Best Presales Tools to Improve SaaS Sales in 2024

In SaaS sales, staying ahead of the competition requires more than just a great product. It demands an efficient and effective sales process, where potential customers can clearly see the value of your offering. This is where presales tools come into play. Designed to streamline and enhance the presales process, these tools enable sales teams to create engaging, personalized experiences for prospects. In 2024, the right presales software can help SaaS companies boost conversion rates, shorten sales cycles, and ultimately drive growth. This blog explores the best presales tools available, their key features, and how they can transform your sales strategy.

What is a Presales Tool?

A presales tool is a software application designed to support sales teams in engaging potential customers before the sale is closed. These tools help to showcase the product, demonstrate its value, and answer any queries prospective clients might have. They encompass a range of functionalities from product demos, customer relationship management (CRM), to proposal and quote management. The term “presales enablement” refers to the process of equipping sales teams with the tools and information they need to effectively communicate the benefits of their product to potential customers.

Why are Presales Tools Important?

Presales tools are crucial for SaaS companies because they streamline the sales process and enhance the effectiveness of sales teams. With the right presales software, SaaS companies can significantly improve their sales processes by providing prospective clients with interactive and engaging product experiences. This not only helps in converting leads into customers but also shortens the sales cycle.

For example, presales tools can help teams with the following tasks:

• Management and oversight of SEs for presales managers
• Demo automation to scale demo creation across the go-to-market lifecycle
• Automation of proposals, quotes and RFPs
• AI and machine learning tools to analyze prospect conversations
• Deal tracking and customer relationship management
• And more.

What Are the Different Types of Presales Software Tools?

Customer Relationship Management Tools

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tools help sales teams manage interactions with current and potential customers. These tools store customer information, track sales interactions, and automate various sales processes.

Proposal and Quote Management Tools

Proposal and quote management tools assist sales teams in creating, managing, and sending proposals and quotes to potential customers. These tools often include templates and automation features to streamline the process.

Product Demo Tools

Product demo tools allow presales teams to create interactive and engaging product demonstrations to be used across the go-to-market team. Demo templates can be stored in a searchable demo library, and can be customized to showcase specific features and use cases relevant to the potential customer.

Key Features of a Presales Product Demo Tool

Product demo tools are arguably the most critical presales tools because they allow potential customers to experience a product’s value firsthand. These tools enable presales teams to create interactive, engaging demonstrations that showcase how the product can address specific pain points and meet unique business needs. From there, demos can be easily customized by sales and marketing team members, unlocking presales team capacity.

Customizable

A key feature of any effective presales product demo tool is its ability to be customized. Customizability allows sales teams to tailor demos to the specific needs and pain points of individual prospects, enhancing the relevance and impact of the demonstration.

Analytics and Insights

Analytics and insights provide valuable data on how potential customers interact with the product demo. This information helps sales teams understand which features are most compelling, allowing them to refine their sales approach and better address customer needs.

Interactive Elements

Interactive elements, such as clickable features, drag-and-drop functionalities, and real-time updates, make product demos more engaging. These elements allow prospects to explore the product at their own pace and focus on the features that are most important to them.

Ease of Use

A presales demo tool should offer low-code features that make it easy for sales users to personalize demo templates for specific prospects. An intuitive interface reduces the learning curve and ensures that sales reps can quickly customize and deliver effective demos.

Integration Capabilities

Integration capabilities with other software systems, such as CRM and marketing automation tools, are essential. This ensures that all customer interactions and data are seamlessly connected, providing a holistic view of the sales process.

Scalability

Scalability is crucial for growing SaaS companies. A scalable presales tool can accommodate an increasing number of users and more complex demo scenarios as the company grows.

Customer Support

Reliable customer support is vital. Whether it’s troubleshooting, training, or assistance with customization, having access to knowledgeable support can make a significant difference in the effectiveness of the presales tool.

How to Find the Best Presales Software in 2024

Let’s look at several different types of presales tools — from product demo creation to conversation analytics. Some are built for presales teams, while others can be used with the entire go-to-market organization. We’ll consider the key features, pros and cons of each option.

Reprise

Reprise is a comprehensive demo creation platform that enables presales teams to build a scalable, reusable, and measurable demo program. Presales teams can build templated demos and demo libraries for use throughout the go-to-market motion. Sales teams can leverage the demo templates presales builds to customize the final details of their demos for each prospect.

Pros:

• Highly customizable and extensible for presales teams
• Built for enterprise scale and security
• Low-code editing tools built for sales customization
• Strong demo analytics and insights

Cons:

• May be too robust for small business users
• Plugins and customizations may add complexity

Key Features:

• Create demo templates and application overlays
• Capture a web application’s frontend with a single click
• Create a complete demo environment that operates independently from your product’s backend

Homerun

Homerun provides a single workspace to manage all presales activity, data, and personnel. Using the tool, presales leaders can assign deals, manage team pipeline, view reports, get deal updates, and prep for one-on-one’s. SEs can conduct call and demo prep, track deals and POC/POVs, and automate activities and tasks.

Pros:

• User-friendly interface
• Affordable pricing
• Good customer support

Cons:

• Relatively new to market, yet responsive to customers’ requests for features
• Lacks API integrations with some complementary software solutions

Key Features:

• An all-in-one dashboard to track deals, prep for calls, log feature requests, see CRM data, and more
• Evaluation plans and playbooks to standardize your presales process
• Reporting and analytics to track and monitor KPIs

Seismic

The Seismic sales enablement platform can be used by presales, revenue growth, and customer-facing teams to build, maintain, and control enablement content. This content can be used by sales team members for learning and training, as well as directly by buyers themselves.

Pros:

• Comprehensive sales enablement platform
• Strong integration capabilities
• Advanced analytics and reporting

Cons:

• Steeper learning curve
• User interface and search capabilities are not intuitive

Key Features:

• Sales content management to enable sellers to find relevant content
• Interactive learning and coaching tools
• Enablement content planning and auditing capabilities

Pipedrive

Pipedrive is a CRM tool designed to help presales and sales teams manage leads, track customer interactions, and streamline their sales processes. It features an intuitive and user-friendly interface that simplifies pipeline management, allowing teams to visualize their sales activities and progress. Pipedrive offers automation capabilities, customizable pipelines, and robust reporting tools to enhance efficiency and decision-making.

Pros:

• Easy-to-use CRM
• Affordable for SMB account management
• Robust reporting tools

Cons:

• Email interface isn’t as intuitive as competitors
• Limited integrations

Key Features:

• Automate sales conversations with lead nurturing
• Send trackable quotes to prospects
• Customize pipeline and centralize sales data and contact history

PreSkale

Preskale is an AI-powered presales management platform. Using the tool, presales teams can capture technical selling activity, analyze and manage product gaps, and gain analytics for deal velocity, conversion, and pipeline coverage in a single view.

Pros:

• Strong focus on presales processes.
• Advanced analytics and insights.
• Good integration capabilities.

Cons:

• Limited abilities to track post-sale
• Limited ways to add more users via self-service

Key Features:

• Manage feature requests in product roadmaps
• Analyze technical sales activity and product gaps
• Create curated use-case libraries

Gong

Gong is a revenue intelligence platform that specializes in conversation analytics to improve sales performance. It records, transcribes, and analyzes sales calls and meetings to provide deep insights into customer interactions and sales team performance. Gong uses AI to identify trends, track key metrics, and offer actionable recommendations for improving sales strategies.

Pros:

• Excellent conversation analytics
• Strong integration with CRM tools
• User-friendly interface

Cons:

• Transcript accuracy needs improvement
• Features can be too extensive for SMBs

Key Features:

• Conversation analytics provide deep insights into sales calls and customer interactions
• Streamline presales and sales workflows with automation
• Gain AI-backed insights on how to mitigate churn and close deals

To sum up, presales tools are essential for SaaS companies looking to enhance their sales processes. These tools offer a range of functionalities, from customizable product demos to robust CRM integration, helping sales teams engage potential customers effectively.

When selecting a presales tool, it’s important to consider factors such as customizability, ease of use, integration capabilities, and customer support. By leveraging the right presales tools, SaaS companies can create engaging, personalized experiences for potential customers, leading to higher conversion rates and shorter sales cycles.