Empowering Sales through Revolutionary AI: An Interview with Nick Smith, Founder and CEO of Sailes

Sales teams face growing challenges in today’s complex business landscape. Prospecting for new leads and managing the sales pipeline have become increasingly time-consuming tasks that drag executives away from strategic decision-making. However, one startup is revolutionizing the industry with an innovative AI solution that handles sales prospecting autonomously.

Sailes, founded by CEO Nick Smith, has developed Sailebot®- patented AI technology modeled after human sales executives. Sailebot® streamlines the entire prospecting process, from identifying leads and scheduling meetings to following up and reporting on results. Through natural language processing and multiple AI models, Sailebot® can perform the kinds of nuanced interactions needed to advance deals. As an AI companion that learns continuously, Sailebot® frees up sales teams to focus on client relationships and closing deals.

I interviewed Nick to learn more about how Sailebot works and the tremendous impact it’s having for enterprise customers. In this post, you’ll hear firsthand from Nick on Sailes’ journey so far, along with insights into how their AI is set to transform sales roles of the future. The Q&A dives into Sailebot’s unique capabilities and shares real success stories from Sailes’ client roster of major companies. I hope you enjoy this look into how one startup is revolutionizing sales with their patented AI technology.

1. How did you come up with the idea for Sailes, and what inspired you to start the company?

The idea struck on July 4, 2018, while at the Lake of the Ozarks. It was an epiphany that led to me quickly jotting down “Sailes” in the notes section of my iPhone, which was pretty audacious but spelled with AI.

While I spent most of my career in sales and sales leadership, the one constant throughout my career was the need to constantly be prospecting. Every Monday was like starting over or starting at zero. And so I learned firsthand that it was a problem companies not only had, but were trying to solve in a number of different ways.

This led to the founding of Sailes and the creation of Sailebot® – the first-of-its kind invention that multiplied Sales Executives 16x. Rather than enable them to do more work, manually, it does all of the work for them – hands-free.

2. Can you explain how Sailes helps sales teams, and what makes it different from other solutions?

Our patent-pending Sailebot® is not just another AI tool; it’s the first AI designed to autonomously handle end-to-end sales prospecting. Currently used by top-tier sales executives and teams across Fortune 1000 to 50 enterprises, Sailebot® automates the entire sales prospecting lifecycle.

Sailebot® boosts prospecting efficiency by 130% using advanced natural language comprehension and multiple AI models. Our latest version, released earlier this year, enhances sales cognition, allowing it to perform complex tasks like identifying referrals with human-like precision. It combines several AI models tailored to different sales process steps, improving decision-making and reasoning.

What sets Sailebot® apart is its role as a personal AI companion for enterprise sales executives, operating seamlessly to navigate the complexities of the sales process. It’s crucial to emphasize that we don’t merely offer a platform with AI capabilities; we provide a transformative experience with a technology that mirrors the nuanced approach of human sales executives. Sailebot® goes beyond the conventional understanding of AI, learning the intricacies of an ICP and engaging customers with a level of sophistication that mirrors human interaction.

One of Sailebot’s key advantages is its continuous learning capability. It gets smarter over time, adapting to new information and improving its responses. The autonomy of Sailebot® is a game-changer, reading and reacting to responses, thus freeing up valuable time for sales leaders to focus on strategic decision-making rather than mundane tasks.

Our commitment to hands-free, autonomous sales prospecting is not just a claim but a tangible reality. Our AI technology actively contributes to revenue generation by delivering real opportunities back to sales leaders. This level of integration and effectiveness is a testament to our dedication to pushing the boundaries of what AI can achieve in the realm of enterprise sales. As we continue on this journey, we remain steadfast in our pursuit of excellence, consistently refining and advancing Sailebot® to meet the evolving needs of the sales landscape.

3. How do the AI-powered Sailebots work alongside your human sales team?

The relationship is seamless, yet simple. Sailebot® operates on autopilot, handling the complexities of the sales process with a nuanced approach that mirrors human sales executives while the human sales team tackles the exciting part: closing the deals. It’s imperative to note that we don’t just offer a platform with AI capabilities; we provide a transformative experience. Sailebot® learns the intricacies of an ICP and engages customers with a level of sophistication that mimics human interaction.

What’s more is Sailebot’s continuous learning capability, proving to be a key advantage to Sailers and Captains. It evolves over time, learning and adapting to new information, even sharing insights from other Sailebots across different companies. Its autonomy is a game-changer, as it reads and reacts to responses, liberating valuable time for sales leaders to focus on strategic decision-making rather than mundane tasks.

4. What kinds of businesses benefit most from your Sailesbot technology?

Sailebot technology is ideal for enterprises with large-scale sales operations. While it can certainly benefit smaller businesses who have aggressive sales goals, we are experiencing rapid adoption among enterprise sales teams across Fortune 1000 to 50 enterprises.

5. How does Sailes measure the success and effectiveness of its Sailebots in improving sales outcomes for customers?

Of course I could say leads, because yes that’s true, but it’s all about Digital Labor™. It’s remarkable how much time, money, and effort is saved by automating the prospecting tasks that bog down sales executives day in and day out. Just in 2023 alone our fleet of Sailebots automated an astounding 33,000,000 prospecting tasks! All the time that sales executives get back because they have their personality driven AI handling the time consuming job duties, leaves them with more time to nurture their juicy leads and close deals. That’s how we measure success and effectiveness… by the number of Digital Labor tasks completed and the hours saved for our sales executives, ultimately maximizing their productivity and impact.

6. Can you share some key milestones or successes that Sailes has experienced?

Sure! There have definitely been some big ones. For starters, we’ve reached a remarkable 130% year-over-year growth and adoption by Fortune 500 to Fortune 50 companies. Additionally, our client roster boasts prominent names such as Staples, Wiley, and Rogers Electric and Sailebots are now operational in 25 countries and support multiple languages, including German, French, Spanish, Italian, and English.

Furthermore, Sailes was selected as one of 10 companies for the Comcast NBCUniversal LIFT Labs Enterprise AI Accelerator, a program designed to hand select innovative startups to work onsite with specific divisions of Comcast.

7. What measures does Sailes take to ensure that its Sailebots remain compliant with relevant regulations and industry standards?

We are GDPR compliant, Global Data Compliant, and operate with 100% Independent Infrastructure. This means we adhere to strict data protection regulations, maintain global compliance standards, and manage our infrastructure independently to guarantee security and privacy. By implementing these practices, we ensure that our services are reliable, secure, and compliant with all necessary regulations.

8. How will AI reshape sales roles, and what skills will be essential for sales professionals in the future?

It’s pretty simple: sales professionals will be able to set their prospecting tasks on autopilot by integrating Sailebot into their current workflow. Sailebot will prospect on their behalf, behaving as they would so when Sailebot receives an actionable signal, it’s delivered to the sales professional’s inbox ready for them to seamlessly take over and close the deal.

9. What can we expect to see from Sailes in the next year or two?

Our future goals are to continue to position our AI as a leader in sales automation applications, setting new industry standards. We aim to not only participate in the market but to drive innovation, shaping the future of sales with our advanced AI solutions. A key aspect of this success involves expanding our AI’s capabilities beyond traditional automation. We are working towards enabling our AI to process visual data with exceptional accuracy and to adapt and learn dynamically in real-time situations.

A cornerstone of our vision is Starboard™, our dashboard that facilitates interaction and collaboration between our AI and human Sales Leaders, Captains and Sailers. This year, we envision Starboard™ evolving into a dynamic environment where AI and human expertise seamlessly integrate. It will be more than just an automation tool; it will be a collaborative space where our AI benefits from the insights of human Sales Leaders, and vice versa. Our goal is to create a symbiotic relationship, fostering a continuous exchange of knowledge and performance trends that elevates both AI and human contributions to new levels of excellence.

With the sales landscape continuously evolving, AI will play an ever more important role in driving efficiency and performance. Sailes is at the forefront of this change, led by Nick Smith’s vision of transformative AI solutions that partner with human expertise. As enterprise customers continue realizing proven results, it’s clear that Sailes’ AI-powered future for sales is here. I’m excited to see how they continue revolutionizing the industry and setting new standards for the partnership of human and artificial intelligence.