What Is Outbound Sales Software?
Outbound sales software is a platform that helps you find prospects, reach out to them, and manage follow-ups across multiple channels. This means you can automate the grunt work of prospecting while focusing on actual conversations with buyers.
Most sales teams waste hours every day manually searching for contact information, crafting individual emails, and tracking who they've contacted. Outbound software fixes this by combining contact databases, email automation, and CRM integration into one system.
Modern platforms go beyond basic email blasts. They use AI to identify which prospects are most likely to respond, when to send messages, and what content works best for different buyer types.
Core capabilities include:
Prospecting and data enrichment: Find accurate contact information and company details without manual research
Multi-channel outreach: Coordinate emails, calls, and social touches in automated sequences
Sales automation: Trigger follow-ups based on prospect behavior and engagement
CRM integration: Sync all activities and contacts with your existing sales system
The right platform turns your outbound motion from a manual slog into a predictable pipeline machine.
Outbound Sales Software Comparison Table
Here's how the leading outbound sales platforms compare:
Platform | Database Coverage | Key Strength | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
ZoomInfo | 321M+ professional contacts and 104M+ company profiles | AI-powered prospecting and buyer intent signals | Enterprise and mid-market B2B |
Apollo | 210M+ contacts | All-in-one prospecting and engagement at a low price point | SMBs and startups |
Outreach | N/A (Engagement platform) | AI-driven sales engagement and workflow automation | Enterprise sales teams |
Salesloft | N/A (Engagement platform) | Cadence management and seller workflow orchestration | Mid-market to enterprise sales teams |
Cognism | 400M business profiles with a focus on Europe | GDPR-compliant European data coverage | Companies targeting the EMEA market |
HubSpot Sales Hub | N/A (CRM platform) | Native integration with HubSpot CRM | Teams already using the HubSpot ecosystem |
LinkedIn Sales Navigator | 1B+ LinkedIn members | Social selling and relationship mapping | Sales teams leveraging LinkedIn for prospecting |
Gong | N/A (Intelligence platform) | Conversation and revenue intelligence | Teams focused on deal intelligence and coaching |
Seamless | 1.9B+ contacts and company records | Real-time contact search engine | Sales teams needing high-volume contact acquisition |
Reply | 1B+ contacts (via Generect) | Multi-channel outreach automation | SMBs and sales agencies |
Lusha | 100M business profiles and 50M email addresses | Lightweight contact lookup via browser extension | Individual sellers and small teams |
Best Outbound Sales Software Platforms
These platforms were selected based on data quality, automation depth, integration capabilities, and proven results in B2B sales environments. Each solves different pieces of the outbound puzzle.
1. ZoomInfo
ZoomInfo gives you B2B data from a database of over 321 million professional contacts and 104 million company profiles. The platform tracks billions of buyer intent signals, letting you identify accounts actively researching solutions like yours. GTM Workspace combines this data with AI-powered workflows that prioritize your best prospects and automate routine tasks.
The platform syncs directly with Salesforce, HubSpot, and other major CRMs, ensuring your data stays clean and activities get logged automatically. Copilot acts as your AI assistant, surfacing critical insights about prospects and suggesting next actions based on buying signals. For complex go-to-market motions, GTM Studio lets you build custom workflows that combine ZoomInfo's data with your own signals and processes.
ZoomInfo serves over 35,000 customers and consistently ranks as a leader in sales intelligence by Gartner and Forrester. The platform maintains enterprise-grade security with GDPR, CCPA, and SOC 2 compliance. This combination of data depth, AI automation, and security makes it the go-to choice for mid-market and enterprise revenue teams.
Key Features:
GTM Workspace: Unified prospecting, engagement, and pipeline management with AI-powered workflows
Copilot: AI assistant that surfaces buying signals, automates list building, and guides seller actions
Buyer Intent Data: Tracks online research behavior to identify accounts actively looking for solutions
Data Enrichment: Automatically cleans, updates, and completes contact and company records in your CRM
Native CRM Integrations: Deep, bi-directional syncs with Salesforce, HubSpot, and other major platforms
Custom Signal Building: Create proprietary buying signals based on your ideal customer profile
Account Prioritization: AI-powered scoring that ranks prospects by likelihood to convert
2. Apollo
Apollo combines a large B2B database with sales engagement tools in a single platform. The system includes access to a large contact database that you can filter to build targeted prospect lists. Apollo integrates with CRMs like Salesforce and HubSpot to sync data and track activities.
The platform includes email sequencing, a built-in dialer for cold calls, and A/B testing tools for optimizing outreach messages. Apollo's data enrichment features help fill in missing information for your existing contacts. The analytics dashboard shows how your outbound campaigns perform across different channels.
Apollo's pricing model includes a free tier, making it accessible for startups and small businesses. The platform positions itself as an all-in-one solution that reduces the need for multiple point solutions in your sales stack.
Key Features:
B2B prospecting database with advanced filtering
Email sequencing and automation tools
Integrated power dialer for cold calling
A/B testing for email messaging optimization
Data enrichment and contact verification
CRM and email platform integrations
Analytics and reporting dashboard
3. Outreach
Outreach focuses on automating and optimizing seller workflows across multiple communication channels. The platform helps you manage email, phone, and social media outreach through automated sequences that guide sellers on their next best actions. Outreach uses AI to analyze sales activities and provide insights for improving deal execution.
The platform includes conversation intelligence that records and analyzes sales calls, deal management tools for tracking pipeline health, and forecasting capabilities. Outreach integrates with major CRMs to ensure all engagement data gets captured and reported properly.
Outreach serves primarily mid-market and enterprise revenue teams that need sophisticated workflow automation. The platform helps standardize sales processes while giving managers visibility into team performance and deal progression.
Key Features:
Multi-channel sales sequences across email, phone, and social
AI-powered deal insights and recommendations
Conversation intelligence with call recording and analysis
Automated workflows and trigger-based actions
Forecasting and pipeline management tools
Advanced CRM integrations and data sync
Team performance analytics and coaching tools
4. Salesloft
Salesloft gives B2B sales teams a platform to run structured sales plays and organize daily tasks. The platform specializes in managing sales cadences, which are organized sequences of outreach activities across email, phone, and social channels. Salesloft helps sellers organize daily tasks and engage prospects systematically.
The platform includes conversation intelligence that records and analyzes sales calls for coaching opportunities. Salesloft also offers deal management and forecasting tools that give leaders visibility into pipeline health. The system integrates deeply with Salesforce and other CRMs to streamline data flow.
Salesloft targets mid-market and enterprise organizations looking to improve seller productivity and standardize their sales processes. The platform's interface provides a central workspace for managing all prospecting and deal-related activities.
Key Features:
Sales cadence and workflow automation
Conversation intelligence with call recording
Deal forecasting and pipeline management
Rhythm AI-powered workflow engine
Deep CRM integration and data synchronization
Seller coaching and performance analytics
Email and phone activity tracking
5. Cognism
Cognism specializes in providing GDPR-compliant data for companies targeting prospects in the European market. The platform offers access to a database of contacts and companies, helping sales teams build accurate prospect lists for outbound campaigns. Cognism's key differentiator is its commitment to data compliance in EMEA regions.
The platform features Diamond Data, a premium dataset of phone-verified contact information that increases direct-dial accuracy. Cognism provides buyer intent data through partnerships, helping teams identify accounts actively researching relevant topics. A browser extension allows users to find contact information while browsing LinkedIn and company websites.
Key Features:
GDPR and CCPA-compliant B2B data
Diamond Data with phone-verified contacts
Buyer intent data integration
Browser extension for prospecting
CRM and sales engagement platform integrations
European market data specialization
Compliance reporting and audit trails
6. HubSpot Sales Hub
HubSpot Sales Hub operates as part of the broader HubSpot CRM ecosystem, providing sales tools that integrate natively with the platform. The system includes features for managing pipelines, automating outreach, and engaging prospects. Because it's built on HubSpot's CRM foundation, all data and activities stay unified.
The platform includes email sequencing, meeting scheduling, quote generation, and sales analytics. Sales Hub also offers conversation intelligence to record and transcribe calls, providing insights for coaching and deal reviews. The system connects with HubSpot Marketing Hub and Service Hub for complete customer lifecycle management.
The platform's features are designed for small and mid-market businesses already within the HubSpot ecosystem.
Key Features:
Native integration with HubSpot CRM
Email tracking and automated sequences
Meeting and appointment scheduling tools
Conversation intelligence and call recording
Sales analytics and performance reporting
Quote and proposal generation
Pipeline management and deal tracking
Learn More About HubSpot Sales Hub
7. LinkedIn Sales Navigator
LinkedIn Sales Navigator leverages the professional network of LinkedIn for social selling and relationship building. The platform allows sales professionals to find and connect with relevant prospects, track account updates, and build relationships with key decision-makers. Sales Navigator provides insights based on LinkedIn profile data and network connections.
Key features include advanced lead and account search filters, custom lead recommendations, and the ability to save lists of target accounts and prospects. Sales Navigator provides InMail credits for reaching out to members outside your network. The platform integrates with several CRM systems to sync activities and lead information.
Sales Navigator works for sales teams that rely heavily on social selling and relationship-building in their outbound strategy. The platform acts as an intelligence layer on LinkedIn's network but doesn't provide direct contact information like email addresses or phone numbers.
Key Features:
Advanced lead and account search capabilities
InMail messages for direct outreach
AI-powered lead recommendations
Real-time updates on saved accounts and leads
CRM platform integrations
Team collaboration and sharing tools
Social selling insights and analytics
Learn More About LinkedIn Sales Navigator
8. Gong
Gong provides revenue intelligence by using AI to capture and analyze customer-facing interactions, including sales calls, emails, and video conferences. The platform focuses on understanding what works in sales conversations, helping teams replicate successful behaviors and improve performance. Gong primarily serves deal intelligence and coaching rather than prospecting.
Gong's core functionality includes recording and transcribing sales calls, identifying key topics discussed, and flagging potential deal risks. The platform provides analytics showing how top performers navigate conversations and manage deals. These insights allow sales leaders to provide data-driven coaching and forecast more accurately.
While not a traditional outbound execution tool, Gong complements sales engagement and data platforms by providing deeper understanding of deal health. The platform helps revenue teams understand what happens after initial outreach and how to move deals forward effectively.
Key Features:
Conversation intelligence for calls and meetings
AI-driven deal and pipeline analysis
Market and competitor intelligence extraction
Data-driven sales coaching recommendations
Forecasting and revenue prediction tools
Call recording and transcription
Performance benchmarking and analytics
9. Seamless
Seamless operates as a real-time search engine for B2B contact and company information. The platform helps sales professionals find verified email addresses, cell phone numbers, and direct dials for prospects. The system uses an AI engine to search for and validate data across the web at the moment of query.
The platform's primary interface is a browser extension that works on LinkedIn, Salesforce, and company websites, allowing users to find contact information with a single click. Seamless includes features for building prospect lists and enriching data within CRM systems.
Seamless serves sales teams that need to acquire high volumes of contacts quickly. The platform's pricing model operates on a credit system, with credits consumed as users find and save new contact information.
Key Features:
Real-time contact and company search engine
Browser extension for web prospecting
AI-powered data validation and verification
List building and management tools
CRM and sales tool integrations
Bulk contact export capabilities
Credit-based pricing model
10. Reply
Reply provides a sales engagement platform that automates multi-channel outreach campaigns. The system allows users to create and manage sequences combining emails, phone calls, LinkedIn actions, and other communication touchpoints. Reply focuses on helping sales teams scale their prospecting efforts through automation.
The platform includes an AI email assistant for writing and refining outreach messages, plus access to a real-time B2B contact database (Generect) with over 1 billion global contacts for prospecting. Reply offers features for finding email addresses and validating contact lists to improve deliverability. The platform also features Jason AI SDR, which provides automated AI-powered sales development capabilities including personalization, response handling, and real-time data enrichment. The analytics dashboard tracks sequence performance and team activity.
Reply targets small to mid-sized businesses and sales agencies with its focus on outreach automation and accessible feature set. The platform provides comprehensive tools for executing outbound campaigns from start to finish.
Key Features:
Multi-channel sales sequences and automation
AI email writing assistant and optimization
B2B contact database with real-time search (Generect)
Jason AI SDR for automated sales development
Email and phone number finder tools
Appointment booking and calendar integration
Deliverability optimization and list validation
Team collaboration and sharing features
11. Lusha
Lusha provides a tool for finding contact data that serves individual sales professionals and small teams. The platform allows users to find email addresses and phone numbers for prospects on LinkedIn and other websites. Lusha emphasizes simplicity and speed in contact data acquisition.
Beyond the extension, Lusha offers features for building prospect lists, enriching data in CRM systems, and an API for custom integrations. The platform sources data from a community of users and validates information to ensure accuracy.
Key Features:
Browser extension for instant contact lookup
Direct dial and email address discovery
Bulk contact enrichment capabilities
List building and data export tools
CRM integrations and data sync
API access for custom integrations
Free tier with limited credits
Why ZoomInfo for Outbound Sales
The right outbound sales software combines accurate data, intelligent automation, and deep CRM integration. Most tools solve one piece of this puzzle. Enterprise and mid-market teams need a platform that unifies all three elements.
ZoomInfo provides this unified approach through GTM Workspace, which combines comprehensive B2B data with AI-powered workflows and real-time buyer intent signals. Copilot automates manual prospecting tasks while surfacing insights that help sellers focus on the right accounts at the right time.
Key decision factors:
Data accuracy and coverage depth
AI-powered automation and prioritization
Native CRM integration capabilities
Compliance and security certifications
Talk to sales to see how ZoomInfo can accelerate your outbound pipeline.
Frequently Asked Questions About Outbound Sales Software
What makes outbound sales software different from a CRM?
CRMs store customer data and manage existing relationships, while outbound sales software focuses on finding new prospects and automating initial outreach. The two systems work together, with outbound platforms feeding new leads and activities into your CRM.
Which outbound sales software features matter most for new users?
Focus on data accuracy first, then multi-channel sequencing capabilities, and finally CRM integration depth. These three features have the biggest impact on pipeline generation for most teams.
How does AI improve outbound sales software performance?
AI automates lead scoring based on buying signals, personalizes outreach messages at scale, and helps sellers prioritize accounts most likely to convert. This makes the entire outbound process more efficient and effective.
Can outbound sales software integrate with existing sales tools?
Most leading platforms offer native integrations with major CRMs like Salesforce and HubSpot, plus connections to sales engagement tools. Many also provide APIs for custom workflows and specialized integrations.
What outbound sales software works best for enterprise sales teams?
Enterprise teams typically need platforms with extensive data coverage, advanced compliance certifications like SOC 2, robust administrative controls, and AI-powered workflows to support high-volume outbound operations.
How should teams measure ROI from outbound sales software?
Track key metrics like meetings booked, new pipeline generated, conversion rates from outreach to closed deals, and time saved on manual prospecting tasks. These indicators show direct impact on revenue generation.
