The Future of Sales AI

The Why

Sales reps know that to become great, they must practice in the proverbial "batting cage", also known as role plays, before they encounter a real prospect. However, they encounter three major challenges:

1. Fear / embarrassment / time limitations of asking their peers or managers to role play with.
2. Their role play partners are often not imaginative with creating new scenarios, or simply aren't good at pretending to be prospects.
3. Their role play partners are not good at giving feedback or coaching.

Combined, these three challenges discourage sales reps from actually doing any role play practice and thus, they practice on their unsuspecting prospects.

The Partially Broken Promise of AI

When ChatGPT 3.5 came onto the scene in late 2022, most people were impressed by how well it could answer questions and write essays. Despite the amazing progress, attempts to have real conversations with it often led to laughable results. The release of ChatGPT 4 in March of 2023 marked a monumental leap toward human-like behavior. Finally, ChatGPT could, like a human actor, "stay in character", without reverting to silly outputs and antics.

It was possible, for the first time in history, to have a credible role play with a computer, without constructing rule sets or conversation flows, or implementing rigid guardrails to keep the conversation on track.

Despite the promise of sales reps signing up for ChatGPT accounts and doing role plays, in reality little of this happened because:

1. No one wants to type an entire conversation's worth of text into a chat box
2. Few reps know how to construct a prompt that would cause ChatGPT to act reliably as a role play partner

The Promise of AI Fulfilled

Fortunately, these two challenges can be easily addressed by recent advances in voice recognition technology and the advent of "prompt engineering", the skill of writing prompts that result in the desired behavior.

Recently, I attempted to do this on my own, combining various web technologies to create a fully conversational role play partner. No typing is necessary at all, just a button to enable and disable the microphone.

I share with you the result of one cold call conversation, using many of the principles of the Sandler sales method including "up front contract", the "pain funnel", and "staying left".

The following dialogue is completely unedited. I left the voice recognition and the AI output exactly the way it was returned by the computer. Also, I appended the coaching comments generated by the AI as an "expert in the Sandler Sales Methodology."

What do you think? Are we there yet? If you are a sales rep, are you ready to go into the batting cage whenever you want to?

Completely Unedited Dialogue

You:?Hi John, this is Chester. Did I catch you in the middle of something?

Prospect:?Not at all, Chester. I'm just finishing up a few things but go ahead, I can manage. What can I do for you?

You:?My name is Chester Liu with Appleton. You might have figured this out but heads up this is a sales call. Are you sure you don't want to hang up?

Prospect:?I appreciate your honesty, Chester. I'm always open to hearing how something might benefit my business, but I'll warn you, I'm an extremely hard sell. Proceed if you dare.

You:?Well, you are a funny guy. I appreciate your humor. I was hoping to run through a couple reasons why a chief revenue officer like you might be interested in talking to me. If one makes sense, can you go a bit further? If not, I'll just get out of your hair. Are you comfortable taking three minutes?

Prospect:?Sure, Chester. Go ahead. But remember, I've got a packed schedule, so let's make it quick.

You:?Oftentimes, when I talk with Chief Revenue Officers like you, they tell me that their sales reps spend too much time searching through LinkedIn's Sales Navigator to find prospects. I don't want to assume that's the case with your sales reps though.

Prospect:?Well, Chester, I'm not going to lie, you have a point there. Efficiency is key, and I do feel like some of our reps could use better prospecting tools. Can you tell me more about what you're proposing?

You:?Sure. When you said efficiency is key, could you tell me a bit more about what you mean by that?

Prospect:?Absolutely. By efficiency, I mean that my team's time should be spent on meaningful work that directly contributes to revenue generation. Too much time spent on research or manual tasks like prospecting is a waste in my view. I'd rather have them spend that time on engaging with potential clients and closing deals.

You:?I couldn't agree with you more that manual tasks like prospecting is a waste of time. Could you give me a recent example or two of when your sales reps were just spending way too much time prospecting?

Prospect:?Just last week, one of my top sales reps, Jennifer, spent almost an entire work day researching and prospecting a potential client. It took her hours to gather all the necessary information and contacts. In the end, it turned out the company wasn't even in our target market. This could have been avoided if we had a more efficient way of prospecting.

You:?Now, how long would you say your team has been experiencing this waste of time prospecting?

Prospect:?If I had to guess, I'd say this has been an ongoing issue for at least a year, probably more. It's just something we've gotten used to, but I can see now how much it's impacting our efficiency.

You:?Why have you already tried to address it?

Prospect:?We've tried a few different things. We set up some internal guidelines to streamline the process and even tried a couple of different prospecting tools, but nothing has really stuck. It seems like we're always falling back into the same inefficient habits.

You:?Well, if you did not think more about this, I can't imagine it would have any impact on your organization.

Prospect:?You're right, Chester. Ignoring this issue is not an option. It's affecting our productivity and as the Chief Revenue Officer, I need to ensure that my team is operating at peak efficiency. Let's explore how your solution can help us.

You:?You mentioned it's affecting your productivity. Are you able to put a financial number on this in terms of impact?

Prospect:?To be honest, it's hard to pinpoint an exact number. But considering the hours wasted and the missed opportunities, I'd say it's probably costing us several thousand dollars per month at the very least. It's a significant amount that can't be ignored.

You:?Several thousand dollars per month, I see. Well, I know you're a busy guy and have a lot on your plate. Does this even make the top ten on your priority list?

Prospect:?It's definitely high on the list, Chester. It may not be the top priority, but it's certainly in the top five. Efficiency and productivity are always on my radar, and if we're losing money due to inefficient prospecting, it's something I need to address.

You:?And just so I understand you completely, why is that?

Prospect:?As the Chief Revenue Officer, my main responsibility is to ensure our company's revenue growth. Every dollar counts in this competitive business landscape. If we're hemorrhaging money due to inefficiencies in our sales process, it's directly impacting our bottom line. Moreover, it's not just about the money - it's about the time and energy of my team that's being wasted. That's why this is crucial to address.

You:?We are over the three-minute mark. It's your call. If I were to tell you that these are the questions we answer around sales rep productivity, would you want to find a way to carve out more time to explore this further or should we just pull the plug?

Prospect:?Chester, I appreciate your approach. Yes, I think it's worth carving out more time to explore this further. Let's schedule a more in-depth discussion. I don't want to keep losing money because of this issue.

You:?Great, is your calendar already open?

Prospect:?Yes, I have my calendar open right now. Let's find a suitable time for both of us, Chester.

You:?How about next Tuesday at 8? Does that work for you?

Prospect:?Yes, next Tuesday at 8 works for me. Go ahead and send me a calendar invite and we'll plan to discuss this more then. Looking forward to our conversation, Chester.

You:?Likewise, after this call I will send you a calendar invite along with a summary of our discussion. If there is any misunderstanding on my part, would you please correct me?

Prospect:?Sure, Chester. I appreciate your diligence. Go ahead and send over the invite and summary, and I'll make any necessary corrections. Thank you.

You:?Thank you for your time, John. I look forward to speaking with you next Tuesday at 8.

Prospect:?Sure thing, Chester. I'm looking forward to it as well. Have a great day. Goodbye.

You:?Goodbye, John.

Prospect:?CONVERSATION ENDED

Coaching as a "Sandler Sales Methodology" Expert

Beginning with the positives, it was great that you set the expectations right from the start by making it clear that it was a sales call. This level of transparency can improve your credibility and make the prospect more comfortable. You also applied the Sandler concept of "give the prospect the right to say no". This disarmament tactic can make the prospect feel less pressured and more open to the conversation.

You did an excellent job asking questions to uncover pain points. For instance, when you asked the prospect if their sales reps were spending too much time prospecting. This is a critical part of the Sandler pain funnel, where the goal is to help the prospect reveal their problems and emotional pain points associated with them.

You also introduced a sense of urgency by asking for the financial impact of their issue. This can be a powerful motivator for the prospect to take action and seek a solution to their problem.

However, there were some areas where you could improve. When the prospect identified that they had an issue that was affecting their productivity, you should have dug a bit deeper to uncover the prospect's personal pain. Personal pain can significantly influence decision-making, and uncovering this could have given you an edge. For instance, you could have probed further with questions like, "How does this issue affect you personally as the Chief Revenue Officer?" or "What does it mean for you if this situation remains unresolved?"

Additionally, it seemed like you took the prospect's responses at face value without trying to uncover their underlying beliefs, an important part of the Sandler Method. For example, when the prospect mentioned they had tried several different tools and strategies without success, you could have asked questions to uncover the prospect's beliefs around why those didn't work.

Lastly, you asked the prospect to commit more time to the conversation before you were able to identify a clear budget. While you did uncover a financial impact, it would be beneficial to know if the prospect has a budget allocated to solve this issue. This is a crucial part of Sandler's upfront contract, wherein both parties agree on the outcome of the conversation before it takes place.

Remember, the Sandler Method is all about uncovering pain, budget, and decision - don't forget to address each of these aspects in your conversations.