In the world of baseball, there’s no greater thrill than hitting a home run — the crack of the bat, the soaring ball, and the roar of the crowd. Yet, behind this excitement lies dedicated effort. Hitting a home run requires not only the batter’s talent but also skillful pitch selection & strategy, favorable wind conditions, ballpark dimensions, and more. It’s the collaborative effort of these diverse elements that make the home run possible.

Similarly, the success of a sales team in winning deals depends on collaboration and alignment. In today’s sales landscape, teams often consist of multiple positions, each with distinct objectives and responsibilities¹. These roles may include, but are not limited to¹:

• Market Development Rep (MDR)
• Sales Development Rep (SDR)
• Account Executive (AE)
• Onboarder (ONB)
• Customer Success Manager (CSM)
• Account Manager (AM)

Although they operate in different roles, it’s crucial for these teams to align their efforts toward the shared objective of closing deals. And just like in baseball, equipping the sales team with the right tools can significantly boost their chances of hitting a home run and securing the deals. In particular, they play an important role in bridging sales specializations and facilitating cross-functional processes. On top of that, sales tools streamline sales velocity through automation, improve accuracy, and lead to more successful deal outcomes.

Already have tools but not seeing results? 😰

It’s important to understand that merely implementing every sales tool does not guarantee success. If the tools aren’t aligned with your team’s purpose, it’s just a waste of your company’s budget. To help narrow down the thousands of sales tools available, we’ve identified four options that every sales team must have. These tools act as bats and gloves that empower your sales team to effectively target their objectives and win the game.

Strategic Ways to adapt tools ✅

Just as the sales team is comprised of various positions with different objectives, you must adapt tools with different goals and purposes in mind. Similar to a baseball game with multiple bases, it’s essential to break down the pipeline of the entire sales process into step-by-step stages.

The image above illustrates the well-known sales bowtie model, a concept you may already be familiar with. In the sales ribbon funnel, the process typically involves the following steps: increasing awareness of the product, reaching out to potential leads, scheduling sales meetings, engaging in a comprehensive persuasion process, closing the deal, and finalizing the contract¹. With the B2B SaaS sales ribbon in mind, we have strategically picked out key sales tools that can provide valuable support in each of these areas.

1. Outbound Prospecting to identify potential leads and determine PMF (Product-Market Fit).
2. Cold Contact Automation to simplify outreach efforts.
3. Sales Enablement to upskill your sales team and win the deal.
4. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) to effectively manage your customer base.

By leveraging these strategic sales tools with goals in mind, you can enhance your overall sales process and improve your chances of success in the B2B SaaS industry.

Now, let the game start!

01 First Base

Kick-off strong, outbound prospecting 👀

Imagine you’re an aspiring baseball player aiming to break into the major leagues. If you’ve already gained fame and proven your skills, selling yourself to major league teams becomes a breeze as they are likely already familiar with your presence. You can simply introduce yourself, share expectations, and negotiate deals. However, if you’re a new player freshly entering the baseball league, you’ll find yourself sending emails to over 100 leagues worldwide, with only a 1 in 50 chance of success (if we’re being optimistic). Outbound differs from inbound. It requires significantly more dedication, effort, time, and especially strategic planning.

The primary goal of outbound prospecting is to find your fans, those who are interested in your skills, product, and offers. In sales, this entire process is referred to as finding an Ideal Customer Profile (ICP).

This is where LinkedIn Sales Navigator comes in handy. As a premium feature in LinkedIn, it helps you strategically identify potential leads and determine the product-market fit (PMF) for your product. Here are some tips for using Sales Navigator to identify leads that match your product:

1. Narrow down high-potential leads by filtering based on industry, company size, role, and geography.
2. Stay updated on recent news about your target leads to personalize your messages.
3. Leverage mutual connections to establish rapport and build relationships.

Once you have compiled your ICP list, it’s time to reach out.

02 Second Base

Speed is the key, automate the cold contact ⚾️

In the outbound approach, speed matters a lot. Don’t get too caught up in qualifying leads; instead, focus on initiating contact to see if your ICP is ideal. And there’s no need to manually send out 1000+ emails or LinkedIn messages. There are tools available to help you automate this process, such as PhantomBuster. By using automation, you can streamline your outreach efforts and ensure that your cold messages and follow-ups are sent in a timely and efficient manner.

Here is my one piece of advice when drafting your cold message: customize it. Avoid the temptation to send the exact same message to thousands of people. Although you’ve compiled an ICP list, each individual has unique roles, interests, and backgrounds across various industries. It’s important to create a general template with variables that can be personalized for each recipient. Surprisingly, this level of customization can still be achieved through automation.

With this advice in mind, you should’ve received some responses (and a lot of “no thank you”) from leads and scheduled sales meetings. If you haven’t, consider the following points before moving forward to the third base:

1. Have you sent a sufficient number of cold messages? Ensure that you’ve reached out to an adequate number of potential leads. Casting a wide net boosts your chances of finding interested prospects.
2. Is your cold message template engaging enough? Is it capturing the attention of your recipients and clearly conveying the value you offer?
3. Have you consistently followed up with your leads? Following up demonstrates your dedication and interest in building a connection. It’s highly possible that some leads may have overlooked or forgotten your initial message, so a polite follow-up is a must.

Remember, speed is important in cold outreach, and patience is key when following up. Don’t give up too soon. Keep refining your approach, learning from the responses you receive, and adapting as needed. By staying proactive and persistent, you’ll increase your chances of success as you move forward.

Now that you’ve reached the second base, you’ve made progress, but there’s still more to come. In the game of sales, there are two additional bases to pass: sales enablement and CRM. These are critical components that help bring the home run in sales.

If you’re interested in learning more about how to finish strong and master the remaining bases, stay tuned for our upcoming series. We will dive deeper into sales enablement and CRM, providing insights and strategic sales tools to help you succeed in your sales journey.

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[1] Kooij, Jacco Van Der, et al. The SaaS Sales Method: Sales As a Science.

[2] “LinkedIn Sales Navigator.” LinkedIn, www.linkedin.com/products/linkedin-sales-navigator/. Accessed 6 July 2023.

[3] Phantombuster. PhantomBuster. (n.d.). https://phantombuster.com/