Better Than CRM: The Rise of AI-Driven Sales Assistants

Sales technology was supposed to make selling simpler.
But for many teams, the CRM became another layer of work – a place to log activity, update fields, and manage dashboards, instead of actually selling.

What’s changing now is the rise of AI sales assistants.
They don’t just store information – they act on it.
They automate the grunt work, surface the right opportunities, and help you move deals forward in real time.

AI sales assistants are here to move us from record-keeping to actually moving deals forward.

Where Traditional CRMs Fall Short

Traditional CRMs promised: everything in one place, less admin, more selling.
In reality, many sales reps end up:

• Spending 17% of their time on data entry (Salesforce)
• Struggling with tools that 70% of the time fail to meet expectations (Gartner)
• Working with static customer profiles that don’t reflect today’s dynamic buying behavior (Marketo: 80% of buyers expect personalization)
• Lacking predictive insights, relying on gut feel for next steps

The result? More admin work, less time selling, and too many missed opportunities.

What Makes AI Sales Assistants Different

AI sales assistants flip the script by focusing on action over administration:

• Automates repetitive tasks — McKinsey reports +30% productivity and -40% admin burden for teams that embrace AI
• Predicts who to contact and when — Companies using predictive analytics are 2.5× more likely to outperform competitors (MarketingProfs)
• Personalizes outreach at scale — Tailors messages across email, LinkedIn, and chat in your style
• Works 24/7 — Surfaces opportunities and follow-up prompts in real time

Instead of just telling you what’s in the pipeline, AI assistants help you move deals through the pipeline.

Market Growth & Adoption Trends

The AI shift isn’t a niche experiment — it’s a wave:

• AI sales assistant market is projected to grow from $2.63B in 2025 to $35.5B by 2037 (CAGR ~24%)
• AI in CRM market is expected to surge from $8.09B in 2024 to $38.01B by 2029 (36.5% CAGR)
• By 2025, 75% of sales teams will be using AI-powered CRM systems (Gartner)

The push is clear: sales teams want faster deal cycles, more personalization, and less manual work clogging their days.

Efficiency & Productivity Impact

The promise isn’t just hype — it’s measurable:

• Sales reps spend 70% of their time on non-selling tasks — AI gives much of that back
• AI-assisted sales teams see 30% more conversations and a 25% shorter sales cycle
• Companies report 10–15% higher sales productivity, 42% better forecast accuracy, and 30% lower churn
• Microsoft saved $500M in 2024 by using AI across sales and support functions
• Salesforce’s Agentforce now handles 84% of queries, freeing 2,000+ support roles for higher-value work

When the admin shrinks, selling grows.

AI Sales Assistants vs. Traditional CRM: Head-to-Head

The Future Is Action-First

We’re moving from systems of record — tools that simply capture what’s happened — to systems of action that actively shape what happens next.

Soon, CRMs will fade into the background as invisible infrastructure, while AI assistants become the sales team’s main interface. Conversational CRM, embedded AI, and unified action feeds will replace dashboard-juggling and tab-switching.

How Andsend Fits In

Andsend is built for this new era of selling:

• AI-guided next steps — no decision fatigue, no guesswork
• Unified inbox — email + LinkedIn + soon, even more channels in one view
• Relationship intelligence — know exactly who to reach out to and when

We’re not here to make CRMs prettier. We’re here to help salespeople spend less time managing tools and more time selling.