Supercharging Sales with AI: How a Mid-Market Manufacturing Firm Transformed Its Growth
The Challenge
A mid-market B2B manufacturing services firm with 350 employees and ~$25M in annual revenue was hitting a wall in its sales process.
Despite strong technical capabilities and a loyal customer base, the sales team was overwhelmed by inefficiencies:
Manual prospecting consumed hours every week.
Lead qualification dragged on, with spreadsheets full of cold leads.
Quotation delays frustrated customers and slowed revenue recognition.
Salespeople spent more time on admin than closing deals.
The outcome: a stagnant pipeline, longer sales cycles, and lost opportunities to faster-moving competitors.
The Turning Point
Recognizing the need for change, leadership partnered with Neon&Slate to run an AI roadmap assessment focused on modernizing sales and proposal management.
The objectives were clear:
Accelerate lead generation
Automate low-value tasks
Shorten quote-to-cash cycles
Free the sales team to focus on customer relationships and growth
The AI Solution
The assessment highlighted three critical levers: prospecting, qualification, and quoting.
AI solutions were deployed to target each one—seamlessly integrated into the firm’s existing infrastructure, avoiding the need for employees to learn a new tool.
Sales & Prospection Agents
Targeted Lead Discovery: Surfaced high-potential prospects from industry databases that matched the firm’s Ideal Customer Profile.
Personalized Outreach: Automated LinkedIn and email sequences tailored to sector context and pain points.
Automated Follow-Ups: Ensured no opportunity slipped through the cracks.
AI-powered Lead Qualification
Scored inbound leads against historic win data, routing only the most promising opportunities to sales reps.
Cut response times dramatically—reps spoke to prospects already primed for conversion.
Proposal Generation
Automated Quote Generation: Pulled specs and pricing directly from internal systems to draft accurate quotes in minutes.
Dynamic Updates: Adjusted in real time for inventory or customer request changes.
CRM Integration: Synced seamlessly, improving pipeline visibility and leadership reporting.
Quantified Results
Within six months of implementation, the impact was measurable:
3x growth in qualified sales pipeline
70% reduction in manual sales workload
60% faster lead qualification
50% faster quotation turnaround
"The AI roadmap and implementation completely transformed our sales process. The new CRM integrated AI-driven Sales and Prospection Agents enabled us to connect faster with qualified leads, while the Estimation Agent automated quote generation—a game changer for our busy team. We now focus on closing deals instead of managing administrative tasks, and our pipeline and revenue have grown dramatically."
— VP of Sales, Mid-Market Manufacturing Firm
