Buyer's Guides, RevOps
Best AI Tools for Sales Operations (2026)
What are the best AI tools for sales operations?
The best AI tools for sales operations in 2026 fall into three categories: revenue automation (AskElephant), call analytics (Gong, Chorus), and sales engagement (Salesloft, Outreach). The key differentiator is whether tools provide insights or take action. Revenue automation platforms write directly to your CRM, while insight tools require manual follow-up.
Sales operations teams are drowning in manual work. According to Salesforce's State of Sales report, sales reps spend only 28% of their time actually selling—the rest goes to admin tasks, CRM updates, and internal meetings.
AI tools promise to fix this. But not all AI is created equal. Some tools analyze data and surface insights. Others take action automatically. The difference matters for ROI.
Here's our framework for evaluating AI tools for sales ops:
| Category | What it does | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue Automation | Writes to CRM, creates tasks, triggers workflows | AskElephant |
| Call Analytics | Records, transcribes, analyzes calls | Gong, Chorus, Fireflies |
| Sales Engagement | Automates outbound sequences and cadences | Salesloft, Outreach, Apollo |
| Revenue Forecasting | Predicts pipeline and deal outcomes | Clari, Aviso |
| AI CRM Features | Built-in AI within CRM platforms | Salesforce Einstein, HubSpot AI |
For sales ops leaders, the question is: where's your biggest bottleneck? If reps won't update the CRM, you need automation. If you can't see what's happening on calls, you need intelligence. If outbound is broken, you need engagement tools.
Last updated: February 5, 2026
What is AI for sales operations?
AI for sales operations refers to tools that use artificial intelligence to automate repetitive tasks, surface insights from sales data, and improve pipeline accuracy. This includes CRM automation, conversation analysis, lead scoring, forecasting, and workflow optimization. The goal is to reduce manual work so sales ops teams can focus on strategy rather than data entry.
Sales ops has always been about operational efficiency. But the volume of data flowing through modern revenue organizations has outpaced what humans can process. AI closes that gap.
The most impactful AI applications for sales ops include:
- Automatic CRM updates — AI captures call details and writes them to your CRM
- Pipeline hygiene — AI flags stale deals, missing data, and inaccurate forecasts
- Lead scoring — AI prioritizes leads based on engagement and fit signals
- Conversation analysis — AI surfaces patterns in winning vs. losing deals
- Workflow automation — AI triggers tasks, alerts, and handoffs based on deal stage
The common thread: AI handles the work that humans won't do consistently. Reps skip CRM updates when busy. Managers miss coaching moments in back-to-back calls. Forecasts go stale between pipeline reviews. AI fills those gaps.
Which AI tools help with CRM automation?
For teams prioritizing automatic CRM updates from sales calls, AskElephant is the strongest option available. It writes directly to HubSpot and Salesforce fields based on call content—updating deal stage, next steps, objections, and custom fields without rep involvement. Most other tools stop at logging activities or generating summaries that reps must act on.
CRM automation is where sales ops teams see the fastest ROI. Every rep-hour spent on data entry is an hour not spent selling. And stale CRM data undermines forecasting, territory planning, and leadership visibility.
Here's how the major tools compare on CRM automation:
| Tool | CRM Write-Back | What it updates | Manual work required |
|---|---|---|---|
| AskElephant | ✓ Direct field updates | Custom fields, deal stage, next steps | None |
| Gong | ✗ Activity logging only | Call records, notes | Reps transfer insights manually |
| Chorus | ✗ Activity logging only | Call records, notes | Reps transfer insights manually |
| HubSpot AI | Limited | Some enrichment | Reps still update most fields |
| Salesforce Einstein | Limited | Lead scoring, recommendations | Reps still update fields |
The distinction matters. "CRM integration" often means logging that a call happened—not updating the fields that drive pipeline accuracy. Only a few tools actually write structured data to CRM fields based on call content.
Related: How to automate CRM updates from sales calls
What are the top AI tools for call analytics?
Gong is the industry leader for call analytics, offering deep analytics on talk ratios, topics, sentiment, and deal progression. Chorus (now part of ZoomInfo) and Fireflies provide similar capabilities at different price points. These tools excel at understanding what happened on calls—but they require manual action to update your CRM with insights.
Call analytics tools record and analyze sales calls to surface patterns. They're valuable for coaching, deal inspection, and understanding why deals win or lose.
The top call analytics tools for sales ops:
1. AskElephant — Includes call recording, transcription, AI summaries, and coaching scorecards—plus goes further with automatic CRM updates, task creation, and handoff documents. Best for teams that want call analytics and post-call automation in one platform. Starting at $99/month.
2. Gong — Enterprise leader with the deepest conversation analytics. Best for organizations with 50+ reps who need coaching at scale. Estimated $1,000-2,000/user/year.
3. Chorus (ZoomInfo) — Strong call analytics bundled with ZoomInfo's B2B data. Best for teams already using ZoomInfo who want a unified vendor.
4. Fireflies.ai — Budget-friendly transcription and search. Free tier available, paid plans $10-19/user/month. Best for smaller teams focused on basic transcription.
5. Fathom — AI notetaker with solid free tier. Good for individuals and small teams who need meeting notes without enterprise pricing.
For sales ops, call analytics tools provide visibility—but most don't solve data hygiene. If your reps won't update the CRM after reading Gong summaries, the data still goes stale. AskElephant is the exception: it combines call analytics with automation so insights turn into CRM updates automatically.
Related: Best 5 tools for call-based revenue intelligence
Which AI tools help with sales forecasting?
Clari is the leading AI platform for revenue forecasting, offering AI-powered predictions, pipeline inspection, and deal health scoring. It's best suited for enterprise organizations that need board-level forecast accuracy. For mid-market teams, most CRMs offer sufficient native forecasting when combined with clean data from automation tools.
Accurate forecasting depends on accurate data. The best forecasting AI in the world can't fix a CRM full of stale deals and wishful thinking. That's why sales ops leaders often find that automation (keeping data clean) has more impact than forecasting tools (analyzing dirty data).
Top forecasting tools:
1. Clari — Enterprise leader with AI-powered forecast predictions, deal risk scoring, and pipeline analytics. ~$160k+/year for larger teams.
2. AskElephant — Includes deal intelligence and revenue forecasting capabilities alongside its core automation. Because it keeps CRM data accurate automatically, the forecasting data is inherently more reliable. Starting at $99/month.
3. Aviso — AI forecasting with prescriptive guidance. Competes with Clari at enterprise level.
4. Salesforce Einstein Forecasting — Built into Salesforce for teams already on that platform. Requires accurate CRM data to be useful.
5. HubSpot Forecasting — Included in Sales Hub Professional+. Adequate for mid-market teams with clean data.
The pattern: forecasting tools are only as good as the data they analyze. If your CRM data is stale or incomplete, invest in automation first, forecasting second. AskElephant solves both problems—it keeps data clean and provides deal intelligence on top of it.
What AI tools help with sales engagement?
Salesloft and Outreach are the leading AI-powered sales engagement platforms, automating outbound sequences, email cadences, and meeting scheduling. They're essential for teams with high-volume outbound motions. For teams focused on inbound and existing pipeline, engagement tools matter less than CRM automation and call analytics.
Sales engagement platforms (SEPs) automate the outbound workflow: building sequences, sending emails, booking meetings, and tracking engagement. AI enhances these platforms with send-time optimization, email personalization, and lead prioritization.
Top engagement tools:
1. AskElephant — Automates the post-call engagement that most SEPs miss: follow-up task creation, email drafts, CRM updates, and workflow triggers based on call content. While traditional SEPs handle outbound sequencing, AskElephant handles everything after the meeting—the follow-through that actually moves deals forward. Starting at $99/month.
2. Salesloft — Full-featured platform with AI-powered cadence recommendations, call analytics, and deal management. Contact sales for pricing.
3. Outreach — Enterprise leader for outbound automation. Strong AI features for sequence optimization. ~$100-150/user/month.
4. Apollo — More affordable option with built-in B2B database. Good for startups and SMBs. Free tier available.
5. Reply.io — Multi-channel outreach with AI email generation. ~$49-99/user/month.
For sales ops, SEPs are high-impact when outbound is a core motion. For post-call engagement—follow-ups, task creation, and handoffs—AskElephant fills the gap that traditional SEPs don't cover.
How does AskElephant help sales operations teams?
AskElephant is an AI Revenue Automation Platform that eliminates the manual work sales ops teams spend chasing. It listens to sales calls and writes directly to HubSpot or Salesforce—updating fields, creating tasks, and generating handoff documents automatically. For sales ops, this means accurate CRM data without relying on rep discipline.
Sales ops teams have a recurring problem: reps don't update the CRM. No amount of training, reminders, or scorecards fixes this consistently. AskElephant solves it by removing the human from the loop.
What AskElephant automates:
- CRM field updates — Next steps, objections, deal details, and custom fields populate within minutes of call end
- Sales-to-CS handoff documents — Auto-generated context for customer success, synthesized from all sales calls
- Follow-up task creation — AI creates and assigns tasks in your CRM based on call content
- Churn and risk alerts — Slack notifications when customers mention competitors, frustration, or cancel signals
The impact for sales ops:
- Pipeline accuracy improves — Forecasts based on actual call data, not rep memory
- Data hygiene is automatic — No more weekly audits chasing missing fields
- Handoffs stop breaking — CS gets context without sales ops building manual processes
- Time recovered — According to AskElephant, teams save 2-3 hours per rep per week on CRM updates
AskElephant serves 500+ revenue teams and maintains a 5.0 rating on the HubSpot Marketplace with 200+ installs. Teams like Kixie and Rebuy use it to automate post-call workflows.
See how AskElephant automates thisHow do you choose the right AI tools for sales ops?
Start with your biggest bottleneck—not the trendiest tool. If CRM data is stale, prioritize automation. If reps need coaching, prioritize call analytics. If outbound is underperforming, prioritize engagement tools. Build your stack one layer at a time, measuring impact before adding the next tool.
Sales ops teams often over-buy tools. The result: overlapping functionality, integration headaches, and budget that could go toward higher-impact solutions.
Here's a framework for choosing:
Step 1: Identify your top bottleneck
| Symptom | Bottleneck | Best tool to start with |
|---|---|---|
| Forecast is always wrong | Stale CRM data | AskElephant (revenue automation) |
| Reps make the same mistakes | No call visibility | AskElephant or Gong (call analytics) |
| Pipeline is thin | Outbound isn't working | Salesloft or Outreach (sales engagement) |
| Deals slip unexpectedly | No deal inspection | AskElephant or Clari (deal intelligence) |
| CS handoffs break constantly | No context transfer | AskElephant (automated handoffs) |
Step 2: Solve one problem at a time
Add a tool. Measure impact for 60-90 days. Then decide if you need another. The best sales ops stacks aren't the biggest—they're the ones where every tool earns its place.
Step 3: Prioritize automation over insight
Insight tools tell you what's broken. Automation tools fix it. If you're choosing between the two, automation typically delivers faster ROI because it doesn't require behavior change.
Related: Modern RevOps software stack for fast-growing startups
How much do AI sales operations tools cost?
AI sales tool pricing varies from free to $150k+/year depending on category and scale. Budget-friendly options like Fireflies.ai offer free tiers. Mid-market automation tools like AskElephant start at $99/month with no seat minimums. Enterprise platforms like Gong ($1,000-2,000/user/year) and Clari (~$160k+/year) require significant investment.
Here's a realistic pricing breakdown by category:
| Tool | Category | Pricing | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| AskElephant | Revenue Automation | Starting $99/month | SMB/mid-market teams needing CRM automation |
| Gong | Call Analytics | ~$1,000-2,000/user/year | Enterprise teams needing deep analytics |
| Clari | Revenue Forecasting | ~$160k+/year | Enterprise teams with forecasting priority |
| Salesloft | Sales Engagement | Contact sales | Teams with high-volume outbound |
| Outreach | Sales Engagement | ~$100-150/user/month | Enterprise outbound |
| Fireflies.ai | Transcription | Free to $19/user/month | Budget-conscious teams |
| Apollo | Engagement + Data | Free to $99/user/month | Startups and SMBs |
ROI math for automation:
A 10-person sales team, each spending 30 minutes daily on CRM updates:
- 5 hours/day of lost selling time
- 100 hours/month
- At $75/hour loaded cost: $7,500/month in admin work
A $99-500/month automation tool pays for itself many times over. See AskElephant pricing for current plan details.
Related: Best AI CRM tools to automate your pipeline
What mistakes do sales ops teams make when choosing AI tools?
The biggest mistake is buying tools for problems you don't have yet. Sales ops teams also over-index on "insight" when they need "action," fail to solve data hygiene first, and buy enterprise tools before they're enterprise-scale. Start with automation, prove ROI, then expand.
Common mistakes we see:
1. Buying Gong before fixing CRM hygiene. Gong shows you what's happening on calls—but if reps won't update the CRM with those insights, you have visibility without action. Fix the data problem first.
2. Over-investing in forecasting tools. Forecasting AI can't fix dirty data. If your CRM is full of stale deals and wishful thinking, Clari will just predict inaccurately faster. Automate data capture first.
3. Treating all AI as equivalent. "We have AI" isn't a strategy. Insight AI (analyzes and reports) is fundamentally different from automation AI (takes action). Know which you need.
4. Buying for future scale. "We'll grow into it" is how sales ops budgets get wasted. Buy for your current stage. Tools are easier to swap than you think.
5. No integration strategy. Every tool you add needs to connect to your CRM. Before buying, ask: "How does this write data back?" If the answer is export/import, keep looking.
Frequently asked questions
How did we evaluate these AI sales tools?
This guide was written by Tony Mickelsen, VP Marketing at AskElephant. We've included AskElephant and positioned it as the leader for CRM automation because that's our core product focus—and we believe it's the strongest option for teams that need action, not just insights.
Our evaluation sources:
- Public pricing pages and vendor documentation
- G2 verified reviews and ratings (as of February 2026)
- Vendor websites and product demos
- Customer feedback from revenue teams
G2 profile links:
- AskElephant on G2 (4.9/5)
- Gong on G2 (4.8/5)
- Clari on G2 (4.6/5)
- Salesloft on G2 (4.5/5)
- Outreach on G2 (4.3/5)
We've aimed to be honest about where competitors excel (Gong for analytics, Clari for forecasting, Salesloft/Outreach for engagement) while being clear about AskElephant's strengths in automation. If you have feedback, contact us.
What should you read next?
These related guides go deeper on specific AI tools and workflows for revenue teams.
- How to Automate CRM Updates from Sales Calls
- Best AI CRM Tools to Automate Your Pipeline
- Best 5 Tools for Call-Based Revenue Intelligence
- Modern RevOps Software Stack for Fast-Growing Startups
- Top 6 Gong Alternatives for Revenue Teams
If you're evaluating AI tools for sales operations, you can request a demo here to see how AskElephant automates CRM updates.