AI is becoming a core part of CRM systems. Considering the time-saving benefits, it’s unsurprising that generative AI CRMs can be incredibly valuable in helping businesses grow.
I’ve already written an article on CRMs with AI, but I wanted to take my curiosity about AI and CRM one step further. So, in this article, I’m focusing specifically on three generative AI CRMs, how generative AI can improve the sales process, and much more.
While researching this article, I’ve tried to find unique ways of using generative AI in CRMs. I’ve also spoken to people using it in their CRM systems, so you’ll know how people are actually using generative AI features daily.
Learn more about why HubSpot’s CRM platform has all the tools you need to grow better.
Table of Contents
What is a Generative AI CRM?
A generative AI CRM is a CRM system with built-in AI features. This can range from simple tasks like text generation for emails, messages, and meeting notes — to more complex task sales needs. For example, you can use generative AI to complete your prospects’ profiles, including company information.
HubSpot’s Free CRM Software
Free CRM Software & Tools for Your Whole Team
- Sales
- Marketing
- Operations
- Customer Service
Benefits of Generative CRMs
It’s probably not a huge surprise that artificial intelligence offers huge benefits for CRMs and sales.
In the infographic below, PixelPlex details some of the benefits of generative AI for business generally. They include reduced costs, boosted productivity, upgraded decision-making, and improved personalization — just to name a few.
All of these benefits play out in generative AI CRMs, and I will explore how in the next section.
Saves Time
I’m going to start with time-saving because, for me, this is a major benefit of generative AI for sales teams.
As a writer, I don’t rely heavily on generative AI in my daily workload. Still, I have always appreciated how much time AI can save when used correctly, and I’m certainly not the only person who credits generative AI with saving time.
The HubSpot State of Sales and AI survey also found that sales teams saved two and a half hours per day thanks to AI, which handled meeting scheduling, note-taking, outreach creation and editing, and CRM data entry.
Much of this work can be incredibly monotonous. Instead of writing out meeting notes or manually recording customer data, you can rely on the generative AI to do a lot of the work for you. Instead of writing everything from scratch, AI tools can get you rolling, leaving you with review and edit tasks only.
Data Population
Data population is the most common use of generative AI by sales teams. Our survey showed that 35% of salespeople surveyed are using generative AI for data population, note-taking, and scheduling.
There’s a reason this is the most popular use case: Generative AI is good at it and can save sales reps a lot of time.
Tone and Confidence
With generative AI, you can change the tone of your messages to help you come across as you intend: professional, witty, formal, or optimistic.
When you generate content, you can set a tone, add your prompt, and click “generate.” The AI will do the rest. I’ve demonstrated this fully in the section below.
As you can see from the screenshot above, the fifth use case for generative AI is changing the tone of messages to sound more formal or casual.
How to Use Generative AI in a CRM
I wanted to dig into the generative AI options in CRMs. I looked at HubSpot, HoneyBook, and Capsule CRM to compare features.
Generative AI in HubSpot CRM
I’m not just saying this; HubSpot’s generative AI is fantastic. I love how HubSpot has pushed AI from being CRM-centric to supporting the sales role across tools and software. The integrations and ease of use are next level.
The ease of use of HubSpot’s generative AI CRM has resulted in HubSpot users using AI sales tools more frequently than non-HubSpot users.
The data speaks for itself.
Here are some ways that I tested HubSpot’s generative AI tools.
Test One: Hubspot’s Generative AI-Powered Assistant, Chatspot
You can think about HubSpot’s ChatSpot as your virtual assistant. ChatSpot will answer virtually any question you ask using natural language and get you to data faster than browsing through your CRM.
Here’s an example.
I logged in and asked ChatSpot, “Hi, how many contacts are in my CRM?”
ChatSpot responded almost instantly with the total contacts. There are 3,600.
Next, I wanted to know how many contacts were added in August. ChatSpot replied instantly again with the total amount of contacts added in August, 104.
What I liked about using the CRM’s generative AI: ChatSpot instantly quickly answered questions. There is no way I could’ve gotten to that information faster by navigating through the CRM. In this example, I’ve used ChatSpot for the most basic questions, but you can also ask more sophisticated queries like access to reports or finding information on company funding rounds.
HubSpot’s Free CRM Software
Free CRM Software & Tools for Your Whole Team
- Sales
- Marketing
- Operations
- Customer Service
Test Two: Hubspot’s Generative AI Email Content
This is a fantastic feature. What I love about HubSpot’s generative AI email content is that you can a) access this toolbox while in your inbox and b) send emails directly to HubSpot CRM once they’re written.
Let me talk you through it.
Step One: Download the HubSpot Chrome extension.
If you want to use HubSpot’s generative AI to write an email in your inbox, you need to download HubSpot’s Chrome extension.
It’s so easy to download; just click the blue button, and it’s there. To use it, you need to create a free HubSpot account.
Step Two: Open your emails.
I used my Gmail account to do this. Once you’ve installed the extension and are in Gmail, you’ll see the HubSpot icon at the top left (see the screenshot).
Step Three: Start composing your email and log in.
Now, you just need to hit compose and log into your HubSpot account.
Once that’s done, you’ll have all the generative AI and more features.
The features you can use within your inbox include templates, meetings, tasks, and “Write an email for me.”
For this, we’re going to click “Write an email for me.”
Step Four: Prompt the AI.
Once you click “Write an email for me,” you’ll get a pop-up. Here, you need to prompt the AI with:
- Your email type
- What you’re selling
- Who you’re selling to
- A description of what you want to communicate
- The desired tone of your email
I prompted the AI pretty basic for this, but you will want to play around with prompts, get detailed, and consider saving templates to speed up the process. With AI, the more you put in, the better the AI output.
Step Five: Review and edit the output.
The output was on my screen in seconds. It was almost instant.
If you click within the text box, the “Insert content” button turns orange, and you can instantly add it to your email with one click.
What’s great about HubSpot’s email features is that you don’t have to keep all of this out of the CRM.
What I like about HubSpot’s Generative AI: I thought this entire process was easy and evidence for the above stats. If AI is easy to use, sales teams will gravitate towards it. A little extra add-on that makes this feature even better is that if you’re logged into your Google account, you’ll be able to click “Log email to HubSpot” so that it feeds into the CRM.
Generative AI in HoneyBook CRM
HoneyBook is a generative AI CRM that my good friend and business owner, Crystal Waddell, introduced me to.
Waddell runs an ecommerce business, Collage and Wood, and uses HoneyBook, a generative AI CRM. She was very happy to share how her generative AI CRM supports her with client communication, order workflow, email updates, and more.
Waddell says, “I use [HoneyBook] for client communication for my ecommerce site. Whenever someone makes an order, I manually put in their information and apply an automation based on their purchase. It reminds me to email them updates, send proofs, and keep communication ongoing until their item ships. Then afterward, it prompts me to follow up.”
I was intrigued to see the generative AI in action, so Waddell and I tested it.
Step One: I sent Waddell a message.
First, I sent Waddell an email, and as you can see, she received it directly to her CRM via the mobile app.
Step Two: Waddell creates a response using the CRM’s generative AI.
The AI composer within HoneyBook gets to work on writing a response. The wait time for the response is around 30 seconds, which is not too bad at all. Sometimes, it can take me a lot longer than 30 seconds to find the right words, so I felt this generative AI was efficient.
HoneyBook CRMs generative AI is working to understand the project context, review the prior communications, and add Waddell’s personal style.
The tick box system usefully guides the HoneyBook CRM user through the steps before the content is generated.
The final phase is “drafting a response for review.”
Step Three: Review generative AI results.
Finally, after just 30 seconds, the generative AI provided a reply, all within the CRM app.
Waddell describes her generative AI as a “built-in assistant” and credits the system with keeping her “client-focused” so she can keep their project running on time.” A great example of generative AI and customer-centricity.
Waddell really loved the generative AI features in HoneyBook, and even though she’s using it smartly, she recognizes that she could use a zap to transfer client information instead of writing it manually. The point here is that there’s even more to get out of the CRM, and Waddell has many opportunities to explore.
What I liked about using the CRM’s generative AI: I really liked how HoneyBook’s final screen, as it generated the AI content, was “drafting a response for review.” This final step hopefully encourages the user to give the content a read and probably an edit before it’s pushed out to the customer/client.
I also really liked the next steps provided by the AI. With one click, you can request that the generative AI regenerates the response with actions, such as “change tone,” “make it shorter,” and “discuss broader impact.”
Generative AI in Capsule CRM
My third and final test was Capsule CRM.
It was so easy to set up an account and start using the generative AI to create emails. I’ll walk you through the process.
Step One: Connect your emails.
Before you can send an email from within Capsule CRM using generative AI, you need to connect your inbox.
You’ll find your mailbox connections in your Account Settings (click the profile/drop-down menu at the top right of the screen). Follow the screen to “Mailbox connections.”
Once you’re there, hit connect, and the connection will be made in minutes.
Step Two: Prepare your first generative AI email.
You can email via the contact section of the CRM, so navigate to the contact you want to email and click send email.
Once you’ve clicked send email, the email composer will pop up. You’ll see a black icon with a white pencil in the bottom right, as pictured below. Click it.
Next, you’ll get the screen below. You simply need to prompt the AI. I wrote a simple prompt.
Like the HubSpot Chrome extension, you get tone options. You can choose from “professional,” “casual,” “straightforward,” “confident,” and “friendly.”
The options are good, but the prompt is more straightforward. I prefer how HubSpot gave pointers on what to add (e.g., who to write for, what service you are selling). The Capsule Content Assist is less targeted, and you might need to understand prompting to get a decent output with Capsule.
Nonetheless, I hit generate, and the output was good!
Step Three: Review and edit your prompt.
The AI-generated content wasn’t as fast as HubSpot’s, but it wasn’t slow either. I received my response in seconds.
I was actually really happy with the output. It was short and sweet and positive, too. I wouldn’t need to edit that much before I sent it to a client.
Try a Generative AI CRM
As you can see, generative AI within a CRM can save a lot of time. I had a lot of fun testing these three generative AI CRMs and think it’s worth exploring.
For many people reading this, you might already have a CRM in place, and most likely, it has some kind of generative AI waiting for you to explore it.
The fact is that it’s easier to bring generative AI processes via tools you’re already using, so don’t sleep on generative AI. It could save you time, improve your emails, and get you back to doing what you love as you give the AI the mundane.
Leave a Reply