A few months ago, we made a strong case for what AI CAN’T do in the sales & selling arena. Some obvious (and maybe not-so obvious) things to consider on your journey into the AI world.
Remember, in all its glory, AI still lacks Emotional Intelligence, the ability to read the room and most importantly, the ability to run the sales appointment (meet with a prospect in person or virtually).
Let’s give AI a chance to plead its case & dig into some really cool things AI CAN do for salespeople. Beware, AI is ever-changing – this list will no-doubt look different in the next 2 or 3 weeks. But for now, here is what AI can do for the greatest profession in the World:
- Content Generation
Today, this is the most common use for AI in sales. You can create personalized content, write outbound emails (prospecting), follow-up emails, social media posts. Key Benefit: Shorten writing time.
- Call Recording
AI can transcribe and analyze phone and virtual calls. Key Benefit #1: Learn what your prospect “really” said. Key Benefit #2: Coaching. Helps managers coach salespeople and salespeople coach themselves.
- Lead Generation
Some salespeople call this the toughest part of their job. AI can scan data on digital platforms to pin-point potential customers. By targeting users based on specific behaviors and preferences, AI can bolster the efficiency and effectiveness of lead generation campaigns. Helps marketing a lot! Key Benefit: Better qualified prospects “The Glengarry Leads”
- Lead-Ranking/Rating
AI can help you or your salespeople make better decisions when prioritizing leads. These tools look at prospect data to predict the likelihood of a sale. Key Benefit: Speeds up decisions of which leads to prospect.
- Revenue Forecasting
AI uses real-time data to create more accurate predictions about your pipeline. Some even offer observations about individual deals. Others point out at-risk deals and opportunities to help you make adjustments. Key Benefit: Quicker and more accurate pipelines.
- Risk-Identification (and Opportunity Identification)
AI can point out both risks and opportunities within accounts. It can analyze your prospect meetings, current customer meetings, level of engagement, and even buying signals. Key Benefit: Lose less deals and reduce customer drop-off (churn).
- Sales Automation
AI can do repetitive and administrative tasks: scheduling meetings, sending follow-up emails, updating CRM, and a whole lot more. Key Benefit: Free up time to hone in on more strategic sales activities (sales appointments, negotiating deals, building relationships) which all require humans with a pulse.
A pretty good list! Is it complete? No. Will it change? Yes. These are 7 areas where AI can help you and your salespeople today. A great place to start. It’s a lot to bite off. Take them one at a time.
