Sales teams are the backbone of any organization’s growth, yet 70% of a salesperson’s time is spent on non-selling tasks like admin work, CRM updates, prospect research, and document preparation (2024 State of Sales report). That leaves just 30% of their time for actual selling, slowing pipeline progress and impacting morale.
Let’s explore where sales reps are losing time, the costs of inefficiency, and how automation and AI can help them focus on selling.
Table Of Contents
Where Sales Reps Are Losing Time
CRM Overload
Updating CRM systems is critical but time-consuming. Sales reps spend hours logging emails, updating lead details, and tracking deal stages. Despite these efforts, only 35% of sales professionals trust their organization’s data, citing incomplete or inconsistent updates as common issues.
💡 Solution: Automate CRM updates to save time and improve accuracy. Cubeo AI’s Lead Enrichment Agent, integrated with HubSpot, automatically populates CRM profiles with job titles, LinkedIn profiles, and company data, ensuring real-time accuracy and reducing manual input.
Prospect Research
Finding and qualifying leads often requires hours of searching through data sources, researching companies, and identifying decision-makers. This labor-intensive process can distract reps from selling and slow down outreach.
💡 Solution: Automate prospect research with tools like Cubeo AI’s Prospect Researcher Agent and Lead Finder Agent. These tools identify high-potential leads, enrich profiles with actionable data, and sync them directly into HubSpot, enabling reps to focus on personalized engagement instead of manual research.
Document Preparation
Tasks like proposal writing, contract preparation, and filling RFPs take up significant time and often involve juggling multiple tools. These repetitive tasks not only slow down productivity but also increase the risk of errors that can delay deals or damage trust.
💡 Solution: Delegate repetitive admin tasks to AI Agents. With Cubeo AI, you can create AI Agents to handle tasks like generating proposals, preparing contracts, and completing RFPs. These agents ensure compliance with pre-approved templates, eliminate errors, and produce professional documents in minutes—all without the need for coding or technical expertise. Beyond sales, AI Agents can also support marketing, HR, and other functions, streamlining workflows and saving hours of manual effort.
Managing Tasks and Follow-Ups
Scheduling meetings, setting reminders, and tracking follow-ups can easily derail a productive day. Without automation, sales reps risk missing critical touchpoints, leaving deals to stagnate. With 78% of buyers saying they’re more cautious about spending, timely and personalized follow-ups are essential.
💡 Solution: Automate task creation and reminders. Cubeo AI allows sales reps to log contextual notes, create tasks, and set reminders directly in HubSpot. Furthermore, AI notetakers like Bluedot and Fireflies can transcribe meetings, capture action items, and generate follow-up tasks automatically, saving time and ensuring nothing is missed after client interactions.
The Hidden Costs of Non-Selling Tasks
Missed Quotas
Admin-heavy workflows slow pipeline progress. 67% of sales reps don’t expect to meet their quotas this year, and 84% missed them last year.
Lost Revenue Opportunities
Teams using AI and automation are 1.4x more likely to grow headcount and 17% more likely to increase revenue. Efficient processes enable sales reps to focus on high-value activities that drive results.
Burnout and Turnover
Excessive admin work leads to frustration and burnout. While 76% of reps say leadership prioritizes satisfaction, the average turnover rate in sales remains high at 18%, with admin overload playing a significant role.
How to Reclaim Selling Time
1. Automate Repetitive Tasks
Top-performing sales teams leverage automation to handle tasks like CRM updates, data entry, and lead enrichment. Cubeo AI’s integration with HubSpot simplifies these workflows, enabling reps to spend more time selling and less time on admin.
2. Prioritize Smarter Prospecting
Cubeo AI’s Lead Scorer Agent automatically scores and prioritizes leads based on fit and engagement, while the Lead Finder Agent adds high-quality prospects matching your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) directly to HubSpot. These tools ensure sales reps focus on the most promising opportunities.
3. Delegate Admin Tasks to AI Agents
Tasks like proposal writing, contract preparation, and filling RFPs can be delegated to AI Agents built on Cubeo AI without any coding required. These agents can generate accurate, professional documents in minutes, ensuring compliance and eliminating errors. Beyond sales, Cubeo AI enables teams to build agents for marketing, HR, and other business functions, reducing repetitive workloads across the organization.
4. Use AI Notetakers for Meetings
Meetings often generate action items, follow-ups, and tasks that can be hard to track manually. AI-powered notetakers like Fireflies and Bluedot automatically transcribe meetings, extract key insights, and generate follow-up tasks. These tools integrate seamlessly with CRMs, ensuring all meeting details are logged and tasks are created without additional effort.
5. Enable Meaningful Engagement
Buyers expect sales reps to act as trusted advisors. 86% of business buyers are more likely to purchase when salespeople understand their goals. Automating low-value tasks gives reps the bandwidth to focus on building personalized, meaningful relationships with clients.
The Path Forward
Despite these challenges, there’s reason for optimism. 79% of sales leaders reported revenue growth last year, and teams adopting automation and AI tools are reclaiming lost time and boosting productivity.
By using Cubeo AI’s AI Agents, sales teams can automate tedious tasks, improve data accuracy, and prioritize high-value activities like relationship-building and closing deals.
It’s time to reallocate your team’s time where it matters most—letting them focus on what they do best: selling.
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