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Introduction: Enhancing Client Engagement While Preserving Personal Touch
In today’s evolving business landscape, technological disruption poses a challenge for professional services firms. Many are eager to leverage AI, but hesitations around budget constraints, traditional methods, and uncertain ROI often slow adoption.
Sandler, a global leader in sales training, looks to constantly adapt their business to meet their clients changing needs, and AI is no exception. While many competitors quickly adopted AI for customer interactions, Sandler took a more strategic approach — choosing AI features that would drive innovation while preserving their hallmark white-glove service. As Emily Davidson, Director of Enterprise Marketing, explains, “While technology is transforming how we do business, the need for strong human connection in sales has never been more important. We need to refocus on that human interaction.”
To strike this balance, Sandler turned to HubSpot's AI, Breeze. Using the AI assistant, Sandler engaged their clients with hyper-personalized interactions that enabled client teams to boost performance and productivity. By leveraging Breeze, Sandler not only delivered cutting-edge solutions but also deepened their clients' trust, guiding them through a rapidly changing technology landscape.
"As marketers, we’re always looking for ways to be more efficient, more personalized, and more scalable. Breeze has really been our ticket to do that."
Building Customer Trust by Walking the AI Walk
Sandler positions itself as a trusted partner in helping clients navigate AI’s complexities and improve sales performance. Increasingly, Sandler's clients approached them with questions about AI, wanting to incorporate it into their businesses but unsure about how to maximize its use.
“Our customers saw AI as an unknown, scary beast that didn’t quite fit into their world,” says Emily Davidson, Director of Enterprise Marketing. “That’s where we stepped in—as their voice of reason, sharing our own experiences and lessons learned.”
Sandler views AI as a tool to enhance, not replace, human expertise, and worked to help clients navigate where AI could complement human interaction for the best outcomes. As part of their commitment to innovation, Emily and her team began by experimenting with AI tools like ChatGPT. When HubSpot introduced AI Assistants to Marketing Hub and Sales Hub, they quickly adopted the technology to enhance customer experiences with hyper-personalized interactions.
While many clients worried that AI would erode genuine human connection, Sandler saw the opportunity to use AI and HubSpot’s unified data to strengthen relationships. By applying AI to enhance their own customer relationships, Sandler became a model for their customers to follow.
“This stuff is complicated and frustrating at times, but we can now tell our customers, ‘I’ve been through this myself. Let me show you how to save time and integrate AI effectively,” Emily explains. “Our personal experience makes a huge difference. We’re not just preaching; we’ve walked the walk.”
Sandler now sits at the intersection of humanity and technology, working closely with their customers to deliver better experiences. As clients understood the strengths of AI, they began gathering insights faster, accelerating deals, and improving pipeline efficiency. Sandler’s team has become a trusted advisor, correcting AI misunderstandings, allaying fears, and demonstrating its true potential.
"That's a big misconception, that AI is going to replace us. I think it's something that can really maximize what you're doing, make you more efficient, and make you stronger."
Boosting Engagement by 25% with Faster Content Creation
Sandler's success relies on delivering highly personalized content tailored to specific personas and industries, but creating such content can be time-consuming.
Breeze drastically accelerated this process. The marketing team starts with brainstorming campaign templates, then relies on the AI Assistant in Marketing Hub to optimize everything—from social copy to LinkedIn and Google ads, all connected to the same cohesive messaging on the landing page.
“Breeze makes everything more cohesive and eloquent than we could achieve on our own,” Emily explains, highlighting the AI’s ability to unify their messaging across platforms.
The time saved turning brainstorms into multi-channel campaigns into multiple campaign pieces has made the process remarkably efficient, reducing development time, from weeks to days. Beyond efficiency, the AI driven content is more effective and engaging. Emily raves that, “Breeze is amazing at getting over writer's block. But you really need that human element to really form a relationship there, something that feels human to human.”
With HubSpot’s connected platform, Emily and her team can take advantage of other HubSpot tools—such as A/B testing and reporting—to validate AI’s value. “Breeze has helped us see a 25% boost in click-through rates in email campaigns and increased time spent on landing pages from under a minute to three to four minutes—marketing gold,'” as Emily calls it.
Reducing the Sales Cycle by 50% with Scalable, AI-Powered Personalization
Sandler’s next challenge was scaling personalized experiences in a market where customers expect tailored interactions at every touchpoint. To help customers succeed among evolving sales practices and increasing competition, Sandler needed to meet customers exactly where they were in their journey. Without scalable personalization, Sandler risked losing relevance in a competitive landscape where authenticity and timely engagement are critical.
Using the AI Assistant within Sales Hub allows Sandler to hyper-personalize content to the smallest customer segment. “It’s one thing to add a first and last name,” Emily says, “but real hyper-personalization means understanding that a prospect is from X industry, experiencing Y pain point, and belongs to Z persona. That’s the future of AI.
More than that, the insights uncovered with Breeze allows the Sandler team to become more understanding and empathetic, learning what works and what doesn't as the customer moves through the sales funnel.
For example, when AI detects a prospect showing hesitation, Sandler’s team quickly deploys a reassurance campaign featuring relevant data, case studies, and testimonials from current customers—reminding them why Sandler is the right choice. With real-time data continually feeding into the algorithm, Sandler will only get better at delivering these personalizations.
This data-driven approach has delivered tangible results. Sales-qualified leads have quadrupled, and the typical sales cycle has been cut in half, from 90 days to just 45. This new approach helps Sandler stand out in a crowded field and succeed in helping their customers up-skill their sales teams worldwide.
While Sandler’s marketing and sales teams have made huge strides with AI, Emily emphasizes that human connection is more important than ever. ‘AI helps lay the groundwork, but real connection and relationships still come from people,’ she says. ‘When technology and humans work together, the real magic happens. Sandler’s foray into AI was always about enabling human relationships to better serve customers. Companies perceive AI as something unknown, but it's when people and technology work together that the real magic happens.
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