Grow Your Sales With AI

If you’re a small business owner, you’ll know that often your time doesn’t match up with the huge ambitions you have! And that’s certainly true when it comes to selling as a small business owner. You want to reach more customers, but the juggle of researching, chasing and trying to close deals is a lot!

We know this juggle well, which is why in this blog, we’re showing you how you can grow your sales with AI tools! Let’s dive in 👇

Start with your process, not the technology

Before you touch any AI tools, you need to get clear on what your sales process is.

AI can only help you to move faster if you’ve got the right foundations in place for it to work from.

So what does a good sales process look like? 

• Prospecting – knowing who your target customer is 
• Connecting – finding the right leads
• Researching – checking they’re a good fit and understanding their problems
• Presenting-  showing your customer your solution
• Handling objections – easing your customers concerns
• Closing – getting your sale over the line!

💡 Tip: Don’t try to automate a messy process. Get your map right on paper first. If you know exactly what your “steps” are, you can see where you’re getting stuck and where AI can help.

3 Ways to Grow Your Sales With AI

Once you’ve got your sales map in place, you can start identifying ways to leverage AI to save you time.

Here are three ways you can be using AI in your sales process. 

1. Delegate admin tasks 

83% of people trying to do sales say productivity is their biggest concern. As small business owners, we know this too well! 

That’s where AI tools come in.  They’re there to do the manual work that doesn’t necessarily need your full input. 

Easy ways to start delegating manual tasks to AI tools: 

AI notetakers

If you’re not already using AI notetakers – add one to your tech stack ASAP! They’re easy and free to use, and mean that you can be fully present in your client meetings. Try Otter.ai or Fireflies.ai to get started!

Meeting prep

If you’re using AI notetakers, you’ve got a lot of client data there that can help you prep for future client meetings.  Ask an AI tool like Gemini or Claude to analyse your notes and help you prep for your upcoming meetings 

Draft personalised content 

Similarly, tools like Gemini and Claude can be used to quickly draft personalised content that gives you a V1 draft to work from when making contact with your clients. Gone are the days of staring at a blank screen waiting for inspiration to strike! These tools can quickly whizz up a personalised email – even better if you’ve got the AI notes from your last meeting 😉 

2. Proactive prospecting 

Researching the right leads used to take hours, but not anymore thanks to the help of AI tools.  These tools allow you to quickly find ideal clients and keep your database up to date. 

How to use this in your sales strategy:

• AI tools like HubSpot’s Breeze can identify “warm” leads by tracking who is searching for your specific solution or visiting your pricing page before they even contact you.
• AI agents (like Alice or Ava) are digital assistants that can do research for you, and then help you to send personalised outreach without you having to do a thing!
• AI tools like Clay or Apollo can keep your database “alive” by automatically updating records when a lead changes jobs or a company gets funding.

3. Data & insights 

If you’re a small business owner, chances are you don’t have a data analyst on hand to help you be strategic and identify who’s ready to convert in your sales pipeline. But again, AI is here to help! 

• Predictive Lead Scoring: Instead of calling everyone, AI tools like Hubspot’s Breeze can rank your leads based on thousands of data points so you know who to call first on Monday morning.
• Conversation Intelligence: Tools like Gong or HubSpot’s AI can “listen” to your sales calls to identify patterns (e.g., “Mentioning the warranty increases close rates by 40%”).

Implement these three steps slowly in your sales processes, and we’re sure that you’ll start to free up more time to do the business that you love!

And remember, at the end of the day, people buy from people. AI won’t replace the trust you build or the way you solve a customer’s problem.

What it will do is clear the “clutter” from your diary. You’re not just sending more emails; you’re making sure the emails you do send are the right ones, to the right people, at the right time.

Get help to grow your sales with AI

If you need support with AI or your sales strategy, we’re here to help!  We’ve got 1000s of mentors on hand to offer free advice to help you grow your business. 

Join our community and get matched with a mentor today!

About HubSpot for Startups

This blog was inspired by a webinar we hosted in partnership with HubSpot for Startups. HubSpot is an AI-powered customer relationship management system (CRM). Startups can manage contacts in the customer platform, sell better through HubSpot’s robust suite of sales tools, manage all marketing through a full suite of marketing automation tools, and close the loop with customers with service tools. Through HubSpot for Startups, the mission is to connect startups with the right knowledge, tools, and resources needed to scale.

Digital Boost members can access up to 90% off HubSpot for Startups’ AI tools. Find out more and apply here.