AI Tools for Identifying Sales Skill Gaps

AI tools are transforming sales onboarding by identifying skill gaps quickly and providing tailored training. Here’s what you need to know:

• Why It Matters: Companies with strong onboarding see faster quota attainment (up to 7 weeks earlier) and higher productivity. AI tools reduce training costs by up to 50% by targeting specific needs.
• How It Works: Platforms analyze data from calls, performance reviews, and learning systems to deliver real-time feedback, personalized coaching, and actionable insights.
• Popular Tools:
  • Trata AI: Focuses on roleplay and conversation analysis to improve objection handling and closing skills.
  • Chorus.ai: Offers real-time call feedback and detailed analytics for refining communication strategies.
  • Gong.io: Tracks performance metrics and provides data-driven coaching to shorten onboarding time.
  • Mindtickle: Uses benchmarks and simulations to measure readiness and improve team performance.
  • Salesforce Einstein: Integrates skill gap analysis into CRM for seamless coaching and reporting.

Key Takeaway: These tools enhance onboarding efficiency, improve sales performance, and align training with specific skill needs. Whether you’re looking for roleplay features or in-depth analytics, there’s a solution for every team.

1. Trata AI

Trata AI is an advanced platform designed to close sales skill gaps and speed up the onboarding process for new hires. By combining conversation analysis with realistic roleplay, it equips sales teams with the tools they need to improve performance quickly.

Real-time Conversation Analysis and Feedback

Trata AI uses conversation intelligence to analyze both live and recorded calls. It identifies areas where sales reps struggle, such as objection handling or closing techniques, by tracking keywords and conversation patterns. Missed opportunities are flagged immediately, giving managers the chance to address issues on the spot. This real-time feedback helps new hires improve their skills during those crucial early interactions.

Scenario-based Roleplay and Simulations

With its customer simulations, Trata AI provides a realistic practice environment for new sales reps. Features like the persona builder and objection library allow users to practice handling different customer types and common challenges. This structured roleplay ensures that feedback is targeted and consistent, helping new hires build confidence and competence faster.

Performance Analytics and Reporting

Trata AI generates detailed performance reports that highlight each new hire's strengths and areas for improvement. Automated summaries and trend analyses show measurable results, including a 75% improvement in sales performance, a 15% increase in productivity, and a 10% rise in revenue. These insights make it easier for managers to guide and support their teams effectively.

Personalized Coaching Plans and Training Recommendations

Using performance data, Trata AI creates tailored coaching plans. Managers can use its course builder and coaching tips to design customized training sessions. The platform also includes team leaderboards, encouraging healthy competition and allowing top performers to mentor others. This personalized approach ensures that every new hire gets the specific support they need to develop their skills quickly and effectively.

2. Chorus.ai

Chorus.ai is a conversation intelligence platform designed to capture and analyze customer interactions across various channels using AI technology. It helps sales teams uncover skill gaps by examining real customer conversations, providing insights that support continuous improvement. By leveraging real-time data, it also accelerates the onboarding process for new hires.

Real-time Conversation Analysis and Feedback

Chorus.ai records, transcribes, and analyzes sales calls, delivering actionable insights that help managers enhance team performance. It identifies communication gaps in tone, language, and engagement during live calls, allowing managers to spot missed opportunities quickly. These insights enable real-time coaching, helping teams refine their communication strategies on the spot.

"Chorus has helped us a lot with the call training aspect. We're able to quickly identify those calls where reps may need a little more coaching." – Santiago C. on Capterra

In addition to real-time feedback, Chorus.ai’s analytics capabilities provide deeper insights for targeted training.

Performance Analytics and Reporting

Chorus.ai offers detailed analytics on customer sentiment and behavior, helping managers pinpoint areas for improvement. Customizable tools highlight successful behaviors while flagging those that need work, streamlining training efforts and reducing onboarding time. For example, companies using similar tools reported a 15% boost in sales efficiency in 2024, with 70% of sales teams benefiting from more accurate data through CRM integration. Managers can assign scores to calls and provide written feedback, making it easier to track patterns and address recurring challenges.

These insights are invaluable for creating personalized coaching sessions that directly address individual and team needs.

Personalized Coaching Plans and Training Recommendations

Chorus.ai evaluates call data to deliver instant coaching prompts, helping sales reps adjust their approach in real time. This has contributed to win rate improvements of up to 29%. By analyzing tone, word choice, and other communication factors, the platform offers targeted feedback that helps teams systematically enhance their skills.

The platform integrates seamlessly with major CRMs and online meeting tools, syncing contact details and communication data to build more effective coaching programs. This integration allows managers to refine strategies and strengthen customer relationships based on real conversation data rather than assumptions.

Chorus.ai’s pricing starts at $8,000 per year for three seats, with additional seats costing about $1,200 per user annually. It has a user rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars on Capterra and 8.9 out of 10 on G2 for ease of use. However, some users have noted occasional glitches, such as missed call recordings or minor inaccuracies in AI-generated summaries.

3. Gong.io

Gong.io is a conversation intelligence platform designed to analyze customer interactions, helping sales teams pinpoint skill gaps and improve performance. By integrating with online calendars, Gong uses AI to transcribe and analyze conversations, delivering actionable insights that drive results. Teams using this platform have reported a 21% increase in revenue and a 48% boost in customer ratings.

Real-time Conversation Analysis and Feedback

Gong monitors key performance metrics such as talk-to-listen ratios and objection handling. It also flags mentions of competitors and stalled deals, providing managers with immediate coaching opportunities. The platform reveals how top-performing reps tackle common objections and identifies deals stuck without clear next steps, enabling managers to address weaknesses in closing strategies.

"Gong insights help us learn, train our reps, and - most importantly - provide a better service to our customers and prospects. Working with Gong gives me confidence that we will succeed." – Paul Santarelli, Chief Sales Officer, PitchBook

Gong’s AI extracts important details from conversations, allowing managers to focus on specific coaching moments without needing to sift through entire call recordings. This level of detail makes performance tracking straightforward and impactful.

Performance Analytics and Reporting

Gong equips sales managers with performance analytics to track progress, evaluate training effectiveness, and monitor team metrics. The platform provides detailed reports on activities, conversion rates, and overall performance. It benchmarks new hires against top-performing reps, making it easier to assess readiness and identify areas for improvement . In 2023, sales teams using Gong's analytics achieved up to 2.6 times higher ROI.

Managers can track individual key performance indicators (KPIs) and observe how coaching impacts results over time. Additionally, Gong’s data-driven approach helps identify risks in deals and customer churn early, enabling proactive solutions. These insights support more targeted and effective coaching strategies.

Personalized Coaching Plans and Training Recommendations

Gong takes a tailored approach to coaching by analyzing individual performance and highlighting specific areas for improvement. New hires can review recordings of top performers to emulate successful techniques. The platform has significantly reduced the time reps need to become self-sufficient by 78%, shortened quota attainment timelines by three weeks, and cut onboarding time by 75%.

These results are driven by Gong’s ability to deliver data-backed training recommendations, which reinforce effective sales behaviors. Managers can create personalized coaching plans that focus on specific skills - like improving call structure, handling objections, or refining competitive positioning. Gong’s AI even evaluates soft skills and flags problematic words or phrases that may require attention.

While Gong is rated #1 for call recording software on G2 Crowd by over 5,000 users, some have mentioned slow loading times and limited reporting flexibility as potential drawbacks .

4. Mindtickle

Mindtickle is a sales readiness platform designed to enhance team performance by combining AI-driven analytics with personalized coaching. Its approach focuses on identifying and addressing skill gaps, enabling organizations to cut onboarding time in half while boosting overall sales outcomes.

Performance Analytics and Reporting

Mindtickle uses an IRP (Ideal Rep Profile) framework to benchmark top-performing sales reps and identify the skills that drive success. By integrating with Salesforce, the platform pulls in business metrics to link sales skills directly to performance outcomes, delivering actionable insights.

"With Mindtickle, we can develop our IRP [ideal rep profile] to define what success looks like. Then we can determine where reps need help, whether it's presentations, a communication skill gap, or something else." – Sal Pecoraro, SVP Client Technology Solutions and Sales Readiness, Data Axle

The platform’s Readiness Index helps track individual and team performance against established benchmarks, while its robust reporting tools allow organizations to assess readiness by manager, region, or skill. These insights guide training efforts, ensuring they align with specific needs at various stages of the sales process.

From there, Mindtickle builds tailored coaching strategies to address team and individual needs.

Personalized Coaching Plans and Training Recommendations

Only 40% of C-level executives can accurately identify the strengths and weaknesses of their sales teams. Mindtickle tackles this issue by using AI to analyze performance data and recommend personalized learning opportunities for each rep. Managers can then design custom coaching plans to target specific areas of improvement.

"Managers can now create their own coaching content faster and personalize it to fit the specific needs of their reps." – Sally Cox, instructional designer, global field enablement at Splunk

The platform also provides detailed scoring and feedback on recorded role-plays and sales calls, allowing reps to receive on-demand coaching and track their progress over time. This approach has seen success with companies like Janssen, where 95% of coaching forms are completed promptly and on-site.

In addition to personalized coaching, Mindtickle employs real-time conversation analysis for immediate skill refinement.

Real-time Conversation Analysis and Feedback

Mindtickle’s Call AI feature analyzes sales conversations in real time, helping managers identify areas for improvement. It scans call transcripts to ensure reps are asking the right questions and gathering valuable customer insights.

"One of the best features of Call AI is its ability to search call transcripts for specific questions that should be asked. From there, we can start to refine reps' questions to make sure we elicit the right information from the customer." – Greg Myers, VP of Sales, Turing Video

This instant feedback allows managers to provide timely coaching, helping reps fine-tune their communication skills and improve customer engagement while deals are still in progress.

Scenario-based Roleplay and Simulations

Mindtickle gives sales teams the opportunity to practice their skills in a risk-free environment through role-playing and simulations. These exercises help reps build confidence and refine their techniques before interacting with actual prospects. The platform tracks skill development, enabling managers to measure the effectiveness of training programs.

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5. Salesforce Sales Cloud Einstein

Salesforce Sales Cloud Einstein continues to push the boundaries of AI in sales by integrating skill gap analysis directly into its CRM platform. With Einstein Conversation Insights as a standout feature, this tool empowers sales teams to analyze customer interactions and uncover coaching opportunities in real time.

Real-time Conversation Analysis and Feedback

Einstein Conversation Insights automatically transcribes sales calls and identifies key moments, such as objections, pricing discussions, or next steps. It even recognizes custom terms like competitor or product names. By analyzing metrics like talk-to-listen ratios, speaker tracks, and call durations, the tool helps sales managers streamline onboarding and fine-tune coaching strategies.

"Einstein Conversation Insights has been invaluable when it comes to digital coaching and reinforcing best practices for our sales team. The ability to share what messaging is most effective across our remote workforce has made all the difference in this hybrid world." – Dain Rasmussen, SVP, Sales, Inspirato

These insights allow sales leaders to turn interaction data into actionable feedback, addressing pipeline challenges and stalled deals. Notifications and next-step reminders also help reps stay on track and follow through effectively.

Performance Analytics and Reporting

Sales Cloud Einstein includes robust reporting tools and dashboards powered by CRM Analytics. These features allow organizations to evaluate how effectively the platform is being utilized. Tools like Einstein Discovery for Reporting and Sales Analytics provide deeper insights into sales data, helping teams make informed decisions. Additionally, Salesforce admins can assess feature performance using CRM Analytics. Pricing for Einstein Predictions begins at $75 per user per month, with more advanced options like Revenue Intelligence available at $250 per user per month.

Personalized Coaching Plans and Training Recommendations

Einstein Coach delivers tailored feedback designed to help sales reps refine their skills. By pinpointing specific areas for improvement, the AI ensures coaching efforts are focused and impactful. For example, the healthcare company Precina used AI coaching integrated with Sales Cloud to help new clinicians practice their pitches through roleplay sessions. CEO John Oberg even implemented a daily practice routine for his team:

"I've asked my team to practice once a day. They're warming up every day for professional calls. We want our providers to be warming up every day before they talk to patients." – John Oberg, CEO and founder, Precina

These AI-driven coaching tools not only shorten ramp-up times but also boost sales performance and quota attainment. According to Gartner’s Future of Sales report, 91% of sellers find that intelligent insights accelerate deal closures, and data-driven practices can increase growth by 15%. This is particularly relevant as a 2022 Gartner survey revealed that 90% of sales professionals are facing burnout, with 54% actively seeking new opportunities.

With these features, Salesforce Sales Cloud Einstein complements earlier tools, paving the way for a detailed comparison of features and pricing.

Feature and Price Comparison

Here's a side-by-side breakdown of key features, pricing, and ideal use cases for popular AI tools designed to identify and address sales skill gaps. Whether you're looking for a budget-friendly solution or an enterprise-level platform, there's a wide range of options to explore. Pricing spans from free plans to enterprise solutions costing up to $500 per user per month.

Each tool offers unique strengths tailored to specific needs. For example, Trata AI focuses on AI-powered roleplay and simulations, helping sales reps practice in a safe, controlled environment. Chorus.ai integrates with ZoomInfo to provide rich buyer context during calls, enhancing real-time decision-making. Gong.io, on the other hand, stands out with its detailed post-call analysis and team-wide insights sharing.

When it comes to pricing, tools like Chorus.ai provide clear per-user costs at $100 per month, making it easy to budget. Meanwhile, platforms like Mindtickle require a more significant upfront investment, starting at $45,000 annually for 100 users. Salesforce Sales Cloud Einstein offers flexible pricing, ranging from $25 per user per month for basic features to $500 per user per month for enterprise-level capabilities.

Beyond cost, it's essential to evaluate implementation ease and feature depth. For instance, organizations with strong onboarding processes see an 82% increase in new hire retention and a 70% boost in productivity. AI-powered training tools also deliver measurable improvements in sales performance, with 83% of sales teams using AI reporting revenue growth. These factors underline the importance of selecting a tool that aligns with your team's goals and operational needs.

Conclusion

AI-powered tools are reshaping how sales teams identify and address skill gaps, delivering noticeable improvements that directly influence business outcomes. Companies incorporating AI into their sales processes often experience productivity boosts of 10–15% and revenue growth of 5–10%. For businesses aiming to strengthen their sales teams, these tools offer better performance and quicker onboarding.

One area where these tools shine is onboarding new hires. AI simplifies training by creating tailored learning paths that adapt to individual skill levels while keeping messaging and best practices up to date. For example, Visa implemented an AI-powered coaching program with Highspot and saw impressive results: 60% of their content became well-governed, user engagement increased by 17%, and sales reps improved their pitches in as little as 30 minutes.

Beyond onboarding, AI tools significantly enhance overall sales productivity, delivering tangible returns. Generative AI, for instance, can improve a skilled worker’s performance by nearly 40% compared to those not using the technology. Companies like Zoom have reaped the benefits, cutting their sales cycle by 30% and boosting their sales team's productivity by 25%. Additionally, AI-powered tools can generate a 300–400% return on investment within two years by reducing administrative work, speeding up ramp-up times, improving conversion rates, and increasing customer satisfaction.

For U.S. businesses navigating competitive markets, AI tools that pinpoint sales skill gaps provide targeted solutions to enhance onboarding and ongoing team performance. Whether it’s a roleplay-focused platform like Trata AI for hands-on skill building or a conversation intelligence tool for real-time coaching, the key is choosing a solution that aligns with your team’s unique needs and growth goals. These tools not only deliver measurable results but also provide a strategic advantage.

FAQs

How can AI tools help speed up sales onboarding and boost new hire productivity?

AI tools make sales onboarding more efficient by pinpointing specific skill gaps for each individual and customizing training to bridge those gaps. Using advanced analytics, these tools offer tailored insights, allowing new hires to concentrate on areas that need the most attention, which helps them get up to speed more quickly.

Features like role-play simulations and conversation analysis give new team members the chance to practice real-world scenarios without any pressure. On top of that, automating repetitive tasks saves time, letting managers focus on meaningful coaching. This not only helps new sales reps become effective sooner but also boosts the overall productivity of the team.

What key features should you look for in an AI tool to identify and address sales skill gaps?

When selecting an AI tool to tackle sales skill gaps, it’s important to focus on features that offer clear insights into areas needing improvement and practical solutions. Tools equipped with real-time skill mapping and visual dashboards can quickly highlight where your team needs support, making it easier to address those gaps effectively.

It’s also worth considering platforms that provide customized coaching recommendations powered by AI. These systems can evaluate individual performance and suggest specific training resources to help team members grow faster. Another valuable feature is the ability to simulate real-world customer interactions while offering data-backed feedback, which can enhance sales readiness and speed up onboarding.

By prioritizing these features, businesses can boost efficiency, simplify coaching processes, and develop stronger, more confident sales teams.

How does analyzing conversations in real time improve sales performance and coaching?

Real-time conversation analysis gives sales teams a powerful advantage by offering immediate, actionable insights during live customer interactions. This means sales reps can adjust their approach in the moment, tackle customer concerns head-on, and fine-tune their communication style for better results.

Beyond that, it helps pinpoint areas where reps might need improvement while also showcasing effective techniques. This not only speeds up learning but also builds confidence and supports tailored coaching. The outcome? A team that's more prepared, achieves higher conversion rates, and operates at peak productivity.