It’s true: Five letters can add an extra six or eight figures to your company’s bottom line. Those letters? AI and CRM.
While the latter have been around for a while, the former is just beginning to take shape — but that shape is nothing short of transformative. And if you haven’t at least tinkered with Chat GPT, Gemini or CoPilot, you’re likely behind your competitors.
The fact is, you should be exploring even more specific tools that can jumpstart your extended warranty sales.
Let’s dive into how using AI and Inline CRM can revolutionize your sales process.
Strategic Competitor Analysis: AI in CRM Insights
You know who else sells extended warranties? Around 300 other companies.
While you all sell the same (or at least similar) products, there are bound to be differences in how you message, what you say, the way you prioritize information.
Sure, your approach is probably solid enough, but some competitors are doing a better job somewhere, somehow.
So, what are those areas you could improve? Where do you even begin? With a competitive analysis!
After all, that’s what 90% of Fortune 500 companies conduct regularly.
When you feed competitor information, like taglines and talking points, into AI, it can generate a matrix showing where your company is superior, falling short and needs to improve. You can then take those findings and incorporate into your direct marketing campaigns.
Suggested AI Tools for Competitive Analysis:
Competitors App
Earnest Analytics
Use AI for Follow Up Sequence Optimization
What would it be like if every lead converted 100% of the time during your first conversation?
Well, for starters, you wouldn’t need a CRM to keep track of your leads or manage your sales pipeline.
But you know that 80% of all sales are made between the fifth and twelfth contact — and you probably wish you could cut the number of follow ups you make in half.
Here’s how AI can help with that.
Export, upload or explain your current follow up strategy along with your associated sales reports from Inline CRM. AI can then analyze the data and suggest enhancements to your:
- Messaging
- Timing
- Approach
Suggested Tool:
MailChimp (which integrates with Inline CRM’s API)
Price Optimization Analysis
We’ve all had a prospect admit they should get an extended warranty… they just can’t afford it. It’s just too expensive. They don’t have the money.
Even when you explain they’ll save money in the long run, the answer is still “No.”
It’s frustrating, right?
As it turns out, AI can help remove some of those budget-conscious objections by conducting a price optimization analysis. And it works. Retailers that use AI-powered pricing solutions have seen gross profit increases of 5% to 10%!
When you export your historical pricing and conversion data, you’ll understand price sensitivity across different customer segments and product types. And with that understanding, you can pinpoint the perfect price you should be charging.
Suggested AI Price Optimization Tool
PROS
Enhanced Sales Training
Your sales reps have their strengths and weaknesses, just like any other employee.
That’s why Inline CRM allows you to create user groups: so you can send certain leads to certain reps based on any number of criteria.
But wouldn’t it nice if you felt confident every rep could close every lead? Yes.
Shouldn’t you coach your sales reps up? Yes.
Do you have the time? Probably not — and that’s when to call in AI.
Believe it or not, your reps can be trained with tailored modules based on their limitations. The result? According to Dooly.Ai, $3.53 in profit for every $1 you spend on sales training!
Suggested AI Sales Tools:
SecondNature
HighSpot
Sentiment Analysis
You’re asking customers to leave reviews, right?
And you do something with those reviews… right?
By “do something,” we mean more than read. We mean act.
Those reviews are more than empty words. They contain your customers’ experiences, feelings and overall attitude towards your company — good, bad and indifferent.
Here’s what we suggest: First, upload all of those reviews and allow AI to spot trends in frequently used words and phrases. Then, ask it how you should incorporate its positive findings into marketing and what to focus on improving based on negative sentiments.
Will this make a difference?
Well, half of companies think their customers have a positive perception of their brand. But it turns out that favorable sentiment is closer to 15%!
Suggested AI Sentiment Tool:
Brand24
Reverse Engineering
The great thing about using a CRM is that it provides a recounting of:
- Who you called
- When you called
- When you sent follow-ups
- What was discussed
- When your prospect called you
- The outcome of each conversation
That level of detail for just one prospect impresses. Now, multiply that by 50, 100 or 500 prospects and there are surely some trends you’re blind to.
AI can shine a light by analyzing complete interaction histories and identifying those crucial micro-moments that led to sales. These learnings can be the foundational DNA in shifting your current sales process.
Pretty powerful stuff.
Suggested AI Tools for Reverse Engineering:
Celonis
Gong.io (if you record calls)
A Note About Data
Our suggestions have a common need: quantity and quality data.
That’s because if your reps simply enter “No answer” when they left a message when there was no answer, AI doesn’t have the complete picture. Additionally, even the most intelligent AI can’t provide suggestions if there are no records or logs to review.
So, before you turn to AI, you should turn inward and audit your current CRM data quality while identifying gaps in customer interaction logging.
A Smarter Way to Manage Customer Relationships
With Inline CRM’s infinite reporting, you have the data needed to make good marketing and sales decisions. Giving that to superhuman intelligence can yield even better results.
Ask for a free demo of our software and jumpstart your selling today.
