The following is a guest post from Brabble director of business development and co-founder Pat Mackaronis. Mackaronis cut his teeth on the trading room floor before focusing full time on his entrepreneurial pursuits. Brabble, a social network set to redefine social media, is his largest, most incredibly venture yet.
Entrepreneurs hold the dubious distinction of being perhaps the world’s most overworked people. After all, the success of their business depends on their willingness to devote hours and hours to managing and perfecting every aspect of their operations. But there are only so many hours in the day, and it’s important not to let yourself get burnt out before your business has even reached its full potential. If you’re an entrepreneur of any kind, you should look into the following AI and machine learning tools to help your business expand and make your workday easier.
People.ai
This software, which is compatible with Salesforce, uses machine learning to determine exactly how best to sell your products, then gives you feedback so you can adjust your sales strategy to align with its insights. People.ai is equipped with Natural Language Processing, so it can analyze emails, phone conversations, and more in order to determine what the best practices are for making sales, generating a model of the perfect sales technique. Once it’s got that figured out, People.ai will remind you or your staff whenever you stray from the statistically proven way of doing things. People.ai breaks sales down into a science.
The Paris based startup uses a desktop plugin and a mobile app to track your browsing behavior and generate feedback to show you exactly what you’re using your computer and phone for, and how much of your time it’s taking up. For example, visiting a social media site to briefly check your notifications seems inconsequential, but if you repeat that action several times a day, it could add up to an hour of lost productivity, especially because studies have shown our minds take fifteen minutes to recover focus after such a distraction. Smarter Time is a free download, and its machine learning capabilities help it
recognize when you’re slipping into unproductive habits, making it essential for the busy entrepreneur.
Aizimov
Cold emails are one of the most common ways small businesses build a client base, but crafting them is time-consuming and frustrating. AiZimov solves this problem by creating cold emails for you. Its machine learning technology gathers information about your subject from across the web to create a unique email personalized to them, with details that are strikingly human, while requiring a fraction of the effort of writing such emails yourself. AiZimov also learns over time what emails are most effective, adjusting its strategy as it accumulates data about what tone and content gets the best responses. You’ll have the chance to make tweaks before sending each email, and AiZimov also learns about your writing style from the adjustments you make.
Salesforce is the dominant customer relationship management (CRM) software on the market, beloved by businesses of all sizes for its comprehensive suite of tools for managing customer interactions, keeping track of data, and setting up sales opportunities. But they’re also on the forefront of incorporating machine learning and AI technology into their software. They launched Einstein AI in 2016, an artificial intelligence system with a host of applications. Einstein AI, when integrated into Salesforce and its affiliated plugins, can intelligently evaluate diverse data, including recorded phone conversations, customer reviews, and email responses, and draw conclusions about strategies to better pursue customers. In essence, Einstein AI is a research department and strategy team all in one.
Artificial intelligence and machine learning tools can be incredibly useful for entrepreneurs. They deal with busywork and automate tedious tasks, essentially behaving like an employee, only far cheaper and more reliable. Try out the applications and plugins we recommend and you may find that your entrepreneurial efforts are bolstered by the addition of robot manpower.
Pat Mackaronis can be reached on Twitter at @patmackaronis. He is the co-founder and director of business development at Brabble.