Salesloft Acquires Drift to Expand AI-Powered Tools for B2B Sellers

Salesloft has acquired Drift to enable companies to use artificial intelligence (AI) to deliver a personalized, omnichannel B2B buyer journey.

Combining Salesloft’s AI-powered Revenue Orchestration Platform and Drift’s buyer experience and conversational AI will enable sellers to engage B2B buyers earlier and throughout the buyer journey, the companies said in a Tuesday (Feb. 13) press release.

“We are both focused on continued innovation, and together, our customers will experience improved consistency and repeatability throughout the entire buying journey all while allowing them to focus on what only they can do — guiding buyers, forming relationships and establishing trust,” David Obrand, CEO of Salesloft, said in the release.

Salesloft’s AI Revenue Orchestration Platform helps sales teams create digital and sales-led experiences across the customer lifecycle, according to the press release.

Drift’s conversational AI capabilities enable customers to translate conversational data and buyer behavior into more engaging customer experiences, the release said.

Together, the companies will help businesses engage with B2B buyers earlier and better understand the needs of these buyers, who have typically experienced websites, online events, ads and other digital experiences before talking to a seller, per the release.

“Drift was founded to address an emerging market need for better B2B buyer experiences,” Scott Ernst, CEO of Drift, said in the release. “Since then, buyer expectations have continued to grow and AI has changed how we work and interact with each other.

“Salesloft shares our vision for the future of go-to-market, and together we will accelerate our ability to transform the entire customer experience,” Ernst added.

Today’s B2B buyers are coming to the table with a laundry list of expectations that includes convenience, optionality and interoperability, PYMNTS reported in January.

PYMNTS Intelligence has found that 85% of B2B buyers value a positive experience with vendors as much as their products and services.

In addition, 69% of B2B buyers want their partners to provide novel ways for them to access products and services, according to the “Global B2B Payments Playbook,” a PYMNTS Intelligence and Worldpay collaboration.

To enable better customer experiences, B2B firms are examining their use of digital payments and the rich data that accompanies such payments, the report found.