If you landed on this article after reading its headline, you are probably thinking of investing in a good sales intelligence platform like ZoomInfo or Apollo or exploring the options available.
There are two things that every SaaS company tries to improve continually—getting reliable data and predictable revenue. And only a few companies can boast of having them both in abundance.
In an era where data is power, many businesses are turning to demand generation and sales intelligence software to enhance their customer acquisition strategy. Among these, Apollo and ZoomInfo are the most popular choices in recent times.
Apollo, especially, has gained a lot of popularity in recent years. However, the big question is—do these tools help you reach out to the right audience and build your pipeline?
And if you’re investing in B2Brain as your core tool for account intelligence and insights, do you still need Apollo or ZoomInfo in addition to B2Brain?
This blog aims to answer the above questions and evaluate the efficacy and relevance of these platforms in helping you reach your goals.
Overview of Apollo and ZoomInfo
Apollo and ZoomInfo are software platforms designed to provide sales and marketing teams with the correct information to efficiently target and engage potential customers. While both platforms have similarities, they cater to different needs and strategies to some extent.
ZoomInfo
As it stands today, ZoomInfo is a GTM platform that offers tools for insights and engagement. It is a typical all-in-one approach that most SaaS companies take as they become more extensive.
At its core, ZoomInfo gives you access to comprehensive business contact information about your target audience and accurate, real-time buyer intent analytics. This information can help you improve the quantity and quality of sales leads.
At a more advanced level, ZoomInfo offers advanced sales intelligence capabilities like CRM integration, lead capturing, market intelligence, and sourcing accurate buyer intent data.
In a nutshell, here’s what ZoomInfo offers:
- Lead builder
- Lead analysis and intelligence
- Native integration with 25 other apps (including 14 CRM)
- Data enrichment
- Data segmentation
- People alerts
- Data reporting
- Account-level market insights
Apollo
Apollo is a unified sales platform providing a database of direct contacts and company information. Apollo, too, is an all-in-one sales intelligence platform that helps you discover, engage, and close more deals.
With Apollo, you can access a vast database of over 265 million contacts and 39 million companies and build targeted email lists powered by AI. Apollo also offers tools to help you personalize your outreach and connect with prospects on a human level, whether you’re a small business or a large enterprise.
One key feature of Apollo is its ability to provide sales teams with direct dials and verified emails. It means you can reach decision-makers directly, bypassing gatekeepers. This can be a game-changer for sales teams as it increases the likelihood of reaching potential clients and establishing a connection.
Plus, Apollo allows users to use their platform to make these connections through calls or email sequences, tracking all interactions and providing actionable analytics.
Apollo offers additional features like:
- Email sequences
- Task creation
- Calling, and analytics
It’s designed to empower sales teams to establish more connections and close deals faster.
Pricing of ZoomInfo and Apollo
Both Apollo and ZoomInfo offer an array of features. However, they differ significantly in their pricing structures. Apollo follows a straightforward subscription pricing model, presenting a lower financial commitment.
ZoomInfo follows a custom pricing model, where the price varies depending on the features you need and the extent of access to the database. Custom pricing can be expensive, so evaluating your requirements and budget before investing is essential.
Customer support is a crucial factor to consider when choosing a sales intelligence platform. Both Apollo and ZoomInfo offer excellent customer support. They have knowledgeable support teams available to assist with any queries or issues.
However, it’s essential to understand that, like any software solution, you may face occasional downtime or glitches, and a responsive support team can help minimize disruption to your operations.
The fundamentals that Zoominfo and Apollo are missing
Comparing Apollo and ZoomInfo, it is clear that both platforms have their strengths. While Apollo shines with its integrated sales suite and extensive contact database, ZoomInfo stands out with its versatile applications and user-friendly features.
But comparing them isn’t just about tallying their features; it’s about understanding which platform will provide more value to your needs.
One factor of consideration is the size and nature of your business. Secondly, it’s about understanding where you need help.
Do you want a list of contacts with enriched details on Job title, location, etc.? Or do you want to know which companies can be your potential customers?💥
While having an integrated suite that allows you to build a contact list and put the list on an engagement sequence, you cannot afford to burn bridges by spamming them all.
If you’re a small to mid-sized company with a sales team that handles prospecting, discovery, and demos, you want to spend your time on those in the buying cycle.
How people use ZoomInfo and Apollo
Let’s delve into a few real-life scenarios where Apollo and ZoomInfo have proven handy. Sales representatives have reported that Apollo has helped them establish direct communication with key decision-makers.
The ability to bypass gatekeepers has saved them time and increased their chances of making a sale. The accurate targeting capabilities of Apollo have been beneficial, especially for businesses targeting smaller industries and specific niches.
On the other hand, ZoomInfo has proven to be more than just a sales intelligence tool. For example, HR professionals have used ZoomInfo for candidate sourcing and to enrich their existing databases with employee details.
Moreover, market research professionals have found ZoomInfo’s organizational insights helpful in understanding market trends. The extensive database of ZoomInfo makes it a suitable tool for businesses operating on a larger scale.
Limitations of ZoomInfo and Apollo
Even with what they promise on their website, no platform is perfect, and both Apollo and ZoomInfo have their share of limitations.
With Apollo, users have reported that the data, though extensive, is not always current. Some contacts may have moved companies or changed their job roles, which could impact your targeting efforts. Additionally, although Apollo’s sales suite is comprehensive, new users may find it overwhelming initially.
ZoomInfo, while providing versatile solutions, also comes with its set of drawbacks. The most common concern reported is its pricing, which may not be affordable for small businesses.
Furthermore, while ZoomInfo boasts many contacts, some of the contact information may also be out-of-date, leading to ineffective outreach efforts.
One of the B2Brain customers told me that while their company is currently at an ARR of $2.5mil, ZoomInfo displays $10mil.
If 5 out of every 10 companies you reach for prospecting, based on such unreliable information—what sort of brand experience and image would you be creating about your brand?
What we mean by account intelligence and insights at B2Brain
A target account searching for a keyword relevant to your business doesn’t mean they’re in the buying process. That’s not buying intent. Someone searching for ‘PLG CRM’ might be trying to understand how PLG CRMs are different, or maybe building one in-house, or have any other intent.
Mapping search volume to those searching is not buying intent. You probably know the pain if you have relied on such data and contacted those companies as prospects.
You want to build a list of accounts that exhibit potential buying behavior with clear information on their pain, budget, current resources, technology investments, vision, decision-makers, and more.
While ZoomInfo and Apollo can help build the initial list and offer the engagement tools, they don’t give you the buying signals of those companies on the list. And this is where B2Brain comes in.
B2Brain can help you prioritize the correct list of accounts you want to focus on. B2Brain automates the time-consuming and complex process of identifying and prioritizing potential customers, thus freeing up your time for prospecting.
All you need to do is—upload your target accounts list that you might have in a spreadsheet and select the key signals and locations based on which you want to prioritize those accounts.
The B2Brain platform uses machine learning algorithms to ingest information from multiple data sources relevant to your target accounts, such as news, blogs, articles, financial reports, social media, etc.
It thus helps you uncover a wide range of trigger events, strategic shifts, and changes within those target accounts. It gives you a report on those accounts, prioritizing them based on their buying intent.
As a result, you don’t need to reach out to everyone on your list but rather prioritize the ones that show true and high buying intent.
The following key factor is knowing the right pitch for each account. B2Brain gives you clear talking points on what should be the focus of your conversation at scale.
The best part is—these talking points don’t randomly come out of thin air but are based on referenceable events. You get these inputs right within your CRM, so you don’t have to have several tabs open searching for the right pitch for each account assigned to you.
If you spend one day every week gathering account insights to help you build relevance with those accounts during your outreach, you can regain that day to prospect more effectively.
So, should I replace Apollo or ZoomInfo?
No, don’t replace them. B2Brain is a best-of-breed solution to bridge the gap in these tools so that you make the most of your current investments without going through the pain of change management.
From their robust features and impressive databases, it’s clear that both Apollo and ZoomInfo are designed to enhance your lead generation and sales strategy. And they have their place in your sales strategy. However, including B2Brain in the loop can vastly improve their efficacy and relevance.
On that note, you should also check out how B2Brain builds on top of your sales engagement tools and helps you qualify your attendee list for the offline events you participate in. It helps you build a high-quality pipeline, thus maximizing your offline event investments.
Summing up…
Selecting the right sales intelligence platform depends mainly on your needs, budget, and the size and nature of your business. If you are looking for an all-in-one sales solution at an affordable price, Apollo is worth considering. However, ZoomInfo could be the right fit for larger organizations seeking extensive data and diversity in applications.
Mere access to millions of contacts won’t matter how good your sales team is if the contacts don’t have buying intent.
Similarly, having the ability to send email sequences won’t magically close deals if these emails aren’t personalized and engaging. Your emails won’t be engaging if it’s not relevant to the prospects.
So, our verdict is:
Don’t ditch ZoomInfo or Apollo, but make those investments worthwhile by leveraging the power of B2Brain into it.
