The inspiration for Yoodli came from my experiences as an immigrant coming to the U.S. from India. Growing up, I had a bit of a lisp, which made me self-conscious about speaking up, especially when there were more confident people in the room who could talk non-stop in their native language. I was one of the lucky ones. I landed a great job with Google, where I got to work on incredible projects, and I also spent over a year working directly with Sergey Brin, one of Google’s founders.
As fortunate as I was, I recognize that most people don’t get access to the opportunities they deserve — for every version of me that lands their dream job, there’s a kid in India who deserves the role just as much but doesn’t have the confidence and communication skills to succeed. There are immigrants, non-native English speakers, and introverts who miss out on their dreams because someone else does the talking and gets the credit.
We designed Yoodli to help people get the opportunities they deserve. It is an AI-powered communication coach that helps improve public speaking skills by analyzing your voice and content, and providing feedback on areas where you can improve.
My co-founder, Esha Joshi, feels just as passionately about this and wants to use technology to help women be heard even more in the workplace. Here’s my TEDx talk about our mission.
With Yoodli, you can record yourself speaking or upload a pre-recorded audio or video file. Yoodli will analyze your conciseness, filler words, pacing, and non-inclusive language. It will also score your body language, including making eye contact and using gestures and facial expressions to engage with others. It can even give you real-time feedback on your delivery to make sure you sound confident and engaging in a live meeting.
The app is free and works with the most widely used video platforms, including Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and Zoom. Best of all, the feedback is completely private and only shows up on your screen, gently reminding you to adjust your speaking pace or include an important talking point.
The reactions have been positive since Esha and I founded the business 18 months ago. We’ve raised more than seven million dollars from a few strategic investors, such as Madrona and the Allen Institute for AI, and our team has grown to 10 people. But the most exciting news is that Yoodli now has users in 150 countries, including some of the world’s top business schools and Fortune 50 companies. It’s also been rolled out to 300,000 members by Toastmasters International, a global community that helps people with their communication and presentation skills.
Google Cloud: Taking the pressure off busy founders
Launching a business puts huge demands on your time and that of your colleagues. That’s why we run our full technology stack on Google Cloud — it gives us access to integrated software that powers the entire business. We use Cloud Storage for storing and accessing data, BigQuery as our cloud data warehouse, Google Analytics to manage website traffic, and Google Workspace for our productivity tools.
In particular, Cloud Storage is especially important for running Yoodli. We don’t have a big budget for video processing and storage, but Google Cloud makes it highly affordable. We also need fail-safe security, especially as we give feedback on conversations that might include salary negotiations or an unreleased product keynote. Working with Google gives me the confidence that our infrastructure is completely locked down.
We’re also big fans of the Google for Startups Cloud Program, which offers extensive support all the way from VP-level for strategic issues to an account manager for day-to-day questions. We feel lucky that Google can prioritize a startup as small and early stage as us. It makes me confident that we’ll continue to be part of the Google ecosystem as we grow.
First steps for founders
Thanks to Google Cloud, it’s been an exciting journey giving me plenty of insights into what it takes to found a business. First, you must be brave and prepared to jump into your idea. You might think you need to survey 20 founders or wait until you have the perfect proposal, but if you’re really motivated to change things for the better — you just have to go for it. Even though it can be a rollercoaster, the opportunity to do your best for other people will keep you going.
The results make it worth it. Every day when I wake up, I have emails from people saying, “Oh my God, I landed my dream job. Thank you so much.” Or, we hear from people using Yoodli to learn English because they are too nervous to practice with a friend or a teacher. Whatever the ups and downs of being a founder, it always makes my day anytime I read messages from our users.
As for the future, I can see a time when Yoodli will become a real-time AI assistant in all kinds of professional and social contexts. Imagine you are on a date. The Yoodli app on your watch could remind you to stop speaking and ask more questions. Or if you’re in a tough meeting, Yoodli could advise you to take a break and get a glass of water before restarting the conversation.
It’s challenging because we deal with people’s personalities and deep-rooted feelings, but I’m positive we have the people and initiative to make it work. When you add the support from the Google Cloud team, we feel secure about the future — and giving people the confidence to excel at work and in their social lives by practicing with Yoodli.
“I’ve been a sales and training manager for 30 years, and for the first time in my life — I had a rep with no sales experience come in, get trained within 2 weeks [using AI], and her first sales call was a win.” – Bill Pace, Sales and Training Manager, USB Payments
TLDR: USB Payments uses Yoodli AI sales coach to reduce seller ramp time, save time on manual role-play training, and improve the quality of practice.
Through Yoodli, USB Payments achieved a 19% increase in meetings booked within 30 days, a 20% improvement in meeting quality (more in-person & qualified meetings booked), and a 50% reduction in seller ramp time.
Background
USB Payment Processing offers credit card processing, mobile payments, and marketing services that allow merchants to streamline their business operations.
Within 30 days of implementation, Bill Pace, Sales and Training Manager, achieved immediate results. With both Inside and Outside sales teams reporting to him, he previously spent 20 hours per week manually training and onboarding new reps. Now, he uses Yoodli daily, empowering his reps to close more business.
The Problem
USB Payments prides itself on having a culture of continuous growth and learning. Each new hire gets 8 hours of role-play based training before speaking with potential customers, with 1.5 hours a month of ongoing role-play training with peers.
Previously, sales managers spent over 50% of their time manually conducting role plays during initial onboarding, taking valuable time away from other revenue generating responsibilities.
Leaders also found it challenging to continually craft different personas, scenarios, and provide objective feedback.
The Solution
USB Payments deployed Yoodli AI sales coach across their entire sales organization, enabling customized AI roleplay practice, on-demand. With Yoodli, USB payments:
Scaled role-play training across a variety of USB customized buyer personas, buying situations, and prospect objections.
Increased self-paced training hours by over 600% per rep (from 18 hours to 120 hours annually)
Saved sales leaders at least 6 hours a week on training, allowing them to focus on revenue generating activities.
“Yoodli has made my time with my reps much more strategic and valuable. I can now work with my team on specific things they’re struggling with, and help them solve those exact problems.” – Sales Leader at USB Payments
Cultural Shift
Now, reps use Yoodli daily to warm-up with custom AI scenarios, personalized by sales leadership with objections they’re hearing from the field. It’s part of daily standup, and the team loves it.
“It’s completely changed the culture. Everyone practices. This is just what we do. And now we’ll be exponentially better next year because of the sheer amount of practice we’re able to get with Yoodli that we couldn’t have before.”
Learners have unlimited access to Yoodli. They can practice their pitches as many times as they like to build confidence. Yoodli’s private, judgment-free platform makes it feel less like an assignment and more like a self-improvement opportunity. Reps love it.
Bill shared: “Last week, a new hire asked me: ‘Am I allowed to do this at night? Can I practice this on my own time as well?! I love this!’”
The Outcome
Yoodli has changed the game for USB payments. In just 30 days after roll out, the team is already seeing:
A 19% increase in meetings booked month over month due to deeper discovery and more relevant questions.
A 20% increase in face-to-face meetings booked (F2F has a close rate of 42% vs. Phone which has a rate of 8%)
Significantly shorter ramp times, with new reps closing deals just weeks after joining USB Payments.
A 20% increase in call length, leading to significantly improved objection handling and deal progression.
The key to your team’s success just might be sales enablement. If you’re unfamiliar with the term, don’t worry.
Our comprehensive guide will explain all things sales enablement, including what it is, why people use it, and how you can use it with your team.
What Is Sales Enablement?
Sales enablement is actually pretty simple. It involves providing a sales team with all the tools, technology, and other strategic resources they need to succeed. It really doesn’t matter how talented your reps are — everyone can stand to benefit from it.
What’s the goal?
In a nutshell, the goal of sales enablement is to make sure the buying process runs smoothly from start to finish. Connecting your team to the resources they need does so much more than streamline the overall process — It can also increase your company’s overall revenue, your team’s productivity and performance, and even boost your brand’s reputation.
How to Use AI to for Sales Enablement
The field of AI is ever-evolving and as such, can be easily applicable for enablement. One such tool worth exploring is the aforementioned Yoodli: an AI-powered sales coach that can help take your sales reps to the next level.
Not only that, but for sales enablement leaders, Yoodli can be a lifesaver. Instead of spending valuable time on certifying thousands of reps, Yoodli does personalized enablement at scale. In other words, this AI app ensures leaders can do their jobs much more effectively.
Other ways to use Yoodli
As an AI coach, Yoodli has many capabilities that make it a perfect sales enablement tool. For starters, Yoodli can analyze a sales rep’s speech while they’re practicing and provide them personalized feedback and metrics for improvement.
For example, reps can get individualized feedback on aspects of their speech, such as:
However, Yoodli can also simulate customer and prospect calls to give your reps a realistic setting where they can practice any applicable skills they’ve been working.
The best part is, these roleplays aren’t just realistic — they can be tailored to encompass all types of customers. For example, when you’re setting up a roleplay practice on Yoodli, you can choose the personality of your AI roleplay client.
Sales enablement leaders can easily use Yoodli to save valuable time with personalized enablement at-scale.
Personalizing the conversation this way gives reps a risk-free, safe place to practice the skills they’ve acquired. After the conversation, reps can then use those personalized metrics and analytics to improve their sales pitching skills. It’s that easy.
You can start experimenting with Yoodli today for free at https://yoodli.ai/.
Used by leading Fortune 500 sales companies like Google and Korn Ferry, Yoodli simulates roleplays to improve your sales team’s pitching and overall customer experience. Here’s how it works.
Sales enablement leaders can do their jobs at scale, much more efficiently, thanks to Yoodli.
Sales Enablement Tools and Examples
Because it’s such a large, overarching topic, there are plenty of great examples of existing and new tech. Here are some of the most critical tools (and examples) you should be aware of.
Content management systems (CMS)
One of the most commonly used tools in many industries, including sales, is content management systems (CMS). A good CMS can revitalize a sales team and make the lives of the reps so much easier.
For example, a sales team’s CMS can store, organize, and even turn over sales deliverables like battlecards or presentations (and other digital collateral). Some of the best CMS options include:
Salesforce
HubSpot CMS
WordPress
Wix
Magnolia
Squarespace
Customer relationship management (CRM) software
Another widely used tool is customer relationship management (CRM) software. Similarly to a CMS, CRM software can help streamline and automate the sales process for reps so they can focus on more pressing things.
For example, some of the most critical functions a CRM software can perform include:
Securely storing client data
Tracking and managing client interactions and sales opportunities
Some of the most popular CRM tools include HubSpot, Salesforce, Zendesk, Pipedrive, and Zoho.
Sales coaching tools
Out of all the possible tools and technology, sales coaching tools might just be the most valuable.
At the end of the day, sales reps need to be able to do their job well. However, if their skills aren’t up to par, it can be much more difficult to find success. That’s where sales coaching tools come in.
These tools provide companies with educational opportunities, training programs, and other resources needed to take a sales team to the next level. The further development of a rep’s existing knowledge and skill shouldn’t be overlooked. There are plenty of sales coaching tools worth checking out.
Yoodli, for example, uses generative AI technology to function as a sales coach for representatives looking to improve on their skills (more on this below!).
Other sales enablement tools
Because it is such an extensive topic, there are plenty of other tools worth mentioning. Some of the other sales enablement tools teams should check out include technology like:
E-signature and digital signing software, which gives clients the opportunity to sign agreements and contracts online (such as Adobe Sign or DocuSign)
Competitive intelligence software, which can collect information on a competitor’s content strategy, products, and pricing
Screen sharing and recording tools, which can be used by sales teams to show product walkthroughs and demos for clients
Proposal tools, which can facilitate the process of drafting and sending sales proposals
Video conferencing apps — such as Google Meet, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams — which can streamline virtual presentations and meeting with customers and prospects
Why Is Sales Enablement Strategy Important?
Enablement strategy is important in many ways, but particularly in removing barriers that might stop a team from making a closing deal. Providing a seamless client journey is a must, and sales enablement allows teams to do so with confidence.
Empowering your sales reps with the tools, technology, and education they need to succeed can do wonders for your overall brand and business strategy, too.
How to Build a Sales Enablement Strategy
Although it might feel overwhelming at first, it doesn’t have to be. Here are some tips and tricks for building a good strategy.
Pinpoint any existing needs and issues
Perhaps the first step to building a worthy sales enablement strategy is identifying any current needs or problems your team faces. For example, maybe you’ve noticed that there are some skills or knowledge gaps within the team. By pinpointing these, you can solidify what needs to improve and what you’ll need to get there.
The existing needs and issues might very well vary from rep to rep, but making a list of these can help you narrow down what tools might be helpful for your team.
Take advantage of tech and tools
Once you know what you’re dealing with (AKA, what needs and challenges your team faces), you can start scoping out the appropriate sales enablement tools to introduce. For example, if you found that your sales reps spend too much time on tasks that could easily be streamlined or automated, perhaps you invest in a CMS and other various sales automation tools.
If the existing challenges are tied to your reps’ skill sets and knowledge, perhaps you’d rather invest in other tools, like coaching platforms.
Create and optimize winning sales content
Of course, building and optimizing content for your client base is also crucial to sales enablement. If your team’s sales content isn’t resonating with your customers, that’s a problem.
Make sure you carve out content development when crafting your organization’s strategy.
Benefits of Sales Enablement
Making sure your team has access to all the tools they need for a seamless experience definitely yields results. Here are some of the most worthwhile benefits of implementing sales enablement.
Increased sales productivity and performance
One of the most obvious benefits is the boosted productivity and performance. By equipping your team with all the strategic resources they need, you’re essentially scaling your business’ success.
For example, using various sales enablement tools can actually facilitate onboarding for new hires. Instead of relying on only your top sales reps, you can take advantage of training resources and other materials to get trainees up to speed.
In a similar vein, the overall sales processes can be efficiently streamlined by using best practices. When reps have the necessary skills and knowledge, they can finalize deals more effectively.
Some other ways it can boost productivity and performance include through things like:
Shortening the sales cycle and spending less time on administrative tasks by automating processes
Using tried-and-true methodologies that ensure all your sales reps are all on the same page
Improving client engagement by honing in on sales reps’ communication skills
Boosted business growth
Although productivity and performance should in and of itself boost business growth, implementing sales enablement can increase growth in other ways.
For example, consider a brand’s reputation. When a business takes advantage of enablement and its reps consistently show up for clients, its overall reputation and image gets a healthy boost. Customer experiences and interactions add up, and when those are overwhelmingly positive, that positivity reflects well for your brand.
Aside from branding, it can also boost the growth of your business through decreased costs (particularly in areas like lost deal opportunities as a result of inadequate knowledge or skills). The increase in revenue from boosted sales productivity and performance only adds to business growth.
Sales Enablement FAQs
Because it’s such a hot topic, there are often lots of questions floating around the subject. Here are some of the most common sales enablement FAQs.
1. What does a sales enablement specialist do?
A sales enablement specialist is someone who’s responsible for setting up a team with all the tools and resources they need to conduct successful sales. For example, a sales enablement specialist might be hired to connect reps with specific training to help them sell products or services more efficiently.
2. Is sales enablement the same thing as sales operations?
Although they’re similar, sales enablement and sales operations are two different things with respective goals. While the former focuses on getting a sales team up to speed, sales operations hones in on the streamlining of the overall process.
3. What’s the difference between sales enablement and marketing?
In a similar vein, sales enablement and marketing are also related, but different concepts. As opposed to the former, marketing is actual planning, promoting, and selling products. That’s distinct from the specific training and investment in tools and resources to assist reps with their job.
4. What’s the future of sales enablement?
While we can’t predict the future exactly, there are definitely some identifiable trends regarding sales enablement. Experts believe sales enablement will evolve to become much more client-focused. For example, customers are beginning to expect more from the brands they have relationships with.
As writer John Rankins says, the “sales enablement industry will have to pivot from ‘selling to customers’ to ‘selling with them.’”
5. What skills do you need for sales enablement?
The best part about sales enablement is that you don’t need any special skills to get started. In fact, it’s more about the skills that you and your team might lack. The only thing you need to get started with sales enablement is motivation.
The Bottom Line
Sales enablement is only going to become more essential for everyday businesses. Investing your team’s sales reps (and their skills and education) can completely transform the way your business makes deals. Yoodli is one such tool that can easily transform the sales pitching skills of your reps. The benefits to dedicating training to improve your team’s skills are endless.
