Treating Technology like a Teammate: Top 4 AI Use Cases for Sales

In this month's edition of The AI Sales Guy,

• The Different Stages of Sales Tech Maturity
• The Top 4 AI Use Cases for Sales Teams
• The Most Valuable Skills for Sellers in the Future
• And a Ton of Sales Statistics

Before we dive in, registration just opened for the 2023 Sandler Virtual Summit!

Every year, thousands of sales professionals and sales leaders gather for a full day packed with complimentary educational sessions sharing the latest best practices in sales from Sandler Trainers around the world.

This year, I am fortunate enough to represent Sandler as one of the speakers!

Any guesses on what I'll be talking about?

Date: Wednesday, October 11, 2023

Time: 11 AM - 4 PM EST

Price: No Cost to Attend

SAVE YOUR SEAT TODAY!

Sellers are Getting Overwhelmed by New Technology

There was a great article published in the Harvard Business Review last month.

They referenced a recent strategy that has been attempted by many organizations to find more opportunities and close more business.

The "Just One More" Strategy

"In an effort to help salespeople meet ever-changing customer needs, sales leaders have spent years driving a “just one more” strategy — asking sellers to learn one more skill, master one more technology, or adopt one more tool in the hopes of closing just one more deal." (Harvard Business Review)

While this strategy had honest intentions, it's not producing the results that most sales leaders and organizations need.

And it has been seen to overcomplicates the role of the salesperson - making them LESS effective overall.

Based on the Salesforce "State of Sales Report", 66% of sellers feel like they are drowning in tools...

"On average, sales teams use 10 tools to close deals. Many of these have a role to play in the sales process, but they can be costly, create click overload, and take reps away from connecting with prospects and customers that move deals forward." (Salesforce)

It also stated that 69% of sales reps believe their job is harder today than anytime before.

And the impact is being seen when it comes to the bottom line.

This overload of technology, processes, and tasks that sales reps need to navigate everyday plays a large role in the statistic I shared last month:

Does that mean companies should use less technology?

It's not about more or less technology, but companies need to create a strategy to use their technology more effectively. What does this look like in a time when the average organization has a sales tech stack of 10+ tools?

Finding a single platform that can integrate your tools seamlessly.

This article isn't to preach about how a CRM can completely transform your company, like some of my articles before. But the impact of a CRM that is built specifically around a company's selling process and tech stack cannot be overstated.

Almost all of the AI tools I use in my sales process integrate directly into my CRM (HubSpot). Some of these tools update my CRM for me based on virtual meetings, emails, or phone calls. I utilize other AI tools to provide insights that I rely on to have personalized conversations and strategize opportunities. And with HubSpot having a very comprehensive automation tool built into its platform, all of my AI & automation technology lives under one roof.

"94% of sales organizations plan to consolidate their tech stack within the next 12 months" (Salesforce)

How can AI & Automation help decrease the burden of technology?

Did you noticed the sentence on the bottom of the last image,

"98% of salespeople wish they had superpowers to accomplish their day-to-day duties"

Well, based on the data - I believe AI & automation can be that superpower.

Sales leaders must rebuild the seller role around what core performers can actually manage. The seller role of the future is about asking salespeople for less — fewer skills, responsibilities, and tasks — and getting more. (Gartner)

The key is to treat technology like a teammate

In a post last week, I mentioned my key attitude for AI has changed. Early on, it was to be a continuous learner. And while that still holds true, my new attitude surrounding AI is to treat tech like a teammate.

This is easier said than done. But to help get some clarity around what this could look like, below are the top 4 AI use cases in the world of sales.

Top 4 AI Use Cases for Sales Teams

Before diving straight into the top four use cases for sales, it may be useful to look at the different stages of "Sales Tech Maturity".

Based on the conversations I've had, the majority of organizations will likely find themselves in either Stage 1 or Stage 2. Some companies have entered into Stage 3 (or are implementing technology to do so). And there are very few companies who are able to pull of Stage 4, Autonomous Selling, at this point in time.

What stage are you in?

Where should you start/go next?

The Top 4 AI Use Cases in Sales (Gartner):

1. Seller Role Simplification: Automating activities that are essential to the function but that salespeople see as “administrative”
2. Generative Value Messaging: AI can help sellers personalize their communication and craft messaging that’s unique to each deal and individual
3. Prospecting: Treating tech as a teammate can reduce burden by deploying autonomous sales development reps (SDRs) that feed leads into the CRM.
4. Solution Design and Deal Closing: AI can use real-time information to provide insights and guide sellers through their opportunities to close more deals, more often.

"Successful organizations ruthlessly prioritize use cases that will show immediate impact and that salespeople will welcome." (Harvard Business Review)

I personally use AI & automation tools in all 4 of these categories. And I've actually written past newsletters on AI tools that address 3 of the 4 use cases mentioned.

But I don't recommend you add in a multitude of new tools and technology to address every one of these categories at once. But I do recommend you identify what area could have the biggest impact for your sales team.

Then start there.

And if you're not sure where to start or go next, you can schedule an AI & Automation Audit, here.

What is an AI & Automation Audit? We spend 30-minutes asking questions about your company and sales process to understand where AI & automation can be used most effectively. We can then recommend tools for you to look into, help create a custom sales focused AI strategy, or even help you implement different tools and technology into your current process.

The most valuable skills for salespeople in the future

By treating technology like a teammate, sellers can now work alongside their technology to become more effective and more efficient every day.

As we've mentioned, these tools don't replace the human aspects of the sales process, rather they supplement the sales function to perform the tasks that are repetitive, time-consuming, or difficult for humans.

This will lead to specific set of sales skills that will become more valuable as technology and AI make it's way into the sales process:

1. Active Listening — Understanding What Buyers Say
2. Perspective Talking — Interpreting What Buyers Think
3. Empathizing — Identifying How Buyers Feel
4. Cognitive Decoding — Predicting How Buyers Will Act

There may be AI tools that can help in these areas, but these are all based around effective communication between a seller and a buyer.

And at this point, I think most of us would agree that talking to a machine and talking to a human are two totally different experiences.

Combining Human Intelligence and Artificial Intelligence

A message I've been preaching for a long time (well at least 6 months) is that AI is not here to replace salespeople, but to enable them to be more effective than ever before.

And while AI may not replace salespeople, the sellers who understand how to use AI will replace those who don't.

But the best part about using AI in your sales process is that it actually makes selling EASIER by removing all of the burden that is currently placed on each sales rep.

The future of sales will be about making the job of the sales person more focused, streamlined, and simplified so that sellers can produce better results and close more business.

It's still early. But in order to learn how to use AI...you have to start using it.

Thanks for reading and I hope to see you on the Virtual Summit in October!

Good Selling,

The AI Sales Guy