The 5 Best AI Tools of 2025 (Secret Tips)

AI sales tools. Loved by some, hated by others. The debate is understandable. Many tools overpromise and underdeliver, leaving sales teams frustrated and out of pocket.

If you ask me, AI sales tools are great, but only if you use the right ones.

This article includes a selection of the top 5 AI sales tools I have personally used or still use to optimize workflows, get better data, and ultimately, close more deals.

Let's break down the tools that actually deliver on their promises.

What This Article Covers

Datablist: The All-in-One Data & Automation Hub
Cluely: Real-Time AI Assistant
Smartlead AI: For Scaled Cold Email Outreach
Attio: The Intelligent & Flexible CRM
Sendspark: For Engaging Video Outreach

Datablist: The All-in-One Data & Automation Hub

Datablist At-a-Glance

Datablist is a data aggregation and workflow automation platform. It has integrated AI agents, AI scrapers, LLMs, and various data acquisition tools, including a Waterfall Email Finder, Sales Navigator scraper, and more.

Here's what that means:

Data Sources: Access a marketplace of data providers and scrapers.
Job Scrapers: Extract fresh hiring signals from multiple job boards at once.
Deduplication Suite: Clean your data within a single list or across multiple collections.

Why Datablist is Great

Datablist is one of the greatest AI Sales tools because it lets you get everything done in one platform. From data collection to enrichment, automation, or cleaning, everything is in one space. The tool is easy to use and removes the need for ten different subscriptions.

It combines a familiar spreadsheet interface with the power of AI agents and automation. This helps users eliminate complexity and the need to jump between multiple tools for data management, enrichment, and cleaning.

3 Best Features of Datablist

The Integrated Data Sources: Think of it as a giant mall for data, with everything you need and nothing you don’t. You can also use any data source with Datablist credits instead of subscribing to tools you only want to use once.
Automations: With Datablist, you can automate tasks and save hours, if not days or weeks, of work. On top of that, you can also schedule recurring tasks to run daily, weekly, or whenever you need them.
AI Integrations: Datablist is a truly AI-native product. It offers access to 8 different LLMs, has 3 in-house built AI agents, and offers 2 AI editing Assistants for in-sheet data editing and manipulating deduplicated data.

Before I joined Datablist, I used to be a power user of the tool. The things I am highlighting here come from hundreds of hours using the product to build campaigns for myself and my clients.

Datablist stands out for three key reasons:

Simplicity: You don't need technical knowledge or formula experience to leverage its full capabilities.
Flexibility: The platform allows you to do almost anything with your data and AI while maintaining complete control.
Scalability: With the ability to handle up to 2 million rows, outperforming any alternative.

📘 AI in Datablist

Unlike many AI tools that limit your control, Datablist gives you full flexibility over how to use its AI tools rather than forcing you to adapt to the system. This way, you can bring your workflows to the platform rather than create workflows for the platform.

Cluely: Real-Time AI Assistance

Cluely At-a-Glance

Cluely is an AI-powered meeting assistant that provides real-time guidance during sales calls, meetings, and conversations. It runs as an undetectable desktop app that listens to your audio and reads your screen to deliver instant AI insights, objection handling, and conversation prompts without joining your meetings.

Core Function: Real-time AI assistance during live conversations
What it Does: Listens and sees the same as you do whenever you want it to
What You Get: Instant prompts, objection responses, and conversation guidance

Why Cluely is Great

Traditional meeting preparation can only take you so far, but Cluely makes you become a more confident communicator in real-time. It acts like having an expert sales coach whispering in your ear during every important conversation.

What I like most about Cluely is that it’s not just for meetings. You can use it for anything: brainstorming, writing content, prepping for a big pitch, whatever. It’s always there on your desktop, ready to help without the need for changing tabs.

3 Best Features of Cluely

On-screen assistant: Eliminates the need to switch tabs for fast AI responses, saving you ≈10 sec every time you need to use a chatbot; this can sum up to 1-2 hours every month if you're a power user of Claude, Grok, etc.
Live Objection Handling: Cluely listens for objections in real-time and instantly surfaces the perfect responses, competitor comparisons, or rebuttals. No more awkward pauses while you think of what to say - the AI feeds you battle-tested responses on the spot.
Invisible in Meetings: Unlike other meeting tools that require bot participants, Cluely operates completely in the background. It's undetectable in shared screens, recordings, and external meeting platforms, giving you AI superpowers without anyone knowing.

The value I'm getting from Cluely is actually not related to sales. I use it to have an AI assistant always on my tab, so I don't have to switch tabs to Claude or Grok. But I think it's also very powerful for sales but I haven’t tried it for this yet.

I’ll also try using it for sales in the near future.

Smartlead AI: For Scaled Cold Email Outreach

Smartlead At-a-Glance

Smartlead is an AI-powered cold email platform built for scalability and deliverability. It offers unlimited sender account warm-ups, AI-driven personalization, and robust analytics to manage large-scale outreach campaigns effectively.

Main Purpose: Cold email sending and inbox management.
Key Differentiator: Unlimited email warm-up and an "Auto-rotating" sender feature.
AI Features: AI-powered sequence writing and lead categorization.

Why Smartlead is Great

Deliverability is the foundation of any successful cold email strategy. If your emails land in spam, nothing else matters. Smartlead tackles this head-on with its best-in-class warm-up and inbox rotation features.

It allows you to connect an unlimited number of sending accounts. The platform then automatically spreads your sending volume across them, protecting the reputation of each domain. This is a crucial feature for anyone serious about sending emails at scale.

3 Best Features of Smartlead

Unlimited Mailbox Warm-up: Most services charge per mailbox for warm-up. Smartlead includes it for free with unlimited accounts. It uses a network of real human inboxes to engage with your emails, signaling to providers that you're a legitimate sender.
Master Inbox: Managing replies across dozens of sending accounts is a nightmare. Smartlead consolidates all conversations into a single master inbox, allowing you to reply from one place without losing context or switching accounts.
AI-Powered Unibox and Lead Management: The AI automatically categorizes replies (e.g., "Interested," "Not Interested," "Follow Up Later"). This helps sales reps prioritize their follow-ups and focus their energy on the warmest leads.

Smartlead is built for agencies and sales teams that need to run high-volume outreach without getting blacklisted. If you're managing campaigns for multiple clients or have a large sales team, this tool is essential.

It's for the power user who has graduated from basic sending tools and needs a robust engine to handle complexity. It solves the technical backend of cold email, so you can focus on writing great copy and closing deals.

And their support team is world-class.

Attio: The Intelligent & Flexible CRM

Attio At-a-Glance

Attio is a new breed of CRM that is fundamentally built around your data. It automatically syncs with your email and calendar, enriches contacts with public data, and uses AI to help you build and manage relationships. It’s highly customizable and collaborative.

Category: Relationship-focused CRM.
Core Philosophy: Data-first and highly flexible.
Unique Feature: Automatically builds your network graph from communication data.

Why Attio is Great

Traditional CRMs often feel like glorified spreadsheets that require stressful manual data entry ^[1]. Attio turns this model on its head. It builds your CRM for you by analyzing your existing communication streams, like Gmail and your calendar.

Its interface is clean, intuitive, and incredibly fast. The platform is built on a block-based system, allowing you to design workflows, lists, and pipelines that perfectly match your sales process, rather than forcing you into a rigid structure.

3 Best Features of Attio

Automated Contact Creation & Enrichment: Attio intelligently identifies new contacts from your emails and automatically creates profiles for them. It then enriches these profiles with data like job titles, company information, and social links.
Relationship Intelligence: The AI analyzes communication patterns to determine the strength of your team's relationship with any given contact or company. This helps you identify warm intros and at-risk accounts without any manual tracking.
Flexible Data Modeling: You can create custom lists and views for anything. Whether you're tracking a sales pipeline, managing investor relations, or organizing event attendees, Attio's flexible structure can handle it with ease.

TL;DR: You can customize the CRM to fit your needs; don't compromise them because of it.

Attio is perfect for modern sales teams, startups, and venture capitalists who value flexibility and intelligence. It’s for people who find traditional CRMs like Salesforce or HubSpot to be too rigid and bloated.

If your team lives in their inbox and wants a CRM that works in the background to support them, Attio is the best choice. It’s a CRM that adapts to you, not the other way around.

Sendspark: For Engaging Video Outreach

Sendspark At-a-Glance

Sendspark is a video outreach platform that helps sales reps stand out in the inbox. It makes it easy to record, personalize, and share videos in emails and messages. It uses AI to generate scripts and create dynamic, personalized video thumbnails for each prospect.

Focus: Personalized video messaging for sales.
Integration: Works with Gmail, LinkedIn, HubSpot, and other sales tools.
AI Usage: AI Script Writer and personalized thumbnail generation.

Why Sendspark is Great

A wall of text is easy to ignore. A personalized video is not. Sendspark helps you break through the noise by adding a human touch to your outreach messages. It’s built for speed and efficiency, removing the friction typically associated with creating video content.

The platform is designed to increase reply rates. ^[2] . Seeing a friendly face with their name and company logo on a thumbnail creates an immediate connection and a sense of curiosity that static text can't replicate.

3 Best Features of Sendspark

Dynamic Personalization: You can record one video and use Sendspark to automatically add personalized text and logos to the video thumbnail and landing page for each recipient. This gives the illusion of a one-to-one video at scale.
AI Script Writer: If you're not sure what to say, Sendspark's AI can generate a script for you based on your goals and the prospect's context. This helps overcome "camera shyness" and ensures your message is concise and impactful.
Request Video Feature: Sendspark allows you to request video testimonials from happy customers directly through the platform. This makes it incredibly easy to gather social proof that you can then use in your sales cycles.

There are many AI sales tools for crafting messages and automating outreach, but there are only a few for sending personalized videos. Also, most people don't want to send videos because they are shy, so if you send videos, you will have a competitive edge.

If your sales cycle benefits from a personal connection and you want to build rapport faster, video is the way to go. Sendspark makes video outreach practical, scalable, and effective.

💡 This Isn’t a Hollywood Production

Don't overthink your video messages. A quick, authentic video recorded from your desk often performs better than a perfectly polished one. Prospects appreciate the authenticity. The goal is standing out in the inbox, not on the red carpet.

The Bottom Line: Choose AI Sales Tools Wisely

As I said earlier, most AI tools are garbage. But there are still a lot of AI tools that deliver actual value, depending on your use case. So, to sum everything up, here are my tips when choosing AI sales tools

Be selective: Some tools distract, while others multiply your sales effectiveness.
Know your needs: Be conscious of what your team actually requires
Seek expertise: Consider consulting experts like our friends at salestechscout.com
Look beyond features: Shiny new capabilities don't always translate to increased revenue

FAQ About AI Sales Tools

What Are AI Sales Tools?

AI sales tools are software applications that make your sales job easier and more effective. Think of them as sales assistants that take over the boring, repetitive tasks. They can find new leads for you, clean up messy contact lists, write personalized emails, and keep track of customer relationships, all while you focus on what you do best: building connections and closing deals.

Can AI Replace My Sales Team?

No, AI is a powerful assistant, not a replacement. AI handles repetitive, data-heavy tasks, which frees up sales professionals to focus on strategic activities like building relationships, understanding complex customer needs, and closing deals. The best teams use AI to augment their skills.

How Much Do AI Sales Tools Typically Cost?

Pricing varies widely. Some tools, like Datablist, start at $25/month. Other tools like Attio or Smartlead can range from $36 to over $174/month per user, depending on the plan.

What is the Most Important Factor When Choosing an AI Sales Tool?

The most important factor is how well the tool integrates into your existing workflow and solves a real problem. A tool with amazing features is useless if your team finds it too complicated to adopt or if it doesn't address a critical bottleneck in your sales process.

How Do I Integrate These Tools into My Existing Workflow?

Start small. Pick one tool that solves your biggest pain point. For example, if personalization is your problem, start with Cluely. Use its outputs in your current email sender. Once you see ROI, you can explore deeper integrations or add another tool, like Smartlead, to scale your sending.

Citations

According to NetHunt CRM, sales reps cite manual CRM data entry as their most immense distress.
A case study from Vidyard shows that sales reps using personalized video enjoy 62% higher engagement rates and 25% higher close rates compared to text-only outreach.