Are your sales staff drowning in calls, admin, and manual tasks? It’s time to embrace AI. A recent study by McKinsey shows that a fifth of current sales team functions could be automated.
In this article, we’ll show you:
- What AI sales tools are and how you can use them to grow your revenue
- The best features to look for in AI sales tools
- The top 10 AI sales tools available right now
Plus, you won’t want to miss our three pro tips to optimize your sales process with AI tools.
What are AI sales tools?
Artificial intelligence (AI) sales tools are smart software designed to supercharge your sales efforts. They analyze data, predict trends, and automate routine tasks. Your sales staff can prioritize chasing qualified leads, personalizing their pitches, and having meaningful conversations. They’re the secret sauce for sales success in the digital age.
AI sales tools help you save time and increase your revenue. Here are just a few things AI tools can do:
- Chatbots: AI-driven chatbots can engage website visitors, answer queries, and guide potential customers to buying decisions.
- Predictive analytics: Analyze data to forecast sales trends, helping small business owners make informed decisions.
- CRM automation: Streamlines customer relationship management by automating tasks like data entry, lead scoring, and follow-ups.
- Personalization: AI tailors marketing messages and product recommendations based on customer behavior and preferences.
- Sales forecasting: Predicts future sales performance, helping you in inventory management and business planning.
- Email marketing automation: Automated email campaigns, segmenting audiences, and sending targeted messages.
- Voice assistants: Helps sales teams with hands-free access to information, making it easier to stay organized and manage tasks efficiently.
- Lead scoring: Ranks leads based on their likelihood to convert, prioritizing focus on high-value prospects.
- Actionable AI-driven insights: Analyzes large datasets to uncover patterns, providing valuable insights for strategic decision-making.
- Time savings: Automating mundane tasks frees time to focus on core operations and customer interactions.
How to use AI sales tools to grow your revenue
With these features in mind, how can AI sales tools help you make measurable improvements to your bottom line?
1. They sort your leads
This helps you focus on the ones likely to bring in more business.
2. They make your marketing personal
Use AI to craft your marketing message, so it’s like talking directly to each customer.
3. They help you get organized
When your data gets hectic, let AI tools tidy up your customer info.
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4. They automate repetitive tasks
AI tools like Motion, can automate and auto-schedule your recurring tasks making everything smoother.
5. They auto-schedule meetings
AI tools, like Motion, can find the best available time for all attendees and schedule meetings.
6. They see into the future
Keep an eye on what's selling well with AI sales forecasts, so you're always prepared.
7. They automate the customer buying process
Chatbots on your website can answer questions instantly, making customers happy.
So, what features should your AI tools have to make a real impact in your sales team?
Top 5 features to look for when choosing AI sales tools for your business
When selecting AI sales tools for your business, specific features can significantly impact your sales effectiveness and customer engagement. Here are the top five crucial features to consider:
- Look for AI tools that specialize in creating personalized content and messaging. These tools analyze customer data to tailor communications, which helps your outreach resonate with individual prospects. Personalization enhances engagement, leading to higher conversion rates and makes converting customers that much easier.
- Opt for AI tools that act as virtual assistants for your sales team. These assistants can automate routine tasks, such as scheduling meetings, sending follow-up emails, and organizing your team's daily schedule. By handling these administrative tasks, your sales team can focus more on building relationships and closing deals.
- Choose AI tools that onboard new customers. These tools can provide automated onboarding processes, offering guidance, tutorials, and support to new clients.
- Look for AI tools that provide personalized training modules or resources for your sales team. These tools use AI-driven algorithms to assess individual skill gaps and offer tailored training materials, tutorials, or coaching sessions. Personalized training improves the effectiveness of your sales team, ensuring they have the necessary skills and knowledge to excel in their roles.
- Opt for AI tools that excel in lead identification and qualification. These tools use machine learning algorithms to sift through vast amounts of data, identifying potential leads based on predetermined criteria. They can also qualify these leads by analyzing behaviors, demographics, and interactions, helping your sales team focus on high-potential prospects.
Top 10 AI sales tools of 2024
With the above features in mind, let’s deep dive into the top solutions available in the market right now. Pricing is available on each tool’s website.
1. Motion
Motion is a helpful tool designed to boost your team's productivity. It simplifies the management of calendars, meetings, projects, and tasks, and can be specifically tailored for your sales team. By integrating automation and AI, Motion streamlines your schedule, plans meetings, and creates task lists that suit various team roles.
Stand-out features:
- Create and schedule tasks with Motion + Siri
- Sync your calendar for easy daily schedule management
- Use Motion's automated task manager to generate to-do lists for entire sales teams
- Auto-schedule meetings with prospects using Motion's meeting assistant
Best used for:
- Sales teams with recurring tasks looking to organize their time better
- Those who want to optimize their daily schedule automatically
2. Apollo
While Motion is your partner in all things scheduling, Apollo stands out as a sales intelligence powerhouse. It boasts an extensive database featuring over 60 million companies and a whopping 260 million contacts. This platform isn't just about accessing information on potential customers; it's a comprehensive sales solution that empowers sales teams to seamlessly find, call, email, and close deals with their ideal customers—all within a unified space.
Stand-out features:
- Access a vast database with details on 60 million companies and 260 million contacts
- Create hyper-personalized emails for your prospects without typing a single word
- Convert better with AI-powered replies
- Build automated AI-run sales plays that target your prospects’ need
3. Gong
Gong is a revenue intelligence solution giving you real-time valuable insights with contextual analysis of your sales conversations.
Stand-out features:
- Conversation intelligence — Gong analyzes sales dialogues for strategic insights in real-time to help your sales staff convert better in their interactions
- AI-powered coaching — Based on client data and sales staff performance, Gong gives your team personalized training so you don’t have to
- Revenue insights — see your deal health and where your leads are at in the sales funnel to make targeted selling simple
4. Sailes
Sailes AI allows you to automate all of your prospecting with intelligent Sailebots. Simply train your bots, deploy them for all of your research and discovery, for signals you can action in real time.
Stand-out features:
- Adaptive learning — Sailebots evolve with your interactions for more precise insights to help you sell more in the moment
- Natural language processing means Saile can understand and interpret complex sales conversations accurately while also pulling data from the research of thousands of other bots
- Automate all of your prospecting so your sales team can focus on what matters most — sales calls.
5. Drift
Drift uses AI to manage your marketing with chatbots that engage visitors in real-time. It qualifies leads and sparks personalized conversations, boosting engagement and driving conversions through natural interactions that use your leads' own words to sell to them.
Stand-out features:
- Real-time conversations — Drift engages visitors instantly with live chat and AI-powered bots to reduce your call volume while increasing sales conversions
- Lead qualification — Drift moves your leads through your sales pipelines by identifying and prioritizing high-value qualified leads through automated processes
- Personalized interactions — Deliver tailored conversations based on real insights for better engagement and happier clients
6. Exceed
Exceed AI automates follow-ups, nurtures leads, and schedules meetings automatically. Crafted for productivity, it personalizes outreach, helping sales teams boost their conversions without the manual call admin.
Stand-out features:
- Automated follow-ups—Exceed streamlines and automates follow-up communication for leads and prospects so your sales team doesn't have to. No missed leads here!
- Personalized outreach—craft tailored messages based on previous interaction, improving engagement and building lasting client relationships
- Seamless meeting scheduling—effortlessly schedule meetings with prospects to speed up sales team efficiency and productivity. No more emailing back and forth.
7. Clari
Clari utilizes AI to decode data, predict outcomes, and provide more actionable insights. It's the secret weapon to elevate your sales strategies and drive success without the fluff and mundane tasks.
Stand-out features:
- Complete funnel oversight — See and predict the entire client lifecycle from capture to conversion
- Predictive analytics — Forecast sales outcomes and trends based on data analysis in real time that you can trust
- Opportunity management — Streamline your sales processes by prioritizing and managing opportunities based on potential revenue and scoring
8. People
People.ai's SalesAI automates tasks, analyzes account health, and offers tailored coaching insights.
Stand-out features:
- Account and deal analysis — Examine account and deal health for informed decisions mid-call
- Coaching recommendations — People.ai provides personalized tips during interactions to help your sales staff convert faster
- Better lead qualification — Better qualify deals and uncover the best next steps to sell and upsell your leads
9. Outreach
Outreach gives sales leaders a complete view of the sales process to speed up deals, convert pipelines, and boost sales team productivity. It equips sellers with all the tools and insights needed to create leads, manage meetings, handle buying committees, and successfully close deals.
Stand-out features:
- Intelligent engagement insights—Deliver advanced analytics for personalized and data-driven interactions to optimize your outreach effectiveness
- Actionable sales plays—Use customizable strategies and workflows tailored to specific sales scenarios, for precise and efficient customer engagement
- Dynamic deal execution—Facilitate seamless deal navigation through AI-guided processes to help your reps to maneuver complex sales landscapes confidently.
10. Saleswhale (6sense Conversational Email)
Saleswhale is an AI lead conversion platform that seamlessly integrates with other AI conversational tools like Drift, Clari, and Outreach. 6sense acquired Saleswhale in 2022, and renamed it 6sense Conversational Email).
Stand-out features:
- Account intelligence — Equip your reps with account insights directly integrated into CRM & SEP, personalizing your engagement strategies
- Prioritization dashboards — Comprehensive dashboards help your sales team to uncover high-priority accounts and the best engagement timings to make sure they are offering the right lead and the right offer at the exact right time
- Intent data — Uncover 3rd-party buying signals at the keyword or topic level so you can develop new offers to match what your prospects really want
Three pro tips to get the most out of your AI sales tools
As you can see, there are a wide range of tools available. Here’s three pro tips to help you make the most of them in your sales team:
1. Set SMART sales goals
Clearly define your sales objectives and understand how AI tools can support them. Whether it's lead generation, customer engagement, or sales forecasting, align the use of AI with SMART business goals to maximize AI's impact.
2. Stay Agile
The tech landscape evolves, and so should your AI strategy. Regularly assess the performance of your AI sales tools, seeking opportunities for improvement or adjustments. Stay informed about updates, new features, and emerging technologies to keep your sales processes at the forefront of efficiency and innovation
3. Apply AI to delivery as well as sales
Delivering on what you promise is the most important part of the sales process. When you build customer trust and loyalty, you can lock in repeat business. It is commonly reported that it costs 5 times more to attract a new customer than to retain an existing one. Not only that, but did you know returning customers spend 67% more on average than those who are new to your business? Use AI tools like Motion to optimize your project delivery and retain more customers.
Motion: Your AI partner in better delivery
Motion combines the best of AI and automation all in one place. With Motion, you can manage your sales staff’s schedule and auto-schedule meetings with prospects. Automate repetitive tasks and construct a highly productive daily schedule for your sales team.
Let Motion take the reins in managing your team's day—allocating dedicated time for focused call time and strategically prioritizing tasks directly in their calendars. Say goodbye to manual scheduling hassles; Motion makes sure your sales team operates efficiently and effectively, maximizing their impact on your bottom line. Let your sales team focus on what they do best, and let Motion take care of the rest.
