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Chris Coleman

Senior Enterprise Sales Practitioner · CloserBrief Contributor

Writes about prospect intelligence, AI sales tools, and what actually works in enterprise outbound — based on time in the field, not theory. Focused on helping reps call the right accounts with the right preparation.

14 articles

Sales Strategy

Buying Signals in B2B Sales: How to Find Them Before Your Competitors Do

Buying signals are the public evidence of a private buying cycle. Learn the 14 categories enterprise sales teams monitor, which signals carry the most weight, and how to act on them before a competitor gets there first.

15 April 2026·8 min read
Sales Productivity

Automated Prospect Research: Why Top Sales Teams Stopped Googling

Manual prospect research is costing your team more than you think — in time, consistency, and deals lost to better-prepared competitors. Here's how automated prospect research works and why the best enterprise sales teams have made it non-negotiable.

11 April 2026·7 min read
Sales Strategy

How to Research a Prospect Before a Sales Call: The Framework That Actually Works

Most pre-call research is either too shallow to matter or too time-consuming to scale. This five-layer framework gives enterprise sales reps the exact intelligence they need — in under 20 minutes — to open calls with authority.

10 April 2026·8 min read
Tools & Comparisons

5 Best ZoomInfo Alternatives for Small Sales Teams in 2026

ZoomInfo's $50K+/year pricing was never built for small teams. Here are the five best alternatives — Apollo, Cognism, Lusha, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, and CloserBrief — with honest assessments of what each one actually does well.

8 April 2026·10 min read
Sales Productivity

Sales Reps Spend 64% of Their Time Not Selling — Here's How to Fix It

Enterprise sales reps are selling for less than four hours a day. The rest goes to research, admin, and meetings that don't move deals. This isn't a rep problem — it's a process problem, and it has a specific solution.

5 April 2026·7 min read
Tools & Comparisons

AI Sales Intelligence Tools: The 2026 Buyer's Guide

The AI sales intelligence market has split into five distinct categories, and most buying decisions fail because teams pick tools from the wrong one. This guide breaks down what each category actually does — and where the real gaps are.

3 April 2026·9 min read
Sales Strategy

Prospect Scoring: Most Teams Are Doing It Wrong

Prospect scoring ranks outbound target accounts by fit, intent, timing, and deal alignment — not engagement metrics. Learn the five-dimension framework that tells reps which accounts to call first and why.

1 April 2026·7 min read
Sales Strategy

Cold Calling in Enterprise Sales: 7 Principles That Actually Work in 2026

Cold calling isn't dead — underprepared cold calling is. Here's how enterprise sales reps are using research-backed outreach to book meetings with accounts that matter, without burning through lists or burning out their teams.

28 March 2026·8 min read
Sales Strategy

Sales Enablement vs Sales Intelligence: Two Different Problems, Two Different Tools

Sales enablement trains reps to close better. Sales intelligence tells them who to call and when. Buying the wrong one for your bottleneck is an expensive mistake. Here's how to tell them apart and which to prioritise.

25 March 2026·6 min read
Tools & Comparisons

Apollo.io vs ZoomInfo: An Honest Comparison for 2026

Apollo and ZoomInfo are the two most compared B2B data platforms, but most head-to-head reviews miss the point. Here's an honest breakdown of what each one actually does well, where each one falls short, and why a third category of tool is increasingly relevant for enterprise AEs.

22 March 2026·10 min read
Tools & Comparisons

CloserBrief vs ZoomInfo: Data Platform or Intelligence Brief?

ZoomInfo is the industry standard for B2B contact data. CloserBrief delivers scored pre-call intelligence briefs. Here's an honest breakdown of which tool belongs in your sales stack — and why many enterprise teams use both.

12 April 2026·8 min read
Tools & Comparisons

CloserBrief vs Apollo.io: Intelligence Brief vs Contact Database

Apollo.io is a powerful contact database and outreach platform at an accessible price. CloserBrief delivers scored pre-call intelligence briefs for enterprise reps. Here's an honest comparison of which tool belongs in your stack.

12 April 2026·8 min read
Tools & Comparisons

CloserBrief vs Cognism: Compliance-First Data vs Research-First Intelligence

Cognism is the leading GDPR-compliant B2B contact database for European sales teams. CloserBrief delivers scored pre-call intelligence briefs. Here's how the two tools compare — and when it makes sense to use both.

12 April 2026·7 min read
Sales Strategy

What Is Prospect Intelligence? (And Why Contact Data Isn't the Same Thing)

Prospect intelligence transforms raw company data into scored, actionable pre-call briefs. Here's exactly what it covers, how it differs from contact databases like ZoomInfo and Apollo, and who gets the most value from it.

13 April 2026·8 min read