AI virtual assistants are artificial intelligence programs that offload tedious, time-consuming tasks for sales representatives. Companies use AI assistants to speed up workflows and keep agents focused on what they do best — sell.
If you aren't using an AI-powered virtual assistant, you're behind your competitors. If you're using an AI virtual assistant, evaluate your customer journey and see where it needs adjustment. We'll show you which AI assistant works best for your company and the pitfalls to avoid when integrating AI assistance into your workflow.
At Hooked, we believe we've created the most sophisticated AI virtual assistant for your business, no matter the industry. From life insurance to sales, we've curated Tacklebox AI to work alongside your call representatives. Book a demo, and our representatives will show you how Tacklebox AI can upgrade your current workflow.
What is an AI Virtual Assistant?
An AI virtual assistant is a digital partner that assists in administrative or repetitive tasks so your agents don't have to. It works in the background, listening to calls, taking notes, and answering any questions. The benefit of an AI virtual assistant for these tasks is that it speeds up your representatives' workflows. With AI-driven assistance, tasks that once took hours now take minutes.
AI Virtual assistants are powered by a combination of technologies, including:
- Machine learning: to continually improve its performance over time
- Speech recognition: converting live calls into data you can act on
- Data analysis: to identify patterns and insights
- Natural language processing (NLP): to understand the context and intent
By integrating your AI virtual assistant with your CRM and dialer, you unlock possibilities for your business. We recommend a program that works with your current system or replaces it.
AI Assistant vs. Chatbot vs. AI Agent
While some use AI assistants, chatbots, and AI agents interchangeably, they serve different functions within your organization. Here's how you can distinguish between them:
| AI Assistant | Chatbot | AI Agent |
|---|---|---|
| An AI assistant primarily speeds up tedious tasks that pull your representatives away from their primary job. They provide live assistance whenever requested, giving clear directions when needed. | Mostly front-facing programs that interact with customers. They assist customers and act as an IVR, routing to the correct agent. | AI agents are programs made to accomplish more complex tasks and roles. They've been programmed to take over the job of an existing representative. AI agents can take initiative and support you with more complex tasks. |
How AI Virtual Assistants Work
There are several different kinds of AI virtual assistants, but most are similar in functionality. Ideally, your AI assistant should transcribe uploaded conversations and completely comprehend them to provide analysis and insights. After it finishes its analysis, it will provide suggestions or answers.
Integrating an AI assistant directly with your existing CRM and dialer software maximizes its capabilities. A dialer integration lets representatives skip uploading and automatically transcribes conversations. With a CRM integration, AI assistants can modify your schedule directly and prompt you to message potential customers when leads become stale. These are essential elements of AI sales coaching.
Types of AI Virtual Assistants
There are different types of AI virtual assistants. Each has its own advantages, so consider an assistant that fulfills your business needs. Here are just a few of the virtual assistants you can employ:
Customer-Facing Assistants
A customer-facing assistant is focused on enhancing the customer experience. These assistants interact with your customers and provide superficial support. While representatives can use them, their primary objective is to gather customer behavior for agents to analyze.
Live AI Agent Assist
Live AI agent assist must be integrated with your dialer to work. After setup, your live AI assistant provides in-depth answers and potential responses.
This is the most helpful kind of AI assistant for the sales industry because it can use its repository of uploaded information to provide the most in-depth, thoughtful response to questions. Plus, live AI assistance provides live transcription, compliance checks, and generates call summaries.
AI Meeting Assistants
Virtual meeting assistants prioritize your meeting needs. During meetings, they can provide prompts, take minutes, and give detailed summaries. These AI assistants give you control of your meetings. Instead of focusing on taking detailed notes or finding an exact moment in a conversation, AI meeting assistants can instantly find the answers for you.
A good AI meeting assistant will also provide a detailed checklist of action items for each attendee, with follow-up instructions on what's next.
What an AI Virtual Assistant Does During a Sales or Support Call
During sales and support calls, your AI virtual assistant should provide real-time support and autofill your CRM. It should simplify your employees' workflows and enhance the customer experience through its features. We recommend evaluating your current workflow to see where an AI virtual assistant can make your process more efficient.
Here are just a few of the key features you should consider:
| Feature | Explanation |
|---|---|
| Workflow Automation | If your AI assistant connects to your dialer and CRM, it should automate most note-taking and scheduling. Most call representatives and agents get consumed by the tedious tasks that come with managing a CRM. Don't let them fall into pitfalls when AI can do it for you. |
| Knowledge Database | Your AI assistant should act as a database you can pull answers from instantly. Ask the AI a question, and it will retrieve an answer based on its data. However, be careful with these AI assistants and ensure their resources come from approved sources. |
| Real-Time Insights & Data | Throughout the call, your AI assistant should provide you with real-time insights and data. For example, if you're selling a product, the AI should recognize the name and instantly pull up a list of prices for you to relay to the customer. It should also provide updated talking points based on the conversation. |
| Troubleshooting | If a call representative has issues with their current system, the AI assistant should be available and provide suggestions for their scenario. This is the first line of defense for your IT employees. |
AI Assistants for Small Businesses
AI virtual assistants for small businesses have different needs than their counterparts. Because they run a smaller operation, you might not need all the bells and whistles from a more specialized AI assistant. However, you don't want to pigeonhole yourself in a position where your assistant can't grow with your company.
We suggest an AI assistant with per-seat pricing and no IT setup, so you remain flexible as your company grows. You should also invest in an assistant that can integrate with your current CRM. Simpler AI assistants can simplify future call center training and be adopted more quickly by your call representatives.
AI Virtual Assistant Limitations
Of course, no AI virtual assistant is perfect. Always ask what the AI agent can and can't do during a demo since it can reveal how it will work in your workflow. Here are some limitations you should consider before investing in an AI assistant:
Knowledge & Accuracy
If the AI's knowledge isn't coming from a trusted source, it can hallucinate answers. To guarantee your AI delivers accurate feedback, select an assistant configured to rely strictly on your knowledge base.
A manager should upload and vet company documents, which provide the most up-to-date information for your client. This keeps you as a trusted source of valuable information.
Communication Limitations
Because AI isn't perfect, it can mishear or misinterpret what a customer says. Especially if you work with a client base with heavy dialects, we recommend an AI that can handle complex language. When you speak to an AI assistant's representative, ask if they accounted for differences in speech patterns and accents.
Privacy Concerns
For security and compliance, don't allow your AI to access the internet for answers. Especially in sensitive industries, without strict constraints on its reference sources, you risk exposing sensitive client information.
Especially in the life insurance industry, you must ensure your AI lives on an enclosed system. Breaking these restrictions can expose your clients and shatter the trust between you and your clients.
Over-reliance
One pitfall call representatives can fall into is overusing the program. Call representatives and agents need their own discernment to determine what is best for their clients. AI is meant to be a tool, and an AI assistant should just be one of the tools you can use to increase your business' efficiency.
How to Choose an AI Virtual Assistant
Choosing an AI virtual assistant boils down to evaluating your current workflow and where AI can automate tedious tasks. Here are a few questions you should consider before choosing an AI virtual assistant:
- What takes our call representatives the longest during their workflow?
- What questions are our clients asking our representatives?
- How long are our wait times?
- How do our clients like to be contacted?
- Do we need to keep information secure?
- Are we planning to add more representatives soon?
- What is the goal of an AI assistant in our workflow?
These baseline questions will help ensure your virtual assistant works for your representatives. We suggest creating a checklist of non-negotiable features for your virtual assistant, so you have a clear idea of your requirements when demoing the AI assistant.
How Hooked's Tacklebox AI Works as Your AI Virtual Assistant
At Hooked CRM, we believe we have created the perfect AI assistant for your workflow. Tacklebox AI is a secure AI assistant that pulls information from your personal database, provides accurate reports for your managers, and scales with your business.
For your representatives, Tacklebox AI provides immediate help in every situation: quickly finding quotes, supporting calls, and generating quick reports. All so your representatives can get back to doing what they do best instead of worrying about filling out CRM fields.
Book a demo with one of our qualified representatives, and we will walk you through your workflow to see where Tacklebox AI can help.
