Sales productivity isn’t just about activity anymore, or how many calls you make. It’s about how effectively every rep, process and tool converts that effort into revenue.
As we move deeper into 2025, the “growth at all costs” mantra has been fully replaced by efficient growth. RevOps teams are under pressure to do more with the same (or less) headcount. To do that, you need technology that doesn’t just track data but actively helps you optimise it.
I’ve rigorously tested the platforms that are redefining productivity for modern teams. Here are the top 9 tools that help organisations identify efficiency gaps and optimise performance levers.
1. Lative: The connected sales planning platform
Most sales plans are created in spreadsheets at the beginning of the year and are obsolete by February. Lative fixes this by turning your static plan into a living operating system as a connected platform that unifies productivity data, headcount and revenue targets into a single, always-on capacity model.
Instead of treating planning and execution as separate phases, Lative merges them. It continuously calculates if you have the “selling horsepower” required to hit your targets based on real-time performance rather than assumptions.
What it does best
Lative excels at transforming static planning into dynamic action. Its feature set is designed to give leaders a continuous, granular view of their actual sales capacity versus their targets.
Live Productivity Benchmarking
While standard BI tools show you what happened, Lative explains how it happened relative to your peers. It allows leaders to benchmark reps against dynamic cohorts in real time, instantly surfacing when a specific region is dragging down the average or when a ramp-up curve is stalling.
Instant "What-If" Wargaming
The platform’s standout features are its connectivity speed and agility. You can simulate complex scenarios such as a hiring freeze, a compensation change, or a shift in territory lines and see the revenue impact immediately. This testing range removes the weeks of back-and-forth modelling usually required by Finance and RevOps.
Unified Data Stream
Lative connects to over 150 data sources (including Salesforce, HubSpot, Snowflake and HRIS systems). By pulling financial, people and performance data into a single view, it eliminates the manual data knitting that plagues most operations teams.
Problems it solves
Bridging the gap between financial targets and ground-level reality empowers Lative to eliminate the operational blind spots and disconnected data that typically derail revenue goals.
- The “Plan vs. Reality” Gap: Lative kills the spreadsheet. Because the model is connected to live CRM and HRIS data, your capacity plan updates automatically as reps are hired, ramped, or offboarded.
- Headcount Guesswork: Answers the most complicated question in RevOps: “Do we need more heads, or do we need more productivity?” Lative quantifies exactly where additional investment will yield the highest return.
- Reactive Management: Instead of waiting for a quarterly business review (QBR) to spot gaps, Lative provides early warning signals on pipeline coverage and attainment risks, allowing for mid-quarter course correction.
My Personal Review
Lative impressed me right from the start with its deployment speed. In the enterprise software world, “integrations” usually mean weeks of IT tickets, but connecting Salesforce and Workday took me less than an hour.
Once live, the Scenario Planning was the highlight. I ran a specific “mid-year hiring freeze” simulation, and within seconds, the platform recalculated the exact impact on our Q4 quota attainment. It gave me the kind of actionable, data-backed confidence that usually takes a team of analysts weeks to produce. It’s the bridge between high-level strategy and ground-level execution that I haven’t found elsewhere.
2. Clari: The forecast and pipeline visibility engine
Clari focuses on the part of productivity that often gets overlooked: the ability to predict outcomes reliably and understand where revenue is truly coming from. While it is known for forecast management, the platform also improves productivity by giving teams a clearer sense of where to spend their time, which deals are genuinely viable and where risks are building.
I tested Clari to see how well it supports day-to-day execution, not just end-of-quarter forecasting, and found that its real strength lies in removing ambiguity. It gives leaders a structured view of deal progress and surfaces issues before they turn into late-stage surprises.
What it does best
Clari’s strengths become clear once you start using it regularly. The platform is designed to cut through the noise that usually surrounds deal updates and forecast calls. Instead of relying on scattered anecdotes or inconsistent manual inputs, Clari focuses on the signals that actually move a deal forward.
Forecast Clarity
Clari replaces subjective roll-ups with structured signals based on historical patterns and current activity. Instead of debating whether a deal is on track, Clari shows whether its current behaviour aligns with the trajectory of past wins or losses.
Pipeline Inspection
Its inspection tools centralise pipeline data into a single place. You can see movement, stagnation, gaps and deal changes without chasing down spreadsheets or relying on anecdotal updates. Filters help you pinpoint risk clusters or identify regions where coverage is thinning.
Deal Activity Tracking
Clari uses signals such as email activity, meeting frequency and deal updates to assess momentum. This helps managers spot deals that look fine on paper but have gone quiet in practice.
Problems it solves
Many of the issues that slow down sales teams come from uncertainty: unclear forecasts, buried pipeline risks and inconsistent deal reviews. Clari helps reduce that uncertainty by replacing assumptions with observable data and giving teams a single view of what is really happening.
- Forecast Uncertainty: Teams often call numbers based on instinct. Clari reduces the guesswork by grounding forecasts in actual behavioural data, which stabilises conversations with leadership.
- Invisible Pipeline Risk: Risks tend to accumulate in stalled deals without anyone noticing. Clari captures these patterns, which helps teams intervene earlier.
- Lack of Consistency in Deal Reviews: Because everything is centralised, managers can standardise how they review deals and run team meetings that focus on actions rather than detective work.
My personal review
When I trialled Clari, the biggest shift was the reduction in manual effort. Instead of gathering updates from several people, I had a clear view of the entire pipeline in minutes. The forecast roll-up felt straightforward and removed the typical back-and-forth that happens when reps and managers disagree on commit numbers.
I also found the activity signals helpful. One of the deals looked healthy based on size and stage, but Clari flagged that engagement had been down for more than 2 weeks. That warning proved accurate, allowing us to adjust the forecast before it became a last-minute issue.
Clari is best suited for teams that want more control over their forecasting process and more transparency in day-to-day deal health. It is not a planning tool and does not touch capacity or headcount, but as a visibility and prediction layer, it is one of the more dependable platforms available.
3. Gong: The deal intelligence benchmar
Gong is widely used for its dependable Revenue Intelligence. It records, transcribes and analyses customer-facing interactions to help teams replicate top-performer behaviours and improve productivity at scale.
What it does best
Gong is good at surfacing the “why” behind sales outcomes. Its feature set is built to extract replicable patterns from successful interactions and flag risks in at-risk deals.
Topic Analysis
Gong tells you exactly what distinguishes a winning deal from a losing one. Does discussing pricing early help? Does mentioning a specific feature kill the deal? Gong quantifies this.
Market Insights
It aggregates data across thousands of calls to show you market trends. You can see whether a competitor’s name is coming up more frequently in conversations this month than last.
Deal Warnings
It looks at deal momentum and warns you if a prospect has gone silent or if you haven’t multi-threaded effectively (i.e., not enough decision-makers involved).
Problems it solves
Traditional sales management relies heavily on anecdotal evidence. Gong solves the visibility crisis by providing objective data on what is actually happening on the front lines.
- The “Black Box” of Sales: Before Gong, we knew when a deal was lost, but rarely why. Gong opens the black box, revealing the reality of the customer conversation.
- Undiagnosed Skill Gaps: Allows managers to filter calls by specific skills (e.g., “setting next steps”) to pinpoint exactly where a rep needs help.
- Onboarding Latency: New reps can listen to a playlist of “Best Negotiation Calls” from top performers, drastically shortening the learning curve.
My Personal Review
The power of Gong lies in its searchability, which I discovered when I wanted to know how the team was handling a new objection about a specific integration. I searched the term, and within seconds, I had a playlist of 20 snippets where reps discussed it. This allowed me to diagnose a messaging problem in 15 minutes that would have otherwise taken weeks of ride-alongs to spot.
4. Varicent: The motivation and incentive commander
Varicent tackles productivity from a motivational perspective. This Sales Performance Management (SPM) tool handles incentive compensation management (ICM), territory planning and quota management.
What it does best
Varicent specialises in the complex mathematics of motivation. It provides the infrastructure needed to turn complicated incentive structures into clear, driving forces for rep behaviour.
Transparent Incentive Compensation
It allows reps to view their potential payout in real time. They can see exactly how closing a specific deal will impact their paycheck, including accelerators and bonuses.
Territory Optimisation
Varicent helps leaders carve up territories based on market potential and workload balance, ensuring that no rep is starving while another is drowning in leads.
Complex Plan Management
It handles the heavy math of tiered commission structures, splits and clawbacks without the errors common in spreadsheet calculations.
Problems it solves
Commission disputes and administrative confusion are major productivity killers. Varicent solves the friction that distracts reps from their primary job of selling.
- Shadow Accounting: When reps don’t trust the comp plan, they spend hours maintaining their own “shadow spreadsheets” to track their pay. Varicent eliminates this time-waste by providing trusted transparency.
- Misaligned Behaviours: If your comp plan is too complex, reps ignore it. Varicent visualises the path to earnings and aligns rep behaviour with company strategy.
- Disputes and Errors: It drastically reduces the administrative burden of payroll disputes, thereby killing morale and wasting sales management time.
My Personal Review
Never underestimate how much time reps waste calculating their own commission. When I looked at Varicent, the “What-If” calculator for reps stood out. A rep can type in a deal size and see their commission jump. It gamifies the process and keeps the team focused on the revenue goal rather than administrative disputes, building trust that breeds speed.
5. Revenue.io: The real-time coaching assistant
Revenue.io (formerly RingDNA) focuses on the “during” phase of productivity. It offers an AI-powered platform that provides call insights, conversation analytics, and, crucially, real-time guidance to reps while they are on the phone
What it does best
This platform distinguishes itself by acting as a co-pilot during the call. Its strongest features centre on augmenting rep performance in the moment, rather than just reviewing it later.
Real-Time Guidance
This is the standout feature. If a prospect mentions a specific competitor or an objection, Revenue.io instantly displays a “battle card” or talking point on the rep’s screen.
Conversation Analytics
It breaks down talk-to-listen ratios, interruption rates and keyword usage, allowing managers to see exactly why top performers are winning.
Intelligent Dialling
Prioritises who to call and when based on engagement data, ensuring reps spend their energy on the most likely connections.
Problems it solves
Scaling a team often leads to diluted messaging and slow ramp-up periods. Revenue.io directly addresses the inefficiencies inherent in training and standardising rep behaviour.
- Long Ramp Times: New hires can get on the phones faster because the AI acts as a safety net, guiding them through complex conversations.
- Inconsistent Messaging: Ensure the value proposition is delivered consistently across the entire team, regardless of rep tenure.
- Missed Coaching Opportunities: Managers can’t listen to every call. Revenue.io flags the critical moments that require review, making coaching highly specific and efficient.
My Personal Review
The Real-Time Guidance feature improves productivity, which I tested by simulating a strenuous pricing objection. The moment I shared the keywords, a prompt appeared on the screen with the approved response script. It reduces reps’ cognitive load, allowing them to focus on listening rather than frantically searching for answers.
6. Salesmotion: Account-level signal intelligence for smarter outbound
Salesmotion focuses on a different side of sales productivity: helping reps understand which accounts matter right now and why. Instead of spending hours researching prospects across dozens of sources, Salesmotion continuously monitors accounts and surfaces relevant signals, context, and insights in one place.
I looked at Salesmotion less as a forecasting or pipeline tool and more as a productivity engine for outbound and account preparation. Its real value shows up before a deal even exists, when reps are trying to prioritise accounts, personalise outreach, and justify why they are reaching out now rather than later.
What it does best
Salesmotion is strongest when used as a daily research and preparation layer. It removes the manual work that usually sits between account lists and meaningful outreach, and replaces it with structured, timely intelligence that reps can act on quickly.
Automated account research
Salesmotion tracks accounts 24/7 across news, earnings, hiring, press, podcasts, filings, and other public signals. Instead of static enrichment, it continuously updates accounts as things change, which helps reps focus on organisations that are actively shifting or facing new priorities.
Account briefs and context
The platform generates concise executive summaries, SWOTs, and account briefs tied directly to live signals. This gives reps a fast way to understand what is happening inside a business without reading long articles or stitching information together manually.
Signal-driven prospecting
Salesmotion connects external signals to your product’s value propositions. Reps can see not just what happened at an account, but how that event could create a reason to engage. This shortens the jump from insight to outbound and improves relevance without heavy copywriting effort.
Problems it solves
A lot of productivity loss in sales comes from poor prioritisation and shallow context rather than lack of effort. Salesmotion addresses that gap by making relevance easier to achieve at scale.
Low-quality outbound: Reps often reach out with generic messaging because deep research is time-consuming. Salesmotion lowers the cost of personalisation by doing the research automatically.
Missed buying signals: Important account changes often go unnoticed until it is too late. Salesmotion surfaces these shifts early so teams can act while timing is still favourable.
Research overload: Sales teams frequently juggle multiple tools and tabs just to understand one account. Salesmotion consolidates this work into a single workflow, saving time and mental effort.
My personal review
When testing Salesmotion, the biggest benefit was speed. Preparing for an account conversation that would normally take 30–60 minutes was reduced to a few minutes. The briefs were not just summaries, but usable context that made it easier to frame a relevant conversation.
I also found it useful beyond prospecting. For existing accounts, having a live view of what was happening in a customer’s business made check-ins and renewal conversations feel more grounded and proactive.
Salesmotion is best suited for teams that rely heavily on outbound, strategic account selling, or high-quality discovery. It is not a forecasting or capacity planning tool, but as an intelligence layer that feeds better decisions and conversations, it meaningfully improves how sales teams spend their time.
If you want this snapped exactly to the rest of the article (heading levels, spacing, numbering), say which section number Salesmotion should be and I’ll slot it in cleanly.
7. ChatFin: AI agent support for finance operations
ChatFin approaches finance productivity from an execution and operations perspective. It is an AI-powered finance operations platform built to automate and optimise core accounting, finance, and analytics workflows for teams operating at scale.
What it does best
ChatFin brings AI agents directly into finance workflows, enabling teams to move from data to action without manual effort. Instead of insights sitting in reports, ChatFin embeds intelligence into reconciliation, close, analytics, and daily finance operations.
Automated Reconciliation
ChatFin automates transaction matching across bank statements, ledgers, ERPs, and data warehouses. This reduces manual reconciliation effort while improving accuracy, audit readiness, and confidence in the numbers.
Faster Month-End Close
By continuously processing transactions and identifying variances early, ChatFin accelerates the month-end close and reduces last-minute manual adjustments that typically slow finance teams down.
Document Processing and Validation
ChatFin extracts and validates data from invoices, receipts, remittances, and other financial documents. This removes manual data entry and speeds up downstream accounting and reporting workflows.
Finance Analytics and Forecasting
The platform provides AI-driven analytics for real-time performance tracking, trend analysis, and variance analysis. It also supports forecasting and planning by identifying patterns in historical financial data.
Workflow Automation and Anomaly Detection
ChatFin automates repetitive finance tasks, including approvals, validations, reporting, and operational checks. It continuously monitors data to detect anomalies, exceptions, and risks before they impact reporting or compliance.
Shared AI Agents
Finance teams can share AI agents across departments to collaborate on reconciliations, analysis, and operational workflows, reducing silos between Controllers, FP&A, and accounting teams.
Problems it solves
Manual reconciliations, slow closes, fragmented data, and late risk detection are major blockers for finance productivity. ChatFin removes these friction points by embedding automation, intelligence, and controls directly into daily finance operations.
- Manual Workload: Repetitive tasks and spreadsheet-based processes consume time and increase error risk. ChatFin automates these workflows end-to-end.
- Late Visibility: Issues often surface only at close. ChatFin provides continuous processing and early variance detection.
- Disconnected Systems: Finance data lives across multiple tools. ChatFin works on top of existing systems without replacing them.
- Operational Risk: Anomalies and exceptions go unnoticed. ChatFin identifies them early with explainable logic and audit trails.
My personal review
ChatFin stands out because it focuses on where finance teams actually spend time. Instead of adding another dashboard, it embeds AI into reconciliations, documents, workflows, and analytics. The ability to ask questions in natural language, automate operational checks, and collaborate through shared AI agents makes it practical for real finance teams, not just data teams. It is built for Controllers and FP&A leaders who want scale, accuracy, and speed without adding headcount.
8. SiftHub: The AI knowledge discovery and content engine
SiftHub transforms sales productivity by acting as an AI teammate that works directly within your existing workflow. Unlike traditional tools that operate in silos, SiftHub is an AI-driven knowledge discovery and content generation platform that centralizes information access across the enterprise.
It excels at giving reps instant access to accurate, personalized responses, whether they are drafting in Google Docs, Excel, Slack, or their CRM, without ever needing to switch tabs.
What it does best
SiftHub is designed to eliminate the “knowledge hunt.” Its feature set focuses on cutting through organizational silos to deliver instant answers and generate deal-ready content.
Instant Response Generation with Enterprise Search
SiftHub’s unified semantic search connects to over 150 data sources (including Google Drive, SharePoint, Slack, Confluence, and Salesforce). It uses Intelligent Query Processing to pull relevant information in real time, meaning reps can answer buyer questions on the spot without the typical “I’ll get back to you” delays that stall deals.
AI-Powered Content Creation
Whether you need battle cards, pitch decks, or complex RFP responses, SiftHub generates personalized collateral instantly using AI-powered content assembly. It can auto-fill RFPs with pre-approved language, saving hours per project while ensuring every response is consistent, compliant, and on-brand.
Native Workflow Integration
Crucially, SiftHub works where your reps work. Instead of forcing teams to learn a new destination site, it integrates directly into Microsoft Office, Google Workspace, Slack, and Teams. This eliminates the productivity drain of context-switching and ensures adoption happens naturally.
Problems it solves
SiftHub addresses the core inefficiencies that plague sales organisations, particularly as teams face pressure to do more with smaller headcounts.
- Knowledge Fragmentation: Sales teams often waste hours hunting for information across disconnected systems. SiftHub provides a single point of access to all organisational knowledge, using AI that understands context to surface the right answer instantly.
- Manual Content Creation: Traditional proposal and RFP processes are manual and error-prone. SiftHub automates these workflows, replacing “copy-paste” drudgery with intelligent automation that maintains brand guidelines.
- Slow Rep Ramp-Up: New hires typically take months to become productive because they lack institutional knowledge. SiftHub gives them immediate access to the same knowledge base as top performers, dramatically reducing time-to-productivity.
My Personal Review
What impressed me most about SiftHub was how quickly it delivered measurable value. Unlike complex platforms that require weeks of setup, teams often report productivity gains within the first week.
During my evaluation, I tested the Microsoft Excel add-in for RFP responses. I was able to auto-fill a complex questionnaire in minutes rather than hours. The responses were accurate, well-sourced, and required minimal editing, a stark contrast to starting from scratch.
SiftHub stands out because it doesn’t just automate tasks; it creates a flywheel effect where the platform learns from your best responses, ensuring your productivity gains compound over time.
9. Spiky.ai: Real-time execution and sales behaviour intelligence
Spiky.ai focuses on a different layer of sales productivity: what actually happens inside meetings and how consistently teams execute their playbook in real time. Beyond forecasting outcomes or summarising pipeline after the fact, Spiky is built to identify winning behaviours as they happen and help teams replicate them across the organisation.
I looked at Spiky through the lens of day-to-day execution rather than post-call analysis, and that’s where it stands out. It analyses conversations for insight; actively guiding reps during live calls, helping them adjust pace, tone, objection handling, and qualification in the moment.
What it does best
Spiky’s strengths become clear once it’s embedded into live sales motion. The platform is designed to close the gap between knowing what good looks like and actually doing it consistently. Forget passive call recordings and lagging metrics, Spiky focuses on immediate behavioural feedback and structured execution.
Real-Time Call Coaching
Spiky provides live feedback during sales calls, tracking talking speed, talk ratio, tone and momentum. Reps can see whether they are dominating the conversation, rushing objections or missing key qualification moments, and adjust on the fly rather than learning weeks later in a coaching session.Playbook and Methodology Execution
The platform actively supports methodologies like MEDDPICC by tracking whether critical topics are being covered. Spiky highlights skipped areas such as budget, authority or legal considerations and prompts reps to course-correct, turning playbooks from static frameworks into live guides.Deal-Level Behaviour Visibility
Spiky connects meeting behaviour directly to deal progression. You can see how consistently a deal is being qualified, where conversations stall, and which actions are still outstanding. This gives managers a concrete view of execution quality, not just stage or value.Behaviour-Based Coaching and Scaling
By analysing top performers, Spiky identifies the behaviours that actually drive wins and recommends them across the team. Coaching becomes specific and actionable, focused on what to practice, what to repeat and where skill gaps are holding deals back.Problems it solves
Many sales teams struggle not because they lack frameworks or data, but because execution breaks down inside conversations. Spiky addresses this by making behaviour visible, measurable and coachable in real time.
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Inconsistent Playbook Adoption: Teams may agree on a methodology, but reps execute it unevenly. Spiky surfaces where steps are skipped and reinforces consistent execution.
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Delayed Coaching Feedback: Traditional call reviews happen too late to influence outcomes. Spiky delivers guidance during the call, when it still matters.
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Hidden Skill Gaps: Managers often struggle to diagnose why deals stall. Spiky links deal risk to specific conversational behaviours, making coaching more precise.
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Manager Bandwidth Constraints: Reviewing hundreds of calls manually is unrealistic. Spiky automates insight extraction, allowing leaders to focus on targeted intervention.
My personal review
What stood out most when evaluating Spiky was how little it relies on hindsight. I regrettably often analyse why a deal failed after the fact, and Spiky actively helps prevent mistakes as the conversation unfolds. That shift alone changes how reps engage with coaching. It feels supportive rather than punitive (with punishment often being the fate of “lagging” reps).
I was particularly impressed by how clearly Spiky ties behaviour to outcomes. Seeing patterns like missed budget conversations or weak objection handling mapped directly to deal risk makes coaching conversations faster and far more productive.
Spiky is best suited for teams that already have a defined sales motion but struggle to execute consistently at scale. It’s not a forecasting or capacity planning tool, but as a real-time execution and behaviour intelligence layer, it fills a gap most revenue stacks leave wide open.
Who is the MVP of the 2025 Tech Stack?
I’ve spent a lot of time testing the market leaders, and they all play a vital role in a modern RevOps ecosystem. Gong dominates conversation intelligence; Varicent masters compensation. But if you ask me which platform is the absolute necessity for efficient growth in 2025, Lative takes the top spot.
Here is the reality: You can coach a rep to perfection with Revenue.io, but if your underlying capacity model is broken (if you haven’t calculated the actual horsepower required to hit your target), you are just running faster in the wrong direction.
Lative is the best tool in this lineup because it solves the root cause of failure, not just the symptoms.
While the other tools help you execute, Lative ensures the plan you are executing is actually achievable. It connects the dots among Sales, Finance and HR in a way no other platform does, serving as the central nervous system for your revenue strategy. If you want to survive the efficiency mandates of 2025, you don’t just need better calls; you need a better model. Lative delivers that.