AI is fast becoming an integral part of everyday sales workflows. Sales AI tools help reps hit quota while taking taking care of automating manual and repetitive tasks, bringing science into their lead scoring, and boost productivity. Sales teams that don't leverage Sales AI are leaving both time and money on the table.

Importance of AI Tools in the Sales Workflows

There are many use cases for AI when it comes to sales processes. AI technology can streamline and improve pipeline management, predictive analytics, sales enablement, lead generation, sales forecasting, and email marketing. Companies that leverage sales automation can save time and money, boost customer engagement, and convert potential customers faster.

Benefits of AI Tools in the Sales Workflows

The best AI sales tools provide a range of benefits:

• Automatically capture customer data, saving time for higher-value tasks
• Predict customer behavior
• Enhance customer interactions
• Shorten sales cycle
• Provide sales intelligence for data-driven decisions
• Create better customer experiences
• Improve customer relationships
• Boost sales productivity
• Drive up sales performance

Sales managers will do well to explore the AI sales tools ecosystem, which has some stellar solutions apart from Open AI’s ChatGPT, Drift, and HubSpot, as discussed below.

Types of Sales AI Tools:

1. Lead Scoring and Qualification

Toplyne vs. Salesforce Einstein

Toplyne is the predictive AI tool for your sales and marketing teams. Toplyne seamlessly integrates with your CRM, product analytics, and marketing automation tools; captures firmographics and usage data; and spots high-priority prospects early in their lead cycles. It captures and understands every user click and surfaces the hottest qualified leads to your CRM.

Salesforce Einstein is a predictive scoring system that identifies prospects for your sales and marketing teams. It uses machine learning to identify the predictors of a lead's value, looking at your past leads and finding patterns in successful lead conversion history. Based on this analysis, the tool builds scoring models.

Pricing

Toplyne's pricing is based on a platform fee, number of AI models, and add-ons. You can find more here.

Einstein's sales cloud pricing starts at $25/user/month and goes up to $330/user/month.

A comparison

• Toplyne makes light work of creating behavioral lead scoring models built on first-party product usage, CRM, billing, and third-party enrichment data. Einstein's machine learning can help identify traits in previously successfully converted leads. These valuable insights help prioritize higher-quality Leads.
• Einstein's scoring models are updated every ten days or whenever lead scoring settings are updated. Toplyne's algorithm-based machine learning model uses all historical customer data to calculate a score for each lead.

Users' take

Users like Einstein's predictive analytics and data-driven insights based on customers' statistical history and data. Toplyne users are able to effectively target the best leads and significantly improve their win rate.

2. Conversational AI

Gong vs Clari Copilot

Wingman is a conversational intelligence software that provides actionable insights into how you can capture the opportunity in each customer call. It offers basic conversation intelligence like call recording and collaborative call sharing. The call data can be leveraged for real-time call coaching and used within revenue workflows to plug revenue leakage.

Gong uses conversational AI, machine learning, and natural language processing (NLP) to analyze interactions. It offers advanced analytics, performance metrics, and real-time coaching and feedback for sales reps. Gong's users leverage the tool to find cues indicating a prospect's willingness to buy.

Pricing

Neither mention pricing on their websites, requiring you to contact them.

A comparison

• Both tools offer comprehensive AI-based call transcription and summarization. But Wingman has a real-time benefit, allowing you to add bookmarks on an ongoing call.
• Wingman has real-time monologue alerts visible only to sales reps.
• Both offer similar levels of customer support.
• Gong's contact capture is better rated than Wingman's.
• Wingman and Gong fare similarly on ease of use.

User's take

Users like Wingman's in-the-moment coaching and monitoring of sales discussions and Gong's AI sales call summaries and snippets.

3. Data Capture & Enrichment

Apollo vs. Clearbit

Apollo obtains the email addresses and contact information of leads from LinkedIn. It is a powerful list-builder featuring more than 200 filterable data points. It also provides salespeople data about a contact's responsiveness.

Clearbit specializes in B2B lead enrichment, qualification, and scoring. It helps sales professionals discover prospects and sends real-time notifications when a target prospect visits your website. The tool automatically updates contact information, replacing missing or incorrect information.

Pricing

Apollo has a free, basic ($39/user/mo), professional ($79/user/mo), and organization ($79/user/mo). Clearbit offers free and business plans; prices are available upon request.

A comparison

• Apollo's data is of better quality than Clearbit.
• Apollo has more contact, company, and industry data compared to Clearbit.
• Apollo provides better support than Clearbit.
• Clearbit is more user-friendly overall.
• Apollo has additional features, such as reporting and messaging over Clearbit.

Users' take

Users have noted Apollo's email discovery feature that provides prospects with direct emails and Clearbit's numerous filter options that enable them to find high-quality leads quickly.

4. Rep Productivity Tools

Outreach vs Exceed.io

Outreach is an AI-driven virtual assistant that joins live meetings, captures real-time transcription, and delivers product details. The sales enablement tool assists sales representatives in engaging buyers with personalized interactions throughout their buying journey. Using proven messaging and playbooks, it orchestrates key sales activities like phone calls, emails, and social media interactions.

Exceed AI is an AI-powered virtual assistant that interacts with leads via a chat form on your website, answers questions, responds to requests and follows up with leads. The AI sales assistant tool qualifies leads based on your playbook and hands them to your sales team for closing, even booking meetings on the calendar.

Pricing

Exceed AI's pricing is available upon request on their website. Outreach, whose pricing you must request, offers Standard, Professional, and Enterprise plans.

A comparison

• Outreach offers content cards at the right time in virtual meetings so that reps can seamlessly answer questions about product features, competitors, pricing, and more. This feature is absent in Exceed.
• Exceed misses out on Outreach's bookmarks and notes feature.
• Both offer out-of-office follow-ups.
• Outreach has better analytics capabilities than Exceed.
• Both automatically book meetings with leads and customers.

Users' take

Exceed AI's customers report having more time for higher-level tasks after using the tool and growing conversion rates. Outreach's users report reaching more prospects in less time and stellar customer support.

5. Generative AI for Sales

Lavender vs Jasper

Lavender AI is a tool that helps with email communication in real time. It is ideal for sales teams and cold email professionals. It offers advanced analytics to track email performance metrics such as open and reply rates.

Jasper.ai generates marketing copy, such as blog posts, product descriptions, ad copy, company bios, and social media captions. It offers hundreds of templates to respond to several writing scenarios. Its feature, "Explain it To Me Like a 5th Grader," rewords and simplifies jargon-heavy text.

Pricing

• The free plan only analyzes and personalizes 5 emails/month. The starter plan for email writing starts at $29/month and offers unlimited emails. Pro ($49/mo) and Teams ($69/mo/user) offer integrations, more features, and priority support.
• Jasper starts at $99/month for teams of 3, $39/mo for a single user, and custom pricing for large teams.

A comparison

Lavender AI is a sales assistant that helps users create personalized email content. It works as a Google Chrome Assistant within your emails and cannot be used for other types of AI content generation. For this one form of content it offers powerful features such as email improvements and personalization, mobile optimization, and GIFs.

Jasper creates ads, web content, listings, blogs, and all other types of brand content. It functions as an all-in-one marketing and sales AI assistant. Some of its features, such as a plagiarism check, are missing in Lavender AI, which offers email-specific AI writing functionality.

Users that have both Jasper and Lavender found the latter easier to set up and use. However, since the tools are quite distinct in the breadth of their functionality, they can both serve as vital assets in your marketing and sales armory.

Users' take

Users like Jasper's high-quality AI-generated copy and ease of using the tool. Lavender users mentioned email verification as a standout feature, as it offers clear instructions on improving emails.

Leveraging AI sales tools

Sales managers who encourage AI adoption in their teams are able to refine their B2B sales strategies and take sales performance to the next level. Sales AI tools like chatbots can also improve eCommerce sales engagement and enhance decision-making.