Key Takeaways
Salespeople all over the world face the same challenges — lengthy sales processes, predicting customer behavior, and closing deals.
But the landscape of B2B sales is rapidly changing since artificial intelligence (AI) made a splash in the last couple of years.
AI has given a boost to the features in existing sales platforms, enabling advanced capabilities such as predictive analytics, personalized recommendations, and automated lead scoring. With AI, sales tools can have their intelligent chatbots to enhance sales efficiency, customer engagement, and overall business performance.
According to HubSpot research, 70% of salespeople say AI makes them more productive at work.
As a sales manager, if you aren’t leveraging AI in your sales process — you’re leaving money on the table.
How Sales Team Can Use AI?
A sales process is a blend of several mini-processes strung together. Some are more manual (e.g. outreach), and some are tool-dependent (like updating your CRM). Some happen before you talk to prospects, and some during or after the sales conversations.
Let’s break down the typical workflows that exist within the sales process:
- Research prospects
- Manage CRM
- Predict customer behavior
- Identify sales opportunities
- Automate repetitive tasks
- Improve forecasting accuracy
Thanks to the latest wave of AI sales tools, there’s AI software built to cater to each of these sales workflows.
Unlike the human brain, AI can process huge datasets in a matter of minutes and help sales teams improve the speed of execution. Humans are pretty good at processing information over a long period of time, but it will freeze our brains if we start analyzing huge volumes of data in a single day.
On the other hand, AI tools can quickly analyze and aggregate historical lead data, market trends, and competitor data. This gives AI an edge over humans in sourcing lead information, qualifying leads, and forecasting close-to-accurate results.
From prospecting to closing deals, AI can help you improve productivity across your entire sales process.
Questions to Ask Before Building an AI Tech Stack
To ensure you get the maximum ROI from an AI sales tool, you must understand each tool's nuances.
Here are the questions you must ask when shortlisting an AI sales tool for sales professionals:
Ease of Use
- Is the tool hard to set up and implement?
- Do you need a dedicated admin to manage it?
- How long will it take, on average, for your team to learn and use the tool?
- Does it need technical configurations?
Product Capabilities
- Does it solve your specific pain points?
- Does it offer out-of-the-box functionalities?
- Is it an all-in-one platform or a best-of-breed solution?
- How well does it integrate with your existing sales tech stack?
Pricing
- Does it come with a free trial or a freemium plan?
- Is the pricing affordable and scalable for your business?
- Does it offer flexible billing options?
- Are there hidden costs like platform fees or set-up fees?
Security and Scalability
- How does the tool handle data security and privacy concerns?
- Is it compliant with regulations specific to your industry?
- Can it scale with your growing needs?
- Can it handle increased volumes and varying sales scenarios?
Next, look at the 12 best tools for sales professionals that check all the above boxes.
Top AI Sales Tools to Improve Productivity
Based on our interactions with several sales teams in the last few months, we have narrowed down the best AI tools for sales teams to boost productivity. We have categorized the tools based on the most common sales use cases for ease of navigation.
AI Prospecting Tools
1. Happysales
Happysales helps you automate sales outreach and improve efficiency. Its generative AI-based capabilities can evolve as a growth operating system for B2B sales orgs.
The Happysales’ AI sales assistant can help you:
- Identify and prioritize leads and accounts with the hot intent to buy.
- Aggregate prospect data from various sources like the company website, LinkedIn, annual reports, and CRM.
- Craft personalized messages based on prospect data, followed by next-step recommendations for reps.
- Minimize the research time from several hours to less than 30 seconds.
Pros
- Reduces research time to less than 30 seconds
- AI-recommended Personalized messages, emails
Pricing: Happysales offers a forever-free plan that gives you a glimpse of its product capabilities. It also has a paid plan that costs $16/month and has unlimited potential.
2. Crystal
Crystal claims to predict prospects’ behaviour through its personality data platform. With Crystal Knows, you can feed your prospects’ LinkedIn profiles, and the dashboard will give you a personality breakdown.
Features
- Personality assessment
- User profile dashboard
- Chrome extension
- Writing Assistant
- Linkedin integration
Pros
- Minor learning curve
- Highly accurate in its personality analysis
- Seamless integration with Linkedin
Cons:
- Pricey for startups and small businesses
- Sharing information is difficult; users cannot share profile analysis or download their data.
Pricing: Crystal has a free plan for 10 profile credits. Its paid plans start from $49/month.
3. Humantic AI
Like Crystal, Humantic AI also offers a personality AI assistant that gives you insights about prospects based on their LinkedIn, email, calendar, and CRM data. The personality data allows you to disqualify poor-fit prospects or tailor your outreach.
Features
- Omnichannel enrichment
- 36 Personality types
- Integrates with Linkedin
- Analyzes profiles in bulk
- One-click personalization
Pros:
- Unlimited profile views
- Highly accurate personality analysis
- Offers a free 7-day trial with access to up to 50 profiles
- Customizes advice based on who uses the tool - recruiter, sales rep
Cons:
- No free plan
- Clunky UI leads to a steeper learning curve
Pricing: Humantic AI doesn’t have a free plan. Its paid plans start at $16/month for individual users and $180/month for team-based licenses.
AI Sales Outreach Tools
4. Outreach IO
Outreach.io is a leading sales outreach platform that helps sales with automated prospecting workflows and enables personalized interactions with prospects throughout their buying journey.
Features
- Multichannel Sequences
- Advanced Email Sequencing
- Automated Data Sync
- AI-Powered Sentiment Analysis
- Integrated Call and Meeting Scheduler
- AI-Powered Team Analytics
Pros
- Designed for Enterprise Sales Teams
- Advanced Automation
- AI-Driven Analytics
- Strong Integrations
Cons
- Lack of Transparent Pricing
- Steep Learning Curve
- Unreliability in Customer Support
- Paid Onboarding and Implementation
Pricing : Outreach.io doesn’t reveal its pricing publicly.
5. ChatSpot
ChatSpot is a ChatGPT-powered AI writing tool by HubSpot. In addition to automating the content creation process, ChatSpot also offers prospecting templates and deep company insights such as funding rounds, technologies used, and CRM summaries.
Features
- AI-powered chatbot powered by NLP capabilities
- Hubspot CRM integration
- Customizable chatbot design and branding
Pros:
- Integrates seamlessly with the Hubspot ecosystem
- Automates email personalization, taking meeting notes
- Supports multiple languages
Cons:
- The model is still in training. Shows inaccurate results when users use a chatbot to pull reports.
Pricing: ChatSpot is currently free and it doesn’t require you to create a HubSpot account for you to use it. If you already use HubSpot CRM, you can use your existing account to login to ChatSpot.
AI Lead Qualification Tools
6. Conversica
Conversica’s AI-powered virtual assistant helps sales teams engage leads, warm up target accounts, and qualify leads based on their intent. Conversica’s AI capabilities work beautifully for both inbound interests and outbound opportunities.
It’s a great tool for sales teams chasing aggressive targets and planning to scale their sales activities.
Features
- NLP-powered in Conversational AI
- Opportunity and Pipeline Management
- Sales forecasting module
- AI assistant supports multiple languages
Cons
- Takes time to train the AI to sound more personalised
Pricing: Conversica doesn’t reveal its pricing publicly. They offer demo requests for interested buyers and offer custom pricing based on company size, use cases, and licenses required.
7. Seamless.AI
Seamless.AI works with over 12,000 intent signals to help sales teams identify, prioritize, and engage with the most qualified leads. Seamless.AI also lets you build prospecting lists that you can prioritize or de-prioritize based on how likely they are to convert.
Features:
- A Database containing B2B Contact Data
- Real-time search engine
- Intent data
- Pitch intelligence
- Automated list building
- Data Segmentation/Filtering
Pros:
- Clean and user-friendly interface
- High Data Accuracy
- Email and LinkedIn integration
Cons:
- Lacks Salesforce enrichment features
- Has an annual pricing plan only
- The user needs to update data in the CRM manually
Pricing: Seamless.AI doesn’t reveal its pricing publicly. It offers a free version of its tool and a free trial for its Basic plan. For its higher paid plans — Pro and Enterprise — you have to contact their sales team.
8. CoPilot AI
If you get most of your leads through LinkedIn, CoPilot AI is the perfect companion. Its machine learning AI sources the most qualified leads from LinkedIn by combining industry knowledge with thousands of data points from past campaigns.
Its Reply Prediction AI uses those data signals to scan your prospect list on LinkedIn and recommend outreach to leads who are likely to engage with you.
Features
- Customer-facing Chatbot
- Lead follow-up
- Sentiment analysis
- Video prospecting
- Smart inbox
Pros
- Easy-to-use user interface
- One-one customer support
Cons
- Pricey for startups and small businesses
- Lack of integration - with Hubspot, Asana
Pricing: CoPilot AI doesn’t offer a free plan. Its paid plans are priced at $234/month and $294/month. They also have an enterprise plan with custom pricing.
AI Tools for Coaching and Handling Sales Objections
9. Revenue.io
Revenue.io’s sales coaching AI capabilities automatically bring up coachable moments so sales managers don’t have to comb through sales conversations to find them manually.
Its Conversation AI gives you nuanced details about a sales rep’s performance, like the words they used or the techniques they applied in their sales interactions to identify the best tactics you.
Features
- Automated transcription
- Real-time Coaching Alerts
- Best Practices Libraries
- Call & meeting analysis tool
Pros
- Real-time guidance improves the rate of ramp-up for sales reps
- Deep integration with Salesforce
- Converts teachable moments into libraries improving knowledge retention for sales reps
Cons
- Call drops are frequent
Pricing: Like a few other tools in this list, Revenue.io doesn’t reveal its pricing off the bat. You must talk to their sales team to get their pricing or book a product demo.
10 .Second Nature
Second Nature offers an AI persona that helps your sales reps engage in sales conversations through role plays. The AI recommends personalized feedback based on those interactions and helps your sales reps improve at closing deals.
Second Nature is best for sales orgs looking to improve their onboarding and ramp-up time for new sales recruits.
Features
- Conversational AI bot
- Built-in Learning Management System
- In-built reporting to track knowledge of sales reps reports
- AI-driven sales simulations
Pros
- AI-bot offers roleplaying for sales reps to practice selling
- Gamifies sales certifications
Cons
- Responses from the bot do not sound human-like
Pricing: Second Nature doesn’t have its pricing information available publicly. You have to talk to the sales team to get a demo of the platform or learn about their pricing plans.
Leverage AI to Boost Productivity
That’s the list of the best AI tools for sales professionals we recommend for modern sales teams. You don’t have to use all of them. We recommend you pick one tool from each category that suits your needs and budget.
Want to get a sneak peek of Happysales to enrich your sales prospecting? Join our waitlist to enjoy full access to our platform when we launch.