Instead of relying on guesswork or manual effort, sales teams can use AI to focus their energy on the strategies and conversations that truly move the needle.
In this guide, readers will learn how AI delivers value in business development by improving efficiency, reducing costs through smarter workflows, and giving organizations a competitive advantage.
Table of Contents
- The Benefits of AI for Business Development
- How to Use AI for Business Development
- AI for Business Development — Top Tools
- Testing It Out
- AI for Business Development FAQs
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The Benefits of AI for Business Development
Artificial intelligence is transforming how companies discover opportunities, connect with prospects, and close deals. Instead of relying on manual research or intuition, AI for business development enables sales teams to work with greater precision.
According to HubSpot’s 2025 State of Sales Report, 37% of sales reps use AI tools more than any other sales tool. And it pays off; 84% say AI saves time and optimizes processes, while 31% rated it the highest ROI tool.
By embedding AI into everyday workflows, sales teams can unlock measurable improvements across the entire business development process.
Measurable benefits of AI for business development include:
- Improved efficiency: AI can automate repetitive tasks like prospecting, scheduling meetings, and data entry. Leading solutions like HubSpot's Breeze AI suite help teams save two to three hours per day on manual tasks, making it easier for teams to focus on relationship-building.
- Cost savings: AI-driven tools help prevent wasted spend on low-quality leads or ineffective campaigns.
- Better decision-making: Predictive analytics and pipeline forecasting improve revenue accuracy. How? AI surfaces hidden trends in customer behavior and competitor moves, enabling more informed strategic choices.
- Creating, managing, and updating revenue forecasts: AI also provides better visibility into deal closing timelines and volume metrics, which enables better resource planning.
How to Use AI for Business Development
Teams can use AI for business development and to improve sales processes. Common use cases include improved lead scoring, surfacing actionable data, and better forecasting.
Here are examples of important business development responsibilities, and how you can use AI sales tools in each area.
Improving Lead Scoring
Manually prioritizing what leads to contact first can be daunting. Salespeople have to weigh multiple factors, including:
- Industry.
- The company’s size.
- Annual revenue.
- And the prospect’s role.
AI agent tools can automate the process so reps spend more time selling.
I’ve experienced this struggle firsthand. In my sales roles, I often weighed whether I should contact leads from the biggest companies or focus on executive-level leads. I would feel much better leaving the accuracy to an AI bot, based on historical patterns.
Gathering Actionable Information
AI can help immensely with collecting key data about prospects. Nearly 40% of sales reps use AI for data analysis, and 82% say it surfaces better insights from that data.
AI can help:
- Find businesses that meet defined criteria like number of employees, industry, location, and technology stack.
- Find out what kinds of technology a company uses now and who its competitors are.
- Uncover news stories about circumstances that can help build credibility with a stakeholder.
As a rep, I know how important it is to identify white space opportunities in my territory. Doing so means learning about the companies in my “book of business,” how they manage their company data, and the business challenges that motivate them to invest. AI makes that data-gathering process easy.
Enhancing Outbound Email Campaigns
Writing personalized, impactful emails with the right messaging is time-consuming at the best of times and bordering on monotonous. AI can help with content creation, generating email templates, and writing messages for LinkedIn outreach.
Savvy reps are already making the most of these tools for business development. And according to HubSpot’s report, 41% of sales reps use AI for content creation — more than any other sales task.
When I was prospecting to fill my calendar with meetings or inform my audience about the next event or promotion, using a well-written template was like outreach rocket fuel. I love that today reps can make a template even faster.
Testing and Tracking Email Campaigns
Sending an email out without knowing if a prospect opens it can be demoralizing. Many AI tools offer a subtle way to detect when a prospect or customer opens and acts on an email. Seeing when they open the email and what they react to is a great motivator for salespeople. Reps will also know what to follow up about.
As a rep, most of my outbound emails were sent on a one-by-one basis as opposed to en masse. In many ways, I liked this better because I could adjust the email copy and approach based on the replies I received (or lack thereof). Email tracking lets me see what gets opened in the first place.
Capturing Meetings via AI-Enabled Transcription
Retaining comprehensive records is a great way to help the organization better understand customer needs. Using AI-enabled online meeting and call recording software is a great resource for sales coaching and gathering support for key opportunities.
Providing Accurate Information to Prospects with AI Summarizations
Reps lose count of the number of times prospects say, “Just send me some information.” An AI-enhanced sales platform can help a business development executive (BDE):
- Find the right blogs for each prospect.
- Build specific sell sheets tailored to their industry.
- And distill articles down into digestible insights.
As a rep, I would always take the time to qualify specifically what kind of information would be relevant to customer needs. And like a pro, I did my best to build rapport and keep the conversation going. Yet, qualifying the kind of information that would interest them tended to produce better results than sending a bunch of generic links and attachments.
Pro tip: When I document conversations in CRM, I use HubSpot’s Breeze AI to capture the most salient points of email threads to keep conversations moving forward. Distilling detailed notes, email threads, and other curated content into a more concise format is invaluable for business development.
Enhancing Sales Forecasting Intelligence
Today, there are tools that use predictive artificial intelligence to project future sales based on closed won deals in the current period.
My own forecasting feels more like guesstimating when a deal will close. Delegating this process to AI takes the pressure off my shoulders and leverages historical data for more accurate predictions.
Enhancing Communication with AI Chatbots
For customer-facing roles, using AI chatbots is a huge time-saver. There are countless scenarios where delegating online conversations to a chatbot is more efficient than having sales agents interact with prospects live on a website or social media channels.
AI can:
- Handle customer and prospect inquiries after hours, during meetings, or when reps are busy.
- Schedule appointments and route leads to reps based on their territory, named accounts, and product or service specialization.
- Escalate tricky conversations to live agents.
Building Conversation Intelligence
Live voice or video sales conversations can be unpredictable. Phone calls don’t offer body language cues to convey a customer’s state of mind, especially if their tone seems calm and measured.
Sometimes, customers use words from conversations with competitors that a sales rep may not recognize. In other cases, prospects are using keywords about pain points or that signal they are ready to buy that a sales rep doesn’t pick up on.
Sales managers and trainers can use the natural language processing (NLP) capabilities of HubSpot Sales Hub to analyze customer conversations and enrich coaching sessions.
Generating Social Media Content
Survey data from Hubspot’s 2025 State of Sales Report found that 42% of reps say social media delivers the highest cold outreach response. Compare this to 26% from email and 23% on the phone, and it’s hard to ignore the value social media brings to business development.
Giving your sales team permission to use AI tools to create custom social media posts is an effective way to empower them to spend less time thinking about what to post on social media and more time with customers.
Automating Workflows and Integrations
AI in business development delivers higher sales productivity and data-driven insights. Of sales reps, 32% use AI tools do manual work, like data entry, note-taking, and scheduling meetings.
Automation businesses by:
- Helping reps save time so they can focus on selling.
- Streamlining internal processes.
- Ensuring that leads and customers are nurtured appropriately, so no one falls through the cracks.
The State of Artificial Intelligence in 2025
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- Marketing AI Tools
- Practical Tips
- Trends and Statistics
- And More!
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AI for Business Development — Top Tools
AI can be baked into teams' business development workflow — whether for lead generation, prospecting, or outreach. The top AI tools automate routine processes, like data entry, so reps can spend more time connecting with prospects. Beyond that, helpful tools integrate with teams’ existing tech stack.
See the best tools for AI-driven business development.
Lead Generation & Scoring
Breeze Prospecting Agent
HubSpot’s AI prospecting agent researches potential prospects that match certain criteria. It monitors signals such as funding events, job changes, or engagement spikes. Breeze can even draft outreach messages for those leads.
Breeze AI’s Prospecting Agent effectively automates early-stage prospecting so reps spend less time hunting for names and more time engaging. R
- Best for: Teams that already use HubSpot, the built-in AI tool reduces workflow friction.
- Pricing: Breeze is included with HubSpot subscriptions at no extra cost.
HubSpot Predictive Lead Scoring
HubSpot’s AI-powered lead scoring analyzes past interactions of successful leads that converted, offering recommendations to build more precise lead scores. The tool enables salespeople to evaluate scores for fit, engagement, or conversion probability.
- Best for: Lead scores are accessible through contact records in the CRM, making it best for unified information across teams.
- Pricing: Lead Scoring is available as part of Marketing Hub; plans start at $900/month.
Communication & Outreach
Conversation Intelligence
AI can automatically surface key insights and action items from sales calls, saving business development reps time normally spent analyzing notes.
HubSpot's Conversational Intelligence records, transcribes, and analyzes calls to pull actionable insights. This feature automatically detects:
- Common objections.
- Winning phrases.
- And coaching opportunities.
These insights help improve messaging based on real customer interactions.
- Best for: Sales leaders and reps looking for data-driven insights from customer conversations.
- Pricing: Conversational Intelligence is part of Sales Hub; plans start at $100/month.
HubSpot Breeze Customer Agent
HubSpot’s Breeze is an always-on agent that can help with lead qualification and customer prospecting. Breeze is available 24/7 and can respond immediately to pricing, trial, or feature questions. By using Breeze, teams can reduce friction in the buyer’s journey and accelerate decisions.
- Best for: Responding to customer inquiries across any channel — from website chats to email to social media messengers.
- Pricing: Breeze is included with HubSpot subscriptions at no extra cost.
Analytics & Intelligence
Breeze AI Data Agent
This beta AI data agent from HubSpot is a game-changer for business development. The AI tool can help reps identify high-potential leads by researching and scoring prospects with richer insight beyond just firmographics. The agent automatically pulls information from fragmented sources to create comprehensive customer intelligence in seconds.
Breeze can then use buyer intent signals to surface companies with a higher likelihood to engage. For example, the tool can combine email conversations, external signals, and CRM history to find leads that are more likely to convert. Having all of this consolidated data is critical for making smarter business development decisions.
- Best for: Transforming existing HubSpot CRM data into intelligent and actionable insights.
- Pricing: Breeze AI Data Agent is available to all HubSpot customers on the Starter plan and above; plans start at $9/month.
Automation & Workflows
HubSpot Sales Automation
HubSpot’s Sales Automation software allows sales teams to set up automated, multi-channel outreach. The tool dynamically changes based on prospect engagement. Users can also scale personalized sequences and use workflows that achieve higher close rates by rotating leads and automating tasks.
- Best for: Streamlining sales tasks while gleaning data-driven insights to close deals faster.
- Pricing: HubSpot Sales Automation is part of the AI-powered Sales Hub; plans start at $90/month.
Testing It Out
Now that we’ve explored how AI can level up your business development strategy and which tools can help you execute, let’s look at a realistic scenario.
Imagine you are the VP of Sales at a software as a service (SaaS) provider called SmallTech that caters to SMBs. You manage a remote worldwide sales team, and you want to harness the expertise of your best representatives to help new salespeople ramp up faster and achieve better results.
Where AI Would Help This Business
Account Targeting and Analyzing Audience Data
Business development leaders know the importance of understanding your audience, identifying buying signals, and targeting the right accounts and opportunities.
With a tool like Breeze AI Data Agent, SmallTech could enrich the data they have about businesses in its target markets, and discover deeper insights to boost online form submissions.
Conversation Intelligence
A tool like HubSpot's Conversation Intelligence can help SMBs use AI tools to better understand their customers' needs and preferences. By analyzing sales conversations, the tool can identify common themes and pain points, allowing dealerships to tailor their sales pitches more effectively.
Create Personalized Emails
HubSpot email templates can help SmallTech create personalized emails that are more likely to be opened and read by potential customers. The templates can be customized with the business’s branding and messaging, and they can include images and videos to make them more engaging. Plus, HubSpot can also help reps track email activity, ensuring they never miss a conversion opportunity.
AI Website Chatbots
Conversational AI chatbots can help SmallTech answer questions and book meetings with potential customers 24/7.
For example, HubSpot’s free chatbot software seamlessly integrates with the CRM, so the chatbots can use existing contact data to deliver friendly, personalized messages.
AI for Business Development FAQs
1. Which AI is best for business development?
The “best” AI for business development depends on a business’ goals.
- For lead generation, platforms with predictive analytics and CRM integration like HubSpot’s Breeze AI suite may be most effective.
- For outreach, AI writing assistants can help personalize emails and proposals.
- For market research, tools that analyze industry data or competitor activity are valuable.
Winning teams choose solutions that align with the sales process and integrate with the existing tech stack.
2. What is AI for business development?
AI for business development uses artificial intelligence tools to automate lead generation, qualify prospects, personalize outreach, and deliver data-driven insights. Leading solutions like HubSpot's Breeze AI suite help teams boost sales productivity.
To get started, sales leaders should define their business goals, select the right AI tools for those needs, and follow a step-by-step implementation roadmap. HubSpot's AI tools are a great start.
3. How much does AI for business development cost?
Costs vary widely depending on the type of tool a company uses and its size. Entry-level AI assistants may cost under $100 per month, while enterprise platforms with advanced analytics can run into the thousands per month. There are also free solutions like HubSpot’s Breeze AI, which is included in subscriptions.
4. What's the ROI of AI for business development?
The ROI of AI in business development comes from efficiency gains and revenue growth. For example, AI can shorten sales cycles by identifying the best prospects, reduce wasted effort on low-quality leads, boost sales productivity, and improve close rates with personalized outreach.
Companies often see improved conversion rates, higher deal values, and better forecasting accuracy. ROI depends on how well the tools are implemented and adopted by a team.
5. How do I get started with AI for business development?
Start by identifying the team’s biggest pain points. From there, research AI tools that specifically address those challenges. Pilot one or two solutions with a small team, measure the impact, and expand gradually. It’s also important to train the team so they understand how to use AI solutions effectively rather than seeing it as a replacement.
6. What are the risks of using AI for business development?
Over-reliance on automation can make outreach feel impersonal if not handled carefully. Data quality is another issue, as AI is only as good as the information it uses. There are also ethical and compliance concerns, such as respecting privacy regulations when handling customer data.
Consider AI solutions such as HubSpot’s Breeze AI. It seamlessly integrates with teams’ HubSpot CRM, carefully analyzing and connecting existing data.
The future of business development is AI-powered.
AI is no longer an add-on. Instead, these tools are a competitive necessity for business development. Automating routine tasks empowers teams to spend less time chasing low-value activities and more time building relationships that drive growth.
The companies that embrace AI in their business development workflows are already seeing faster sales cycles and more accurate forecasting. Those who delay risk falling behind.
Now is the time to evaluate your AI business development strategy and identify which AI tools can deliver the greatest impact — whether that’s generating leads, improving outreach, sharpening analytics, or streamlining workflows. Start small, measure results, and scale up as you go.
Editor's note: This post was originally published in September 2024 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.
The State of Artificial Intelligence in 2025
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- Marketing AI Tools
- Practical Tips
- Trends and Statistics
- And More!
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