Top 15 Business Productivity Tools for 2023: Tested and Approved!

1. What does business productivity (really) mean?

In order to understand what we are talking about, I suggest that we go directly to the definition part:

Okay, what is business productivity?

You've probably heard this term a thousand times, granted, it may sound a bit abstract.

Broadly speaking, sales productivity can be defined as the correlation between effort and sales performance related to that effort.

Improving business productivity means maximizing the results achieved while minimizing the effort expended.

This includes cost reduction, optimizing the time spent on a task, or the Sales Enablement method that we decipher here.

If we are talking about a reference in the field, we can quote Jason Jordan, consultant and expert in sales management, who sees sales productivity as the result of the combination of effectiveness and efficiency. For him, effectiveness is about getting a task done right. Efficiency is getting things done faster.

Here are two good examples of how to quantitatively measure a team's sales productivity:

• The number of new opportunities created, and the ratio of time allocated to generate this data.
• The number of sales meetings made, and the ratio of time allocated to trigger these meetings (cold call, emails to the right contacts, organization of the meeting...).

Now that we have the same basis on commercial productivity, we can address the 1 million question. 👇

2. Why do you (concretely) need sales productivity tools?

Alarming observation: Only 39% of the time of a salesperson is actually spent on selling or interacting with prospects and customers!

What about the rest of the time?

The list is long ... Writing emails, data entry, managing customer relations on a daily basis, updating the CRM, internal meetings (some of which could clearly have been eliminated) ... So many tasks that you know well and that certainly fill your day in the blink of an eye.

And while some tasks are unavoidable, others can be automated to simplify your life and give you more time in your day to do what you're really supposed to do: sell.

As proof, the most successful the most successful sales teams use on average 3x more sales productivity tools than others. than the others.

By adopting the right tools, you and your team can: 

• Save time on time-consuming micro-tasks by automating them.
• Addressing the market in a more relevant and efficient way.
• Stimulate collective performance.

In short, business productivity tools will help you save time while being more efficient.

3. How to evaluate and choose the (right) sales productivity tools?

Each sales team is different in size, industry and digital culture.

The right tools to adopt, the ones that will be part of your daily life, can therefore vary from one team to another.

Start by surveying your internal needs. A good way to gather these inputs is to organize a workshop to brainstorm in team and thus to bring up the needs and ideas, or even to launch an asynchronous survey.

A good way to start the topic is to ask (yourself) the following question, "What are you missing today in your daily life to achieve your goals?" Without immediately naming a tool, this will identify a need, a pain, a specific expectation.

The budget issue is also a point, although most of the paid tools in our ranking are cost effective: a minimal investment for maximum time savings. 

If a CRM tool is the well known "must have" to gain time and efficiency, the market offers today a myriad of SaaS(Software as a Service) tools designed to simplify your life, such as prospecting, note taking or appointment setting. And we bet you won't be able to do without them once you've adopted them (if you haven't already).

Be careful not to fall into the trap of a tool for the sake of a tool, but if you have a need that can be met, look into it while evaluating the possibilities the market has to offer.

4. The 15 productivity tools that will make your life easier

Because there are many tools to address specific tasks, and your time is precious, we've done the work for you with this selection of tools we already use at Modjo. Game changer for our sales teams!

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👉To optimize your time and productivity.

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- RescueTime -

An intuitive, well-built tool that allows you to create a dashboard of your own time management and thus regain control over your organization. For really productive concentration sessions.

It's like having your own productivity coach.

💡Productivity tip: Customize your RescueTime to your working hours and what is considered work. Example, spending 3 hours a day on LinkedIn should be normal for a BDR 😉

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- Toggl -

The timesheets of the future! A really easy to use time planning and monitoring tool. An alternative to RescueTime.

💡Productivity tip: Use it to set a certain amount of time to allocate to your tasks by setting the timer and checking it to see if you've exceeded the time allotted for the task. And then you optimize!

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👉 To communicate smoothly and optimally, both internally and externally.

No surprise for this part! We put our two favorite tools to conduct the meetings in video or by phone.

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- Zoom -

Thetool of choice for Modjo's sales teams for organizing HD meetings, but not only. We love Zoom because they have developed many features to make remote meetings more collaborative. The plus compared to its main competitor: the possibility to share your screen while continuing to see your interlocutors.

💡Productivity tip: Invite attendees or colleagues to join meetings directly on the web browser - one click to join the zoom.

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- Aircall -

The essential business telephony tool for creating value from your calls. At Modjo, Aircall has been adopted and approved: a real performance lever for the sales team, it allows us to combine efficiency and quality in our exchanges with our prospects and customers.

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Ps: Modjo is perfectly integrated with Aircall or Zoom. 🙄

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👉 For tenfold collaboration and productivity.

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- LiveNotes -

The smart note-taking application, for more performance and less administration.

We are not going to lie to you ... Livenotes is our new baby which comes to complete the Modjo platform.

LiveNotes helps sales teams who want to automate administrative work, managers who want to improve the productivity of their teams by eliminating low value-added tasks while having accurate and reliable CRM data.

LiveNotes allows you to:

• Simplify and improve the way you work. Take your notes in a structured way directly during your meetings and don't lose any important information.
• Keep your CRM up to date effortlessly. Enrich your CRM instantly during meetings and save hours of administrative work.
• Always be well accompanied during your appointments. Thanks to the templates, access directly via Livenotes to a personalized sales assistance.

"The Livenotes is a little bit of madness. With my teams, we save a lot of time on note-taking and proofreading before closing. As a manager, I also use it to structure internal meetings and not to lose any of the value that comes out of it.

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- Claap -

How many meetings you have attended could have been a simple e-mail? And yet, we know the dismay of being faced with a dense email where every line can be crucial information! Problem solved with this collaborative platform for creating asynchronous videos. At Modjo, we use it regularly for briefs, and all the important information is well transmitted. Claap is better than a meeting, without doing a meeting.

💡Productivity tip: Register on Claap to address complex topics to share with the team. Much more effective than pages and pages of playbook for example.

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- Slack -

We don't need to introduce it anymore, the best instant messaging tool in our opinion. Intuitive, easy to use, full of useful features (like the asynchronous poll, for example). At Modjo, Slack has replaced sending emails internally.

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👉For formidable sales intelligence and easier prospecting.

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- Linkedin Sales Navigator -

To generate qualified leads and build a relationship of trust with your prospects. A must in our opinion.

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- LeadJet-

Small but powerful: this chrome extension released 2 years ago is a must-have for sales teams prospecting on Linkedin. Adding companies or contacts to your CRM while keeping your data clean and up to date has never been easier, in just a few clicks.

This product made in France will soon be the best friend of your sales and operations team! We warmly recommend it !

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- Notion -

The best collaborative workspace tool. Used by all teams at Modjo, it allows you to collaborate efficiently, but also to manage your personal organization by gathering all your information in one place.

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👉 To get the appointment organization over with.

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- Calendly -

If you haven't adopted it (or an equivalent), then digitization is going to be a big issue! Otherwise, Calendly is a simple idea that will change your life.

No more endless "are you available? No ?! And on this slot? etc etc".
The tool automates the appointment setting in relation to your personal calendar. It will clearly save you time.

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- Google Calendar, iCal, & Outlook -

Smart agendas, synchronized with your email inbox, that gather all practical information in one place. We recommend that you specify the agenda in your meeting invitations: a tip that helps to gain efficiency and clarity.

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👉 For complete control of your communications.

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- Merciapp -

A doubt about spelling and syntax? Faster than the Bescherelle, Merciapp allows you to check in real time that no typo has crept into your messages.

We just validated the tool in the Sales team and it makes all the difference! Saves time and credibility!

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- And for English, we also have some nuggets -

• Grammarly for the correction of your prospecting emails on the English-speaking market "Yes Sir!"
• Thesaurus - The English synonym dictionary. Thesaurus allows you to vary your vocabulary, and find the right word to convey the right idea.

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And for a smooth administrative management and an easier closing, from your point of view as well as your prospect's, there are today remarkable tools that will change your daily life... A subject to follow closely on our blog!

5. Conclusion

The current offer of SaaS tools dedicated to the optimization of sales productivity is therefore vast and designed to adapt to the daily problems of sales teams. 

Fluid, easy to use and efficient, once you get the hang of it and integrate it into your habits, these tools will simplify your life and help you reach (and even exceed) your goals more quickly. 

As you can see, the memo is "Work Smarter, not Harder".

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So, which tools caught your attention? Which ones will you adopt? We're curious to get your feedback!

Best,