In a competitive landscape, digital marketing consultants need tools that simplify client prospecting while boosting efficiency. This article highlights six top tools designed to help you find, connect with, and convert leads using AI, automation, and multichannel outreach. Here’s what you need to know:
- Closely: AI-driven LinkedIn and email outreach with tailored messaging and multichannel campaigns. Pricing starts at $49/month.
- AgencyAnalytics: Simplifies client reporting with customizable dashboards and CRM integration.
- Whatagraph: Visualizes marketing data across channels for clear, actionable reports.
- Airtable: Combines spreadsheet simplicity with database power for managing prospect data.
- Zapier: Automates workflows, connecting 6,000+ apps to streamline repetitive tasks.
- Gong: Uses AI to analyze sales conversations and predict deal outcomes.
Quick Tip: Closely stands out for its AI-powered personalization and LinkedIn automation, providing a 35% boost in response rates. For consultants, choosing the right tool depends on your specific needs, team size, and budget.
Using Ai To 10X Sales Prospects
1. Closely
Closely is an AI-powered platform designed specifically for consultants who want to streamline their prospecting efforts without losing the personal touch. By blending artificial intelligence with multichannel automation, Closely helps professionals find, engage, and nurture leads across both LinkedIn and email simultaneously.
What sets Closely apart is its focus on quality over quantity. Instead of sending out generic messages to massive lists, the platform tailors outreach efforts by analyzing each lead’s unique business challenges and goals.
AI-Powered Automation
Closely’s Sales AI Agents take over time-consuming tasks like lead research, qualification, and personalization. These agents dig into prospect profiles, company details, and recent activities to create detailed lead profiles.
The platform’s AI personalization engine is another standout feature. It crafts messages for LinkedIn and email that sound natural and relevant, even when sent at scale. By considering factors like industry, company size, recent news, and individual roles, the engine creates messages that feel tailored to each recipient.
Digital marketing consultants using Closely have reported impressive results: a 35% boost in response rates compared to traditional outreach methods, along with an average of 10 hours saved per week per team member on manual prospecting tasks [1].
"Closely is a powerful tool for anyone looking to enhance their sales engagement. The platform is user-friendly and easy to navigate, making it accessible even for those who are not tech-savvy." – Antonio D., Digital Strategist & Coach [1]
Multichannel Campaigns
Closely shines when it comes to multichannel campaign automation, allowing consultants to create seamless outreach sequences that combine LinkedIn and email. The platform integrates easily with Gmail, Outlook, and LinkedIn, requiring no technical expertise to set up.
With smart delays and behavior-based triggers, Closely optimizes the timing of your outreach. For instance, follow-up messages can be triggered by actions like a prospect viewing your profile or liking a post. This approach ensures you engage prospects when they’re most receptive.
The results speak for themselves: Closely reports double the reply rates when LinkedIn and email campaigns are combined, along with 70% more engagement compared to single-channel outreach [2]. A unified dashboard provides a clear view of campaign performance, tracking metrics like opens, clicks, replies, and bounce rates for easy monitoring and adjustment.
Enhanced Data Enrichment
Closely takes the guesswork out of contact management with its automated data enrichment. The platform finds verified business email addresses and direct phone numbers, ensuring your outreach connects with the right people. This feature not only improves deliverability but also speeds up the prospecting process.
As you build prospect lists, Closely verifies email addresses in real time. This safeguards your sender reputation and ensures campaigns run smoothly.
Streamlined Multichannel Management
Closely simplifies communication by consolidating LinkedIn and email replies into a single inbox. This centralized hub makes it easy to manage multiple conversations while keeping track of each prospect’s context and history.
Detailed analytics provide insights into what works best, whether it’s subject lines, message templates, or follow-up sequences. These data-driven tools help consultants refine their strategies and maximize engagement with different types of prospects.
Pricing Options
Closely offers flexible pricing plans to accommodate businesses of all sizes:
- Starter Plan: $49/month – 1 LinkedIn account, unlimited email accounts, and 1,000 credits monthly
- Growth Plan: $127/month – 3 LinkedIn accounts and 3,000 credits monthly
- Essential Plan: $205/month – 5 LinkedIn accounts and 5,000 credits monthly
- Custom Plan: $350/month – 10 LinkedIn accounts with custom credit allocation
Each plan includes white-label options, making it an excellent choice for agencies that want to offer prospecting services under their own branding. Credits are used for various activities, such as sending emails, looking up phone numbers, and generating AI-powered personalizations. Higher-tier plans provide better value per credit.
The platform’s efficiency translates into a 45% increase in pipeline opportunities [1]. With time savings and improved response rates, many consultants find the investment pays for itself within the first month of use.
2. AgencyAnalytics
AgencyAnalytics is a platform designed to simplify client reporting and create insightful dashboards, making it a handy tool for consultants during prospecting. Its customizable dashboards and strong reporting tools help consultants clearly demonstrate their analytical skills and explain their strategies in client meetings.
CRM Integration
AgencyAnalytics connects seamlessly with popular marketing tools and CRMs like HubSpot, Salesforce, and Pipedrive. This integration pulls in up-to-date prospect data, allowing consultants to create tailored presentations and live demos using real-time information. Automated syncing ensures reports stay current and organizes prospect details, making it easy to transition prospects into clients without missing a beat. This smooth data flow also supports more cohesive multichannel analyses.
Multichannel Support
The platform combines data from various channels, including social media, PPC campaigns, SEO efforts, email marketing, and web analytics. This allows consultants to craft prospecting materials that highlight a unified and well-optimized marketing strategy.
Pricing
AgencyAnalytics offers pricing plans suited for everyone – from freelancers to larger agencies – and includes a free trial for users to explore its features. With its ability to turn prospect data into actionable insights, it’s a powerful tool for streamlining the prospecting process.
3. Whatagraph
Whatagraph brings together marketing data from multiple channels into easy-to-understand visual reports, making it a go-to tool for consultants looking to showcase performance metrics. By consolidating and organizing scattered marketing data, it provides a seamless way to present a comprehensive view of performance, especially during client prospecting.
AI/Automation Features
Whatagraph’s AI-powered workflow simplifies data management by connecting various data sources, cleaning the data, and delivering actionable insights instantly. One standout feature is Whatagraph IQ, an AI chatbot that answers data-related questions in plain language. For example, you can ask, “What was our total ad spend across all platforms last month?” and get an immediate, clear response.
The platform also streamlines reporting with AI-generated summaries that can be customized, scheduled for regular updates, and shared via email or client portals. Consultants can review and tweak these reports before sending them out. Lars Matt, Co-founder at Maatwerk Online, highlights the impact of these features:
"Whatagraph’s AI saves time and energy for our marketing specialists. And the hours we’re saving is just pure profit. We now have the time to focus on more strategic things that help both our agency and our clients grow." [3]
On G2, Whatagraph’s AI-driven text generation and summaries have earned an 83% satisfaction score [4]. These tools are a perfect match for the platform’s core goal of unified reporting.
Multichannel Support
Whatagraph excels at connecting and visualizing data from multiple marketing channels in one centralized dashboard. This makes it easier for consultants to demonstrate how various campaign elements work together. By offering a clear, integrated view of overall performance, Whatagraph helps clients understand the big picture of their marketing efforts.
4. Airtable
Airtable transforms traditional spreadsheets into a dynamic database, perfect for managing prospect data, tracking outreach efforts, and improving team collaboration. With its familiar grid-style interface paired with powerful database capabilities, it simplifies storing detailed information, monitoring campaigns, and working together seamlessly.
Automation Features
Airtable includes automation tools that help consultants save time and reduce repetitive tasks. For instance, you can set up workflows to automatically update records, notify team members of status changes, or create follow-up tasks. These automations ensure that your outreach stays on track and your prospect data remains current throughout the process.
CRM Integration
Airtable works smoothly with popular CRMs like Salesforce, HubSpot, and Pipedrive. It also connects with tools such as Mailchimp and Slack, making it easy to sync prospect information across your workflow. This flexibility allows consultants to tailor their approach to prospect management while keeping everything connected and efficient.
Pricing
Airtable offers a free plan that’s ideal for solo consultants or small teams just starting out. For those needing more, paid plans provide higher record limits, advanced calendar features, increased automation options, and priority support. Enterprise plans include custom pricing, enhanced security, and dedicated support for larger-scale needs.
Up next, learn how Zapier can take your prospecting workflows to the next level with even more automation and integration options.
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5. Zapier
Zapier serves as the automation powerhouse for digital marketing consultants, connecting over 6,000 apps to streamline workflows and eliminate tedious manual tasks. By automating repetitive prospecting processes, it frees up time for consultants to focus on strategic planning and building client relationships.
AI/Automation Features
Zapier’s AI-driven features simplify complex workflows, adapting to various prospecting needs. For example, you can set up automations that activate when a prospect visits your website. These automations can enrich contact details, add prospects to your CRM, and send personalized follow-ups based on their behavior.
With conditional logic, you can prioritize high-value prospects by assigning them to premium nurture sequences, while smaller leads are directed to automated campaigns. This ensures your outreach aligns with each prospect’s potential, optimizing your efforts.
Multichannel Support
Zapier shines when it comes to managing multichannel campaigns. It connects tools like LinkedIn Sales Navigator, email platforms like Mailchimp, and social media schedulers such as Buffer or Hootsuite, creating unified workflows that keep your messaging consistent across channels.
For instance, if a prospect interacts with your content on LinkedIn, Zapier can trigger follow-up actions through email or other platforms. This cross-platform coordination ensures no touchpoint is missed, all without requiring manual intervention.
CRM Integration
Zapier integrates seamlessly with top CRMs like Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive, and Zoho, taking prospect management beyond simple data syncing. You can automate updates to deal stages, assign lead scores based on engagement, and trigger specific actions as prospects move through your sales funnel.
Its bidirectional syncing feature keeps data consistent across all connected tools. Any updates made in one system are automatically reflected in others, reducing data silos and ensuring up-to-date information for your outreach efforts. This smooth integration supports better prospect management and efficient transitions between different stages of the sales process.
Pricing
Zapier offers a free tier with 100 tasks per month and five single-step automations, ideal for consultants exploring basic workflows. The Starter plan, priced at $19.99 per month, includes 750 tasks and multi-step automations, making it a great fit for solo consultants with moderate automation needs.
For more advanced requirements, the Professional plan starts at $49 per month, offering 2,000 tasks, unlimited automations, and access to premium app integrations. Teams needing advanced features like custom logic, priority support, and enhanced security can opt for the Enterprise plan, starting at $399 monthly. This task-based pricing model allows consultants to scale their automation efforts as their prospecting grows.
Up next, learn how Gong can transform your sales conversations with cutting-edge conversation intelligence and coaching tools.
6. Gong
Gong uses AI-driven conversation intelligence to analyze client calls, helping you fine-tune your sales strategy to boost conversions.
AI/Automation Features
The platform’s Forecast feature employs AI to predict deal outcomes with impressive accuracy. For example, companies generating over $50 million in annual recurring revenue have seen a 23% improvement in forecast accuracy by using Gong’s tools[6]. This allows consultants to prioritize the most promising opportunities.
CRM Integration
Gong seamlessly integrates with leading CRM platforms, ensuring that the insights gathered from conversations sync directly with your existing prospect data. This makes it easier to enhance your prospecting and sales efforts without disrupting your workflow.
Pricing
Gong operates on a quote-based pricing model that includes an annual platform fee, per-user licensing, and mandatory onboarding services[5]. Costs range from $5,000 for small teams to $50,000 or more for larger groups, with the average contract landing around $54,750 per year. Be aware that Gong typically requires multi-year contracts (2–3 years) with annual upfront payments, which could be a significant consideration for smaller teams.
Next, we’ll explore how these tools compare side-by-side to help you find the right fit for your prospecting needs.
Tool Comparison: Pros and Cons
When choosing a tool, it’s important to consider your specific needs, budget, and the size of your team. Each platform offers unique features and has its own set of limitations that can influence your success with prospecting. For instance, Closely stands out for its multichannel outreach capabilities, leveraging AI-driven personalization and LinkedIn automation. However, its credit-based system requires careful tracking to avoid running out of resources. Here’s a quick breakdown of Closely’s strengths and limitations:
| Tool | Best For | Monthly Cost | Key Strength | Main Limitation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Closely | Multichannel outreach | $49-$350 | AI personalization & LinkedIn automation | Credit-based limits |
Closely’s features are designed to streamline prospecting, making it a solid option if it aligns with your workflow and fits within your budget. Keep these factors in mind as you evaluate whether it’s the right choice for your team.
Conclusion
The right prospecting tool can make a world of difference for digital marketing consultants, simplifying client acquisition and boosting efficiency. Closely is designed to do just that, offering features like data enrichment, automation, performance tracking, and team collaboration – all in one platform.
What sets Closely apart is its focus on combining multichannel outreach with AI-driven personalization. It seamlessly integrates LinkedIn automation and email campaigns while maintaining a personalized touch, even at scale. For agencies looking to grow, its credit-based pricing – starting at $49/month for 1,000 credits – provides the flexibility to adapt to evolving needs.
Successful prospecting hinges on having an ecosystem where your CRM, outreach tools, and reporting systems work together effortlessly. By minimizing repetitive tasks and improving campaign efficiency, this type of integration can save time and deliver better results.
Start with a tool that addresses your most pressing prospecting challenges, and expand your toolkit as your business grows. With the right setup, you can turn client acquisition into a smooth, scalable process that drives long-term success.
FAQs
How does Closely’s AI-driven personalization boost response rates compared to traditional outreach techniques?
Closely uses AI to create personalized messages that truly connect with each recipient, boosting response rates significantly. By analyzing data and customizing outreach, the platform ensures your communication feels meaningful and on-point. The result? Response rates can climb by as much as 40% compared to using standard, one-size-fits-all methods.
Not only does this automation save you valuable time, but it also keeps the interaction feeling personal. This makes it easier for consultants to engage with potential clients and establish stronger relationships right from the beginning.
What should a digital marketing agency look for in a prospecting tool like Closely?
When you’re choosing a prospecting tool like Closely, it’s important to look for one that can pinpoint and target your ideal customer profiles with accuracy. This helps you generate higher-quality leads and improves your chances of converting them. Another key feature to consider is automation – tools that automate outreach and engagement across different channels can save you a ton of time. Lastly, go for tools that offer data insights you can act on, so you can make smarter decisions and run more effective campaigns. The right tool can make a big difference in how efficiently and successfully you prospect.
How does Closely’s multichannel campaign automation improve my outreach process?
Closely’s multichannel campaign automation makes outreach a breeze by managing campaigns across platforms like LinkedIn, email, and SMS. This means your messaging stays consistent and your targeting stays sharp, so you can connect with prospects more efficiently.
By handling time-consuming tasks like scheduling messages and syncing data, Closely frees up your time and energy. Plus, its personalized approach adapts communication based on each prospect’s behavior, which can lead to higher engagement and better conversion rates. With this streamlined setup, you can focus on what really matters – building meaningful relationships with potential clients.