AI in Sales

What is Conversational Intelligence and How Does it Work?

Lindy Drope
Updated:
November 26, 2024

Conversations are more than just talk — they’re a goldmine of sales and customer insights. 

Conversation intelligence leverages AI to unlock this potential, giving you the edge to improve your sales and retention strategies. 

In this article, we'll break down how this technology works, explore the top platforms, and show you how to start using it for better results today.

We’ll cover: 

  • What is conversation intelligence? 
  • How does it work? 
  • Types
  • How it levels up sales 
  • Why is it important for customer retention? 
  • Lindy — the top conversation intelligence platform

Let’s start with the basics. 

What is conversation intelligence?

Have you ever wondered how AI sales reps always seem to know exactly what to say magically? Well, it’s not sorcery. It’s conversation intelligence at play. 

Let’s take a look at the nitty gritty: 

  • Decoding the chatter: Conversational intelligence uses AI with NLP (Natural Language Processing) to understand calls and customer interactions, giving you the inside scoop on what makes your top performers tick.
  • Your CRM will love it: Conversation intelligence seamlessly integrates with existing CRMs by automatically logging call data, providing actionable insights, and enhancing overall CRM capabilities to improve decision-making and sales strategies. 
  • Turning gabfests into gold mines: By dissecting conversations, this tech can help your chatbots become more intelligent and even help them develop winning strategies. 
  • Coach's corner: Managers can use conversation intelligence platforms to provide targeted feedback and upskill training for their employees. 

How does conversational intelligence even work?

Now, it may still feel like these platforms operate on Star Trek technology. Let's peek behind the curtain and see what makes these digital eavesdroppers tick. (No, it’s not tiny elves with notepads.) 

Let’s take a look: 

  • Record the babble: The conversational intelligence software starts by turning your gabfests into text. It's like having a super-fast, never-tired transcriptionist on your team.
  • Natural language: Next, natural language processing jumps in, dissecting every word and phrase. It's basically teaching computers to "speak human” — except for those parts where we ramble on without making any sense. 
  • Conversational mood ring: Finally, sentiment analysis swoops in to figure out if your customer is grinning or grimacing. It’s the way those chatbots are able to know that you’re gritting your teeth — and ease up on the robo-speak for a minute. 

Types of conversational intelligence software

You’ll want to choose the right type of software based on your goals. 

Time to break down the main types: 

  • Sales tools: These tools are like having a personal coach for your sales team. They'll help you improve your sales performance while using data to make those conversations even sweeter. You can also learn from top performers and refine your approach. Finally, you can gain insight into customer needs to enhance your sales strategy.
  • Customer service bots: Because happy customers are repeat customers. These tools will improve customer satisfaction through better interactions. You can help tailor your communication style to each customer. You can also quickly identify and resolve issues before they escalate.

Mind you, there are other options; why choose when you can have it all? Hybrid tools combine sales and customer service functionalities, giving you the best of both worlds.

(And guess what type of tool Lindy is? But more on that later.) 

How conversation intelligence levels up sales

You know that feeling when you're trying to close a deal, and you're not quite sure what's working? Conversational intelligence can also help here, let’s take a look: 

  • Eavesdropping for success: Conversation intelligence software listens in on your calls (in a totally non-creepy way) to figure out what tactics are bringing home the bacon. 
  • “Just for you” pitches: Gone are the days of one-and-done sales spiels. Lindy’s tools with conversational intelligence can help you write personalized pitches that will feel like they took time, effort, and love
  • On-call performance boost: Imagine having a mini-you sitting on your shoulder, whispering tips during calls. That's basically what conversation intelligence does, helping you improve on the fly. 

Why is conversation intelligence important for customer retention?

Do you know that sinking feeling when a customer slips away? Conversation intelligence can help you make sure that happens less.

Let's dive into why it's a must-have for keeping those customers coming back for more:

  • Name it before it breaks: Conversation intelligence platforms help you spot potential issues before they blow up. It’s not a sixth sense, but it’s the next best thing. 
  • Get even deeper into personalization: You'll be able to tailor your interactions like a bespoke suit, making customers feel like VIPs.
  • Churn-busting: By going over patterns in conversations, you'll develop a spidey sense for when a customer might be eyeing the exit. Then, it’ll be easier to develop strategies to save the day. 

Why Lindy is the best conversation intelligence platform

If you’re not using conversational intelligence to level up your sales game, then you’re not using data to its full potential — and you’re missing out on sales. Still, we know that managing customer interactions is a tall order. Lindy's conversation intelligence platform can help you optimize, power up, and skyrocket the efficiency of your sales conversations. 

Here's why Lindy stands out from the crowd:

  • Keep your CRM well-fed: If you’re still manually sitting through hours of chats, you’re doing it wrong. Lindy can automatically feed crucial data into your CRM after every call, email conversation, or customer interaction — or based on custom triggers you set. 
  • Speaking your language: By integrating with your company’s knowledge base, Lindy can analyze past conversations, FAQs, and key brand documentation. This allows Lindy to tailor responses or emails to match your brand’s tone and style.  
  • AI-powered customer service: Lindy's Customer Service Chatbot leverages human-level conversational skills to engage your customers. It can even spot issues and specific answers your human reps may miss — although it will always keep them in the loop if things get too complex. 
  • Create bespoke content: Whether it’s sales pitches, social media posts, blog posts, or even cold emails, Lindy can engage customers in your tone by leveraging your knowledge base. The best part? You get your content in seconds — kind of like a team of hyper-intelligent writers working 24/7. 
  • Sales forecasting: When linked to your favorite knowledge platforms, Lindy can help you with accurate sales forecasting to spot trends and even monitor your whole sales strategy. 
  • Way more than conversational intelligence: Lindy can help you automate workflows, create content, code, answer questions, set up meetings, and even put your life on autopilot. Check out the tools page to learn more. 
  • Lindies can work together: Yes, you heard right, you can set up multiple AI agents (“Lindies”) to operate in societies, where they’ll complete different tasks and pool their intellectual resources to finish things up even quicker. 

Try Lindy for free.

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