According to LinkedIn’s State of Sales Report, 4 out of 5 sellers (80%) who exceed 150% of quota use sales technology at least once a week. And it’s not just CRM—they rely on sales intelligence, virtual demo and collaboration platforms, and pipeline performance reporting.
If your B2B sales tech stack is still basic, it’s time for an upgrade.
In this article you’ll learn:
The eight essential tools every sales pro should have
How these tools make life easier and help you hit targets
Specific recommendations for each category
1) CRM Software
A non-negotiable. Spreadsheets are fine for ten leads; beyond that, you need a real CRM to manage relationships, track deals, and keep the pipeline clean.
Why it matters
Single source of truth for accounts, contacts, activities, and opportunities
Workflow rules, validation, and reports for scale
Native and marketplace integrations
Our recommendations
Salesforce — Deep customization and extensibility; best for complex processes and scale.
HubSpot — Excellent UX and a generous free tier; ideal for teams that want fast time-to-value.
Proshort plays here: Proshort writes AI-curated call notes, next steps, and MEDDICC fields back into the CRM, so your reports reflect reality without rep keystrokes.
2) Email Automation Software
Email still converts—but manual follow-ups drain hours. Email automation runs sequences, personalizes at scale, and tracks replies.
Top picks
Apollo.io — Prospecting database + multichannel sequences in one place.
Amplemarket — AI-assisted personalization, intent data, and reply handling.
Mailchimp — Simple, reliable campaigns for small teams getting started.
What to automate
First-touch outreach by persona
Polite bump-backs and no-response branches
Handoffs to AE when a meeting is booked
Proshort boost: From the actual call, Proshort drafts context-rich follow-ups (“here’s the pricing range we discussed; next step is security review”) and logs them in CRM.
3) Sales Intelligence Tools
You close faster with better context: who to target, what they care about, and what happened on calls.
Capabilities to look for
Contact data & firmographics
Buying signals and intent
Conversation intelligence: sentiment, objections, competitor mentions
Tools to consider
Proshort — AI captures insights from sales calls, fills MEDDICC, adds new contacts, and posts alerts to Slack and the CRM.
Cognism — High-quality contact data and company insights.
Clay — Flexible enrichment and list building from many sources.
Demandbase — Account intent and ABM signals to prioritize the right accounts.
4) Contract Management Software
Get signatures fast and keep audit trails clean.
Top picks
DocuSign — Gold-standard e-sign; simple and secure.
PandaDoc — Templates, collaboration, and tracking for more complex agreements.
Pro tip
Connect to your CRM so deal fields auto-populate agreements and status flows back to the opportunity.
5) Quoting & Proposal Software
Speed + polish wins. These tools turn pricing and proposals around quickly—without losing brand quality.
Worth considering
Salesbricks — Flexible pricing models and advanced configurations for fast-growing teams.
Proposify — Beautiful templates and easy editing for slick, consistent proposals.
Qwilr — Interactive, trackable web-based proposals that stand out.
Workflow
Pull product & pricing from the source of truth
Generate a doc or page with tracked view events
Push status updates and amounts back to the CRM
6) Sales Calls & Demo Tools
Great demos make deals. Reliable conferencing and conversation capture matter.
Two essentials
Zoom — Rock-solid meetings, screen share, and recording at any scale.
Proshort — AI auto-notes, action items, and concise summaries; writes to Salesforce/HubSpot/LeadSquared and notifies Slack so reps stay focused on the buyer, not typing.
Bonus
Link every insight to the exact call moment for coaching and proof in later stages.
7) Deal Collaboration
Deals touch AEs, SEs, legal, security, finance, and the buyer’s committee. Centralize context so nothing slips.
Top picks
Proshort Deal Rooms — A smart Slack channel per opportunity that syncs CRM fields, call summaries, documents, and approvals. Keeps everyone informed, speeds reviews, and can transition into an account room post-sale.
Accord — Mutual Action Plans that align buyer and seller in a shared workspace with steps, owners, and dates.
Why it matters
Fewer “who’s doing what?” pings
Faster security and legal cycles
Clean handoff to onboarding and Customer Success
8) Pipeline Performance Reporting
Leaders need to predict outcomes, diagnose risks, and coach with evidence.
Our recommendations
Salesforce Analytics Dashboards — Customizable views for stage conversion, cycle time, rep performance, and forecast.
Proshort Weekly Briefs — AI distills hundreds or thousands of calls into leadership summaries: objections, pricing themes, competitive intel, win/loss patterns—so executives see what’s actually happening in the field.
Must-track
Stage-to-stage conversion
Lead→Meeting→Opportunity rates
Median time to follow-up after meetings
Forecast accuracy vs. actuals
Objection/competitor trends over time
FAQs About Sales Tech Stack
1) What is a sales tech stack?
It’s the collection of tools your team uses—from CRM and email automation to intelligence, demo, quoting, contracts, collaboration, and reporting—working together to make selling easier and more effective.
2) Best practices for training a sales team on new tools?
Keep sessions hands-on and tied to daily workflows. Provide 10-minute quickstart videos, templates, and a Slack channel for questions. Design the stack so reps review/approve rather than create from scratch.
3) Key considerations when scaling a B2B sales stack?
Choose tools that integrate cleanly with your CRM, support role-based access and data residency, and expose APIs. Start with your biggest bottlenecks, roll out in phases, and track ROI.
Ready to Upgrade Your B2B Sales Tech Stack?
If your stack isn’t up to par, you risk falling behind. Today’s top teams lean on smart, automated tools—not just a CRM.
Don’t bolt on tools at random. Identify the time sinks in your process, then add one or two tools that remove the most friction.
Proshort is the conversation-aware layer that ties it all together:
AI Call Notes in minutes with owners and due dates
MEDDICC Autopilot that fills fields directly in your CRM
Deal Rooms that keep AEs, SEs, legal, and leaders aligned in Slack
Weekly Briefs that turn call mountains into leadership-ready insights
Want to see it in action? Book a demo with Proshort and turn busywork into momentum.
