Outreach.io shines as a sales tool, helping teams manage the buyer’s journey, close deals, and strengthen customer relationships. Its AI-driven features promise big results. However, some users question if those promises are always delivered in practice.
Also, another question arises — is Outreach the right fit for your sales team?
Before committing financially, it’s essential to know exactly what this sales engagement platform offers and whether its strengths align with your team’s needs.
Let’s look closer to see if Outreach is the best choice for your needs.
What is Outreach, the sales execution platform?
Outreach.io is a sales engagement platform that energizes the sales process for sales reps, sales development reps, agencies, and enterprise sales teams.
It arms these teams with AI-powered tools to support every phase of the sales cycle. Outreach helps automate workflows and offers real-time insights and sequence capabilities.
▶️ Read more: Top Email Sequence Software: The Best Tools on the Market.
Top features – what does Outreach do?
Check out what features enable it to do all this stuff mentioned above.
Pipeline management
The feature helps sales and revenue leaders assess and manage their sales pipeline to maximize revenue opportunities.
It provides tools to track the progress of deals, identify risks early, and ensure adequate coverage for achieving sales targets.
Features include win/loss modeling, pipeline movement analysis, and rep scorecards that improve forecasting accuracy and strategic deal management.
Sales forecasting
The sales forecasting feature can automate your how you forecast sales velocity, enabling more accurate and predictive insights across the entire sales cycle. It integrates scenario planning to model potential outcomes and tailor strategies accordingly.
You can view forecasts at both team and individual rep levels, streamlining sales engagement efforts.
Deal insights
You can get a clear edge in deal management with this feature. Your marketing or support team can quickly pinpoint and prioritize winnable opportunities while identifying those at risk.
Through analyzing current deals against historical data, the tool scores deals based on various activity signals, suggesting actionable steps to keep deals on track.
Revenue intelligence software
Outreach’s Revenue Intelligence Software gives a sales rep powerful insights. It turns interactions into actionable data, offering clear visibility into accounts, contacts, and opportunities.
The system improves forecasting and sharpens workflows. It also allows deep pipeline inspection and identifies where sales tools can boost performance and conversion rates.
Sales engagement
Use proven templates, snippets, and account-based strategies to engage prospects. When contacts are out of the office, Outreach automatically pauses their sequence, resuming it on their return to ensure seamless follow-up.
For reps bogged down by manual CRM entries, Outreach streamlines the process by syncing engagement data from email, LinkedIn, and calls directly with CRM contacts. Machine learning tools, including A/B testing, buyer sentiment analysis, and sequence insights, make optimizing customer interaction easy.
Deal management
You get a snapshot of every deal across the entire opportunity lifecycle. With a single grid view, reps can update deal values, sales stages, close dates, and subsequent actions without switching tabs.
Outreach’s deal grid allows rapid deal inspection, offering customizable views of key details like ARR, close dates, health scores, and engagement timelines.
Mutual action plans
Mutual Action Plans, or Success Plans, provide a shared digital space where sellers and buyers align on deal progress. Success Plans structure every deal with templates and proven methodologies like MEDDPICC or SPIN Selling. It’s easier to track the following steps, resources, and commitments.
Sales teams benefit from increased consistency, while managers monitor deal health and engagement in real-time. With secure, shared resources, two-step authentication, and detailed insights into buyer interactions, Outreach claims they build trust and improve win rates by 26%.
Conversation intelligence
Outreach’s Conversation Intelligence Software is powered by their AI assistant, Kaia. The assistant joins live meetings, captures key moments, and surfaces content cards to help reps answer questions on the spot.
It automates tasks like note-taking and action item detection, freeing reps to focus on the customer and run more productive meetings. Managers can analyze conversation trends, review meeting data, and track buyer reactions to critical topics such as budget or support.
With features like bookmarks, comprehensive search, and talk-time reports, reps gain deeper insights into customer needs, improving engagement and performance.
Rep coaching
It allows managers to monitor sales interactions and guide reps with real-time insights. It offers visibility into deal progress and areas for improvement without requiring managers to join every call. Reps can access essential information during meetings, helping them stay informed.
Features like call transcripts, bookmarks, and action items allow managers to offer feedback and share examples from past calls. Custom search options and trends analysis let managers identify key moments in conversations, track performance, and monitor if sales team members engage buyers effectively.
Outreach pricing plans
Outreach offers flexible pricing plans designed to meet different needs but doesn’t provide exact prices upfront, which might be a downside for those looking for immediate transparency.
Here’s an overview of what each plan includes and who might benefit from them:
Engage
It is ideal for sales teams who want to manage and streamline their daily activities more efficiently.
Key features include:
- Sequences, snippets, and templates
- Smart Account Plan and prospect relationship maps
- Smart Email Assist
- Automations and triggers
- CRM Sync (including custom objects)
Who benefits: Sales reps and managers looking to optimize their engagement strategies.
Call
Best for teams that rely heavily on outbound calls and need an integrated, AI-powered dialing solution.
Key features include:
- Integrated Sales Dialer
- Live Call Monitoring
- Custom Call Dispositions
- AI-Powered Call Summary and Q&A
Who benefits: Sales teams that need a streamlined calling system to manage outbound motions effectively.
Meet
Great for reps and managers wanting AI-driven insights during and after meetings for better coaching and decision-making.
Key features include:
- Real-Time Call Recording and Transcription
- AI-Powered Smart Meeting Assist
- Automated Summary and Action Items
- Comprehensive Search, Playlists, and Clips
Who benefits: Sales teams that want to improve meeting productivity and coaching with AI-powered insights.
Deal
Perfect for those wanting a unified view of deals to better manage pipelines and reduce risk.
Key features include:
- AI-Powered Smart Deal Assist
- Deal Health Score
- Deal Grid
- Deal Overview with Activity History
Who benefits: Sales managers and reps focusing on deal inspection and risk management.
Forecast
Designed for teams that need precise forecasting tools to predict and deliver results more accurately.
Key features include:
- Pipeline Dashboard
- Forecast Rollup
- AI-Projection
- Scenario Planning
Who benefits: Sales leaders looking to improve forecasting accuracy and pipeline visibility.
While Outreach provides a lot of value through these plans, the lack of upfront pricing could be inconvenient for businesses trying to budget quickly. You’ll need to request a quote to understand the cost, which could slow down decision-making.
🤫 Want to know the estimated cost? Read: How Much Does Outreach Cost? The 2024 Outreach Pricing Guide.
What do customers say about Outreach?
It sounds great, but let’s see what users say about the tool.
Pros that users outline:
- It integrates well with Gmail.
- Outreach keeps you organized with prospecting and ensures timely follow-ups.
- It’s possible to customize workflows to match different sales styles.
- You can track email opens, clicks, and replies, helping you prioritize warmer leads.
Cons that users outline:
- Users claim that the tool is a bit overpriced.
- You can’t edit the steps of a sequence.
- Outreach sometimes freezes and interrupts daily activities.
- The filtering options in Outreach sometimes make it hard to do detailed searches.
- Some users can take time to get used to the tool entirely.
Who is Outreach for?
Here’s how each team benefits from the Outreach platform:
Sales managers benefit from visibility and control
Sales managers can use Outreach’s sales engagement tool to track their team’s performance, identify deal risks, and improve forecasting.
Outreach helps sales teams streamline administrative tasks, resolve data conflicts, and optimize workflows, making it easier for managers to guide their teams to close more deals.
With features like deal insights and pipeline management, managers can clearly view deal progress and step in where needed.
Sales representatives get organized and efficient
For sales reps, Outreach provides tools like sequences, templates, and scheduling meetings, which make daily tasks easier to manage. Reps can use automation to handle follow-ups and keep track of client interactions.
This sales engagement platform helps them focus on building relationships instead of getting bogged down by manual work.
Real-time insights and data sync across email, LinkedIn, and CRM make it easier for reps to manage leads more effectively and close more deals.
▶️ Read more: LinkedIn Manual Tasks: Make LinkedIn Outreach Easier and Close More Deals.
Growing sales teams find structure and scalability
As sales teams grow, keeping track of interactions and deals becomes challenging. Outreach assists sales teams in scaling their efforts by providing structure through automation and real-time guidance.
Teams can use various sales tools, like call tracking and meeting transcriptions, to stay organized and productive. The platform’s ability to sync company data ensures collaboration between reps and managers.
In-house marketing teams enhance their outreach
Marketing teams can use Outreach to complement their sales efforts – the tool improves communication and tracking engagement across different channels.
Automation ensures that marketing and sales teams can work together, driving more leads and boosting overall performance.
Are you explicitly focused on cold email outreach? Maybe you should take a look at a tool that’s designed for that. Check out Woodpecker – it’s more affordable and provides features focused on cold emailing. You can also create email-LinkedIn-call combined sequences.
PR companies use Outreach for seamless client engagement
PR companies can benefit from Outreach as well. They can use this tool to manage client outreach, track interactions, and schedule meetings.
PR professionals stay on top of client relationships by automating follow-ups and managing multiple conversations without letting anything fall through the cracks. With detailed insights into engagement, PR teams can ensure they’re always on track with their clients’ needs and expectations.
Conclusion
Et voilà! Now you know what Outreach.io is all about.
It is a great sales engagement software suited for many – individuals like sales reps, sales teams, agencies, enterprises, and more. The tool is indeed packed with sales engagement tools. The amount of them might be overwhelming, though.
Also, users say that many of the key capabilities, such as limited customization, might be a red flag. For the price of the Outreach platform, you can have many other sales productivity tools that work without a hitch.
And if you feel that it’s not a match for your company or team or need something more focused on cold email marketing, Woodpecker is a great alternative. Sign up for free to try it out.
FAQ
Any questions? Check out our answers.
What is Outreach.io used for?
Outreach.io helps sales teams streamline workflows, manage pipelines, and engage with prospects using AI-powered automation. It offers sales forecasting, deal insights, and conversation intelligence to boost productivity and improve sales performance.
Is Outreach.io worth it?
Outreach.io can be worth it for larger teams needing robust automation and analytics. However, its high cost and limited customization might be drawbacks for some. For smaller or growing businesses, Woodpecker could offer a more budget-friendly alternative.
Is Outreach better than HubSpot?
Outreach excels in advanced sales engagement tools, while HubSpot offers a broader CRM solution with marketing features. If your priority is sales automation, Outreach might be better. For an all-in-one CRM, HubSpot is more versatile. Woodpecker is another viable option.