AI in sales: a complete guide

What is AI in sales?

AI leverages sophisticated sales software like CRM software to analyze a large data bank, predicting customer behavior, prioritizing leads, and even suggesting the perfect pitch, allowing sales teams to streamline processes and maximize conversions.

AI isn't here to replace salespeople, but rather to support them with the tools to become strategic. Here’s how:

• Rising Support: A recent study about the state of AI found that 14% of organizations are using AI for sales and marketing and have seen a widespread difference in their lead generation and conversion rates (McKinsey). 

• Revenue Boost: Companies that have deployed AI in sales see a potential revenue increase of 5-15% alongside cost reductions of 10-20% (ZipDo). This translates to a significant financial advantage for businesses that embrace AI.

• Power of Prediction: McKinsey highlights that AI can analyze vast amounts of data to identify buying patterns and potential customers. This allows for better sales forecasting and pinpointing high-value leads, giving salespeople a significant edge.

Why is using artificial intelligence in sales beneficial?

1. Automatically spot high-converting leads

Eliminate the time-consuming task of lead sorting and focus your efforts on nurturing qualified prospects with high purchase intent. By analyzing customer data and interactions, AI prioritizes hot leads and even helps you personalize pitches to seal the deal. This frees up your sales team to form genuine connections, build trust, and close deals faster.

2. Understanding customer behavior

AI arms your sales team with the power of personalization. Proactive product recommendations based on browsing behavior and purchase history can significantly improve customer experience and drive sales. AI chatbots can handle sales inquiries 24/7, offering instant support and deflecting simple questions, allowing your team to focus on bonding with qualified leads, and providing a smoother, more relevant experience.

3. Showcase data-driven insights

Predictive analytics powered by AI can provide valuable insights into your sales pipeline, enabling data-driven decisions and improved forecasting. By analyzing customer data, including past purchases, website behavior, and even social media interactions, AI uncovers hidden patterns and predicts leads ready to convert. For example, an AI system might identify a trend where customers who viewed a specific product video on Tuesdays were much more likely to make a purchase within the next 48 hours. Your team can prioritize contacting those Tuesday viewers, closing the gap between “just browsing” to “best buy”.

4. Real-time decision making

During a critical sales meeting, your salesperson encounters a client's objection. Traditionally, relying on gut instinct or generic talking points would probably derail the deal, but with AI-powered sales enablement, real-time decision-making happens in seconds. By analyzing customer sentiment during the conversation, AI recognizes buying signals, then instantly suggests relevant sales collateral, competitor comparisons, or even proposes customized discounts. Now you can react in the moment, addressing customer needs with 100% focus and inch closer to dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s.

5. Boost your B2B sales

Because AI identifies ideal buyer profiles, sales teams can focus their energy on high-potential B2B leads, dramatically increasing their odds of closing. For instance, an AI tool might analyze a prospect's website traffic and social media activity to determine their level of interest in a specific product. Now, salespeople can tailor their outreach and approach leads with the most relevant information.

6. Personalization where it matters

Eliminate subjectivity in sales interactions. Leverage AI-powered personalization to deliver relevant messaging and enhance customer engagement. AI studies your prospect's online behavior to understand their specific needs and challenges. With this knowledge, AI can craft targeted messaging, recommend relevant solutions, and even suggest the ideal communication channel, all designed to resonate with the customer all the way to checkout.

7. Sync up sales and marketing 

We can all agree that siloed data and conflicting messages are sales and marketing's worst enemies. AI can step in as the ultimate bridge builder here. AI can analyze customer interactions across marketing campaigns and track their journey through the sales funnel. This shared intelligence allows marketing to tailor campaigns to nurture leads that sales have identified as high-potential, and sales reps can personalize their approach based on a customer's marketing touchpoints.

8. Increased sales productivity

Empower your sales team to prioritize high-potential leads with automated qualification and intelligent scheduling, maximizing conversion rates and driving sales growth. AI in action can increase sales productivity significantly with just a press of a button. AI sorts through data for you and points to close-worthy leads, allowing your sales team to hang up the cold-calling marathon and focus their energy on high-potential opportunities.

Will AI ever fully replace salespeople?

Wondering if AI will automate your sales team out of the game? Unlikely. While AI is a powerful tool, it isn't a replacement for your sales team; it's here to augment their capabilities. Imagine AI as your tireless research assistant, uncovering hidden customer needs and preparing you for every conversation. This frees you up to unleash your highest potential– building rapport, navigating objections, and sealing the deal with a handshake.

Use cases for AI in sales

1. Pro-level sales forecasting

AI injects a powerful dose of data-driven precision into sales forecasting in a few key ways:

• Unveiling Hidden Patterns:  AI identifies hidden patterns in customer interactions and even external market trends that humans might miss. For example, AI might discover a link between a specific customer profile and a higher likelihood of closing deals during a certain time of year.

• Real-Time Adjustments:  The beauty of AI is its ability to adapt.  It can continuously analyze new data and adjust sales forecasts in real time. Now you can react quickly to market fluctuations, unforeseen challenges, or unexpected sales surges, keeping your forecasts on point.

• Predictive Analytics: AI can delve into complex data to predict future sales trends. It can analyze customer buying patterns, identify potential roadblocks, and even forecast the impact of marketing campaigns or product launches. 

2. Insights that take action

AI excels at transforming data insights into actionable items for sales teams. Here’s how:

• Prioritization and Lead Scoring:  AI can analyze a multitude of data points about leads, including demographics. Instead of wasting time on lukewarm leads, they can focus on the "hot" ones most likely to convert.

• Personalized Communication and Content: AI can analyze customer data to understand individual needs and preferences. Imagine sending personalized emails with product suggestions that press on a customer's pain points, rather than mass marketing blasts. 

• On-the-Spot Recommendations: AI can act as a virtual coach, analyzing sales calls and interactions to identify areas for improvement. It provides real-time recommendations, suggesting next steps based on customer sentiment. 

3. Chatbots that supercharge service

• 24/7 Availability: Unlike human reps, chatbots don’t sleep. This means potential customers can get answers and start conversations anytime. Excited about a potential trip? An AI chatbot can answer your questions about destinations or deals right then, keeping the sales momentum going.

• Lead Qualification & Nurturing: Chatbots can engage with website visitors, asking qualifying questions to understand their needs and interests. For instance, a clothing store chatbot could ask about your size and style before suggesting specific products.

• Personalized Support: Chatbots leverage customer data to personalize interactions, remembering past purchases or preferences like a pro. Think about a chatbot on your bank's website that remembers your frequent menu visits and helps you navigate tasks like bill payments quickly.

4. Eagle-eye sales calls and metrics

• Improved Win Rates: Companies leveraging AI-powered call coaching can see win rates increase by up to 10-15%. AI analyzes call recordings to pinpoint strengths and weaknesses in a rep's approach (Vantage Point).

• Reduced Coaching Time: AI can even automate 70% of sales coaching tasks (Gong.io), freeing up managers' time for more strategic coaching and mentoring.

• Data-Driven Insights: AI looks at call data points like conversation sentiment and question pacing, sewing together correlating pieces that go into a successful call. 

5. Prioritize next steps

Analyzing a wealth of data that suggests the most effective course of action is hard work. Here's where AI taps in:

• Real-time Conversation Analysis: By picking up on keywords, sentiment, and the flow of the conversation, it can identify key moments and suggest next steps tailored to the specific situation. Imagine a salesperson encountering an objection during a call.

• Historical Data: By tracing patterns in winning conversations, it can recommend next steps with a high likelihood of success. For instance, if AI recognizes a customer expressing interest in a particular product feature, it might suggest an add-on service.

• Predictive Analytics: Based on a current reading of your sales cycle and buying behavior data, it can suggest the most likely next step to move the deal forward. This could be anything from scheduling a demo to proposing a specific discount offer.

6. Generate sales emails automatically

AI does more than just generate emails and subject lines in a snap, it personalizes them for the most inbox impact. Learn how it delivers:

• Dynamic Subject Lines: AI uses historical email performance data to understand what subject lines get the most opens. This could be as simple as using strong verbs, personalization elements, a sense of urgency, or intriguing questions.

• Content & Tone Optimization: AI analyzes successful sales emails in your company's database to identify patterns and effective writing styles. Knowing the recipient's go-to communication style (formal vs informal) AI can adjust the email tone to create a more natural and engaging experience.

• A/B Testing: AI automates A/B testing of different email variations, including subject lines and content snippets. This allows you to see which versions perform better and enlightens a more refined email strategy going forward.

7. Master lead generation and management

• Fine Tuned Focus: AI can qualify leads 50% faster by analyzing data points and prioritizing those most likely to convert. Crazy to think you could be cutting your lead qualification time in half. (Marketo)

• 24/7 Lead Gen Machine:  AI-powered chatbots can capture leads around the clock, even outside business hours. Studies show that companies with chatbots see a 30% increase in lead generation. (Drift)

• Predictive Powerplayer: AI can analyze customer behavior and predict buying signals with up to 70% accuracy. Warmed up leads mean quicker sales cycle cook times. (Forbes)

8. Take the pressure off tracking competitors 

AI in sales permits you to stop keeping tabs on your competition and lets you focus on artfully routing your prospects in your direction instead. Here’s how AI leads the way:

• Digital Footprint Monitoring: AI can continuously monitor your competitors' online presence, scouring websites, social media, and news articles — tracking changes in product offerings, pricing strategies, and more for your benefit.

• Competitive Battlecards: AI can generate comprehensive "battlecards" that provide salespeople with a quick snapshot of your competitors' strengths, weaknesses, and key differentiators, so you can better highlight why you're the superior choice.

• Social Listening & Sentiment Analysis:  AI can analyze social media conversations to understand customer sentiment towards your competitors. Imagine seeing a customer complaint about a competitor's product, and then using that to emphasize how your solution shines brighter.

Tools and software for AI in sales

1. Freshsales 

Freshsales is an AI-enhanced, cloud-based CRM software that helps businesses manage customer relationships across the lifecycle with a modern, easy-to-use solution with multichannel engagement. Freshsales’ Freddy AI, its AI-powered assistant, offers features such as predictive contact scoring, personalized email engagement, and deal insights with the next best actions to help sales teams prioritize leads, streamline processes, and improve sales efficiency.

Freddy AI is available from the Freshsales Pro Plan at no additional cost helping businesses generate impactful emails, gain valuable sales insights, and project revenue without worrying about high costs. 

Key features include contact management, lead scoring, email tracking, built-in phone, multichannel engagement, workflow automation, reporting and analytics.

Freshsales offers a free plan for up to 3 users. Paid plans start at around $9 per user per month.

2. Salesforce 

Salesforce is a cloud-based CRM platform that uses AI to help businesses manage all aspects of customer relationships. Salesforce Sales Cloud incorporates several AI features to enhance sales efficiency and effectiveness, including Einstein Lead Scoring, Opportunity Insights, Activity Capture, Predictive Forecasting, and Email Intelligence, enabling personalized engagement, predictive analytics, automated data capture, and sales performance optimization. However, cost for AI plays a major deciding factor here. Salesforce offers advanced AI capabilities but keeps them hidden behind the Einstein add-on available only for the higher plans. Generative AI capabilities like sales emails are restricted to the higher plans starting at $165/user/month, limiting access for smaller teams on basic plans.

Key features include contact and account management, opportunity tracking, lead management, sales collaboration, analytics and reporting, forecasting, mobile sales, integration capabilities, and workflow automation

Basic plans typically start around $25 per user per month.

3. Pipedrive

Pipedrive is a visual sales CRM software, designed specifically for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), that employs AI for efficient lead tracking and sales process management. It offers a clear view of sales activities and emphasizes ease of use. Pipedrive’s AI Sales Assistant identifies duplicates, recommends insights on deals, and suggests the next best action. However, its chatbot and live-chat capabilities are restricted behind a paywall. Without AI-powered contact scoring, identifying and prioritizing high-intent leads for outreach becomes a guessing game.

Key AI features include sales pipeline management, lead scoring, activity management, and email integration. 

They offer a free 14-day trial, with paid plans starting around $9.90/user/month.

4. Zoho CRM 

Zoho is a comprehensive, AI-integrated, cloud-based CRM platform catering to businesses of all sizes. ZIA is the AI component of Zoho CRM. It uses machine learning to provide sales insights, detect anomalies, suggest workflows, and automate tasks such as emails and call scheduling. ZIA can predict deal closures and suggest optimal times to contact prospects, enhancing efficiency and customer engagement.

Key features include contact management, sales automation, workflow automation, email integration, reporting, mobile access, and extensive third-party integrations.

They offer a free plan for up to 3 users, with paid plans starting around $14/user/month.

5. Monday Sales CRM 

Monday is a visually appealing, customizable CRM software that uses AI to streamline sales activities and manage customer relationships. It offers a board-based interface with drag-and-drop functionality, enabling teams to easily track leads, deals, and communication in one centralized location. 

The platform has recently introduced Monday AI (Beta) which extends basic AI capabilities like email composing and call transcript summaries. However, Monday AI is still in its infancy and lacks the capabilities to provide in-depth insights that can deliver a significant impact. 

Key features include sales pipeline management, lead capture, automation, and integrations. Monday's user-friendly interface, customizability, and collaboration features make it stand out. 

They offer a free plan with limited features, while paid plans start around $12/user/month.

The future of AI in sales

The future of AI in sales is nothing short of revolutionary. Sales teams can expect AI to evolve from a helpful sidekick into a strategic partner, anticipating customer needs, predicting buying behavior with uncanny accuracy, and even crafting personalized pitches that resonate on a deeper level.  Imagine a world where AI coaches you in real-time during calls, whispers customized responses in your ear and identifies the exact moment to close the deal.

Get ready to embrace a future where AI unearths hidden sales opportunities, automates tedious tasks, and empowers you to become a hyper-focused sales expert. The future of sales is intelligent, automated, and undeniably exciting.