The Sales Stack You Actually Need (Based on Sales team size)

The Sales Stack You Actually Need (Based on Sales Team Size)

Your sales stack should match the stage you’re in. Early on, keep it lean. As you grow, add the tools that help you stay consistent and efficient. But skip the enterprise platforms until you truly need them, they usually add more overhead than value for small teams

Team S1. Early-Stage Startups (0–3 SDRs)

Goal: Prove outbound works without overcomplicating things

If you’re just launching outbound, you really only need three things:

somewhere to store and track leads
a way to find the right people
a way to contact them at scale

Must-have tools

1. CRM (non-negotiable)

You just need something simple, clean, and quick to set up:

HubSpot CRM (Free / Starter): Widely used, good UI, easy to bolt other tools on later.
Pipedrive:very sales-friendly and visual, great if you want light process without the weight of Salesforce.

At this stage, the CRM’s job is basic: track who you’ve spoken to, what stage they’re at, and what’s next.

2. Prospecting / data + basic outbound

You need good data more than you need “fancy sequences”.

Apollo.io : Good B2B contact data + sequences + basic automation in one tool, which is why it shows up in almost every 2025 “sales tech stack” or “best sales tools” guide.
Clay: Useful if you want to enrich and build more creative/automated list

If you use Apollo, you can run your first sequences straight from there and keep your stack very small.

3. Dialler (only if you’re actually calling)

If your motion relies on cold calls:

Aircall or Cloudtalk – cloud diallers that plug into HubSpot/Pipedrive and log activity.

If 90% of what you do is email + LinkedIn, you can delay the dialler purchase.

Nice-to-have (but not essential yet)

Light automation (Zapier / Make) to push form fills into your CRM, tag leads, or trigger tasks.

2. Small / Growing Teams (3–10 SDRs)

Goal: Add structure, reduce manual work, and get consistent

Once you have a few SDRs and some repeatability, the cracks start to show:

data is messy
everyone’s running their own version of a cadence
reporting is painful

This is when it makes sense to invest in a bit more structure, but you still do not need “full enterprise everything”.

Must-have tools

1. A more capable CRM setup

You might keep the same CRM, but move up a tier:

HubSpot Sales Hub (Starter / Pro) – gives you automation, better reporting, and more control over deal stages and workflows.
Some teams move to Salesforce at this point, especially SaaS companies that know they’re going to scale hard.

2. Better prospecting + enrichment

When volume increases, bad data hurts more. This is where enrichment tools become worth paying for:

Apollo.io: Still strong as an all-in-one (data + outreach).
Cognism or Lusha: widely used for GDPR-compliant B2B contact data in Europe/UK

Good data means fewer bounced emails, better targeting, and higher connect rates.

3. A proper sequencing / sales engagement layer

You might not buy Outreach or Salesloft the moment you hit 3 SDRs, but somewhere between 5–10 SDRs with consistent outbound, it becomes realistic and genuinely useful.

Salesloft and Outreach are still the two core sales engagement platforms most teams consider. They sit on top of your CRM and orchestrate cadences, calls, tasks, and reporting.

If budget is tighter, you can stretch Apollo’s built-in sequences a bit further before making the jump.

4. Light automation layer

At 3–10 SDRs, people start losing time on admin. Tools like:

Make or Zapier can:
- auto-create contacts and deals from forms
- update fields when meetings are booked
- pipe data between your enrichment tool and CRM

Optional (depending on budget)

Call recording / AI note-taking like Fireflies to help with coaching and note-taking without yet going all-in on Gong. Cognism

3. Scale-Ups (10–30 SDRs)

Goal: Run a proper outbound machine

There are pods, playbooks, and clear ICPs
Leadership might care deeply about channel-level performance
you need to coach reps, forecast pipeline, and justify the cost of the team

Must-have tools

1. Enterprise-ready CRM

Usually Salesforce at this point, especially in B2B SaaS. It’s still the default for larger sales orgs because of flexibility and ecosystem.

2. Full sales engagement platform

Salesloft, Outreach, or newer AI-heavy platforms like Amplemarket. These platforms are built for exactly this level of team: multi-channel cadences, team-level analytics, SLAs, and process governance.

By this stage, using only basic sequences inside Apollo/HubSpot usually isn’t enough.

3. Serious data + enrichment

ZoomInfo (often the default for US-heavy teams)
Plus tools like Cognism, Apollo, or Lusha for coverage in specific regions or segments.

The goal here is: comprehensive, accurate, and well-enriched target accounts.

4. Conversation & revenue intelligence

Gong is still the most referenced tool for conversation intelligence
Some teams layer in Clari or similar tools for forecasting and pipeline insights as they scale.

This is where you move from “we think” to “we know” what’s happening on calls and in the pipeline.

5. Automation/orchestration

Heavier use of Make, Workato, or custom integrations to keep all the systems in sync: CRM, engagement, enrichment, product usage data, marketing automation, etc.

4. Large / Enterprise Sales Orgs (30+ SDRs)

Goal: Consistency, governance, and visibility across markets

Once you hit 30–50+ SDRs globally, the stack doesn’t change category-wise, but the requirements change:

Global permissions and compliance
Team-level, region-level, and exec-level reporting
Highly reliable integrations
proper change management

You are basically just moving up to:

Enterprise editions of the same core tools (Salesforce Enterprise, Salesloft/Outreach enterprise plans, ZoomInfo at scale, Gong/Clari across teams, etc.).

You sometimes add: