Most teams say they want to use AI. Few admit their data isn’t ready for it.
James Roth, CRO at ZoomInfo, says that’s the real issue. AI is only as good as the data underneath it. And for most companies, that data is a mess.
If your CRM is full of old, incomplete entries, AI won’t save you. It’ll just help you make mistakes faster.
ZoomInfo runs at $1.2 billion in annual recurring revenue and serves over 40,000 customers. Many still think of it as a contact database. Roth explains how it’s now a full go-to-market intelligence platform that connects data, signals, and AI to help sales and marketing teams work smarter.
He also says AI isn’t killing sales jobs. It’s killing inbound. As more people turn to ChatGPT and Perplexity instead of Google, inbound traffic is dropping fast. That’s forcing companies to rebuild their outbound motion, but with better data and smarter targeting.
In this episode, Roth explains how AI is reshaping go-to-market strategy and why most teams are focusing on the wrong things.
We dig into:
Why “AI native” is just noise, and what actually sets modern GTM teams apart
How ZoomInfo redefined itself around go-to-market intelligence
The fall of SEO-driven inbound and the new wave of outbound selling
Why clean, reliable data now matters more than any tool
How AI can help every rep sell with the skill and insight of your best one
Main takeaways:
AI doesn’t fix bad data. It exposes it faster and at scale.
Inbound is declining as buyers move to AI search tools. That shift is forcing even PLG companies to rethink their growth strategies.
Efficiency only matters when leaders use it. Time saved needs to become better work, not just less work.
The best salespeople of the future will use AI to get context fast, then rely on human connection to close.
🎧 Listen here:
