A Noble pilot targeting the AI Sales Tools category

The Landscape

Sales intelligence is a $4.4 billion market with more than 150 vendors. During the pilot window, the top three competitors (Salesforce, HubSpot, LinkedIn Sales Navigator) held a combined 70%+ share of voice across tracked AI sales tools prompts. Everyone else split what was left.

This client, one of sales tech's biggest names, had a strong brand and a strong market position, but their share of voice in AI-generated recommendations sat at 2.3%.

The Hypothesis

LLMs don't invent recommendations. They pull from third-party sources they've indexed — listicles, roundups, comparison articles. If a brand shows up in those sources, it shows up in the answers. If it doesn't, it won't.

Noble's thesis: place the client in the content LLMs actually cite for AI sales tools queries, and visibility follows. The pilot tested that at Noble's highest volume to date.

The Approach

Noble ran a four-month pilot targeting the AI Sales Tools prompt pillar: 43 mentions (~15 per month). The volume was deliberate. In a category this crowded, sporadic coverage doesn't move the needle.

Pilot Snapshot Duration: 4 months 

Mentions secured: 43

Target pillar: AI Sales Tools 

LLM targets: Google, Claude, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Copilot, SearchGPT, Meta AI, Gemini 

Measurement: Share of voice and mention rate via Athena

The Results

Overall Visibility

Share of voice across all tracked AI sales tools prompts increased more than 300% over the pilot window compared to the prior four months. Average mention rate reached 24.1%, up 18.3 points.

Competitive Position

Over the pilot period, the client overtook three direct competitors in share of voice.

Moving past even one competitor in a category where the top three hold 70%+ of AI visibility requires sustained coverage. The 43-mention approach created enough surface area for the client to accumulate visibility faster than competitors who weren't managing their AI presence. 

You can't predict which placements will outperform, but broader coverage gives you more shots on goal.

Key Takeaways

1. A 313% visibility lift after a few months, in one of sales tech's most competitive categories: Sustained, targeted placement moved share of voice even against deeply entrenched incumbents.
2. Three competitors overtaken in share of voice: Broader coverage gave the client more chances to compound, and 43 mentions turned those chances into a measurable competitive shift.
3. 24.1% average mention rate: From underrepresented to appearing in roughly one in four relevant AI responses.

Methodology Notes

Measurement period: 4 months

AI Visibility Tool: Athena

Limitations: No control group. Other factors (brand activity, competitor changes, LLM updates) may have contributed.

For the full methodology, contact Noble.