OREANDA-NEWS. October 06, 2015. The right sales tool can get the job done faster, and the right sales app in Salesforce can be the catalyst for closing that sale. There are over 1,000 apps designed for sales teams in the Salesforce AppExchange, offering powerful new tools for eliminating manual entry, fast-tracking lead followup, streamlining data analysis, and turning opportunities into customers. We've highlighted three apps that will bring your sales game to the next level.

Collaborate across teams and increase productivity with Excel and Salesforce

No matter the size of your sales team, increasing productivity and CRM user adoption to get accurate forecasting is integral to efficient selling. Apttus X-Author for Excel provides a deep integration with Excel that allows you to access and modify your Salesforce data in spreadsheets for forecasts, quota counts, budget updates, and more – that your whole team can access.

Instead of trying to locate, verify and consolidate spreadsheets saved on various local hard drives, Apttus X-Author enables users to save all sensitive enterprise data analysis in Salesforce, so teams from different departments with the appropriate Salesforce permissions can access insights. Robust data import and export features allow employees to collaborate on spreadsheets without toggling between the browser and Excel, saving the headache – and inaccuracies – of manual data migration.

Standardize action plans for leads and customers

Building an all-star sales team is often a matter of laying down the rules for best practices. The Action Plans app for Salesforce lets you create task templates for leads, opportunities, contacts and accounts. Now, reps always know the best action to take on any given contact.

Action Plans can be prioritized with particular tasks assigned to particular reps. Once you establish an effective chain of action, you can save your customized template and assign it to new customer records. Sales reps can then follow up on leads consistently and efficiently.

Track sales emails to identify the best messages and to know what happens after you press send

Email is where many sales conversations get started, so it's crucial that your sales team has the right data for  follow up. Yesware syncs email, calls and calendar appointments with Salesforce customer records, allowing your sales reps to track email engagement and update leads and opportunities from their inboxes.

Yesware's Salesforce Sidebar also gives a detailed view into each customer's activity, while a click-to-call feature means sales reps can reach out to contacts directly after browsing email insights.

Activities such as calls, calendar-logged meetings, email opens and attachment opens are automatically updated in Salesforce, so instead of spending time on manual data entry, sales reps can focus on making sales.