According to research from IDC, over 40% of all marketing materials aren't used by sales teams. The primary reason is that sales reps are unable to locate or access the materials when needed. But in top-performing organizations, sales and marketing are closely aligned. A CRM system is usually the starting point, but the technology available to support sales marketing alignment go well beyond a common platform for customer and prospect contact information. The eight tools here deliver a range of functionality such as email automation, automatic email and call logging, workflow scheduling, lead qualification, sales enablement, and personalized direct mail.

It can also help small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) sell smarter and more efficiently, regardless of a company's resources. In the very near future, I imagine a world in which SMBs use generative AI through Sales Cloud to streamline the sales process and close more deals faster and with fewer resources. Capabilities like automated, AI-generated proposals and customer communications, along with predictive sales modeling, will give SMBs even more powerful tools to help them provide great customer experiences, manage operating expenses, and achieve sustainable growth. Generative AI is technology built on pre-trained, large-language models that help users create unique text, images, and other content from text-based prompts. Although it has the potential to transform sales, it will face several hurdles before it can become mainstream.

By examining their sales calls, Meeple.ai is a technology that enables sales teams to tailor one-pagers for their clients. It records calls, gathers the pertinent data, and produces AI-powered one-pagers that express the customers' demands in their own words. Additionally, it enables sales teams to produce pages in bulk. Pricing Model: Paid You can try out this tool for free! Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

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The viral popularity of ChatGPT, a language model chatbot, has thrown generative AI into the mainstream. The technology, developed by OpenAI, has captured the imagination of more than a million users. From asking for cocktail recipes to penning a love song, users have been experimenting with ChatGPT's instant conversational responses. However, it is the potential that generative AI has in business that has got investors excited. According to data from PitchBook, generative AI investment has increased by as much as 425% from 2020 to December 2022, reaching a total figure of $2.1bn last year – a particularly impressive feat considering a wider downturn in tech investment in 2022.

Prospect hunting in the digital era is like finding a needle in a haystack. The internet opens many doors for sales development teams to engage with potential clients -- especially since 127 devices connect to the internet every second. Nevertheless, growing numbers of devices, social platforms and profiles mean more data for employees to troll before reaching their ideal clients. The traditional sales cycle -- prospect collection, connect, discover, present, handle objections, close, follow-up, and referral generation -- is a slow relationship-building process that can take days or weeks. And it's often only at stage three that you find out if your prospect is a true fit.

AI can take on the task of lead scoring, providing you with a prioritised list of leads based on previous deals. Your sales teams can address the prospects who are most likely to convert into high-value sales first. A CRM-integrated AI can also tell you which leads are most likely to close. Sales Cloud, alongside Einstein Opportunity Insights, will automatically assess customer sentiment, competitor involvement, and prospect engagement to understand whether a prospect is likely to buy. For your existing clients, Einstein Account Insights can keep tabs on company updates and activities, and alert your sales teams when an opportunity presents itself.

It's not uncommon to see enterprise account executives close multi-million dollar deals without ever meeting the buyer in person. This highlights the importance of a sales stack easy to implement, learn & manage; individual reps need the tools necessary to hit their quota, & managers need to have visibility into what's happening across their teams without being able to be physically next to their teams on a daily basis. Most sales teams need to stitch together a variety of point solutions to execute their sales motions. Amplemarket can replace a number of those across a few different categories. It was launched in 2019 by MIT alumnus.

In this special guest feature, Zach Thomas, VP of Product Marketing, Conga, discusses the ways emerging technologies like AI and ML can expedite business operations to accelerate revenue. Zachary brings more than 20 years of experience in the technology sector to his role as Vice President of Product Marketing at Conga. Prior to Conga, he served as Senior Director, Head of Cloud Applications at Ellucian, a leading provider of software and services designed for higher education. His previous roles include leadership positions at Saba Software, Sage, Oracle, and Ultimate Software. Thomas holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Political Science from Hamilton College in Clinton, New York. From predicting COVID-19 mortality to content personalization, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are expanding the possibilities for organizations across the globe.

Jiminny, a UK headquartered conversation intelligence provider supporting sales teams across the world, has closed a $16.5 million series A funding round. The round was led by Kennet Partners, a transatlantic growth equity firm, adding to its targeted portfolio of technology growth stage investments. Sales teams use Jiminny's platform to record and analyse new and existing customer conversations in real-time. These insights are used by the business to improve performance and ultimately drive revenue and growth. A range of organisations, from FTSE 100 constituent Informa to Europe's leading expense management solution, Pleo, are using the platform.