Engaging new customers shouldn’t drain reps’ valuable time – not when prospecting tools can connect them to the right leads, verify contact information and handle outreach efficiently.
The challenge is picking from hundreds of platforms, all marketed as the perfect prospecting fix.
This guide cuts through the noise. Below, you'll find the best prospecting tools for SMBs, organized by use case, with clear details on key features and ideal use cases.
Key takeaways for prospecting tools
Prospecting tools help sales professionals find qualified leads faster and focus on meaningful conversations instead of admin work.
Automation, AI and CRM integrations improve data accuracy, simplify outreach and shorten the sales cycle.
Building a connected tech stack – linking prospecting, enrichment and engagement tools – creates a smoother workflow for sales teams.
Try Pipedrive free for 14 days to organize leads, automate outreach and close deals more efficiently.
How a B2B sales prospecting tool improves lead-gen and outreach
Prospecting tools help sales professionals find and engage high-quality leads faster. They automate repetitive tasks and provide more accurate customer and company data access.
Instead of scouring social media for decision-makers or checking phone numbers one by one, which does not guarantee a qualified lead, you can let one of these platforms do the heavy lifting.
The best sales prospecting tools help sales teams:
Identify qualified leads that match ideal customer profiles (ICP)
Access accurate contact data, including email addresses and phone numbers
Automate outreach with personalized email sequences and other communications
Track engagement to see who’s interested and when to follow up
Enrich prospect data with company details, job titles and buyer intent signals
Prospecting takes up 40% of the average salesperson’s working day, according to Pipedrive’s State of Sales and Marketing Report.
It’s why automation matters: the right tools save time, increase profitability and allow reps to build relationships and close deals faster.
The best sales prospecting tools for B2B SMBs
Here’s a curated list of prospecting tools to help you find and convert the right prospects faster and with less manual effort.
Each tool addresses one or more parts of the prospecting process, from lead generation and research to outreach automation.
1. Pipedrive and LeadBooster
Category: All-in-one prospecting and sales acceleration
Pipedrive is a cloud-based sales CRM that brings lead generation, outreach and deal tracking together into one place.
Users can manage their entire prospecting workflow without wasting time switching tools.
According to one HBR study, eliminating app-switching can save teams as much as five weeks annually.
How to prospect better with Pipedrive:
Manage contacts and track deals through every sales pipeline stage
Access built-in prospecting, lead management and email marketing features without paying for separate point solutions
Automate follow-up actions and get timely reminders so that no opportunities can fall through the cracks
Get real-time notifications when prospects engage with outreach efforts
In addition to all the deal and contact management functions any fast-moving sales team needs, LeadBooster adds powerful lead-generation capabilities directly to your CRM.
The add-on includes Prospector’s B2B database of over 400 million verified contacts and Live Chat and Web Forms to capture visitor information. Chatbot qualifies leads while you focus on selling.
Here’s Prospector in action:
Brazilian waterproofing business Salis reduced lead qualification time by almost a third using LeadBooster with Pipedrive’s CRM features.
The tools’ automation and integration capabilities have proved particularly useful, as partner Dominic Dutra explains:
Who Pipedrive CRM and LeadBooster are best for: SMB sales leaders who want a complete prospecting solution that stays valuable throughout the buyer journey. Cloud infrastructure and flexible pricing suit fast-scaling teams on tight budgets.
Pricing: Plans start at $14 per seat per month when billed annually. LeadBooster is included with Premium and Ultimate plans. Otherwise, it’s available as a company-wide add-on.
2. LinkedIn Sales Navigator
Category: Lead generation and data enrichment
Sales Navigator makes it easy to find and contact the exact decision-makers in your target market using LinkedIn’s live company and role data.
Regular LinkedIn users will find the interface familiar.
You can also use the automation app Zapier to share new lead information with a CRM, like Pipedrive. Giving sales reps easy access allows them to make informed decisions when nurturing prospects.
How to prospect better with LinkedIn Sales Navigator:
Filter contact records by job title, seniority, location, industry and more
Save lists and specific accounts for faster access across the team
Combine InMail (direct messaging) and account alerts for timely, impactful outreach
Who LinkedIn Sales Navigator is best for: Sales teams with existing social selling strategies that want to target particular B2B audiences.
Pricing: Subscription plans vary by team size and feature access, with monthly and annual billing option
3. Apollo.io
Category: Lead generation and data enrichment
Apollo.io combines a B2B database of around 270 million contacts with outreach functions. It lets you find potential customers and launch email sequences from a single platform.
Users access the enriched data using credits. An email address costs one credit while a phone number – a more direct prospecting route – costs eight.
Apollo’s Chrome extension can add prospects to sequences straight from LinkedIn profiles or company websites, making it easy to build lists on the fly.
How to prospect better with Apollo.io:
Organize prospective customers using their name, job title, persona, company and 60+ other filters
Identify high-converting accounts based on buyer intent data from Bombora and LeadSift, website activity and org charts
Book meetings and manage availability with an in-built scheduling system
Who Apollo.io is best for: SMB sales teams that want a balance of contact data and lightweight outreach without juggling multiple tools.
Pricing: Free and paid plans available, with pricing based on contact volume and automation features.
4. Pulse
Category: Lead generation and data enrichment
Pulse is Pipedrive’s AI-powered lead qualification and engagement scoring tool, built to enrich CRM contact data with public information about organizations and decision-makers.
Pulse helps users sell more by automatically scoring leads based on engagement signals and company fit. Reps can cut through the noise to focus on those most likely to convert.
How to prospect better with Pulse:
Plug CRM gaps in seconds as AI auto-populates industry, size, revenue and contact detail fields
Prioritize leads based on the criteria that matter most to your business (e.g., strong ICP match, recent activity and response times)
Blend automated and manual outreach for maximum impact in seamless email Sequences
Who Pulse is best for: Sales professionals who want to know who to engage with and when for the best chances of closing deals without laborious manual research.
Pricing: Available as part of Pipedrive’s Professional plan and higher, starting at $34 per user per month when billed annually.
5. Campaigns
Category: Email outreach and automation
Campaigns is Pipedrive’s built-in email marketing tool that integrates directly with your CRM.
Instead of exporting lists into third-party software, sales and marketing teams can create, send and track targeted email campaigns from one place.
How to prospect better with Campaigns:
Build branded email campaigns using professional templates and a simple drag-and-drop design tool
Segment audiences using CRM fields and send the most relevant content to the right people at the perfect moments
Track open and click-through rates in real time alongside sales metrics to see how campaigns contribute to conversions
Who Campaigns is best for: SMBs that want to combine email marketing with sales data without paying for separate systems. No design skills are needed, as the email builder is intuitive and easy to use.
Pricing: Campaigns is a paid add-on available for companies, in addition to a Pipedrive CRM subscription.
Pipedrive in action: Latvian training company Trainify streamlined its sales and marketing by combining CRM and email in Pipedrive Campaigns. Automatic contact syncing cut manual admin and accelerated campaign prep, saving the team around two hours per week.
6. Mailshake
Category: Email outreach and automation
Mailshake streamlines prospecting by combining email, LinkedIn and cold calling features in one sales engagement platform.
Sales leaders, reps and agency owners can build large-scale outreach campaigns using various automation triggers and templates.
The platform includes an in-built dialer for easy phone calls and integrations for sharing data with other sales and marketing tools – including Pipedrive and HubSpot.
How to prospect better with Mailshake:
Build multi-channel outreach sequences with simple templates (e.g., social, email and phone calls)
Use the built-in A/B testing features to refine campaigns and learn the best tactics
Validate contacts’ email addresses to ensure messages land in inboxes, not spam folders (i.e., email deliverability)
Who Mailshake is best for: B2B sales teams prioritizing cold outreach over other lead-gen tactics. Most will need to connect a sales CRM to engage buyers differently and manage lead data effectively.
Pricing: Simple tiered pricing based on user count and automation features, with a 30-day free trial.
Heat up your cold emails with 25 customizable email templates
7. Hunter.io
Category: Email outreach and automation
Hunter.io is billed as an “all-in-one” email outreach platform, but is best known for its email finder and verifier features.
The tool scans company domains to find valuable contacts. It then checks deliverability to avoid bounces and protect your sender reputation.
There are some basic outreach functions, but Hunter’s strength is building useful prospect lists.
Fortunately, a native Pipedrive integration allows you to seamlessly import data from Hunter into your sales pipeline and contact records. You can then use it in multichannel outreach campaigns.
How to prospect better with Hunter.io:
Find email addresses for specific people at target companies or source new contacts on the fly with a browser extension
Verify email addresses to reduce bounce rates and improve your sender reputation, so that fewer messages land in spam folders
Identify companies whose websites use tech that aligns or competes with your product (i.e., good-fit prospects)
Who Hunter.io is best for: Sales teams looking to build their prospect lists with accurate contact data and improve email deliverability.
Pricing: A free tier is available, with paid plans scaling by monthly email verification limits.
8. LinkedIn
Category: Social selling and online engagement tracking
Regular engagement on LinkedIn builds credibility and keeps you visible to potential customers. Even if you don’t treat it as active prospecting, your presence helps generate and nurture leads.
Prospecting on LinkedIn requires more manual effort than using the paid tools on this list, but it can also foster more authentic relationships that often lead to warmer responses.
A Sopro study ranked LinkedIn second only to internal databases for finding new B2B customers.
How to prospect better with LinkedIn:
Research prospects to better understand their interests, challenges and backgrounds before reaching out
Share valuable content to show your expertise and build authority in your industry
Use strategic connection requests to expand your network organically over time
Who LinkedIn is best for: Anyone involved in B2B prospecting, regardless of company size or industry.
Pricing: Free to use, with premium and Sales Navigator options for advanced search and outreach.
9. PhantomBuster
Category: Social selling and online engagement tracking
PhantomBuster is a social media automation tool built to take various prospecting tasks off reps’ plates so they have more time to sell.
The B2B prospecting tool connects to LinkedIn and other social networks to extract data and perform helpful but repetitive actions. For example, it can visit profiles and send connection requests on your behalf.
How to prospect better with PhantomBuster:
Export prospects’ contact info from search results or groups, ready for outreach
Segment potential leads based on ICP fit, so reps know who to contact
Send connection requests and follow-up messages in automated sequences
Who PhantomBuster is best for: Sales teams running high-volume social media prospecting campaigns who want to automate repetitive outreach tasks on LinkedIn and other platforms.
Pricing: Monthly and annually billed plans available, with a possibility of upgrading to team plans.
10. Shield
Category: Social selling and online engagement tracking
Shield is a LinkedIn analytics tool that gives users deeper insights than the social network’s performance reports.
It pulls profile and content performance data into simple dashboards, so you can track prospecting efforts without switching apps.
With Shield’s advanced search and filtering, you can instantly uncover key profile insights and identify new sales or marketing opportunities.
How to prospect better with Shield:
Track post performance to learn what resonates with your target market
Monitor profile views and connection requests to see who’s already interested in your brand
Get insights on the best times to post based on past engagement
Who Shield is best for: Sales professionals and teams for whom LinkedIn is a primary prospecting channel.
Pricing: Monthly and annual plans are available based on the number of LinkedIn profiles tracked.
11. Dealfront
Category: Web visitor and buyer intent tracking
Dealfront identifies anonymous visitors on your site and turns them into actionable company profiles complete with contact data and buyer intent signals.
Dealfront claims its database of 60 million companies and 400 million verified contacts can cut prospecting time by up to 75%.
You can filter and set alerts with over 100 options, including trigger events like company growth and management changes.
How to prospect better with Dealfront:
See which companies independently research your brand or products and add their data to your connected CRM
Get alerts when target accounts visit your site, for perfectly timed outreach
Track visitor behavior to understand buying signals and use what you learn to improve lead scoring accuracy
Who Dealfront is best for: B2B firms with active websites that struggle to turn traffic into revenue.
Pricing: Contact Dealfront for a custom quote.
12. Visitor Queue
Category: Web visitor and buyer intent tracking
Visitor Queue is a simpler alternative to Dealfront for identifying and engaging website visitors. It stands out for its ease of use and affordability.
The tool aggregates company social profiles along standard firmographic data, giving you more ways to connect with interested prospects.
How to prospect better with Visitor Queue:
Learn about new leads in real time, so reps can reach out while your product is at the front of their mind
Give the same prospecting support to your entire team, with all plans allowing unlimited users at no extra cost
Personalize your website based on company firmographics, so each segment gets the most relevant content (this is a premium add-on)
Who Visitor Queue is best for: Budget-conscious SMBs that need to track multiple websites (e.g., for different brands or product lines).
Pricing: Tiered pricing based on website traffic volume, with free trials for new users.
13. Leadinfo
Category: Web visitor and buyer intent tracking
Leadinfo focuses on the European market, offering GDPR-compliant visitor identification with a special emphasis on data privacy.
The software builds a profile for each new visitor and presents the information in a simple dashboard.
Leadinfo is based in the Netherlands and keeps all its data in the EU. This aspect helps meet regional compliance standards and build trust with privacy-conscious businesses.
How to prospect better with Leadinfo:
Access detailed data on European companies that US-focused tools may miss
Set up automated workflows that trigger based on visitor behaviors such as LinkedIn connections, emails and meeting requests
Connect to your CRM or ERP system and plug leads straight into your sales cycle
Who Leadinfo is best for: Privacy-conscious B2B companies that primarily target European markets, although their contact database broadly covers 195 countries.
Pricing: Monthly and annual plans are available and priced by site traffic and integration needs.
14. Pipedrive’s automations and integrations
Category: Workflow automation and AI assistance
Pipedrive allows you to automate tasks across the entire sales funnel, from prospecting to nurturing, closing and following up.
A well-stocked integration marketplace adds further automation opportunities. Over 400 apps help to reduce manual data entry and ensure consistency throughout the prospecting phase.
Pipedrive has a track record of helping SMBs shorten their sales cycles.
For example, interior design firm Pole Design saves at least two days weekly using the software to convert web form submissions into deals.
How to prospect better with Pipedrive’s automations and integrations:
Pull lead data straight from web forms, chatbots or social networks into your CRM
Route potential customers to the best-fit reps based on your chosen criteria
Auto-fill missing CRM data from the integrated Prospector database and further enrich records with Pulse AI
Send timed outreach emails when new leads enter the pipeline
Who Pipedrive’s automations and integrations are best for: Sales, marketing and customer support teams eager to grow efficiency and make their tech stacks more effective without writing code.
Pricing: AI and automations are included with all Pipedrive plans. Prospector, Web Forms and Chatbot are part of LeadBooster, which comes with Premium and Ultimate plans or as an add-on.
Start generating quality leads with your B2B Prospecting ebook
15. ChatGPT
Category: Workflow automation and AI assistance
ChatGPT is a straightforward but powerful conversational AI assistant that supports prospecting by handling tasks that often drain reps’ time.
Provide clear, detailed prompts and the app can accelerate research and help craft personalized outreach. It’ll also generate sales enablement content on demand.
Integrated with CRMs via third-party apps or alone, the tool gives sales teams a fast way to personalize messages and summarize prospect data before reaching out.
How to prospect better with ChatGPT:
Draft grammatically correct cold emails and LinkedIn messages in seconds, ready to send or edit
Summarize prospect company news or websites into quick talking points for smoother cold calls
Generate call scripts and objection-handling notes to make outreach consistent across your team
Who ChatGPT is best for: Sales reps who want to save time preparing personalized outreach or need quick summaries before prospect calls.
Pricing: Free version available. Paid Plus plan adds advanced features and higher limits.
How to choose the right prospecting tool for your business
The best prospecting tool depends on your team’s size, sales process and growth stage.
Before committing, map out where your reps spend the most time and where you lose leads.
Consider these key points when researching:
Your ICP and channel mix. Choose tools that help you reach decision-makers where they’re most active – LinkedIn, email, phone or web.
Ease of use. A lightweight, intuitive platform will save you more time than a complex system your reps avoid. Training can help, but the software’s probably not intuitive enough if it requires too much.
Integration with your CRM. Prospecting tools for sales are most valuable when they connect seamlessly with your existing pipeline and reporting software. Siloed systems lead to data discrepancies, making it harder to see what’s happening in your business.
Scalability and pricing. Look for flexible plans that grow with you. This capability is critical if you’re on a limited budget, as it’ll save you from needing to re-invest later.
Here’s a simple comparison guide to help you decide:
Your needs | Recommended tools |
You’re building from the ground up and need a complete sales and prospecting solution | Pipedrive (with LeadBooster) |
You already have a CRM tool, but need more data | Pulse, Apollo.io |
You’re focused on email outreach and building customer relationships | Campaigns (Pipedrive), Mailshake |
Social prospecting is your primary focus | LinkedIn, Sales Navigator, PhantomBuster, Shield |
Your website traffic is healthy, but not converting | Dealfront, Visitor Queue, Leadinfo |
Your limited budget is making prospecting harder | Hunter.io, ChatGPT, Visitor Queue |
Don’t worry about having the flashiest features. The right choice is the software – or combination of – that fits your workflow today while leaving room to grow tomorrow.
Final thoughts
Chasing more leads isn’t the fastest way to increase sales. You’ll see better results by streamlining how you find customers so reps have more time to nurture and convert them. That’s where prospecting tools make the difference.
For small and growing businesses, the best approach is to start simple: find your biggest bottleneck, choose a tool that solves it and integrate it with your CRM. From there, build a scalable tech stack that can grow with your business.
Pipedrive unifies the entire prospecting process, from finding leads to nurturing them with automated outreach. Try it free for 14 days and see how much time and revenue you save.
