Why is Apollo.io the current best outbound sales platform for startups and SMB B2B? Apollo.io compared to Clay, Smartlead, ZoomInfo and others.
In this video, I delve into the outbound sales platform and B2B data market and explain why Apollo.io is currently a great option for startups and SMB/Midmarket B2B companies to consolidate their tech stack and build an efficient outbound lead engine. We look at pricing and functionality of Apollo.io compared to stiching together a solution from Clay, Smartlead, Zoominfo and others.
Outbound Tech Stack Consolidation with Apollo.io
Consolidate your outbound tech stack with Apollo.io vs stitching together a bunch of tools
This results in easier UI/UX, headaches, integrations.
2-5+ tools stitched together with integrations, zapier, human interaction. More hours, headaches, chance for things breaking.
Downside - vendor lockin.
All-in-one, easy to use, fairly priced platform
Why Apollo.io as your Outbound Sales Platform
- Simplicity - ease of use, consolidated tech stack
- Cost
- Great product roadmap - $100M in funding, strong product team
Data - Apollo.io vs. ZoomInfo
ZoomInfo - Apollo has comparable data. ZoomInfo - talk to a sales rep, $15-18K+ annual deals.
Apollo - get started at $49-79/mo (or even free to test)
Lots of other data providers out there. Can always supplement data sources and upload into Apollo (niche industries, phone, SalesNav searches etc.). Use lists and Custom Account/Contact Fields to pull in other data and use it to segment and personalize outreach.
Waterfall Data, AI Personalization - Apollo.io vs. Clay
Clay - Almost like an Excel sheet on steroids - pay Clay credits, tap into data APIs to enrich and personalize accounts, contacts.
Downside:
- Expensive
- Complex (lots of Clay consultants and influencers on LinkedIn).
Apollo already includes:
- Technographic data (vs. tapping into Builwith)
- Intent Data through Bombora
- Company keywords (hyper-granular targeting)
- Job Posting Data, Job Dept Data, # Retail locations
- Signal Data (funding, new offices, growth, new product launches, partnerships, etc.)
Big missing piece: AI based Personalization
Now: Apollo Beta: PowerUps vs. ChatGPT (Clay)
Outbound Email Automation - Apollo.io vs. Smartlead/Instantly
Apollo.io vs Instantly - fine, dinged on deliverability lately, have data but brand new.
Apollo.io vs. SmartLead - better historically at deliverability, think apollo is closing the gap. Depending on your use case might be cheaper (apollo is usually 1 seat = 5 mailboxes, smartlead is more unlimited).
Smartlead also has google to google, msft to msft mailbox matching.
Smartlead problem - no data, more integrations, tools.
Apollo.io vs. Outreach, Salesloft - hot software 3-5 years ago. More mature, much more $$. certainly plenty of features, powerful products.
Entrenched in midmarket, enterprise companies. Very tough to rip and replace from existing users.
Email warming now included in Apollo.
Account Based Visitor ID - Apollo Website Visitor ID vs. Clearbit/Dealfront
Apollo.io is good enough at account level. Want more matches, add another provider and upload data.
Can supplement with Person level visitor ID (RB2B, Pearldiver.io): Account and Person Level ID Tools Breakdown - blog post
How To Set Up Apollo.io Visitor ID - video tutorial
Past Customer Marketing - Apollo vs. UserGems
Target Past Customers/Champions that have landed at new companies.
Another $10k+ tool with a lot of other features.
Target Past Customers with Job Changes Using Apollo.io Plays - UserGem Alternative
Other Apollo.io Features vs. Alternatives
The below Apollo features are not pure replacements but can give a barebones alternative to get started.
Calendar Scheduling Software - Apollo.io Meetings vs. Calendly
New product, barebones but benefit is to seamlessly tie tracking, attribution to outbound efforts.
CRM - Apollo.io Deals vs. Pipedrive, Hubspot
Apollo is not a relational DB or reliable for real forecasting, integrations.
However, fine as a makeshift CRM to get started measuring outbound efforts and tracking deals tied out SDR outbound efforts and campaigns. Easily customizable Kanban/Trello like Deal Stages, contacts/accounts. Can be integrated with true CRM.
VOIP calling - Apollo.io vs. Gong, AirCall
VOIP caller with Apollo.io is good enough for many use cases. Likely an area of further product development efforts. Native integrations with JustCall.io, Nooks, Orum if you need more functionality like power dialing.
Benefit w Apollo is it is tied to the accounts, contact data and custom scores, email activity when SDR is on the phone. Records calls and analyzes sentiment.
Mailbox Nudge Features - Apollo.io vs. Boomerang
No need to pay for another tool like Boomerang to 'nudge' emails to the top of your inbox if the recipient doesn't respond. Apollo.io's nudge feature in their Gmail chrome extension takes care of this and is customizable.
Help Getting Started with Apollo.io
If you are ready to move forward with Apollo.io, here are a few options:
- Get started with their Free, Basic ($49/mo) or Pro ($79/mo) Plans. Self onboarding. Good documentation and learning center.
If you want help getting set up, two offers from SaaSBoost.io - an Apollo Certified Agency Partner:
- Sign up at https://get.apollo.io/saasboost with a corporate email and I’ll give you a free 20 minute zoom call to help you get setup and running.
- Full "Done with you as a Service" Apollo.io setup packages - take your ICP, Messaging, Content, CTA and build an outbound lead engine in Apollo.io.
Example Full Apollo.io Setup Video Tutorial for Linens N Love - “Done with you as a Service”
SaaSBoost.io is a Certified Agency Partner - Strategy, Setup and Managed Services
https://www.saasboost.io/services/apollo-io-strategy-and-setup
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