AI has evolved beyond being just a feature; it now serves as the driving force behind more intelligent pipelines, quicker decision-making, and enhanced customer relationships.

With capabilities ranging from predictive insights to automated workflows, CRM platforms are now competing on the extent to which they integrate AI at every interaction point.

While both Attio and Clarify offer intelligent sales assistance, their levels of AI integration, user-friendliness, and overall business impact differ considerably. For teams that prioritize simplicity over complexity and cluttered dashboards, folk provides robust AI integration that enables timely follow-ups and extracts insights from calls and emails. This makes it one of the most effective applications of AI within a CRM.

Why AI Integration Matters?

AI revolutionizes CRMs from mere static databases into proactive sales assistants. Rather than waiting for representatives to sift through contacts or craft follow-up messages, AI automates essential actions, anticipates outcomes, and instantly enriches data.

• Faster decisions. AI identifies which leads to prioritize based on intent signals and deal velocity.
• Smarter outreach. Tools provide suggestions for message templates, optimal timing, and even assess tone or sentiment.
• Cleaner data. Say goodbye to manual entry as AI automatically fills in missing information and flags duplicates or outdated records.
• Sales forecasting. Predictive models enable teams to identify pipeline risks before they arise.
• B2B data enrichment. AI swiftly gathers company size, job titles, LinkedIn profiles, and contact information to complete lead records.
• AI-powered sequences. Personalized cold emails are generated and scheduled automatically based on deal stage, persona, or interaction history.

When AI is seamlessly integrated into a CRM, sales reps can minimize administrative tasks and focus more on selling. This distinction is what elevates a CRM from being merely good to one that genuinely drives revenue!

What is Attio?

Attio’s AI Attributes framework elevates intelligent agents to first-class status within your CRM. With just one click, you can research company information, categorize records using custom tags, or distill complex account data into concise, actionable briefs. Call Intelligence transcribes and summarizes conversations in real-time, while Prompt Completion enables you to create tailored AI fields that respond to any data query. Everything operates seamlessly inline—eliminating context switching and manual updates, providing instant insights where you need them most.

What is Clarify?

Clarify is an AI-driven, autonomous CRM designed to function as a smart co-pilot for sales teams and founders. It automatically captures meetings and calls, transforming them into organized notes while updating contacts, deals, and pipelines without the need for manual data entry. Its AI analyzes conversations to highlight key points, identify risks, and outline next steps, ensuring that representatives always know their priorities. Clarify can draft follow-up emails, summarize calls, and suggest actions directly based on real-time context. The aim is to allow teams to focus more on selling while the AI manages administrative tasks, keeping the CRM consistently updated.

Feature comparison of Attio and Clarify

AI Follow-ups

Attio’s AI Research Agent monitors your synced email and calendar for cues about follow-ups or mentions of meetings. When it detects a phrase like, “Let’s revisit this on Thursday,” it proposes a task or draft email at just the right moment. With a single click, you can confirm the action, ensuring you never miss a beat. Integrate these suggestions into Attio workflows to automatically trigger next-step sequences based on replies or the absence of them.

Clarify can create follow-up drafts by analyzing recent meetings and email threads related to a contact or deal. The agent utilizes information already captured in the recap—like dates, next steps, and stakeholders—to pre-fill the message. Users can review, modify, and send directly from the CRM instead of starting with a blank email. Each follow-up is logged on the timeline, enabling teams to maintain a clear record of what was sent and when.

Automated Contact Enrichment

Attio enriches person and company records automatically, adding logos, profile pictures, social handles, descriptions, and essential metadata sourced from hundreds of platforms. With real-time updates, your database remains current without the need for imports. For more detailed insights, leverage AppConnect partners like Clearbit or Clay to integrate additional firmographic or technographic data. This hands-off approach to data hygiene ensures you can focus on selling.

Clarify extracts context from connected calendars, mailboxes, and meetings to maintain up-to-date contact and company records. As new individuals appear in calls or conversations, the system seamlessly creates or updates records with standardized names, roles, and associations. This feature aims to minimize manual data entry while keeping fundamental contact information accurate. Additionally, all suggested modifications are recorded on the profile timeline, allowing teams to track the evolution of each profile over time.

Smart Fields

Utilize Attio’s Prompt Completion feature to effortlessly create outreach copy—ranging from subject lines to email bodies and follow-up sequences—by using straightforward, customized prompts along with your record data. In just seconds, you can generate polished, on-brand text ready for export or integration into any email platform. Additionally, you can incorporate these snippets into Attio automations to initiate personalized sequences triggered by opens, clicks, or record updates.

Clarify enhances this experience with AI field suggestions, ensuring important CRM fields are consistently aligned with conversation content. When calls or emails reference budgets, dates, or new stakeholders, the system intelligently suggests updates to the relevant properties, reducing the need for manual edits. Users have the ability to review or modify these suggestions before they are implemented, complete with an audit trail that records what changed and why. This approach makes “smart” fields in Clarify less about complex custom logic and more about leveraging call and email context to maintain up-to-date core data.

AI-Powered Message & Sequence Generation

Utilize Attio’s Prompt Completion feature to effortlessly generate outreach content—such as subject lines, email bodies, and follow-up sequences—using straightforward, customized prompts along with your record data. Within seconds, you'll receive polished, on-brand text that can be exported or integrated into any email platform. You can also incorporate these snippets into Attio automations to trigger personalized sequences based on opens, clicks, or record updates.

Clarify offers AI-driven email drafting, enabling users to compose and send follow-ups, introductions, or updates directly from the CRM. Drafts are created based on existing deal and contact context, minimizing the need for copy-pasting from notes and timelines. Bulk or multi-recipient sending is also supported, allowing teams to maintain a consistent structure while ensuring a degree of personalization. Emails sent from Clarify are tracked within the record, creating a comprehensive history of messages throughout the pipeline.

Next Best Action

Attio’s AI-driven classification and workflow engine automatically identifies high-value opportunities, churn risks, and expansion leads, tagging them accordingly. These tags trigger automations that prompt you with the next best action—whether it’s scheduling a call, sending a personalized case study, or issuing a friendly reminder. It’s akin to having a go-to-market coach embedded in your pipeline, guiding you at every turn to maximize impact.

Clarify’s agent monitors meetings, emails, and pipeline data to suggest actions like sending follow-ups, updating close dates, or creating tasks. These suggestions pop up in the workspace, allowing sellers to choose their next steps without having to manually review each deal. Features such as autonomous task creation, automatic nudges for stagnant deals, and deal detection approvals all enhance this “next step” guidance. Additionally, Clarify maintains a record of accepted or rejected suggestions, enabling teams to fine-tune their reliance on these recommendations.

folk CRM: The Best AI CRM

folk serves as the ideal sales assistant that teams have always desired. This user-friendly, integrated, and proactive CRM handles the tedious tasks, allowing sales reps to concentrate on nurturing genuine relationships. With a 4.5/5 rating on G2, folk stands out as one of the most reliable AI-powered CRMs for lean teams.

Crafted for startups, agencies, and sales teams, folk simplifies AI, making it accessible rather than daunting.

Extract Intel from Calls and Emails

One of folk's standout features is its AI-driven call transcript analysis, which empowers sales and investment teams to glean essential insights from recorded conversations. By integrating with dialers like Ringover and Aircall or call recording tools such as Grain for Google Meet, users can effortlessly import transcripts into Folk. From there, you can create Magic Fields, an innovative AI feature that allows you to set prompts for extracting precise information from the transcript. For instance, sales teams can automatically capture details like contract value, user counts, decision-makers, budgets, or next steps—eliminating the need for manual note-taking. Investment teams can extract insights such as founder backgrounds, fundraising stages, or a startup's needs. These fields are entirely customizable: simply write a prompt, link it to the transcript, and let Folk's AI handle the rest. The outcome is a structured, searchable CRM filled with high-value data from your calls, streamlining follow-ups, qualification, and reporting.

AI-Powered Follow-Up Reminders

folk's AI Follow-Up feature ensures that no opportunity is overlooked. Built directly into the platform, this intelligent assistant analyzes your email threads to determine when follow-ups are necessary. For example, if you posed a question in an email and the lead hasn't responded, Folk will automatically recognize the lack of reply and prompt you to follow up at the optimal moment.

But it goes further—this feature also identifies leads you may have neglected or conversations that have cooled off. By reviewing past interactions, Folk aids you in prioritizing the right contacts for re-engagement, advancing deals more efficiently. This intelligent, context-aware follow-up system saves time, minimizes manual tracking, and enhances your chances of closing more deals.

AI Features in folk CRM Summary

• Suggested Actions: Receive proactive reminders and AI recommendations based on recent activity or deal stages.
• Extract Intel from Calls: Utilize AI to extract next steps, decision-makers, budget details, and all essential information.
• AI-Generated Messages: Save time with context-aware outreach suggestions tailored for each contact.
• Duplicate Management: AI identifies duplicates and organizes contact lists, keeping your CRM tidy.

folk starts at $20 per user per month, offering a 14-day free trial with no credit card required!

Conclusion

Both Attio and Clarify excel in different aspects of AI-driven CRM solutions. Attio focuses on customizable workflows and automated follow-ups, while Clarify emphasizes autonomous data management and real-time analysis. However, for teams seeking a user-friendly and proactive CRM, folk stands out as a fantastic alternative. With features like AI-driven call insights, timely follow-up reminders, and seamless data extraction, folk empowers sales teams to concentrate on nurturing relationships, streamlining their workflow and maximizing potential.

Start your 14-day free trial or book a demo today.