If you’re looking for the best AI-powered CRM solution to help you get certain tasks done faster, this blog is for you. We will explain how the best AI CRM software can help you streamline the customer experience and communication and accelerate the deal-closing process.

Why Do Businesses Need an AI-Powered CRM?

Today, most businesses already leverage AI to ensure smooth and continuous functioning. Even as far back as 2020, insightful research by McKinsey & Co. predicted automating sales can lead to a 10% sales uplift potential. With tremendous advances each year, today’s AI-powered CRMs can revitalize your entire sales and CX division.

Here are the key benefits of a custom CRM solution with AI integration:

• Automate various sales workflow, such as customer communication with personalized messages
• Ace sales forecasting where new leads and proposals are concerned
• Analyze data and patterns to identify trends and configure solutions
• Free up employee time that can be dedicated to critical functions

AI-integrated CRM systems bring a lot to the table. So, here’s how you can assess your business requirements and capabilities to narrow down on must-have features of AI-fueled CRM software.

How to Assess Your Business Needs for an AI-Powered CRM

AI-based sales CRM features have been around for a while now. So, it can be tricky to identify which of the many offerings out there works best for your business needs.
If you’re wondering what features you’ll need, these questions can help shed some light:

• What are the business goals and needs?
• What aspect of your customer relationship management needs help?
• What are your internal technical capabilities? Do you need a ready-to-go platform or one you can customize and tweak in-house?
• Can the new CRM integrate with the tools and applications you already use?
• What are your future business growth plans? Can the CRM be scaled?
• What are some need-to-have or nice-to-have features that will influence your budget?

A good automated CRM solution will include features like email writing assistance, data entry automation, sales reporting and forecasting, real-time collaboration, historical databases with search capabilities, an intuitive interface, mobile-friendly features, secure storage, efficient lead management, and instant notification.

Keeping these in mind, here are six sales tools with CRM AI integration that are widely used and have produced great results.

Top 7 AI CRM Software

1. Pipeline CRM: Easy-to-Use AI-Powered Task Assistance for Productive Sales Teams

Pipeline CRM combines features like customizable data tracking with ease of access and integration. It empowers sales and customer support teams to maintain and build stronger relationships based on data-driven solutions and decision-making.

Pipeline CRM particularly simplifies email communication with its built-in AI writing assistant that is powered by the OpenAI system. Considering how emails are often the first touchpoint between you and a potential customer, it is important to send the right message at the right time. Here is how Pipeline AI email assistant benefits your sales team:

• There is no need to write the prompts. Simply click the prompt button to write different email messages, such as ‘say hello,’ ‘thank you,’ ‘book a cool,’ and ‘follow up.’
• To edit the text, highlight it and select commands like “more engaging, “ “rephrase,” “lengthen,” or “shorten.”
• Write custom prompts to have full control of the results.

Key Sales Features Include

• Efficient lead management with customizable deal stages.
• Automated sales workflows that streamline tasks like daily prioritization, suggest next steps based on deal status, and automatically generate new deals for retainer customers.
• Unlimited storage to store all your sales-related information and documents.
• Vast integration options with popular business apps and tools, including Customer.io, QuickBooks, AirCall, and Asana.
• Fast go-live turnaround time of 48 hours.
• Intuitive interface, instant notifications, and great mobile app capabilities.

Pricing Plans

• Start plan: $25 per user per month.
• Develop plan: $33 per user per month.
• Grow plan: $49 per user per month.

Rating

• 4.4/5 rating on G2

2. Hubspot CRM: AI-Powered Solution for Varied Business Sizes

With clients like eBay and Tripadvisor, HubSpot is a household name where CRMs are concerned. The HubSpot CRM has great reviews for good reason: It is an intuitive and powerful analytical platform to drive productivity and customer engagement.

HubSpot’s AI features include SEO recommendations, AI summarizations, and content drafting capabilities. It also offers marketing automation and pipeline generation, which can help businesses easily customize the platform and organize their tasks, contacts, etc.

Key Sales Features Include

• Predictive lead scoring.
• Automated email sequences.
• Conversation bots.
• Extensive integration with other apps.
• Availability of free plan with limited features.

Pricing Plans

• For businesses: Marketing Hub Professional at $800 per month and Marketing Hub Enterprise at $3,600 per month.
• For individuals and small teams: the free version starts at $15 per month.

Rating

• 4.4/5 rating on G2

3. Salesforce CRM: AI-Based CRM for Streamlining Sales Operations

Salesforce is one of the leading CRMs in the world. 

The Salesforce Sales Cloud CRM provides a centralized platform for your marketing, sales, and service teams to collaborate seamlessly and work in alignment.

Salesforce’s Einstein 1 platform helps you use AI-powered functions on client data to set up customizable, predictive experiences to address your CRM needs. The Einstein Copilot helps you gauge the future of your pipeline based on predictive analytics.

Key Sales Features

• Lead scoring, opportunity insights, and predictive analytics.
• Personalized customer interactions.
• Sales automation tools.
• AI voice assistant.
• Diverse packages and multiple integrations.

Pricing Plans

• For enterprise-size businesses: pricing starts at $165 per month and goes up to $500 per month with Einstein 1 integration.
• For small- to medium-sized businesses: the Starter Suite costs $24 per month, whereas the Pro Suite is $100 per month.

Rating

•  4.4/5 rating on G2

4. Zoho CRM: Intelligent Platform for Sales and Customer Experience Automation

Next on the AI CRM software list is Zoho CRM. This platform breaks down departmental silos, enhancing collaboration and improving efficiency for your sales and customer experience teams.

Zoho CRM’s AI assistant, Zia, helps teams predict sales outcomes, take voice-narrated notes, and automate menial tasks. In addition, Zia’s capabilities can be accessed via chat or voice commands and prompts, making it easy to use on the go.

Key Sales Features Include

• Lead scoring and sales forecasting.
• Omnichannel communication.
• Actionable insights for data-driven decision-making.
• AI assistant with chat capabilities.
• Free trials and minimal learning curve.

Pricing Plans

• Standard plan: approximately $10 per user per month.
• Professional plan: approximately $16 per user per month.
• Enterprise plan: approximately $28 per user per month.
• Ultimate plan: approximately $31 per user per month.

Rating

• 4.1/5 rating on G2

5. Zendesk CRM: Smooth AI-Powered CRM for Lead Management

Zendesk CRM emphasizes full sales pipeline visibility so your sales team can make data-driven decisions while maximizing productivity. The integrated sales CRM comes with various automated features and tools, such as email integration and sales triggers.

Key Sales Features Include

• Email integration with automatic tracking.
• Easy segmentation and filtering of deals in real-time.
• Task sequencing.
• Centralized platform with leads, contacts, and account information.
• API access and mobile app.

Pricing Plans

• Sell Team plan: $25 per user per month.
• Sell Growth plan: $69 per user per month.
• Sell Professional plan: $149 per user per month.

Rating

• 4.2/5 rating on G2

6. Freshsales CRM: Intuitive, AI-Powered System for Automated Lead Assignment

Last on this AI CRM software list is Freshsales CRM. Its AI assistant, Freddy, can help you identify cross-selling and upselling opportunities and automate lead assignments. AI also helps spot risks and bottlenecks and prioritize “warmer” deals.

Key Sales Features Include

• Deal and sales sequencing insights.
• 360-degree customer view.
• Robust mobile app with an intuitive interface.
• Good customer support.
• A wide variety of languages are supported.

Pricing Plans

• The Growth plan is around $12 per user per month.
• The Pro plan is around $50 per user per month.
•  The Enterprise plan is around $75 per user per month.

Rating

• 4.5/5 rating on G2

7. Softr – Powerful no-code CRM platform

Softr is a simple yet powerful no-code platform that can help you build custom sales tools including CRM to manage your entire funnel without developer resources. Trusted by over 500,000 teams—from small businesses to major corporations like Universal and Hopin—Softr lets anyone create custom apps to power internal and external workflows.

Softr’s AI functionality include: AI text generator, AI content generator, AI app generator to build business apps with CRUD functionality, AI-generated designs, data, themes, and copy.

Key Sales Features Include

• Sales pipeline tracking
• Lead capturing
• Account management
• Customer onboarding
• Project management
• KPI reporting

Pricing Plans

• Free plan (and free trial available on all plans)
• Basic: $49 per month
• Professional $139 per month
• Business: $269 per month

Rating

• 4.8/5 rating on G2

Pipeline CRM is the Best AI-powered CRM for Your Business

When selecting a CRM, prioritize features like robust sales forecasting, seamless integration, mobile accessibility, and extensive customization options. Additionally, consider an AI-powered CRM to automate tasks and boost productivity.

Pipeline CRM is an excellent choice, offering a user-friendly interface, powerful AI writing assistant, and comprehensive features. Experience the difference by trying Pipeline CRM for free today!

In most companies, sales is still an unstructured and highly variable process. As it involves a more people-driven approach, the integration of AI may seem unconventional. However, when implemented through a reliable sales pipeline CRM, it can reshape how your company interacts with customers, improving revenue. 

From processing mountains of customer data to improving sales training, you can use generative AI in CRM to: 

• Make your sales operation more efficient 
• Segment customers and drive better personalization
• Prepare for risks and adjust strategies
• Close leads faster
• Improve customer experience

In short, generative AI in CRM can help your sales team assess, understand and connect with your target market. 

Wondering how? Let’s dive into how your sales team can use generative AI and drive business growth. 

What is Generative AI?

Generative AI is a variant of artificial intelligence that can learn from existing data sets and resources to produce new data. This includes images, videos, audio, code, text, and even simulations. A notable example of generative AI is OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

Compared to the more task-specific traditional AI models, generative AI offers more flexibility. It also doesn’t need any operation-specific programming to produce results, allowing almost everyone to leverage this advanced technology in their daily task, including in B2B sales work.

7 Ways Sales Teams Can Use Generative AI to Increase Sales

According to a McKinsey report, 50% of companies adopted AI in at least one business area, sales being one of the three fields with the most revenue effect from it. But how do these companies use generative AI in sales? Let’s find out.

1. Email Writing Tool for Sales with Generative AI

A study shows that salespeople spend 31 hours a month on emailing. That’s more than 4 full working days dedicated to emailing rather than selling.

To cut down on time, you can ask the generative AI tool to write the emails. However, this workflow is still not 100% efficient as you still need to switch between platforms (the AI and the sales CRM software).

To fully leverage the power of AI, why not use an AI email writing feature that is offered within your CRM software? Pipeline CRM, for instance, offers a built-in AI email writing assistant that allows you to write or rewrite emails with just one click. You can select the email purpose (e.g., book a call or say thank you), edit the emails (e.g., more engaging or rephrase it), and even change the text format directly from the Email editor system. See the examples of how to use Pipeline’s CRM AI email writing assistant here.

When you combine this with your customer data, you can easily create different email purposes tailored for each customer segmentation. Such efficiency lets your sales team create personalized outreach emails as soon as leads come into the pipeline.  

Related: Download ready-to-use email templates for cold outreach, demo requests, and follow-up emails in this CRM guide.

2. Sales Forecasting with AI

One notable reason behind falling sales performance may be inaccuracies in sales forecasts. When forecasts are off the mark, it becomes difficult to gauge the true picture of market trends. This leaves your sales team flying blind, unable to effectively scale their operations to meet upcoming demand.

Sales pipeline CRM with generative AI capabilities can ease the process and make your sales forecasting more precise and automated. It can analyze customer responses and historical data and create predictive models. 

Such an artificial intelligence-backed system captures real-time sales data and represents the accurate conditions of the market. You can uncover patterns, trends, and their correlations and recognize demand changes based on seasonality, customer preferences, and the bandwidth of your sales team.

3. Workflow Automation with Generative AI

Performing repetitive tasks like data entry or assessing previous customer interactions takes up significant time for sales teams.

Powered by generative AI, reliable custom CRM software offers sales automation, freeing up your team’s time to focus on tasks that drive conversion. These tools can sync your customer contacts in a single, easy-to-use dashboard, which is extremely helpful for companies scaling their customer base. 

Your sales reps can use natural language prompts to enter the data into the AI tool to analyze the customer interactions and schedule follow-ups with the leads. Then, you can add the action points to your sales pipeline CRM. This will allow your sales reps to refer back to past interactions quickly and personalize sales calls better.

Additionally, you can also leverage the abundant information the generative AI has to generate new leads. For instance, your sales reps aim to target the Manhattan area to sell your cloud-based communication tool. To identify potential customers, they can ask the AI tool to find the top companies in the area. 

4. Lead Scoring with Generative AI

Scoring your leads is important for efficient resource allocation. It measures the lead’s quality and ensures that your sales reps prioritize those most likely to convert.

But as your company grows, so will the number of leads in your pipeline, making manual lead qualification demanding. Plus, traditional lead-scoring methods depend on subjective data points and judgments. It can often lead to inconsistencies and missed business opportunities—and that’s where generative AI comes in. 

A sales pipeline CRM platform integrated with artificial intelligence can assess large volumes of customer data quickly and accurately. It can identify the traits of your best users in granular detail and match your leads with your ideal buyer profile. 

This way, your sales team will only focus on leads most likely to convert, enhancing operational productivity. Your lead-scoring system will improve continuously over time as the AI system learns each time it handles fresher data. 

5. Sentiment Analysis

Understanding customer feedback is essential for any business to survive in the long run, as it helps drive continuous product and service improvements. Sentiment analysis can help companies uncover the most intricate details of each user’s feedback and align their services accordingly. 

Generative AI can accelerate this process by analyzing every customer response in detail. It can detect particular patterns in user complaints and point out the most prevalent customer challenges. This can eliminate roadblocks in the customer journey, enhancing the customer experience. 

Assessing the sentiment behind words in customer reviews also identifies customers at churn risk, giving you enough time to resolve the issue, re-engage, and retain them.

6. Sales Strategy Optimization

In rapidly evolving markets and changing customer needs, even your best strategies today may not drive the same results tomorrow. So, every business must monitor their sales performance and optimize the framework regularly. 

Generative AI can provide real-time market updates on how customers respond to your product and sales techniques. You can automate surveys, run A/B tests, and let artificial intelligence determine which parts of your strategy don’t align with current customer needs. This allows you to make immediate modifications to better cater to customer preferences for higher sales performance. 

7. Sales Training with Generative AI Tools

Applying generative AI lets you tailor coaching experiences for your teams and accommodate different learning styles. You can create sales call simulations for your reps to practice with, which will enhance their ability to adapt quickly to different customer needs and challenges. 

Furthermore, generative AI can identify your sales reps’ strengths and weaknesses. Based on these insights, it can generate customized training modules focused on helping your reps become more well-rounded salespeople. 

You can use artificial intelligence to create automated feedback loops, offering specific pointers on areas of improvement. It can also generate real-time sales performance metrics, enabling your teams to track progress and adjust their approach more effectively. 

Not only that, but using generative AI for sales training is also much more cost effective than traditional training methods. There is no need to create individual training plans for every team. You can use virtual training environments and let your sales teams participate from different locations.

Adopt Generative AI-Powered Custom CRM Software To Boost Your B2B Sales Performance

Although sales is a people-approach action, artificial intelligence can still help in many ways. Here is a rundown on how generative AI can help your sales teams: 

• Custom CRM software with generative AI can help you create personalized content for outreach emails without investing lots of hours.
• Automate tasks, predict customer behavior, create buyer personas, score leads, and forecast accurate sales.
• Dig deep into customer feedback and understand their sentiments.
• Analyze sales strategy and track its performance to create the most effective sales workflow.
• Enhance sales training sessions with AI-generated simulation, virtual training environments, and customized modules.

Seeing these immense benefits, Pipeline CRM integrated the power of generative AI, powered by OpenAI, to create a custom CRM software solution with a built-in AI email assistant. This innovative tool empowers your sales team to craft compelling emails in seconds, leading to faster closing times and freeing up your sales reps to focus on building relationships that matter.

Ready to strengthen your sales team with generative AI and hit and exceed your revenue goals? Choose your Pipeline plan today!

Stop getting drowned in accounting work and focus on what matters: sealing deals. Pipeline’s CRM integration with QuickBooks syncs your sales and accounting data seamlessly—streamlining your entire sales process, from deal discovery to closing. No need to switch between tools, as you’ll have all the information you need at your fingertips.

Why Should Sales CRM Software Integrate with QuickBooks?

Before we discuss the detailed features of Pipeline’s CRM with Quickbooks integration, let’s find out the advantages of syncing your CRM and accounting data.

• Accurate and Consistent Data

Your CRM hosts customer information and sales orders, while your accounting software handles invoices and payment details. By integrating both databases, you ensure that the data is consistent, accurate, and clean (no duplicate entries across systems.) This accuracy reduces the risk of discrepancies and errors. Plus, it eliminates the need to add the data to the two systems manually.

• Increased Revenue Opportunities

By merging both customers and their sales details, you’ll gain a complete customer profile. This empowers you to refine your sales approaches through customer segmentation analysis. Additionally, this unified view provides invaluable insights into upselling and cross-selling opportunities. You can easily identify customers who might benefit from additional products or services, boosting your bottom line.

• Streamlined Order-to-Cash Process

In many cases, the sales team is responsible for generating quotes and sales orders. Then, the accounting team turns them into invoices and tracks their status. When CRM and accounting systems are integrated, you ensure that each deal progresses smoothly from quote to payment.

This level of collaboration will eliminate delayed invoicing and give real-time insights into payment status. It will empower your team to address any delays proactively and improve the company’s cash flow.

• Clear Financial Visibility

Profit and loss reporting and revenue forecasts are highly dependent on the quality of your data. By pulling accurate, real-time financial data, you gain up-to-date information about your company’s financial health. This helps you make strategic decisions not only limited to sales strategies but also overall business operations. 

Key Features of Pipeline’s CRM Integration with QuickBooks for Sales Workflows

1. Two-Way QuickBooks CRM Integration for Synced and Up-to-Date Data

As a CRM that integrates with QuickBooks, Pipeline CRM bridges the gap between customer and accounting data. Our seamless bi-directional sync ensures your data moves between platforms in perfect harmony. Add, update, or delete information in either Pipeline CRM or QuickBooks, and the changes will automatically reflect in the other. This ensures that both systems have consistent and up-to-date data without manual intervention.

You can configure the data sync to be one-directional, from QuickBooks to Pipeline or from Pipeline to QuickBooks. You can also disable automatic data transfer completely.

2. View, Create, and Send Multiple Documents from a Single Platform

You can create proposals and invoices using the data pulled from the CRM contact list or sales history. Then, add the products or services and the pricing, and send the proposal via email directly from Pipeline CRM—all without switching between multiple applications.

3. Convert Proposals to Invoices Directly from Pipeline CRM

Once your lead accepts the proposal, convert it into an invoice with a single click. This seamless integration facilitates a faster invoicing process and a smooth customer experience.

4. Easily Track, Void, or Delete Data

Pipeline CRM grants access to the accounting data on your QuickBooks account, allowing you to revise or cancel proposals directly from the CRM. Plus, you can easily track the status (draft, sent, or paid) of your proposals and invoices, allowing you to follow up with clients on overdue payments.

5. Configurable Account Permissions for Data Integrity and Security

Allow specific users to create, access, or edit proposals and invoices. For example, only sales managers can finalize and send proposals and invoices, while sales reps can only create and can’t edit after submissions. This fosters a standardized workflow, ensuring data integrity and empowering users to perform their roles effectively.

You can configure account permissions to enable or disable specific users (e.g., basic users) from viewing, creating, and converting estimates and invoices. 

Work Smarter with Pipeline CRM and QuickBooks Two-Way Sync Integration

Break down the data silos between sales and accounting. With Pipeline and QuickBooks CRM integration, you seamlessly merge your QuickBooks sales data with customer details in your CRM. Gain a holistic understanding of your customer profile and sales performance—promoting automated, error-free work that speeds up your sales cycle.

Learn more about our improved Pipeline CRM and Quickbooks integration.

FAQs – Pipeline and QuickBooks CRM Integration

1) What Key Features Do Pipeline CRM and QuickBooks Integration Offer?

As a CRM that integrates with QuickBooks, Pipeline CRM offers the following key features:

• Bi-directional sync of sales and accounting data
• Easily create, send, and track the status of invoices and proposal
• Convert proposals to invoices directly from Pipeline CRM
• Configurable permissions for admins and non-admin users

2) How Do I Integrate QuickBooks with Pipeline CRM?

Here’s how you can integrate Quickbooks with Pipeline CRM:

• Find QuickBooks on the Pipeline CRM App Store and install it
• Log in using your QuickBooks credentials
• Go to Configure > QuickBooks Online API > Connect
• Enter your QuickBooks login details and test the connection
• Go to Settings > Import QuickBooks data 
• Return to the App Store, find QuickBooks, and toggle integration on

See the step-by-step tutorial here. 

3) Is There an Additional Cost for Pipeline CRM and QuickBooks Integration?

No, there isn’t an additional cost for Pipeline CRM and QuickBooks integration. It is included in all plans and available to all Pipeline CRM users. Visit the Pipeline CRM pricing page for a breakdown of our plans.

Every minute your team spends on mundane tasks, they’re missing out on an opportunity to retain and source new clients. With the right customizable CRM software, you can set up an automated sales workflow, allowing more time for tasks that move the needle.

Here, we show you everyday sales tasks that can be automated using sales CRM solutions. You may be surprised by how many tasks can be removed from your to-do list.

Why Do You Need Sales CRM Automation?

There are so many tasks to do in so little time—and in sales, time is money. 

Leave the administrative work to your CRM, and in return, get the following benefits: 

• Sales automation handles bulk tasks and frees up time from mundane work.
• With an automated sales workflow, you ensure no sales steps are overlooked, maintaining consistency and data integrity.
• Setting automated email responses enables you to handle a high volume of customer interactions without sacrificing quality or responsiveness. 
• Prioritize tasks by setting predefined criteria in your CRM task management solution and focus on those when you start the day to gain maximum productivity.
• Customizable CRM software lets you personalize and automate sales processes and enhances customer experience, ensuring they receive timely communication tailored to their needs. 

12 Sales Tasks You Can Automate with Customizable CRM Software

With the right CRM system, you can automate tasks to produce the same high-quality outcome as when you do them manually. Look at the list below to give you some ideas:

Follow-Up Emails

Many leads show interest in your product but aren’t ready to purchase. 

In this situation, timely follow-ups can nudge and convert them to paying customers. 

If your CRM software supports an email drip campaign feature, you can present follow-up workflows that will be automatically activated once the lead is added to the sales pipeline. For example, you can send a personalized invitation for a demo, a follow-up email after a week of no response, or share your most popular white paper. These will help you nurture them while you close another deal.

Pro tip: Leverage CRM AI writing assistant to help you craft compelling emails. Learn more about writing sales emails with AI here.

Appointment Scheduling and Reminders

Missing appointments can cost you valuable prospects and make you look unprofessional. To prevent this from happening, connect your calendar app to your CRM system to automatically get a pop-up window that reminds you of upcoming appointments. For example, sync your Google Contacts and Calendar with Pipeline.

Lead Scoring

Accurate lead scoring allows you to use your time efficiently. By doing this, you’ll only spend time building relationships with prospects who are likely to convert. 

Customizable CRM software like Pipeline CRM offers robust lead management features where you can track the progress of each lead and prioritize them accordingly. 

Related: Turning down poor-quality leads isn’t a crime. Learn how to measure lead quality properly in this guide.

Lead Segmentation and Follow-Up Tasks

The key to effective sales management lies in proper task prioritization. 

Sales CRM solutions help manage your daily tasks by automatically segmenting leads according to their position in the pipeline and assigning the right sales rep for each task. The CRM system will segment leads into lists like Leads No One Has Contacted in 7 Days, Deals Expected to Close This Week, or Deals Closing With No Next Task Set. You can also delegate tasks in the pipeline and track your sales team’s potential. 

Valuable Content Delivery 

Sales enablement content can be an excellent tool for lead nurturing. 

You can establish your brand as the thought leader in your niche and pose your product as the best solution to tackle the industry challenges. Achieve this by sending marketing materials that solve prospect’s pain points. This can be in blogs, e-books, recorded webinars, and other informative content to engage them further. 

Promote Referral Programs

The power of word-of-mouth is a strong driver to generate new leads. You can leverage your positive relationships with your existing customers and turn them into brand ambassadors. Set up a reminder to introduce a referral program to customers who have been doing business with you for, e.g., two years. At this point, they know your brand inside and out and have enough experience to vouch for your products.

Ask for Product Reviews and Testimonials

According to the Local Consumer Review Survey 2023, 98% of people read online reviews for local businesses. So, collecting reviews and testimonials can help establish your business credibility and increase sales. Set your sales CRM solution to send automated review and testimonial requests to customers with specific milestones. 

Payment Reminders and Collections

Reminding clients of their due invoices isn’t enjoyable. Avoid this by leveraging your customizable CRM software to add a “Pay Now” button to your digital invoice. You can also build payment reminders according to time and action-based triggers. 

Leverage CRM & Sales Automation For Better Productivity

From automating follow-ups to setting action-based workflows, CRM software helps you to be more productive in tackling daily sales challenges. With the right sales CRM solution, you won’t need to worry about missing out on promising prospects or spending time on leads that aren’t likely to convert. You can simply automate mundane sales tasks and give your sales team more time to engage with promising leads.

With Pipeline CRM, you can tailor your sales workflow to match your business’s needs, including automating email marketing, setting predefined sales tasks, and tracking leads progress across the sales pipeline. Try Pipeline CRM and get a 14-day free trial!

CRM & Sales Automation Guides

• Automate Follow Up Emails
• Automate Demo and Trial Requests
• Automate Sales Introduction Emails
• Automatically Reconnect With Cold Prospects

However, crafting engaging sales emails requires close attention, which means many salespeople dedicate more time than they should to drafting sales emails. In fact, a study found that many employees spend 4.1 hours a day managing emails. That’s more than half of the average workday!

While this process can often be at the expense of more pressing priorities, with the help of AI, you can create a compelling sales email in just a few minutes. You can use external generative AI tools like ChatGPT or opt for a more integrated approach like the built-in AI email assistant feature in Pipeline CRM software. 

This blog will teach you the basics of writing a personalized sales email, how to generate one using ChatGPT and Pipeline’s AI email assistant, and the advantages you’ll get from each method. Let’s get started!

How to Write Successful Sales Emails With The Help of AI

An engaging sales email should grab attention, build interest, and persuade prospects to take action. To accomplish these goals, here are four key email elements that you should pay attention to:

• Appealing subject line

Create a concise, relevant, and intriguing subject line. This will pique the recipient’s curiosity and encourage them to open the email.

• Personalization instead of generalization

A little personalization can go a long way! Share how you obtained their contact information (e.g., through a referral), mention their latest achievement or LinkedIn status (e.g., a new job), or highlight what you have in common (e.g., shared hometown or alma mater).

• High relevancy and unique value proposition

The more relatability, the likelier you’ll get a response. Address pain points and show how your products or services can solve their problems. Amplify your email message by attaching relevant marketing material, such as a link to a blog, white paper, or brochure.

• Powerful call to action (CTA)

After reading the email, what do you want the recipient to do next? Translate this into a clear CTA. For instance, schedule a demo, use the promo link, or download the attachment.

There is an art in crafting a compelling sales email, and sometimes, it can be tricky. This is where AI can assist you in generating flexible yet structured sales emails. To add, it provides the opportunity to add some personalization about the recipients and your brand.

Writing Sales Emails Using ChatGPT

66% of employees believe their productivity has improved after adopting ChatGPT. This finding comes as no surprise, as ChatGPT is a multipurpose tool that can tackle various business challenges, including crafting engaging sales emails. 

Related: Did you know you can use ChatGPT to find qualified leads? Learn how to use ChatGPT to solve many sales challenges in this thorough guide (examples and prompts included). 

When using ChatGPT as an AI email writer, here are a few pointers you should consider:

• Write a detailed prompt

You need to state the purpose of the email to get better results. For instance, is it for cold outreach or follow-up emails? List other requirements that you want ChatGPT to follow, such as using formal or informal language, email length, etc.

• Tweak the prompt several times 

If you don’t get a satisfying result in one try, edit the prompt until you’re happy. ChatGPT is a smart tool, but it can get confused when the prompt is too complex or unclear.

• Do it step by step

Instead of writing a long prompt, consider breaking it down into several steps. Let ChatGPT give you the response, and then type in the text-editing prompts. For example, ‘make it shorter,’ ‘rephrase this sentence,’ or ‘make this sentence sound less stiff and more friendly.’

Here are a couple of examples of sales email prompts and the sales emails generated by ChatGPT.

Example 1 – Cold Email for the Wholesale and Distribution

Sales Email AI Prompt 1:

Write a cold email to a prospect in the wholesale and distribution industry. The main focus is to offer a 20% discount on [Product A] and 7-day delivery time.

Also, mention you have [Product X], a similar product to [Product A] but at a cheaper price. You’d like to offer a 30% discount on [Product X] and can send a sample for them to see the product before making the order.

Keep the email within 150 words. Use a semi-formal tone. Use an engaging opening line.

Result:

Subject: Your Chance: 20% Off + 7-Day Delivery + Complimentary Product Sample

Dear [Prospect’s Name],

Time is money in the wholesale and distribution industry, and we’re here to help you maximize both. I’m excited to introduce our limited-time offer that’s tailor-made for your needs.

We’re thrilled to offer you a special 20% discount on our high-quality [Product A], along with a rapid 7-day delivery option.

But that’s not all! We’d like to send you a free sample of [Product X], a cost-effective alternative to [Product A], offering a fantastic 30% cost savings. It’s the perfect chance to see the exceptional value we provide.

Don’t miss out on this exclusive offer – it’s a limited-time opportunity to boost your margins and product variety.

We’re here to assist with any questions or requirements you may have. Thank you for considering us as your trusted supplier.

Warm regards,

[Your Name]

Example 2 – Follow-up Email for Construction Company

Sales Email AI Prompt 2:

Write a follow-up email. I want to follow up with a prospect about the sent estimation of their house renovation. Suggest a meeting next week to talk about the price, materials, and anything else about the project.

Keep the email within 100 words. Use a casual tone. Use a friendly opening line.

Result:

Hi [Prospect’s Name],

I hope you’re well. I just wanted to check in on the house renovation estimate we sent your way. Have you had a chance to review it?

Let’s sync up next week to chat about the project details, including pricing, materials, and any questions you might have. Your dream renovation is just around the corner!

When’s a good time for you to connect?

Best regards,

[Your Name]

Writing Sales Emails Using The AI Email Writer From Pipeline CRM

Although ChatGPT and similar AI tools can help compose a compelling sales email, this method isn’t resource-efficient.

First, you need to write down the prompt in detail. This step can be tricky as you must be precise on your prompt, or the AI will generate unwanted results. Second, you need to paste the result to your email composer before sending it to your prospect. Say you use a sales CRM software or a third-party email marketing tool, switching between platforms is impractical and prone to errors.

Now, if you use the AI email assistant in Pipeline CRM, you eliminate these hiccups. Our AI email writer is powered by OpenAI—the technology behind ChatGPT. Now that we’ve integrated it with our Email Editor system, you can create AI-generated sales emails directly from the CRM. Plus, you can enjoy the following benefits. 

• Tailor the emails using custom prompts

Instead of writing a long prompt to describe the email goal, you just have to click on one of the options: ‘Say hello,’ ‘Book a call,’ ‘Say thank you,’ ‘Close a deal,’ and ‘Follow up.’ If none of them matches your email purpose, you can type it in, and your email will be generated.

Watch this demo video to see how Pipeline CRM simplifies the AI prompt writing process:

• Instant results

If you aren’t satisfied with the email suggestion, you can edit it to best suit your brand, or ask the AI to rewrite it instantly. Simply highlight text and select commands like “more engaging,“ “rephrase,” “lengthen,” or “shorten” to tweak the message. Once it is perfect, click approve, and it’ll be ready to be sent to the prospects.

This demo video will show you how easy it is to edit the prompt:

• Streamlined workflow

As a built-in AI email writer, you don’t need to copy-paste the message and switch between windows. You can leverage this AI-powered CRM feature whenever you use the Email Editor feature on Pipeline CRM. For example, when replying to emails, creating email sequences for email drip campaigns, or writing bulk emails for cold outreach.

This streamlined workflow saves you time and boosts productivity. You can now develop fast and articulate replies to leads, and free up time to focus on prospecting and closing deals!

• Protected data

Unlike third-party AI email writers, your data security is our priority. Pipeline CRM implements a robust measure to protect your business and customer information, ensuring sensitive data remains confidential and compliant.

Our AI email assistant feature is available to all Pipeline users on all plans. Depending on your plan, the prompt limit varies: Start Plan 25 prompts per user per month, Develop Plan 50 prompts per user per month, and Grow Plan 100 prompts per user per month.

Work Smarter with Pipeline CRM’s AI Email Writer 

By leveraging the power of AI to craft sales emails, you’ll have more time to focus on tasks that move the needle. It takes away the creativity burden and helps you increase your productivity as well as the deal closing rates.

You can use a third-party platform like ChatGPT or choose the built-in AI email assistant feature in Pipeline CRM. We offer the same nifty abilities in crafting personalized sales emails but with a simpler, easy-to-use interface.

Experience this AI-powered feature by signing up for our 14-day free trial today!

Consumers are more likely to buy from brands that remember them or use purchase history to make recommendations. 

To add, the majority of marketers believe personalization drives profitability too. A recent survey from Think with Google stated that leading marketers believe personalization significantly contributes to profitability. 

Clearly it’s important, but what makes personalization such an important part of the sales process? 

• Customers expect it: 75% of customers are frustrated when they don’t receive personalization

• When customers receive personalization, they’re more engaged in the sales process

• Personalization shows your sales team whether their message resonates with customers

• Personalization boosts customer conversion rates and average order values

• Customers find it easier to trust the brands that understand them

• There’s a marked decrease in churn rates over time 

Personalizing an Automated Sales Process:

When it comes to automations and your CRM, there are two different types of automations you can create: 

• Data-based: these automations are designed to run whenever data is created, updated, or deleted. For example, you may want to create a task (action) whenever a new person record is created (trigger).
• Time-based: these automations will run based on system or custom date fields. You can choose to have an action occur a certain number of days before/ after the date hosted in the field or on the exact date. An example of a time-based automation would be: to update a custom field (action) one day after a deal’s Actual Close Date is set (trigger).

With an automated sales workflow, you can close leads at scale. You can handle a tremendous amount of lead volume with time to spare, which is ideal because it gives you the opportunity to personalize your communication. 

Now, how do you balance automation and personalization? Here are four tips to consider: 

Tip 1: Automate Administrative and Non-Billable Work

Your sales team should be primarily focused on closing deals with customers. If your sales reps aren’t prospecting, they should be closing deals. They shouldn’t be focused on creating brochures or writing proposals. 

Let’s take a look at the tasks we can automate. 

This isn’t a comprehensive list, but you see how much time tools can take off your hands. If your sales teams are still handling these tasks manually, they’re spending (wasting) time on administrative tasks that are costing you.

Tip 2: Create Templates to Customize

Templates are essential personalization tools. Personalization is much easier and more efficient if you start from a template. There’s no need to think about what to say, when, or who to say it to. If you’re working with templates, legal can check them beforehand. You can even ask for specific guidance on customizing each template beforehand. 

Here’s a short list you can use to get started. 

• Sales introduction email template

• Website lead response template

• Recent activity voicemail template

• Rapport builder templates (x3)

• Mutual friend template

• Re-establishing a connection template

• Voicemail ‘Sorry I missed you’ template 

• Triggering event email templates

• Anniversary/celebration templates

• Customer demo request response template

• Thanks for downloading response template

• Free trial request template

• Customer onboarding introduction template

• Customer ghosting response template

• No response/engagement template (x3)

• Are you still interested? template

• Content compliment template

• Out-of-office reply template   

• Great to connect with you template

• LinkedIn connection request template

Use these templates (with mail merge, for example) to semi-automate the personalization process and to customize your sales process.  

Tip 3: Collect the Customer Data you Need to Personalize Your Sales Process

What customer data do you need to personalize your sales process? The list is pretty straightforward. 

• Notable events (birthdays)
• Purchase history 
• Product/service consumption rates
• The state of your company
• The financials of your company
• Customer revenue
• Customer spending
• Profit margin (per customer)
• Purchase frequency
• Company history 
• Objections
• Risk factors 
• Desires, goals, fears, frustrations
• Problems 

Need more information? Look for the customer data you need. 

Tip 4: Use Software Tools to Personalize Parts of the Sales Process

Believe it or not, you can use your automations and integrations to personalize the sales process.

Did you catch the formula? 

Customer Data + (Automation * Templates) = Personalization 

This formula is straightforward. Use it to humanize an automated sales process

Final Thoughts

If you’re looking for a way to personalize your sales process at scale, start with your CRM. 

Free up time for selling and engaging your leads across multiple channels for greater success. Allow your sales team to focus on their most valuable tasks and 10x sales revenue. Learn more about our CRM features for effective sales team management.

A recent survey by Epsilon and GBH Insights discovered that 80% of customers are more likely to do business with a company if it offers a personalized customer experience. The majority (90%) stated that they find personalization appealing. To add, Mckinsey has shared that customers don’t just want personalization, they demand it.

Now, as a salesperson with limited time and resources, it is only possible to personalize some interactions. With multiple prospects and customers vying for your attention, you can’t focus on a single prospect in your database. 

Is a CRM System the Solution to Your Prospect’s Expectations? 

Most of the time, yes. A CRM system is an essential tool for several reasons: 

• Unifies the team: a properly managed CRM tells managers, marketers, sales, and customer support reps what they should do next. First, define and target the right prospect. Then, disqualify prospects. Third, assess the problem/need, etc. Your CRM provides everyone (including customers)  with their marching orders. There’s clarity about what to do and how to do it.     

• Helps to enforce standards: imagine that you have a specific workflow or process you’d like your sales team to use when qualifying a prospect. Let’s say you need specific information from your prospect (e.g., validated contact info, a precise budget, and a clear timeframe). A CRM is a must-have; it gives your manager, co-workers, and leadership a clear understanding of (a.) what’s needed, (b.) what you’ve received so far, and (c.) it explains your progress (or lack thereof). 

• Aggregates data over time: here’s an example – you’re managing a team of 10 sales reps who, collectively, have lost their last 25 deals. You have no idea why but executives are breathing down your neck, demanding that you turn things around. You read your sales rep’s notes and analyze the reports in your CRM. You discover that your organization offers 50% less than your competitors but charges 75% more. This explains the lost deals.

• Reports on performance: executives want each sales rep to hit quota. Is that happening right now? Profit per employee (sales rep) is down; it should be 4:1. Why isn’t this happening for us? Where are we falling short? CRM reports help you to answer performance questions. 

As you can see, the value of your CRM is enormous. But still, sales teams are underperforming. 

Data suggests that most salespeople:

• Don’t have a sales process (so they don’t know what to do) 
• They don’t receive much in the way of support from their managers
• Most of the time, they don’t know what they’re doing wrong 

Your salespeople aren’t the problem. A lack of systems and procedures is. 

Combining CRM and ChatGPT is a straightforward way to provide your team with the support they need. 

Let’s take a look at how CRM and ChatGPT can help your business increase sales:

1. Use CRM and ChatGPT to Qualify Prospects

Prospecting is hard, but it doesn’t have to be. Let’s say you’re a salesperson responsible for closing five prospects per month. Your sales manager has given you the specifics of your target audience; you know your ideal customer, and you know how to qualify them. What you don’t have is time. Use ChatGPT to build a starter list of prospects.

In our imaginary example, we’re a B2B salesperson looking for real estate brokerages in the Chicagoland area. We’re selling our real estate photography services, and we want to get our foot in the door with five brokerages this month. 

We prompt ChatGPT with the following: 

“List 150 real estate brokerages in the Chicagoland area.”

This list is outstanding.

In a few seconds, we’ve just generated a list of real estate brokerages to add to our list. We can do this for lots of other suburbs in the Chicagoland area. We can do this to differentiate between specific groups (e.g., real estate agents vs. Realtors). We can even do this based on size or any other variable, and we can do this in seconds.

Next, let’s say you’re paid on commission and responsible for generating your own supply of leads, and you have a quota to meet. Here’s how you do it.

1. Use ChatGPT to build a targeted list of prospects in your desired location
2. Verify your list with Google Bard
3. Hire a virtual assistant agency to vet the list and verify that all of the details are accurate
4. Load the verified list into your CRM
5. Use the pitch workflows in your CRM (and your irresistible offer) to convert your list to prospects
6. Take prospects through your sales process and close

The more targeted and precise your list, the more effective your offer will be.

*Note: The problem with AI is that it’s still learning. Google Bard, Open AI’s ChatGPT, and other tools are still not as accurate as they could be, but that’s changing. Does this mean these tools are no longer valuable? Not at all.

2. Use CRM and ChatGPT to Craft Your Pitch

You have a list of prospects. Now it’s time to craft your pitch.

To do that, you’ll want to speak with your manager to get a clear sense of the things you:

• Can/should say
• Cannot say
• Can but shouldn’t say
• Need to verify with legal before saying
• Should never say because they’re illegal

Now we’re going to reach out to ChatGPT for some ideas.

Here’s the query.

“I’m a photographer, and I sell staging and photography services. My service will help real estate agents sell homes faster. Please give me brief bullet points outlining how I can pitch my services to real estate agents while avoiding the stigma that comes with cold outreach.“

ChatGPT provided a list of 10 ideas.

Some of these ideas were generic and unhelpful (e.g., maintain an online presence – obvious). Others were helpful and it was possible to craft a pitch. Here are four of the workable ideas.

1. Offer value upfront
2. Develop partnerships
3. Pursue referrals
4. Collaborate on content

We decided to start with #1, “offer value upfront,” since it’s the option with the lowest barrier to entry. We asked ChatGPT for help again, and we received 10 ideas on ways to offer value upfront. Here’s a list of those ideas.

Here’s a list of the top ideas. 

• Free educational resources

• Portfolio review 

• Case studies

• Virtual staging samples

• Rewards for referrals 

Any salesperson worth their salt can amplify these ideas. 

Take #2, the portfolio review, for example. Which option is more compelling for your prospects? 

• You offer to review the images in a real estate agent’s portfolio for a fee or 

• You share the agent’s listings with prospective buyers and ask them what they think about their photos. If prospective buyers think their property photos are terrible, they want to know. You create an irresistible offer where you provide them with incredible staging and images free of charge. In exchange, they agree to share 10 of your referral kits (each month) with other real estate agents. 

Which one would you choose? 

Here’s another important detail to remember when working with AI. 

Legalities. 

If you decide to offer rewards for referrals, for example (#5), that could be a violation of RESPA, which would mean big trouble for you. The idea above (b) works because there are no fees or kickbacks whatsoever. This detail is the reason why you’ll need to vet and validate anything AI spits out. They’re assistants, nothing more. You still need to be in the driver’s seat.  

3. Use CRM and ChatGPT to Write Follow-Up Emails

In a previous post, we mentioned that only 3% of your customers are ready to buy. This means 97% percent of your customers are not ready to buy. However, approximately 40% of your prospects will buy at some point in the future.

This is a huge opportunity if you’re willing to lean on your CRM and ChatGPT for assistance. So here’s the thing. If you’re like most people, you’ve mistakenly asked ChatGPT to write follow-up messages (e.g., emails, text, scripts) for you.

If you’re sending out follow-up emails that read like this: 

“Hi Mr. Prospect,

We spoke two weeks ago, and I’m just following up to see if you had a chance to take a look at our offerings. Please get in touch with me soon to discuss.”

You’re a pest. 

If you’re going to get results, you’ll need to take a value-driven approach that’s personalized.

Like this. 

“Hi Mrs. Prospect,

Wow, Zillow says completed transactions have dropped by 22.5%! (crazy, right?). 15 of the Realtors in your office said they’ve lost a huge amount of business due to the recession. They’re worried a real estate crash is coming.

I’m offering some free info to help you convert your dead leads into new business. It takes five min. to explain, and there’s no obligation.

Interested?”

See the difference? 

There’s a simple way you can get ChatGPT to help you with this. 

Ask about customer problems. 

“What are the red flags or signs that a real estate crash is coming?”

This information was confirmed with Google Bard, focusing the question on specific areas.

Once the data was returned, further research was done to confirm or deny information.

You can use the data from your CRM and ChatGPT to craft messages in a variety of contexts, including HR, customer support, marketing, sales copy, and even sales advice! Do your best to submit precise and accurate messages. The better you are at creating a precise question, the easier it will be to create a winning pitch, message, or response. 

4. Use CRM and ChatGPT to Improve Sales Performance

Every salesperson needs feedback to grow. And this feedback isn’t always an easy thing to implement. 

Let’s say your manager calls you into his office for a one-on-one and gives you the following feedback. “When you share pricing information, do it with confidence.” Helpful yes. Actionable, also, yes.

But how exactly is a salesperson supposed to implement this feedback?

Here’s the specific version of the question shared with ChatGPT.

“I’m a salesperson, and I’ve just had my one-on-one with my manager. She says I need to confidently share pricing information with prospects. How do I discuss price confidently with prospective customers?”

And here’s the response.

This is very impressive.

At first glance, this looks like generic advice that’s not really all that helpful. Look deeper at each of these responses.

Each of these responses (a.) approaches the fears around price from a different angle, (b.) provides the antidote to the fear that comes with price discussions. If you’re role-playing, for example, a good training partner will repeatedly hit you with worst-case scenarios. When they trip you up, or you stumble over your words and shut down (because you don’t know what to say), you’ll have clear indicators pointing to the areas that need improvement. 

Take the feedback you’ve received from your manager and plug it into ChatGPT. Use your AI assistant to brainstorm and create a list of ideas you can use to boost sales. Then, test each of these ideas, working through them systematically to see which one improves your close rates.

Add notes about the specific strategies and tactics you’re focused on, so you’re aware of the items that produce consistent (positive) results over time. Test the winners against other winners, identifying the ideas that rise to the top over time.

Final Thoughts

CRM and ChatGPT are game changers in the right hands. When combined with an AI assist (i.e., ChatGPT), your CRM system enables you to anticipate every objection and question consistently over time. This upfront analysis and consistent listening make selling feel effortless and simple.

If you’re a data-driven organization, this could be your new normal, where most of your interactions with prospects end with you taking the order and closing the sale. 

Pipeline CRM helps companies like yours decrease time-to-close, increase productivity by 50% or more, and boost sales by as much as 10x. Don’t take our word for it; let us show you how Pipeline can help you attract, win, and retain customers. 

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