AI help for your sales team: which type of agency fits you?
There are now dozens of types of companies that can help you with AI in your sales process. Large consultancy firms, software vendors, broad AI consultancies, freelancers — they all promise that AI will make your sales team perform better. But the differences are big, and the wrong choice costs you time, money and motivation. This page helps you choose.
Why this buyer's guide?
AI-in-Sales is a specialised agency for AI in B2B sales and commercial processes. So we are one of the options you can consider ourselves, and we are fine with that. On this page we are not going to tell you that we are always the best choice — that wouldn't be true. What we do instead is honestly explain what each type of agency does well, where the limitations are, and for which situation you are best off with whom. Including the situations in which you had better not come to us.
Because if there is one thing we have learned in almost fifteen years of sales and process management, it is this: choosing the wrong partner costs more than choosing no partner. A generalist who doesn't understand your sales process, a software package that no one uses, an expensive consultancy that writes a report that disappears into a drawer — those are the scenarios we want to help prevent.
Large consultancy firms
The Accentures, Deloittes and McKinseys of this world offer extensive AI transformation programmes, often as part of larger digital transformations. They have enormous teams, international experience and impressive slide decks. And for certain situations — think of multinationals that need an AI strategy for their entire organisation — they are exactly the right choice.
But for an SME that wants its sales department to work smarter, this is almost never the right match. The minimum project size at a large firm quickly exceeds 50,000 euros, the lead time is months rather than weeks, and the team doing the work often consists of junior consultants who have never experienced a sales process from the inside themselves. You get a polished report with recommendations that are theoretically correct, but you still have to translate them to your daily practice — your CRM, your sales team, your pipeline — yourself. Or you hire them again to do that as well.
That is not necessarily bad advice, it's just not efficient when your problem is concrete. If you know that your sales team doesn't keep the CRM up to date properly, that your follow-up process is leaking and that your pipeline is opaque, then you don't need a transformation programme. Then you need someone who knows exactly that problem and helps solve it.
When it fits, when it doesn't. Choose a large consultancy firm if you need an AI strategy for your entire organisation and have the budget for it. Choose a specialist if you specifically want to improve your commercial processes and want to see results in weeks, not quarters.
Broad AI consultancies for SMEs
This is probably the category that comes closest to AI-in-Sales, and honestly there are many good players in this segment. They help SMEs with all kinds of AI applications: from ChatGPT training and Microsoft Copilot implementations to process automation and chatbots. They are usually affordable, practically minded and understand the reality of SMEs.
The difference is in the depth. A broad AI agency knows how AI works and can apply it to a wide range of business processes. But if you ask them to improve your sales process, they first have to figure out what that sales process actually looks like. They know the generic best practices, but not the specific patterns we encounter every day: the CRM that is used as an address book, the pipeline in which deals sit for months without activity, the follow-up process that lives in the account manager's head instead of in a system.
That is not a criticism of broad AI agencies — it is simply the difference between breadth and depth. If you need AI help across several areas at once, a broad agency is more efficient. But if you specifically want to improve your commercial results, a generalist lacks the domain knowledge to prioritise the right things. They might, for example, first optimise your email workflows while the real problem lies in your pipeline management.
When it fits, when it doesn't. Choose a broad AI agency if you want to get started with AI across several departments at once and don't yet have a clear focus. Choose a specialist if you know that the problem lies in your commercial processes and you need someone who knows that domain from the inside.
CRM software vendors
HubSpot, Salesforce, Zoho, Pipedrive — they are all building AI features into their platforms. Smart lead scoring, automated emails, AI-generated summaries of conversations. The technology is impressive, and for companies that already use a CRM it makes sense to look there first for AI possibilities.
The problem is that most SMEs don't even use their CRM well at a basic level, let alone the advanced AI features. If your sales team mainly sees the CRM as an administrative obligation — something they maintain because they have to, not because it helps them — then adding an AI layer on top of that CRM will improve exactly nothing. You then automate the chaos instead of solving the problem. An AI model that learns from incomplete, outdated CRM data gives you incomplete, misleading insights.
CRM vendors sell software, not process change. They can explain which button you need to press, but not why your sales team doesn't press that button. That is a fundamentally different problem, and it requires someone who understands how sales teams work in practice — not how they should work in theory.
When it fits, when it doesn't. Choose your CRM vendor for technical implementation and configuration if your processes are already in order. Choose a specialist if the underlying problem is not the software but how your team works with it — because then a new feature won't solve it.
Traditional sales trainers
The Netherlands has a healthy market for sales training: from SPIN Selling workshops to cold calling bootcamps, from negotiation technique to customer psychology. And let's be honest: most sales skills are timeless. Listening well, asking the right questions, building trust — that doesn't become irrelevant because of AI. On the contrary, it becomes more important as AI takes over the repetitive work and human interaction makes the difference.
Where traditional sales trainers fall short is in translating those skills to today's tools. They teach your team how to hold a good sales conversation, but not how to use AI to prepare for that conversation. They teach you pipeline management as a concept, but not how your CRM concretely supports it. The world has changed: a sales team that can sell well but doesn't know how to use AI and their CRM effectively leaves opportunities on the table every day. Not because they aren't good enough, but because their competitors have the same skills plus better tools.
The reverse is also true: an AI tool without strong sales skills underneath is like a racing engine with a driver who just got their licence. The combination is where the value lies. AI-in-Sales combines process knowledge and AI expertise — but if your team first needs to strengthen the sales fundamentals, a good sales trainer is a perfectly fine first step.
When it fits, when it doesn't. Choose a sales trainer if your team lacks the basic skills: conversation, negotiation, customer relationships. Choose a specialist if the skills are already there but the processes, tools and data are missing to deploy those skills optimally.
Marketing agencies that 'also do AI'
There is a growing number of marketing agencies adding AI services to their portfolio: AI-generated content, automated campaigns, smart lead generation. That makes sense in itself — marketing and AI increasingly overlap, and many agencies do good work with it. If you want to generate more leads through your website, produce better content or optimise your online advertising, a marketing agency with AI knowledge is an excellent choice.
The problem arises at the handover. A marketing agency generates leads, but what happens afterwards — the follow-up, the qualification, the sales conversation, the proposal, the deal — falls outside their expertise. And that is precisely where the biggest gains are to be made at most SMEs. There is little point in generating twice as many leads if your sales team already doesn't follow up the existing leads well. Then you don't double your revenue, you double your waste.
The dividing line between marketing and sales is vaguer in practice than on paper, but the processes, systems and skills are fundamentally different. An agency that generates leads and a partner that ensures those leads actually become revenue — that is a combination that works. But they are two different areas of expertise.
When it fits, when it doesn't. Choose a marketing agency if you want more and better leads. Choose a specialist if the problem is not the number of leads but what happens to those leads after they come in.
Freelance AI advisers and independent contractors
Over the past two years there has been an explosion of freelance AI advisers. Some are ex-techies who see the opportunities in AI, others are consultants expanding their portfolio, and still others have taught themselves the subject through courses and online content. There are some tremendously good people among them — flexible, affordable, and with a personal approach you won't find at larger agencies.
The risk lies in two things. First: continuity. If your freelancer gets another assignment, falls ill or stops, your project comes to a standstill. At a company with several people, that risk is smaller. Second: the breadth of the solution. A good freelancer can advise you on AI tools for sales, but an integrated approach — in which your CRM, your processes, your team training and your technology are tackled as one whole — usually requires a team with complementary expertise. Process knowledge, technical implementation and change management are rarely united in one person.
On the other hand: if you already know exactly what you need and you're looking for someone to carry out a specific job — setting up a CRM integration, building an AI workflow, configuring a sales dashboard — then a good freelancer is often the fastest and cheapest option. It depends on the complexity of your question.
When it fits, when it doesn't. Choose a freelancer for a well-defined assignment where you keep control yourself. Choose a specialist if you are looking for an end-to-end engagement — from diagnosis to implementation — with a team that oversees the whole picture.
Overview: which type of partner fits which situation?
The table below is by definition a simplification, but it gives you a starting point to determine where you can best turn for your specific situation.
| Sales focus | SME-suitable | AI expertise | Sales process knowledge | Speed | Budget | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Large consultancy firm | Low | Limited | High | Generic | Months | €€€€ |
| Broad AI agency SME | Shared | Good | High | Basic | Weeks | €€ |
| CRM vendor | Indirect | Varies | High (own) | Software-focused | Varies | €–€€€ |
| Sales trainer | High | Good | Limited | Skills | Days | €–€€ |
| Marketing agency + AI | Marketing-focused | Good | Average | Pre-sales | Weeks | €€ |
| Freelance AI adviser | Varies | Good | Varies | Varies | Days | € |
| AI-in-Sales | 100% sales | Core focus | High | Deep | Weeks | €€ |
Where AI-in-Sales fits in this picture
AI-in-Sales is a specialised agency for AI in B2B sales and commercial processes, focused on Dutch SMEs. We were founded by three people with, together, decades of experience in sales, process management, customer success and technology — including at KPN. That is relevant because it means we don't look at sales from technology, but at technology from sales. We know what really goes on in a sales department, and we know where AI makes the difference and where it doesn't.
Concretely, we offer five services: an AI-in-Sales Workshop to bring your team up to speed in a single day, a Commercial Health Check to diagnose where you stand commercially, Quick Win Implementations for fast improvements that deliver immediate results, Commercial Systems Excellence for a thorough optimisation of your commercial systems and processes, and Continuous Commercial Improvement for ongoing improvement. In addition, we provide training through accredited training institutes.
What we're honest about: we are not a large firm. We don't have a team of fifty consultants or an office on the Zuidas. That is a deliberate choice — it keeps us sharp, affordable and direct. But it also means we can't run projects with twenty workstreams at once. If you want to transform an entire company on all fronts, you're better off with a larger firm. If you specifically want to improve your commercial side, we do that better than anyone.
Frequently asked questions
Can't I just ask my CRM vendor to set up AI?
Technically yes, and for the buttons and settings they are the right party. But setting up AI in your CRM without first having your processes in order is like installing a navigation system in a car that won't start. Most CRM vendors assume that your processes are already in place and your data is in order. If that's not the case — and at most SMEs it isn't — then you first need someone who lays that foundation.
What does it cost to work with AI-in-Sales?
That depends on what you need. A workshop or Commercial Health Check is a relatively small investment of a few days. An ongoing engagement for Commercial Systems Excellence is of course more. We are transparent about our rates and always think along about the most cost-effective approach. In a no-obligation conversation we can quickly estimate what fits your situation.
Do you also work together with the other types of agencies?
Absolutely. We regularly work together with marketing agencies, CRM implementation partners and broad AI consultancies. They do what they're good at, we do the commercial part. That's not competition but collaboration — and it delivers the best result for the client. If you already have a party for your marketing or your IT, we're happy to connect with them.
I don't know exactly what type of help I need. What do I do?
Start with a conversation — with us or with another agency. A good agency first helps you figure out what you actually need, without immediately selling something. At AI-in-Sales we do that with a no-obligation introductory conversation. If it turns out your problem doesn't fit us, we say so honestly and refer you on. That may sound naive, but it's simply good business.
How do I know whether my sales process is ready for AI at all?
An honest answer: almost every sales process can benefit from AI, but the starting position differs. If your CRM is empty or messy, you have no clear follow-up process and your pipeline isn't visible, then we don't start with AI but with getting the basics in order — and we use AI to do that faster and smarter. You don't have to be 'ready' for AI, you just need someone who knows where you should start.
Want to know which approach fits your sales team?
Book a no-obligation introductory conversation. We look at your situation together and tell you honestly whether we are the right party — and if we are not, where you should be instead.