Sales is a competitive and dynamic field that requires constant innovation and optimization.
With Generative AI gaining popularity over the years, sales professionals who want to stay ahead would employ it to enhance their productivity. In fact, 81% of sales professionals agree that AI can help reduce their manual workload in 2023.
Rather than replacing their jobs altogether, sales professionals who leverage Generative AI perceive it as an aid.
In this blog post, we will explore the benefits, features, and best practices of using Generative AI tools for sales. We will also provide examples of the best generative AI tools available in the market and how they can be used for different sales scenarios.
By the end of this blog post, you will clearly understand how generative AI tools can help you maximize your sales potential in 2024.
What is Generative AI?
Generative AI is a subset of artificial intelligence (AI). Where traditional AI provides predictions to improve decision-making, Generative AI provides an additional benefit.
Generative AI tools can generate unique outputs, be it data, text, or other forms of original content, to enhance your sales processes and outcomes. Nevertheless, its ability to provide accurate and unbiased information depends on the data provided by its creators.
For instance, ChatGPT’s training ended in 2021. Should you ask ChatGPT to write a paper on major global events that occurred during 2023, it would not be able to provide an answer.
Benefits of Using Generative AI Tools for Sales
There are many ways a sales professional can leverage Generative AI tools to improve their sales performance:
Enhanced Lead Generation
Generative AI tools help you find and qualify more leads to maintain a healthy sales pipeline. They employ natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning (ML) to analyze your target market, identify your ideal customer profile, and generate relevant and personalized messages to attract and engage your prospects.
McKinsey’s survey findings indicate:
- 35% of sales organizations are already using generative AI tools for lead generation
- 44% plan to do so in the next three years
- 50% increase in leads
- Reduced call time by as much as 70%
- Reduced costs by up to 60%
Optimized Content Creation
Perhaps the most popular usage of Generative AI tools is to create content. Think about ChatGPT and how it took the internet by storm in late 2022. As it is open to the public, any curious and creative mind would have dabbled with ChatGPT at least once since then.
Unlike traditional tools with rigid selections and pre-programmed responses, Generative AI tools allow you to communicate with the machine as you would another person. In turn, it creates high-quality and relevant content, provided you ask the right questions.
There’s pretty much a tool for generating any form of content creation in the market.
Long-form content – blog posts, social media posts, white papers, case studies, testimonials
Short-form content – direct messages, comments, emails
Content marketing is an integral part of inbound sales efforts. After all, a potential customer can only discover and reach out to you or your business when you successfully establish an online presence.
Since sales professionals are always on the move, Generative AI can be a great companion to help accelerate the process of building and maintaining relationships using content that showcases your value proposition and addresses your audience’s pain points and needs.
Improved Email Marketing
According to a report by Salesforce, 33% of sales professionals already use generative AI tools for email marketing, and 41% plan to do so in the next three years.
Generative AI tools can also help you create and send effective, personalized email campaigns to your leads and customers. They generate catchy subject lines, compelling body text, and persuasive call-to-actions (CTAs) that match your brand voice and tone.
Accurate Sales Forecasting
Generative AI tools can help predict and improve your sales performance as well ass control revenue operations. They can use deep learning and neural networks to analyze your historical and current sales data, such as sales volume, sales cycle, conversion rate, churn rate, and customer lifetime value, and generate accurate and reliable sales forecasts and insights.
Based on a Forbes survey, 29% of sales organizations already use generative AI tools for sales forecasting, and 36% plan to do so in the next three years
Increased Sales Productivity and Efficiency
Generative AI tools can also help you automate and streamline your sales workflow and tasks, such as scheduling appointments, sending follow-ups, updating your CRM data, generating reports, and more.
They use robotic process automation (RPA) and conversational AI to perform these tasks faster, easier, and error-free.
According to a report by Harvard Business Review, 27% of sales organizations already use generative AI tools for sales automation, and 34% plan to do so in the next three years.
In short, Generative AI has become integral to many aspects of the sales process. For this reason, many companies now seek Generative AI engineers to develop and implement sales tools to meet the increasing demand.
Best Generative AI Tools for Sales in 2024
Here are some examples of the best generative AI tools for sales in 2024 and how they can be used for different sales scenarios:
Relationship Building Assistant - Engage AI
Engage AI is a generative AI tool for LinkedIn. If you’re doing B2B sales, LinkedIn is an excellent platform for B2B lead and sales generation, as well as nurturing potential and existing customers. You can leverage Engage AI to craft insightful comment suggestions that are relevant to the posts that your prospects and clients have created.
By adding value to their content and helping them feel seen and heard, you’re able to build rapport while increasing touchpoints with them. That way, it’s easier to move the conversation towards a sales meeting when you reach out to them personally through the LinkedIn inbox or email.
Features
- AI post comment generation
- AI long-term conversational memory
- Prospect monitoring
- AI LinkedIn post generation
- Customizable AI tones
- HubSpot, Zapier, Make, Hootsuite, Pipedrive, Zoho CRM, Integrately integrations
- And more
Pros
Engage AI is all about seamless integration, human-AI collaboration, and eliminating manual profile checks.
It conveniently generates comment suggestions directly into the LinkedIn comment text field, so you don’t have copy/paste the generations from one application to another.
You can also regenerate a comment or edit it with your personal touch before posting it.
Finally, Engage AI’s not just a browser extension; it also has a web application that behaves like a CRM system for your LinkedIn prospects. You can save key prospects within the app and set up a schedule for the system to check for recent posts from your post.
Imagine having 100 profiles to check on a daily. With Engage AI, you don’t have to check them individually. Instead, you can easily view their latest posts directly as Engage AI will notify you via email on prospects who have posted recently.
Cons
Engage AI is not able to create line breaks between sentences and may generate incomplete sentences depending on your subscription plan.
Pricing
You can try generate up to 10 comments without signing up for an Engage AI account.
After that, you can sign up for unlimited comment generations by opting for either the ChatGPT Hack (free but less stable), BYO API key (pay only for what you use) or Pro Plan (7-day free trial and you can choose to switch plans or upgrade after that).
You can also upgrade to the Pro plan for $30/month to enjoy additional and premium features, including prospect monitoring, long-term conversational memory, and more.
For enterprises, you can also enjoy added white-glove services to help you grow your visibility and reach on LinkedIn for $1,299/month.
Presentation Deck Creation - Beautiful.ai
Beautiful.ai is a generative AI tool that helps you create stunning presentation decks in minutes. You can choose from hundreds of smart slide templates, customize them with your own content and branding, and add millions of stock photos and videos. You can also collaborate with your team, share your presentations online or offline, and integrate with Google Slides and PowerPoint.
Features
- AI presentation deck creation
- Smart slide templates
- Customizable themes
- Team collaboration
- Millions of stock photos and videos
- Google Slides and PowerPoint integrations
- And more
Pros
Beautiful.ai can help you save time and effort by doing the design work for you. It can also help you create professional-looking, consistent, and engaging presentations that capture your audience’s attention. It can also help you scale your presentation creation by using the same templates and themes across different projects.
Cons
Beautiful.ai may not have the exact template or avatar you need for your presentation, especially if you have a very specific or creative idea. It may also require an internet connection to work, and it does not have an offline mode. It may also have some limitations in terms of the flexibility and customization of the slides and the animations and transitions of the presentation.
Pricing
You can start for free with up to 10 slides per presentation. You can also upgrade to the Pro plan for $15/month with unlimited slides and advanced features.
Meeting Assistant - Otter.ai
Otter.ai is a generative AI tool that helps you take smart notes from your meetings, lectures, interviews, and more. You can get real-time transcription, automated slide capture, automated summary, voice narration, live chat, and more. You can also integrate with Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and other platforms, and share your notes with your team or audience.
Features
- AI meeting note taker
- Real-time transcription
- Automated slide capture
- Automated summary
- Voice narration
- Live chat
- Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams integrations
- And more
Pros
Otter.ai can help you save time and effort by doing the note taking and transcription for you. It can also help you improve your note quality and effectiveness by capturing the key points, insights, and action items from your meetings. It can also help you scale your note taking by supporting multiple languages and accents, generating closed captions, and transcribing thousands of minutes per month.
Cons
Otter.ai may not be able to transcribe some technical terms or acronyms correctly, especially if they are not common or pronounced clearly. It may also have difficulty recognizing speakers if they have similar voices or speak at the same time. It may also not work well in noisy environments or with poor audio quality.
Pricing
You can start for free with up to 600 minutes of transcription per month. You can also upgrade to the Pro plan for $8.33/month with 6,000 minutes and more features, or the Business plan for $20/month with 6,000 minutes and team features.
Video Generation - Synthesia.io
Synthesia.io is a generative AI tool that helps you create amazing videos with just a script. You can choose from hundreds of AI avatars, AI voices, and AI themes, or upload your own. You can also edit your videos with the AI video editor, and integrate with Shopify, WordPress, and other platforms, and share your videos with your customers or audience.
Features
- AI video generation
- AI script generator
- AI voices
- AI avatars
- AI video editor
- Customizable themes
- Shopify, WordPress integrations
- And more
Pros
Synthesia.io can help you save time and money by creating high-quality videos without cameras or actors. It can also help you create diverse, expressive, and engaging videos that match your script, tone, and emotion. It can also help you scale your video creation by supporting 120+ languages, generating thousands of videos at once, and updating and editing your videos easily.
Cons
Synthesia.io may not be able to match the exact tone or emotion of your script, especially if it is very complex or subtle. It may also not be able to generate realistic facial expressions or lip movements for some avatars or languages. It may also not be ethical or legal to use some avatars without their consent or permission.
Pricing
You can start for free with up to 10 videos per month. You can also upgrade to the Starter plan for $49/month with 100 videos and basic features, the Pro plan for $149/month with 500 videos and advanced features, or the Enterprise plan with custom pricing and features.
Content Creation - Copy.ai
Copy.ai is a generative AI tool that helps you create amazing content for your business, brand, or project. You can choose from various types of content, such as blog posts, slogans, headlines, and more. You can also edit your content with the AI content editor, collaborate with your team, and integrate with WordPress, Shopify, and other platforms.
Features
- AI content creation
- AI script generator
- AI content editor
- Collaborative workspace
- WordPress, Shopify integrations
- And more
Pros
Copy.ai can help you save time and effort by doing the writing for you. It can also help you create creative, versatile, and fast content that suits your needs and goals. It can also help you scale your content creation by supporting various types of content, generating thousands of content pieces at once, and helping you with writer’s block.
Cons
Copy.ai may not be able to create original, coherent, or grammatically correct content, especially if you have a very niche or specific topic. It may also not follow the webmaster guidelines or the best practices for SEO and content marketing. It may also not reflect your brand voice or style, or your audience’s preferences or expectations.
Pricing
You can start for free with up to 100 runs per month. You can also upgrade to the Solo plan for $35/month with unlimited runs and basic features, the Pro plan for $49/month with unlimited runs and advanced features, or the Team plan with custom pricing and features.
Dashboards - Polymer
Polymer is a generative AI tool that helps you create beautiful dashboards from your data in minutes. You can connect your data sources, such as Google Sheets, Excel, Facebook Ads, Google Ads, and more, and get live data, universal embed capabilities, and AI-powered assistance. You can also choose from 20+ chart types and filters, and customize your dashboards with your own branding and style.
Features
- AI-generated dashboards
- AI-powered assistance
- Real-time data
- Universal embed capabilities
- Google Sheets, Excel, Facebook Ads, Google Ads integrations
- And more
Pros
Polymer AI can help you save time and effort by doing the data analysis and visualization for you. It can also help you create insightful, beautiful, and intuitive dashboards that showcase your data and tell your story. It can also help you scale your dashboard creation by supporting various data sources and formats, generating thousands of dashboards at once, and embedding your dashboards anywhere.
Cons
Polymer AI may not be compatible with some data sources or formats, especially if they are not structured or standardized. It may also not generate the best visualizations or explanations for your data, especially if it is very complex or ambiguous. It may also not be secure or reliable, especially if your data is sensitive or confidential.
Pricing
You can start for free with up to 3 dashboards and 100 rows of data per month. You can also upgrade to the Starter plan for $9/month with 10 dashboards and 1,000 rows of data, the Pro plan for $29/month with 50 dashboards and 10,000 rows of data, or the Business plan for $99/month with unlimited dashboards and rows of data.
Conclusion
By using generative AI tools, you can save time, increase productivity, improve accuracy, and boost your sales performance in 2024.
However, to get the most out of generative AI tools, you need to choose the right generative AI tools for your sales needs.
Remember: Generative AI tools should always complement and enhance your sales efforts. It should never take away the final decision-making from you!
