On this episode of the Bourbon Friday Show, we had the opportunity to talk with Marc Bernstein, CEO of Balto Software.

Balto Software—Customizable Sales Guidance

Like many revolutionary products, Balto began out of the need to alleviate frustration. Specifically for salespeople.

Several years ago, Bernstein worked in sales for tech startup, TopOPPS. While working there, Bernstein was grateful to all the sales advice he received from the higher-ups, but when it came time for sales calls, all those helpful tips were nearly impossible to recall in the moment.

Armed with a spreadsheet of common topics and keywords, Bernstein hoped it would help him be able to recall the sales techniques while talking to customers, but found that searching a spreadsheet during calls was too distracting.

After enlisting the help of a few friends and coworkers, they were able to come up with the very first prototype for Balto.

“Balto is an AI that analyzes sales conversations as they are actually happening—it analyzes everything that the sales rep is saying and everything that the customer is saying as they are talking,” says Bernstein. “And in the moments that a sales rep needs help or guidance, we’ll put up on their computer screen a recommendation for how they can do a better job.”

The way Balto works is also quite impressive.

During sales conversations, the audio from the call is converted from speech to text. Then, the AI identifies important keywords or phrases in the conversation and offers recommendations in a sidebar on the screen in real-time.

Balto is able to do this thanks to what’s called an AI Library which is composed of over 140 different categories of topics that normally come up during sales calls.

But Balto’s aim isn’t to make sales conversations robotic and rigid. The platform is customized to suit the needs of each company since sales programs and language vary greatly for each business.

If you’re interested in learning about Balto you can go to https://baltosoftware.com/ for more information.

Bourbon Innovation

As always, the Bourbon Friday team does their best to choose a fitting drink for the occasion.

The bottle this week is I.W. Harper Kentucky Bourbon. Started by a man named Isaac Wolfe Bernheim, the I.W. Harper brand isn’t actually a bottle to memorialize one specific person’s namesake. Instead, I.W. Harper, which began in 1870 and quickly flourished, is the first two initials of Isaac Wolfe Bernheim’s name (I.W.) plus the last name of the best salesman at the The Bernheim Bros. distillery. A salesman so good, that people referred to the spirit as “Mr. Harper’s Whiskey”, the Bernheim brothers not wanting to fight the market decided to use Harper’s name for the brand, instead of their own.