Discover how AI is revolutionizing the sales industry by empowering sellers, improving data quality, and enhancing customer experiences, while addressing the ethical implications and providing actionable insights for successful AI-powered sales strategies.

Table of contents:

Introduction

Businesses are consistently and constantly evolving to meet the changing demands of the digital landscape. And for sales teams, who are under constant pressure to meet growing targets with fewer resources, the possibilities of digital innovation are a welcome shoulder to lean on.

We know AI and automation tools can streamline the sales process, yet challenges remain in how it can be leveraged, integrated and understood. For starters, 71% of B2B sales professionals lack the knowledge of the impact around AI and automation on their selling strategies.

Not only this but there’s pressure on teams to do more with less. As marketing budgets are squeezed, sales teams need means and ways to support customers in a digital-first environment.

At GDS Group’s RevGen US summit, we heard from esteemed sales leaders about how they see AI transforming the industry.

Timothy Hudson, Chief Commercial Officer at TE Connectivity weighs in: “We can’t just keep proliferating a number of resources or bodies to support our customer base. You have to figure out how to become more efficient and effective in supporting those customers. Not every customer wants a person to pick up the phone to talk to, they want to just put it in the chat. And building those capabilities is part of that whole customer experience and meeting the customer where they are.”

So, how can we harness the power of AI to transform the way we sell forever?

Rethink the old way of selling

First, we must address the challenges of the traditional sales approach, says Greg Moran, Chief Executive Officer at Conquer. “You’re dealing with manual processes, you’re dealing with inaccurate information, you’re dealing with ineffective messaging. When we talk about manual processes, we’re really talking about sales reps that are using the most valuable time they have, their selling time, to do a lot of just ongoing manual contacting as process of prospecting.

“They’re spending an inordinate amount of time logging their activities, often in multiple systems, switching between applications, logging here, and logging there. This approach ends up causing friction in the sales process.”

Giving leaders the value of their time back to move forward faster is business critical, agrees Trudi Mixon, Director, Sales Strategy & Enablement at Microsoft: “Time is our most valuable commodity when it comes to our teams. And the manual process that goes into that right now can be an hour or two of a leader’s time if it’s going through a recorded call or a chat.”

Improve data quality

Then, we must consider the accuracy of the data we’re working with. “If sellers don’t have access to accurate, up to date information,” Conquer’s Moran points out, “we see sellers that are completely unable to handle objections…They’re not equipped to provide right or relevant answers to questions they’re being asked on a daily basis. This ends up creating missed opportunities and more steals.”

Therefore, it’s integral we put the right data in the hands of sellers at the right time to empower them to achieve success. This in turn is vital in creating personalized and impactful messages that meet customer expectations – another major challenge for sales.

This principle must be extended across the data models we’re leveraging into our AI tooling, says TE Connectivity’s Hudson.

“If the source data is not robust or accurate, you can have the possibility of getting the wrong results.”
Timothy Hudson, Chief Commercial Officer – TE Connectivity

“That’s one of the challenges we learn on this journey to ensure that the core data sources that we’re pulling from are robust and there’s governance in place to ensure that you’re not pulling information that can introduce bias into your system.”

Empower sellers

Once platforms and tools are aligned, you can leverage the data and the technology to help create a learning path for sellers using AI and machine learning. Dell’s Director of Sales Learning and Enablement, Leslie Martin, shares one example of how this can be put into practice: “Machine learning can identify if a particular seller is consistently Googling technology in a certain area and could tee up training or learning around customer engagement or customer information. We can really use the information in the back end to arm our sellers to have better conversations with their customers.”

But how do you streamline and simplify AI and find the right solution? That’s the million-dollar question.

Will AI replace people?

We know AI is lauded for its ability to complete admin-based, repetitive tasks, yet lacks human intuition and problem-solving to be the full package – at least at the moment. Hilton’s Director of Sales Marketing, John Bruton, is keen to emphasize that in the hospitality industry, people still want to see people. “Hotels have forever tried to get rid of the front desk, but I don’t think digital is going to be such a large part, at least in this industry, in the next three to five years…

“It’s the human that is taking and processing the customer information and completing that last 10% of the sales cycle to overcome the competitors and close. The point where we are in hospitality right now is understanding how we can use that best and how can these sellers can take that information and convert it into higher closing percentages.”

For others, the question isn’t ‘Will AI replace people? but ‘how will it support customers and employees?’ Amit Singh, Executive Director of Marketing, B2B eCommerce, Self-Service and Support at Verizon shares his vision: “It’s got to be in the DNA of our employees and our tech platforms.

“But we start with the customer and our business, then use AI to amplify that.”
Amit Singh, Executive Director of Marketing, B2B eCommerce, Self-Service and Support – Verizon

(Amit Singh (top left) participating in one of the panel discussions at our recent RevGen North America Summit.)

Dell’s Martin agrees it’s not a question of either/or but of what are the capabilities? “We can leverage AI. We can leverage digital twins in the background to coach our sellers to have more powerful conversations when they’re facing customers. So, I think if we leverage the technology on the back end, it allows for more powerful customer interaction on the front end.”

AI possibilities in sales

Whether it’s cross-selling, lead generation or offering personalized experiences, AI has the power to meet customer needs at a higher level. In fact, by 2025 70% of B2B seller and buyer transactions will be recorded. And, confirms Moran, the data they’ll extract around competitors, deal information and market insights via machine learning and large language processing has the power to take guided selling to the next level. “This will help reps know exactly what to do next, how to message properly, how to navigate competitor information, and how to really explain the solution and value proposition, without having to go through the endless training cycle…”

While sales training and enablement have come a long way, it often isn’t scalable, cost-effective, or efficient enough at getting reps up to speed. Martin outlines how Dell is using a digital coach, built around customer conversations and scenarios, to train staff: “A seller can go into a safe place, and interact with this digital coach, which will walk them through a conversation. They get to practice it and the coach will even offer them feedback on how they did. We can leverage the idea of this digital twin, this digital coach, to arm ourselves with more of what reps need at a lower cost and faster.”

Is AI terrifying or exciting?

If you ask Moran, it’s both! “It’s like any new technology that comes along,” he surmises. “Whether it’s from a military standpoint or a street technology standpoint, the greater the impact the technology has, the more impact it also has for the bad. This can go both ways. That’s certainly what is what is meeting all of us. I think in 20 years we’ll know whether this is a good thing or a bad thing.”

So, how do we navigate the unknown, harnessing AI for all its prowess, while keeping our organizations, employees, and customers safe? “We just have to remain diligent,” concludes Hudson. “Organizations are trying to figure out how to leverage this in a responsible way and the way we do that is by continuing to engage with it…

“Continue to keep in mind the ethical aspect of it and share practices around how you establish policies to ensure risk is reduced by leveraging this technology. There’s a lot of concern right now around confidential information being leaked…So, let’s keep working with it, but also share ideas, because in the end it is the ultimate goal to benefit everyone.”

Three simple steps towards AI-powered sales

Start small
“The best advice I can give somebody right now is to start. We talk to organizations all the time that are a little skittish about how they’re going to approach this. Start right, start small. AI is going to revolutionize the way that we sell in every size company out there.” Greg Moran.

Have clear objectives
“Make sure that the messaging around the expected outcomes is clear with the remainder of the leadership team. That way, they’re on board to understand what to expect when you start delivering results.” Timothy Hudson.

Customer-first
“Ensure that there’s a clear line of sight to how leveraging AI in your operations can benefit the customer. I think that leveraging data is key to getting the customer to a point where they can see the benefit, the speed, how you respond to them and the quality of responses. That’s going to ultimately drive adoption.” Timothy Hudson.

Conclusion

As businesses strive to meet the demands of a digital-first world, AI could prove to be a powerful ally to sales teams, helping navigate challenges, streamline processes, and provide exceptional customer experiences.

While the debate of AI’s impact rages on one thing is certain: the future of sales lies in harnessing AI’s potential responsibly, with a commitment to customer-centricity and continuous innovation. As organizations embark on this transformative journey, guided by the wisdom and experiences of industry leaders, they can shape a new era of sales, where technology and human intuition converge to create unparalleled value for all.

To get more insights into the ethics of AI sign up to GDS Explore to read our exclusive article ‘Responsible use of AI is not just a nice to have – it’s essential’.

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