CRM Tools for Managing Sales Funnels

$1.1M of my 2023 closed won pipeline, had a previous user in the deal cycle. It's the easiest new pipeline, but most reps don't know how to find previous users systematically. Lightning absolutely does strike twice. In fact, it's more likely to strike twice. Previous users will have a higher likelihood to respond right away, take a meeting, and have a much shorter sales cycle. The hardest part is just identifying / tracking them in the first place. Here's how to set up a saved search in Sales Navigator that will alert you when previous users join your current accounts: 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝗯𝘆 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽: 1. Sign in to Sales Navigator 2. Click Leads at the top of the page 3. Click Lead Filters + 4. Click "Past Company" and click on your past customer list under "Account Lists" - mark INCLUDE 5. Click "Current Company" and click on your past customer list under "Account Lists" - mark EXCLUDE 6. Under "Workflow" go to Account Lists and highlight your current CRM accounts you own This way - you're finding people that worked at previous customer companies but EXCLUDING those who are now at customer accounts or at the same place. 7. Under "Function" add any that match who you currently target 8. Click the toggle for "Save search to get notified of new results" People are constantly changing jobs, so always look for this when targeting a new account. This is one of your strongest signals. Keep your raving fans in the family. P.S. Built out an email template for previous users + 6 other use cases, here: https://lnkd.in/gAyuvKkt

Want a real case study on how Ramp hit $100M ARR in 24 months leveraging AI? Had to share this amazing review from 👨🍳 Elric Legloire here: https://lnkd.in/gpQvsBWy of one of the latest Revenue Leadership Podcasts hosted by Kyle Norton, CRO of Owner.com and his guest Nathan Follen Leads Biz Ops system at Ramp. Scaled sales from 130 to 400+ reps in 2.5 years. They are the fastest-growing SaaS out there. Their secret sauce? AI-powered go-to-market strategies. They shared how Ramp uses AI to scale their go-to-market efforts. They use a few AI tools such as Rox and Actively AI, but really dug into how Momentum.io helps, such as: 1. AI-Driven Deal Risk Alerts: Saving Deals Before They’re Lost Sales leaders always want to catch at-risk deals before they slip away. However, manually tracking buyer engagement signals across calls, emails, and meetings in a fast-paced environment isn’t scalable. Ramp solved this problem with Momentum’s AI-powered risk alerts. “We really want to catch those deals before we lose them. So now, if a buyer is disengaged—camera off, vague objections, noncommittal language—Momentum automatically pings the manager in Slack to step in before it’s too late.” 2. AI-Powered CRM Auto-Fill: Eliminating Repetitive Data Entry Manually updating CRM records is one of the biggest drains on sales productivity. Ramp wanted a way to automate this grunt work without sacrificing data quality. Enter Momentum’s AI-driven auto-fill. “We got a larger volume of high-quality data by letting AI fill in the fields by default. Instead of asking reps to manually accept every update, we let AI handle it. Reps can edit if needed, but the default is filled.” 3. AI-Generated Sales Handoff Summaries: Seamless Transitions from Sales to CS Once a deal closes, the handoff to Customer Success is critical. But vital deal context is often lost in translation between sales and post-sales teams. Ramp uses Momentum’s AI-generated sales handoff summaries to ensure no detail is missed. “CSMs get an instant summary of champions, deal history, objections, and product commitments. No need to chase down the AE for context—it’s all there in Slack and Salesforce.” 4. Slack Deal Rooms: Real-Time Collaboration on High-Value Deals Keeping sales, RevOps, and leadership aligned on key deals can be a logistical nightmare. Email chains, spreadsheets, and fragmented updates slow everything down. To solve this, Ramp uses Momentum’s Slack deal rooms. “Instead of endless back-and-forth emails, Momentum creates a Slack channel for every major deal. AEs, SDRs, CSMs, and managers all have instant access to the same information.” I put the Podcast and blog l*nk in the comments if you wanna deep dive more, REALLY good listen and worth the time!

The ultimate sales stack - purpose-built for each stage. The biggest mistake I see? Teams bolt tools together without thinking about where they fit in the sales cycle. The result = expensive chaos. The right stack isn’t about having “all the tools.” It’s about having the right tools at the right stage. Stage 1: Data & Signals The foundation. Bad data = bad pipeline. ▪️Clay → 100+ enrichment sources in one place ▪️Clearbit → company + contact data at scale ▪️Relevance AI → AI blocks for live signals Stage 2: Outreach & Engagement Where conversations start. ▪️Smartlead → multi-inbox sending, SmartServers ▪️lemlist → multi-channel human-like engagement ▪️Instantly.ai → lean, unlimited email outreach Stage 3: Pipeline & CRM The single source of truth. ▪️HubSpot → pipeline management & automation ▪️Pipedrive → simple, flexible CRM layer ▪️Smartlead CRM Deals → sync replies with pipeline Stage 4: RevOps & Automation The operating system that ties it together. ▪️n8n → orchestration, routing, reporting ▪️Make.com → no-code automation across apps ▪️Supabase + Coda → live ARR, CAC, SQL→Close dashboards Stage 5: Closing & Revenue Where deals actually get signed. ▪️Attio / Momentum → revenue orchestration ▪️Qwilr → smart, trackable proposals ▪️Default → inbound routing to the right AE instantly The takeaway Sales stacks fail when they’re just collections of tools. They scale when they’re mapped stage by stage, outcome by outcome. Because the goal isn’t more tools. It’s more revenue. 👉 I’ve packaged the Full Sales Stack Map with recommended tools for each stage. Drop “STACK” in the comments and I’ll DM it to you.

Struggling to choose between Apollo.io and HubSpot's Breeze Intelligence (or both)? This'll help you understand the use cases and benefits of each. First off, Apollo is sales engagement platform that combines email/sequencing/calling sales tools with a massive database of 270m contacts, companies and buyer intent data. It’s a great standalone tool and it also can be a great compliment to the HubSpot Customer platform. HubSpot's Breeze Intelligence is a data enrichment layer, buyer intent reporting tool, and form functionality that: (1) adds enriched data to existing contact/company data in HubSpot (2) helps you improve conversion rates on your forms and (3) helps you see what companies are on your website (regardless of if they are in your database or not). Breeze Intelligence leverages data from over 200m contacts and companies. -- 1️⃣ When You Need Apollo: - Your focus is partially on outbound lead generation to identify companies and contacts that have never engaged with your brand before. This is ideal for Account-Based Marketing (ABM) or outbound GTM where you're starting from scratch. - You need to generate new contact/company lists that match your ICP but aren’t yet in your database. Maybe you have a product launch and you need to find all of the CXOs to call. - When you don’t have HubSpot Sales Hub to use for sales prospecting, deal management, conversational intelligence, guided selling, etc. 2️⃣ When You Need Breeze Intelligence: - Your strategy is largely inbound-driven and you primarily want to enrich existing contact/company data within your CRM. This is perfect for ensuring your inbound leads are always complete and up-to-date. - You’re not actively running large-scale outbound campaigns and need to focus on improving data quality for existing contacts. - You’re looking to create a frictionless form experience that enhances conversion rates by capturing fewer details upfront and enriching the rest. 3️⃣ When You Need Both Apollo.io & Breeze Intelligence: - You're running outbound campaigns and need to pull lists of contacts/companies based on your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) or 60 other criteria, targeting prospects who may not be in your CRM yet. - Assuming your run outbound campaigns, you’re looking to protect your email sender reputation by running cold email campaigns through Apollo and pushing warmed-up prospects to HubSpot once they engage. - You’re looking to leverage buyer intent data at the company level, including insights into which pages these companies are actively viewing your site. Breeze Intelligence shows the pages a company is actively viewing and then Apollo can give you the actual email addresses and phone numbers of the possible people that work in the company that (may not have converted on your site). The Bottom Line (in the comments)