AI in CRM: design a measurable pilot
Choose one decision
Start with a bounded task: summarizing a conversation before follow-up or prioritizing leads for review. Collect representative examples with unnecessary personal data removed, and write down an acceptable answer for each. A vague aim such as increasing sales with AI makes it difficult to separate task improvement from changes in demand.
Distinguish drafting from deciding. A message draft can be reviewed before sending; changing a price or rejecting a customer requires different authority and evidence. Define the assistant’s role and the employee’s responsibility, and retain the source behind an inference when available.
Test failures as well as successes
Include incomplete conversations, similar customer names, a changed commitment and a message containing several requests. Check whether the system admits missing information or invents an answer. For forecasts, compare against a simple baseline such as historical stage win rates, excluding information unavailable at prediction time.
Evaluate a separate set of examples that was not used to refine instructions. Score factual accuracy, omissions and human review time. A fluent draft that needs complete rewriting offers little practical saving even when it appears convincing.
Monitor the pilot
Name the error reviewer and the next evaluation date. Record accepted suggestions and actual time per task. Do not attribute a conversion change solely to the assistant without a suitable comparison, and retain a manual fallback if quality deteriorates.
Check the Naffes AI feature page for the functions available to your plan. Summarization, classification and response drafting are different tasks. Success in one does not validate another or establish a guaranteed revenue increase.