interface that makes it easy for new salespeople to get acclimated to working with HubSpot. Advanced automation is available as your total contact list increases, but it can get rather expensive.

11. Oppora.ai

Oppora.ai is designed for companies with small to mid-sized sales teams wanting to streamline their overall technology toolkit. Using Oppora.ai will eliminate the need for separate cost structures to track individual data credits since they utilize predictable pricing.

Oppora.ai provides sales team members with access to over 120 million verified business contacts. Additionally, Oppora.ai will automate activities required to manage accounts and monitor email responses to an account.

Since it is a relatively new program, Oppora.ai does not have as many user reviews online compared to more established databases. Updates regarding conversations are communicated back to corporate primary databases.

12. Prospeo

Prospeo uses advanced scraping technology to provide founders focused on budgets with a means of discovering and validating corporate email addresses for use in cold email outreach.

Their pricing model offers a low price point (approximately $0.01 per email address) for leads discovered. However, they excel in finding valid corporate email addresses that traditional database tools often display as unknown or undetermined.

Additionally, they validate an email address upon searching it, thus reducing the incidence of bounces in their email campaigns. Prospeo does not have its own messaging platform, which means that a separate email marketing tool is necessary for sending out cold emails to discovered leads.

Clean files can be exported by users of Prospeo to load into any modern email marketing application.

13. Hunter.io

Hunter.io is a domain-based search engine and business email verification app. Hunter.io is primarily designed for small business owners and marketing professionals conducting domain-level research.

Basic usage is free; users can upgrade to premium levels of service and only pay based upon the number of searches they perform each month. Hunter provides users with a list of the various email formats in use across all companies using specific domains.

Hunter also provides users with a simple verification tool for confirming that an email address is still in use. Hunter's service does not provide search capabilities for personal mobile phone numbers or social media profiles.

Hunter allows users to connect with the most commonly used browser tools to help them identify the names of individuals they wish to contact while browsing through the "about us" section of the company's website.

14. Lemlist

Lemlist is a company that provides advanced message personalization and multi-channel sales outreach. Its intended audience is outbound sales teams who utilize personalized message creation to book appointments.

The pricing is done monthly based on how many campaigns are needed. It allows users to insert customized images and dynamic landing pages into a series of automated emails that get sent at intervals relative to each other to protect the user's domain safety from harm.

Users will have to supply their own contact database since Lemlist does not keep an internal contact database. The platform has integration options to link with the majority of the top email service providers along with corporate databases of their customers.

15. Instantly.ai

Instantly.ai provides automated sender reputation (warm-up) systems and cold email delivery management for sales agencies and high-volume outbound teams.

The pricing structure is a flat fee monthly and supports an unlimited number of email accounts per user account (this helps prevent pricing spikes as your sales operation expands).

The technology utilized spreads the message volume across multiple domains, preventing your messages from going to the spam folder and preventing issues with compliance. Users must upload data from their contact lists using a CSV file.

16. UpLead

UpLead is a targeted business intelligence database that places a high priority on data verification. It is designed to be used by mid-market sales organizations that want to eliminate false or bad contact records.

It uses a tiered credit-based subscription model for downloading data monthly. The provider’s 95% accuracy guarantee on the data they deliver makes UpLead unique in this area because they verify the email address's status in real-time before downloading the file.

The data for UpLead's individual leads cost more than what basic data scraping providers charge. UpLead also has native list-sharing features to transfer your lists to your primary CRM.

17. Seamless.AI

Seamless.AI uses a live web search engine to find current B2B contact information. This tool is designed for active inside sales teams that need to create lead lists quickly.

The vendor offers limited free access as well as tiered annual service agreements. They conduct searches of public digital records in real time to get current live emails and direct telephone numbers.

Because Seamless.AI conducts live searches, they can provide contact information with less data decay than static databases. When you are conducting large list requests, the live scanning can take longer to complete. Seamless.AI's tools include a sidebar in your browser so you can save prospect details while you are researching companies.

18. Salesgenie (Data Axle)

Salesgenie (Data Axle) offers traditional corporate database access plus the ability to create custom lists. The product is designed for small business sales teams that sell targeting established regional industries.

The subscription price is dependent on specific geography and list size requirements of the sales team. Deep data coverage is provided for most traditional US business sectors and telephone databases.

The platform is an excellent source for local corporate entity lists and their physical addresses. It has fewer digital intent tracking metrics than some of the cloud-based offerings available today. The application has basic internal management tools for managing the downloaded lists.

Sourcing Technology and Corporate Sales Workflows Alignment

Startups in the early stages of bootstrapping will need to quickly book product demonstrations with the least amount of expense. A 5-person SaaS startup will need a low-cost data tool connected to an affordable message delivery system.

A combination of an email finder based on usage cost and flat-rate email delivery would work very well together in this case. By doing this, the business or organization can keep their monthly software costs lower while still protecting their core domain.

The team will spend money only on verified contacts and not on more expensive annual contractual agreements.

Mid-Market Intent-Based Tracking

A mid-market company wants to capture accounts that visit the company website; these accounts would then get sent to the sales representatives. If the mid-market company wants to be able to identify the visitors before they fill out the inquiry form, they would need a visitor identification tool.

This tool will give the sales rep advance notice of the corporate name. This would be beneficial for assisting them in timing their outreach.

Large Enterprise Sales Groups

Large enterprise sales groups require well-defined, deep global contact profiles and specialized corporate data agreements. Target accounts must be filtered based on the different types of technology they use in their company.

To meet these procurement needs, enterprise intelligence platforms can provide information about all data requirements of large corporations securely. The annual spend by vendors on enterprise intelligence also reflects the overall size of their target deal size.

Therefore, enterprise intelligence platforms provide a valuable resource for all technology procurements of large corporations.

Inbound Marketing Coordination

Marketing departments generally put greater emphasis on capturing the inbound interest than they do on creating cold outreach campaigns. However, they also need to enrich the incoming leads by updating their central database in real time with the details.

Therefore, an integrated customer data enrichment tool automatically takes care of this task, allowing marketers to keep the sales records of their sales team accurate without requiring representatives to enter details manually.

A single founder needs to obtain verified emails from verified sources and run message sequences without third-party assistance. Therefore, they need to be able to manage their own workflow using the most simple and user-friendly methods.

By utilizing a single-seat solution with built-in data lookups, the founder will have the greatest flexibility to find vendors and maintain their own operational expenditures while still providing the capability to complete his or her entire outbound pipeline.

Phase One Database Configuration

Before establishing another source of supply through your sourcing tool, it is critical to develop a structured plan to set it up. Phase one database configuration will consist of a step-by-step setup of the source of supply to ensure that you will only have to export a limited number of data points from your source of supply each week, according to your total sales capacity.

By doing so, it will help you avoid downloading a very large number of unassigned leads that may go out of date by the time your representatives call them. Before you begin to download contact files from your source of supply, be sure to enable and use the live email verification features of the software you have chosen.

Phase Two Outbound Cadence Design

Your outbound messages should contain a variety of different types of communications and should provide a significant amount of time between messages. The purpose of this message is to provide some best practices regarding email usage, connecting with other professionals through online social networking sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn, and following up with your potential customers via telephone.

When sending out daily emails, keep the number of emails you send within the maximum limits that your email service provider allows for your email domain.

If you continue to send too many emails or want to ensure they don't go into anybody's spam folder, track the number of emails you have successfully sent daily. That way, if you are facing delivery issues with email filtering systems or potential spam filter tags, you will be able to resolve them more quickly.

Optimizing Pipeline Velocity Through Data Strategy

Pipeline speed or data strategy plays an important part in the long-term sales success of an organization by focusing on data quality, not simply the size of the list of customers that it has. When businesses have a data list of unqualified individuals (i.e., people who have not opted in), they often experience high numbers of bounces and low sales.

The best strategies for the modern sales organization are to utilize data tools that are specific to the markets they are focusing on and the locations they are selling from.

By investing in sourcing tools that provide you with the highest level of data accuracy, you can save a considerable amount of time fixing errors in your system. Accurate data records allow you and your team to focus on having active conversations with the potential buyer, not about fixing errors in your system.

A successful data strategy should take into account your budget, market location, and preferred outreach style.

Q&A: B2B Lead Generation Software

When sourcing leads, how does a sales organization achieve data safety compliance when selling in the European Union?

First, it's essential for all organizations sourcing leads in the EU to use only platforms that closely comply with GDPR regulations. For that reason, you should always look for data sourcing software vendors that have data centers located within the EU and have the option of utilizing cookie-free website tracking.

Additionally, make sure any data supplier you source contacts from verifies contact information against the national do-not-call lists for the country in which you are selling.

Even though a database may advertise 100% accuracy regarding its data, why do live email verification checks matter?

All business data changes on a regular basis, causing the status of your email addresses to be invalid almost instantaneously when using static lists. Performing live email verification checks will ensure that the email is delivered when you complete your emailing process, thereby preventing the possibility of having your email domain being tagged as an untrusted source.

What is the key difference between intent data tools and simple contact lists?

Simple contact databases only provide email addresses and phone numbers based on the type of business or their size, while intent-based data tools allow you to track a company's intent online. Based on that information, these tools enable you to know when to contact a business and when they are actively looking for a particular solution.