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Sales teams from top to bottom are using a wide range of agentic tools to boost conversions, iron out leads, and even replace video communications.
Popping up across the corporate world faster than coffee shops in “up-and-coming” neighborhoods, AI agents are, as Tech Brew writes, “(more) autonomous systems [that] can act beyond the realm of a chatbot to plan and perform multi-step tasks.” Oftentimes these tools will specialize in video recording, document automation, and data synthesization.
Agentic AI tools, like those offered by Gong and Vidyard, are already being used in conjunction with traditional CRMs and reshaping workflows.
“We spend so much less time in Salesforce and instead are using Gong as that single source of information because it can give us summaries of calls, and give a summary across calls, and give a summary across all customers. So that’s become really powerful for us,” Keith Rabkin, president of PandaDoc, an automated agreement management platforms, said.
Rabkin said his company initially used Gong as a training, enablement, and verification tool to help its revenue team be more efficient. However, as large language models like ChatGPT started to redefine what AI could accomplish, he explained that the use cases for these agentic tools started to multiply.
“It became this really interesting way that we could get insights into where we were winning deals, when we were losing deals, how much price pressure, which competitors were coming up,” Rabkin said.
As Gong analyzed customer call data across the company, it was able to produce effective leads, assess the health of ongoing deals, and identify friction points that could jeopardize a deal based on previous interactions. Giving sales employees more time to focus on work that directly generates revenue is a top priority for Rabkin, and one he said he is achieving with Gong. Rabkin isn’t alone in trying to find ways to beef up a sales team’s capacity.
Salesforce research found in 2022 that only 28% of a sales representative’s week is spent selling, and according to a recent Morning Brew Inc. survey of over 320 revenue professionals, “managing competing priorities and staying focused” was the biggest challenge for 41% of respondents. The conversation around sales tools was also front of mind with 23% of respondents identifying “equipping sales teams with effective tools” as a priority, while 21% identified “leveraging AI to boost performance and efficiency” as their top hurdle.
“Whether that’s filling out a contract or copying notes after a call, it’s time that’s going away from either talking to the customer and closing the deal or outbounding and prospecting new customers. And so what I want to do is give them all that time back to focus on revenue generation,” Rabkin said.
The speed and efficiency of agentic AI tools poses potential problems for CRM companies, as the results are showing revenue leaders like Rabkin how essential AI is becoming for sales teams.
“I would say it’s mission critical at this point. There’s very few tools I would keep over Gong,” said Rabkin. “I couldn’t say I would pick Gong over a CRM today, but in a year, it’s quite possible.”
Another tool disrupting the sales world is Vidyard AI, which uses generative AI to create“avatars” that record and distribute sales scripts. While AI usage is becoming common in workplaces (and in some cases mandatory), AI video generation is still relatively nascent in the corporate world.
Research conducted by Deloitte last year found that 61% of respondents were using generative AI at work; when used to produce images, audio, code, video, or 3D, however, only 17–26% used generative AI.
Peter Borkovich, Vidyard’s VP of revenue, said that the tool is already being used to do video outreach from a business development rep, guided walkthroughs from a salesperson, or “anywhere there’s an interaction between a person and somebody in the revenue life cycle.”
The company, which obviously has skin in the game, put together a survey of over 650 full-time senior sales and marketing professionals and found early usage of AI-generated video interaction replacements were yielding promising results. The survey also found that of go-to-market (GTM) leaders “who measure video-specific KPIs tied to revenue impact,” 79% responded that they were “more likely to achieve KPIs faster,” and 76% said they were “more likely to accelerate deal cycles.” As AI becomes, depending who you ask, either the asteroid we cannot avoid or the savior we need, the raft of AI video seemingly grows every day. To name just a few, Firework, Hippo Video, D-ID, and HeyGen all promise a brave new world where AI avatars will eagerly sell. And while AI won’t fully replace human sales reps, it will make sellers more efficient so they can handle a bigger pipeline—and support teams like RevOps and GTM that are already embracing the technology. (Vidyard’s survey also showed that 39% of GTM teams are already fully implementing AI-powered video tools into their workflows.)
“We’re seeing a lot of early interest in the market,” Borkovich said. “It’s right at the rate moving from early adopter to general acceptance on the maturity curve for us. So exciting times, but still, a lot of education in the marketing staff.”