What exactly are AI sales tools?
AI sales tools are applications and software that leverage automation, machine learning, and other technologies to manage repetitive tasks, analyze data, and provide actionable insights, along with suggestions and recommendations to streamline the selling process. Continuously evolving AI technology is assisting sales teams in identifying leads, customizing communication, forecasting sales outcomes, and managing scheduling and data entry.
Currently, AI for sales can be integrated into sales workflows in various ways. Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) can utilize agents that function as intelligent assistants to manage routine activities. For larger enterprise sales teams, best ai tools for sales professionals can operate on a grander scale with predictive sales forecasting, which uncovers relationships between business trends, lead behaviors, and sales results to identify potential opportunities and gaps within the sales pipeline.
Ultimately, AI sales tools enable representatives to concentrate on nurturing relationships and closing sales, rather than spending time drafting emails and manually updating their customer relationship management (CRM) systems.
How do AI sales tools function?
Using machine learning and algorithms, AI sales tools leverage the data in your CRM to take on tasks that enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of your sales team. AI software and applications can automate various tasks such as gathering information, inputting relevant data, monitoring prospects and pipelines, drafting initial emails, and much more.
But automation is just the beginning. Sales tools equipped with advanced best ai tools for sales professionals features can assist you in evaluating your data and deriving insights. This enables sales professionals to determine which leads to follow up on, anticipate which deals are likely to close, project performance (and identify areas for improvement), analyze demographics and market trends to create new outreach opportunities, and more. Additionally, a feature known as conversational AI can summarize your sales calls and analyze them to provide coaching suggestions.
Best AI Tools For Sales Professionals
This list has been carefully compiled from G2 and Capterra, two platforms that evaluate sales software based on user feedback, available features, and overall satisfaction. G2 employs a five-star rating system that emphasizes usability, customer satisfaction, and market presence, while Capterra also utilizes a five-star system, factoring in user ratings across categories such as ease of use, customer support, and value for money.
Every tool featured in this list boasts a minimum rating of four stars, making them excellent choices for enhancing your sales process, fostering collaboration, and enabling your team to work more efficiently.
1- Salesforce
Salesforce Sales Cloud stands out as a top-tier sales AI solution that integrates predictive, generative, and autonomous AI with a robust CRM platform, assisting sales representatives throughout every phase of the sales journey. Utilizing tools like Einstein AI and Revenue Intelligence, Salesforce streamlines routine tasks, delivers predictive analytics, and improves customer interactions — all based on your CRM data.
How it benefits sales teams:
Pipeline management: Sales Cloud AI keeps an eye on the health of reps’ pipelines and highlights deals that are at risk, enabling sales teams to prioritize their efforts and concentrate on boosting win rates.
Sales engagement: Salesforce’s AI for sales leverages CRM data to create personalized recommendations for the next best action to secure the sale. Einstein Conversation Insights equips reps with conversation intelligence tools to spot trends and highlight coaching opportunities during their workflow. Additionally, Agentforce, the autonomous AI component of Salesforce, nurtures leads around the clock, allowing sales reps to dedicate more time to fostering customer relationships and closing additional deals.
Sales enablement: The software incorporates training, coaching, and productivity enhancements. This allows sellers to learn and onboard within the same system they are already utilizing. Managers can organize educational content and activities to align with KPIs and track progress and milestones. Agentforce also contributes here: An AI call coaching tool provides reps with feedback on their sales pitches and assists them in roleplaying sales conversations to facilitate easier closures.
2- Outreach
Outreach is a platform for sales engagement that assists sales teams in connecting with prospects and effectively managing every deal. By integrating AI-driven insights, automation, and channel sales management, Outreach enhances workflows and boosts productivity.
How it supports sales teams:
Pipeline management: Outreach synchronizes teams with features for sales planning, offering a shared timeline and clear next steps to ensure deals stay on track and progress smoothly. The platform automates workflows like email sequences, task assignments, and follow-ups.
Sales engagement: Insights powered by AI evaluate prospect engagement and recommend the best actions, including customized email and call scripts. The software provides a second opinion on your sales forecast, allowing you to reassess assumptions and fine-tune your strategy.
Sales enablement: The system includes tools to train and onboard salespeople effectively. Continuous skills development is facilitated through real-time coaching based on the analysis of key sales data metrics.
Reporting and dashboards: You can generate reports for actionable insights regarding sales execution, team performance, daily activities, and sequences. AI analyzes customer interaction data to deliver automated insights, predict outcomes, offer recommendations, and help maintain updated sales forecasts.
3- Apollo.io
Apollo.io Opens in a new window is an AI-driven revenue intelligence platform. It provides access to a B2B database containing over 210 million contacts, allowing Apollo to streamline workflows and improve decision-making for sales and marketing teams.
How it assists sales teams:
Pipeline management: A collection of tools enables sellers to monitor deal opportunities from inception to completion. Leverage the database alongside AI suggestions to create focused lead lists. AI-generated lead scoring applies your chosen criteria, weighting, and variables to pinpoint the most promising conversions. Automation eases sequences and outreach, ensuring workflows remain efficient.
Sales engagement: An AI sales assistant takes care of tasks and suggests strategies to prioritize prospects and customize outreach methods. AI sequences support sellers in sending emails, making calls, connecting on LinkedIn, and arranging meetings.
Sales enablement: A coaching tool utilizes automatically recorded metrics and performance data. Managers can monitor goals and evaluate interactions and activities to determine when intervention is necessary. Conversation intelligence AI analyzes call transcripts for important words and phrases, helping you recognize and replicate successful strategies.
Reporting and dashboards: Utilize pre-built or personalized dashboards to track the metrics that are important to you regarding sales activity, email, and call engagement. Analytics on call interactions and representative performance assist in identifying successes and best practices.
4- Pipedrive
Pipedrive Opens in a new window is a sales enablement platform that is ideal for small to mid-sized teams looking for a more straightforward method to manage their workflows. By utilizing AI-driven automation and insights, Pipedrive assists teams in staying organized, prioritizing opportunities, and enhancing efficiency.
How it assists sales teams:
Pipeline management: Organize and monitor deals according to pipeline stages tailored to your sales cycle. You can establish triggers and actions to automate tasks like scheduling calls and sending emails. Color-coded alerts inform you when a deal is nearing a cold state.
Sales engagement: Automated lead nurturing encourages conversations and outlines next steps. An AI-powered sales assistant uncovers insights by analyzing sales data and alerts you about suggested activities to pursue next.
Sales enablement: Users can access Pipeline Learn courses to onboard and learn how to optimize customer data, enhance sales workflows and processes, and maximize the benefits of the CRM. Within the platform, an insights feature aids sales reps in recognizing successful patterns and allows managers to identify which KPIs and skills reps should concentrate on.
Reporting and dashboards: The insights feature analyzes customer data and representative performance metrics in real time to display progress toward objectives. A customizable sales dashboard presents metrics such as deal progress, conversion rates, deal value, and revenue forecasts.
5- Gong
Gong Opens in a new window is a software designed for sales coaching and analytics that records and evaluates sales calls. Its AI-powered conversation analytics delve into language, tone, and patterns to reveal what strategies are effective and which ones are not. Gong assists teams in tracking deals, enhancing their methods, and receiving coaching advice.
How it benefits sales teams:
Pipeline management: Gong captures and assesses customer interactions across all communication channels. It can function independently or integrate data with CRM-managed information to present an updated pipeline. The software monitors deals in real time, emphasizing risks and opportunities so that representatives can concentrate on the most crucial actions.
Sales engagement: AI examines and learns from complete customer interactions to provide sales representatives with actionable insights and personalized suggestions for crafting targeted and relevant messages, emails, and call scripts. Gong Engage can analyze speech and offer prompts during live calls to assist representatives in determining their next steps in the conversation.
Sales enablement: The software delivers actionable advice on topics and behaviors that representatives find challenging during calls. Coaching materials are created based on successful interactions from top performers. Analytics on representative performance help managers pinpoint areas needing improvement and customize ongoing training.
Reporting and dashboards: Conversational data is gathered from customer interactions to deliver pipeline analysis, competitive analysis, representative performance scoring, trend forecasting, and more. The Economic Pulse dashboard utilizes AI to evaluate risks and trends, such as when customers express concerns about the economy during a call, and predicts how deals may be affected.