- Salesforce Hunter (16 Oct coverage) is an outbound agent on Agentforce with ZoomInfo and Demandbase data built in. Pilot now, general availability planned for November 2026.
- Sierra and Stripe (20 Oct) let a caller pay inside a voice-agent call: card on the keypad, Stripe processes it, the agent confirms.
- Zendesk (19 Oct) launched Employee Service AI Agents priced per resolution: a monthly allowance, then $0.99 per extra resolved request.
Salesforce Hunter: an outbound agent that builds pipeline
Hunter is Salesforce's outbound sales agent, built on its Agentforce platform. Coverage on 16 October reported that it launches with ZoomInfo and Demandbase as core data providers, so the agent can pull prospect and account data without leaving Salesforce. In the same round Salesforce expanded its Docusign partnership, so agreements can be generated and tracked inside Agentforce and Slack.
Salesforce's own agent overview lists Hunter as "Pilot now; GA November '26" and quotes one customer result: "60% of Perk's sales pipeline is built by its outbound sales agent, Hunter." That is a customer-reported figure without published method, so treat it as a claim, not a benchmark. No price has been published.
Your angleAn outbound agent is only as good as its target list and its first message. Most small sales teams do not have a written ideal customer profile, a tested opener or rules for when a human takes over. Writing those, connecting the data and reviewing the first 50 messages before anything is sent is a setup service you can sell, whether the client runs Salesforce or a simpler tool.
Sources: Yahoo Finance · Salesforce
Sierra × Stripe: the customer pays without leaving the call
Customer-service agent company Sierra partnered with Stripe so a caller can talk to an agent, pay and get a receipt in the same call. When a payment is due, the agent switches to a secure payment mode, the caller types card details on the keypad, Stripe processes the payment and the agent comes back to confirm. Sierra is listed in the Stripe App Marketplace, so a business can connect it without a custom integration.
One of the first users is Cedar, which handles medical billing for health systems. Sierra reports that for Cedar's agent Kora, 71.3% of calls that started a payment ended in a successful payment. Cedar's chief strategy officer Dugan Winkie: "Medical bills create a moment of real anxiety for patients."
Your angleEvery business that sends invoices loses money between "I'll pay later" and the actual payment: clinics, installers, landlords, gyms. An agent that calls about an open invoice and can take the payment right there is easy to explain in euros collected. Setting up the script, the payment step and the hand-off to a person for disputes is a service with a clear result to report each month.
Source: Sierra
Zendesk: agents you pay for per resolved request
Zendesk introduced Employee Service AI Agents and Advanced Action Flows for internal IT and HR requests: onboarding and offboarding, access approvals, laptop lifecycle, employment letters and badge access. Admins describe a flow in plain language, and employees ask through Slack, Microsoft Teams or the help center.
The pricing is the news for anyone who sells agent work. Growth and Professional plans include 10 automated resolutions per agent per month, Enterprise plans 15, and each extra resolution costs $0.99. In early access, about 300 customers ran 6 million workflow executions in five weeks. Zendesk estimates 500,000 hours saved, assuming five minutes per execution, which is its own assumption. General availability rolls out between 3 November and 1 December 2026.
Your angleIf a large vendor prices per resolved request, so can you. Instead of "€X per month for an AI assistant", offer "we handle your repetitive requests and you pay per one we resolve", with a fixed setup fee. Start with internal requests (password resets, leave requests, onboarding checklists) at a 20-to-100-person company: low risk, easy to count.
Source: Futurum Group
The question is no longer what the agent can answer. It is what it earns, and what you charge per result.
Overview: three steps of the sale, three services
Based on the sources linked above. Customer results are reported by the vendors themselves, so check them before you use them in a pitch.
| Salesforce Hunter | Sierra × Stripe | Zendesk | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Date | 16 Oct 2026 (coverage) | 20 Oct 2026 | 19 Oct 2026 |
| Step of the sale | Find and contact prospects | Collect the payment | Resolve requests |
| Status | Pilot, GA Nov '26 | Live with first users | GA 3 Nov – 1 Dec |
| Price shown | Not published | Not published | $0.99 per extra resolution |
| Reported result | 60% of Perk's pipeline | 71.3% payment completion (Cedar) | 6M executions, 5 weeks |
| Service to sell | Outbound setup + message review | Invoice-collection agent | Per-resolution helpdesk agent |
Before an agent touches revenue: 5 checks
- One step, not the whole sale. Start with one: first outreach, payment reminders or one type of request. Prove it, then add the next.
- Human approval first. Review the first messages or calls before the agent works alone. Decide who takes over a complaint or a dispute.
- Count the result. Meetings booked, euros collected, requests resolved. If you cannot count it, you cannot charge per result.
- Keep payments in a proven tool. Let a payment provider handle card data. The agent asks; it never stores card numbers.
- Price setup plus result. A fixed setup fee, then per meeting, per payment or per resolution. Our pricing calculator helps, and the security checklist covers access to client systems.
"More meetings" and "invoices paid" need no explaining. Pick the step closest to money.
Zendesk shows buyers accept paying per resolution. Count results and charge for them.
Outreach and payments carry risk. Approval steps are part of the service, not a weakness.
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FAQ
What is Salesforce Hunter?
Hunter is an outbound sales agent built on Salesforce Agentforce. It researches prospects and handles outreach. Coverage on 16 October 2026 reported that it launches with ZoomInfo and Demandbase as core data providers. Salesforce lists Hunter as a pilot, with general availability planned for November 2026.
How do Sierra and Stripe let customers pay inside a call?
When a payment is due, the Sierra voice agent switches to a secure payment mode. The caller types card details on the phone keypad, Stripe processes the payment, and the agent returns to confirm it. Sierra is listed in the Stripe App Marketplace, so businesses can connect it without a custom integration. Sierra announced this on 20 October 2026.
What does resolution-based pricing for AI agents mean?
The customer pays per request the agent fully resolves, not per seat or per hour. For its Employee Service AI Agents, announced 19 October 2026, Zendesk includes 10 or 15 automated resolutions per agent per month depending on the plan and charges $0.99 for each additional resolution, according to Futurum.
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All sources
- Yahoo Finance: Salesforce (CRM) unveils Hunter for AI-powered outbound sales (16 Oct 2026)
- Salesforce: Agentforce job-ready AI agents (Hunter status and Perk result)
- Sierra: From conversation to payment, Sierra and Stripe (20 Oct 2026)
- Futurum Group: Can Zendesk Employee Service AI Agents pry IT work from ServiceNow? (21 Oct 2026)