Salesforce Inc. today said it’s infusing its Sales Cloud platform with yet more artificial intelligence capabilities as part of its ongoing push to use the technology to help sales teams sell their products faster and more efficiently and boost their productivity.

The new innovations are being delivered to sales representatives, leaders and operations teams, the company said. By bringing trusted AI, unified data and all sales processes into a single portal, Salesforce said it’s aiming to transform the way sales organizations work.

The company said AI can be a big help to sales teams, as its most recent State of Sales report found a widespread misalignment between their ambitions and the reality of today. For instance, it said sales reps on average spend 72% of their time on administrative and other nonsales tasks, such as prioritizing leads, researching prospects and planning. As a result of this work overload, only 28% of sales professionals are confident their teams will meet their annual quotas.

In order to narrow this gap, Salesforce said it’s turning to AI to enhance its Sales Cloud platform and reduce the time teams spend on manual tasks. The Sales Cloud software encompasses a suite of tools for sales teams including contact management, sales forecasting and process automation.

Sales representatives can expect to get a lot of help with the launch of the Einstein Copilot for Sales, which is a generative AI assistant that will aid with tasks such as researching accounts, updating the customer relationship management platform and preparing for meetings. It will be accessible to users anywhere, including on their mobile device, Salesforce said.

Other tools for sales reps include an AI-powered call summarization and exploration feature. This works by extracting the key details of each call they make with a few clicks, in order to summarize what was said and what next steps must be taken. There’s also a new Sales Email tool that will use generative AI to help reps create personalized outreach emails in common sales scenarios, including introductions and follow-up notes, based on the seller’s unique tone and style.

To help teams create lists of new prospects, the company has announced a new Automated Prospecting tool powered by Salesforce Data Cloud. It’s intended to unify internal and external data in real time to create lists of prospects based on metrics such as customer/product fit and buyer intent signals. As a result, sales reps will be able to prioritize their engagements with those customers who are most likely to purchase.

With the new Process Intelligence feature in Sales Cloud, sales operations staff can quickly build new data models using both internal and external sources to optimize key performance indicators such as win rate and attrition metrics. This information can help to boost the productivity of sales teams, the company said.

Finally, there’s a new Sales Cloud Everywhere extension for the Google Chrome browser. Users will be able to access all of their to-do lists, search and update records, leads and other essential information, directly within the browser. It can even auto-generate and send emails via Chrome, saving time for users.

Ketan Karkhanis, executive vice president and general manager of Sales Cloud, said the latest innovations are built on real-time connected data to support sellers at every step of the sales journey. “This means that sales teams can shift their attention from processes to connecting with people, giving them more time to focus on what they do best, selling,” he said.

Salesforce said all of the new features are available now in the Sales Cloud Unlimited Edition+, with the exception of the Automated Prospecting tool, which is currently accessible via a pilot program.

Salesforce has rolled out a steady stream of AI updates this year, but the updates are not just another example of a company rushing to get in on the trend for generative AI models. In fact, Salesforce has been building many of its AI solutions for years, spending billions of dollars on research and development.

Earlier this year it rolled out new generative AI capabilities in its Sales Cloud and Service Cloud applications, which came after similar updates to Marketing Cloud and Commerce Cloud. In September it announced the coming launch of its Einstein Copilot, which will be integrated with every Salesforce product. And last month it introduced generative AI capabilities into Anypoint Code Builder, an integration platform from its MuleSoft subsidiary.

Salesforce’s AI push has also seen it collaborate with the likes of IBM Corp., with the focus there being to help customers adopt its generative AI tools faster and benefit from them more effectively.

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