Research suggests generic tools fail to match sales teams’ ambitions and deliver strategic value
As economic headwinds intensify, sales organizations investing in AI to boost results face a troubling reality: generic AI tools such as ChatGPT fail to match initial promise, leaving teams struggling to realize value.
According to new research from Breakthrough, an agentic sales messaging platform, most teams use AI for simple content creation (55% for sales material generation, 42% for content generation). However, fewer users are leveraging AI tools to inform more strategic sales messaging. The data shows that, of those utilizing AI:
- 47% use it for prospecting research
- 40% for meeting preparation
- 39% for presentation generation
- 32% for prospecting outreach
- 31% for lead qualification
Strategic knowledge gap hampers ROI
The research also reveals current AI solutions’ inability to provide strategic guidance, with many tools falling short in areas requiring deeper business context and strategic knowledge.
“The real challenge isn’t getting AI to help you improve your emails, it’s getting AI to help you decide which opportunities to pursue in the first place, and how to tailor messaging to each of your target personas and industries,” said Adit Abhyankar, CEO and co-founder of Breakthrough. “Sales teams need tools that address three critical ROI drivers: focusing on high-potential opportunities, developing a deep understanding of customer needs across all stakeholders, and delivering convincing pitches in every selling moment to prevent deals from stalling mid-funnel.”
This strategic knowledge gap manifests in specific pain points identified by sales professionals when trying to use generic consumer AI tools like ChatGPT:
- 23% expressed concerns about privacy and data confidentiality
- 16% reported frustration with inaccurate results and hallucinations
- 14% felt current AI tools don’t understand their specific needs
- 13% found existing solutions require too many iterations to achieve desired results
“These findings highlight a fundamental disconnect between generic AI capabilities and the strategic needs of sales organizations,” continues Abhyankar. “Purpose-built sales AI must go beyond simply matching the writing capabilities of consumer tools – it needs to provide the strategic context and guidance that actually moves deals forward.”
To combat these challenges, sales leaders need to adopt more sophisticated and personalized tools that will help move the needle.
Generic AI limiting ambition
Data from McKinsey suggests that sales and marketing functions are most likely to use generative AI, with a 66% increase in revenue from teams deploying the technology. Yet, Breakthrough’s findings reveal important nuances about user satisfaction.
- While 75% of users rate generative AI tools above their expectations, a significant 20% find these solutions merely adequate—representing a substantial market segment seeking more sophisticated capabilities.
For organizations searching transformative outcomes, generic AI is simply not fit for purpose. The consumer AI tools available to sales leaders create a solid foundation, while specialized solutions will be critical for addressing the more complex challenges where standard tools deliver only satisfactory results.
“Sales teams are caught in an AI implementation trap,” explains Abhyankar. “They’ve adopted general-purpose AI but haven’t seen the promised impact on performance. Everyone gets excited when a generic tool can rewrite an email, but as teams get more ambitious in their use, they start to grow frustrated with its shortcomings. Teams are under pressure to deliver results, so they’re looking for major productivity gains: help with presentations, with defining and refining the right messaging. Saving a few minutes on an email has limited impact.”
AI failing to deliver productivity boosts
The increased use in AI is not driving significant productivity gains, either: nearly half (47%) of sales professionals spend between 31-60 minutes daily on generic AI tools – identical to the time spent on CRM tasks. Rather than creating efficiency, organizations have effectively replaced one administrative burden with another.
Andy Dubickas, Partner at Aperiam Ventures, said: “In today’s market, relevance isn’t static – it’s a constantly evolving target. Our teams need tools that help them adapt quickly and intelligently. What we’ve discovered is that AI’s true value isn’t just in automating repetitive tasks, but in how it helps us learn collectively and apply those learnings to our engagement with customers and prospects. When our sales team shares what resonates with our targets, AI can help us spot patterns we might otherwise miss. We’re moving away from rigid, top-down messaging frameworks toward something more dynamic that evolves naturally from the combination of product expertise, frontline sales insights, and direct customer feedback. If AI tools can’t support this more fluid, collaborative approach to market understanding, they’re simply not delivering value.”
The complete research findings, including a framework for effective AI implementation in sales organizations, can be downloaded at breakthroughsales.io/ai-research-2025.
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