Convincing someone they need what you are selling is not easy, especially in B2B. Without AI in sales, conversion rates are low and sales cycle is longer. Average demo to closure rates are in single percentage points
Sales team sometimes waste a lot of time chasing down the wrong deals. Sure, these experiences help discover what works, what does not and why things have to be done differently.
If only there was a real helper to guide through the challenges, give good advice and handle administrative stuff so sales teams could go out and sell more. Well, the good news is that we have artificial intelligence (AI) now.
Whether you’re new to sales or a highly experienced veteran, let’s look at several ways AI in sales can be that best friend or mentor you need to learn more and sell more.
Table of Contents
Role of AI in sales
1. Lead generation and scoring
Sales teams may sometimes spend weeks trying to sell to leads who couldn’t care less about their products and/or services. About seventy-five percent of the leads is a waste of time. This happens due to the lack of sufficient relevant data on leads.
Without market and customer intelligence, organizations can find it difficult to impact the market. AI guides sales representatives to reach verdicts, thanks to the lead scoring function of the technology.
This data-driven approach allows sales teams to have the conventional “willing-buyer willing-seller” engagement. Since AI algorithms are automatically updated when new clients make purchases, it gains insights on compatibility levels in the long run. Having the system working in the backend allows teams to get more accurate results and businesses can worry less about whether the strategies they employ are working.
AI systems can also automatically engage leads in real-time before directing them to sales reps to further guide them along the sales funnel.
2. Personalization
AI makes selling much easier. It combines good customer experience with accurate targeting.
More than 50% of consumers are willing to share their data provided they can see content that aligns with their interests.
AI can personalize the content and the experience to suit consumers in database.
For instance, about 35% of what customers buy on Amazon is as a result of product recommendations. This means that consumers proceeded to buy different products while browsing the website without having anything particular in mind.
AI algorithms can analyze data like preferences, browsing history, interests and demographics, it’s important to visualize just how it’s going to transform how you sell products. Doing so will give insights on which items to place on offer so that it does an impressive job of netting the right prospects.
3. Communication with prospects
The art of reaching out to prospects at the right moment is an art.
Since AI-powered chatbots come with natural language processing, it’s best to deploy them for engaging with consumers in real-time. You will notice that some of the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) can get resolved faster if you assign such tasks to chatbots.
Of course, human interaction is going to be necessary. The trick here is to ensure that by the time a sales rep gets to engage a prospect, they are well-informed about their needs.
AI-aided communication is more than just chatbots. Using AI algorithms, you can identify the best times to reach out to prospects. Sales rep can set up a trigger-based mechanism that identifies when a website visitor starts reviewing a particular line of products. Once the interest is identified, a conversation can be initiated and your sales reps can swiftly swoop in.
4. Boosting Sales Reps Efficiency
Set up an AI system that streamlines your production line and automates workflow.
This way, task delegation and prioritization are going to be automated based on different criteria.
AI does a good job in identifying the most promising leads and allocating the best sales rep capable of reaching out with immediacy.
AI can also delegate one-on-one meetups by figuring out the geographical location of leads and sales reps. The analytical aspect of AI systems is crucially important here because it can identify which strategies work and which ones need to be binned. As part of the decision-making hierarchy, sales teams can source reliable reports on the best course of action and decide which ones need to be implemented across the board.
5. Shorter sales process
About 23 percent of customers do not finish paying for items on their shopping carts. The key issue behind this hesitation and abandonment has a lot to do with the creation of new user accounts.
Users have to fill out lengthy forms with their credentials, they also need to verify their email addresses.
With AI, you can shorten the sales process considerably.
If a competitor can offer the same services without the lengthy check-out process, then, there’s a good chance you’ll find yourself losing out on your market share. As such, you want to make your platform user-friendly and straightforward.
eBay and ShopBot’s shopping assistants work great as they give clients the ability to trace the items they desire at fantastic prizes on their site. The platform today ranks highly because the checkout process is streamlined for maximum interactivity without giving clients headaches as they go about their business.
6. Upsell and Cross-sell
Artificial intelligence systems do more than just boost customer engagement. While chatbots are the perfect customer interaction tool, they can also be great analytical tools. This is because they possess the power to track and learn about buyers’ behaviors over time.
With this data, it’s possible for your brand to recommend similar products and services to your clients.
Organizations that offer Software as a Service (SaaS) are best served by this feature since all their transactions happen online. Based on customer purchase history, companies can deploy their algorithms to suggest similar offers that are personalized to their customers’ needs.
This way of doing business is highly favored by companies today because it’s more actionable and conversational. Using chatbots heavily powered by AI systems, they were able to realize impressive conversion figures.
7. Excellent customer service
The White House Office of Consumer Affairs came up with a noteworthy report about how businesses relate with their clientele. As per their findings, it is 6-7 times more expensive to acquire a new customer in the current business climate than it is to retain an existing client.
Quick and efficient service delivery is a top priority for clients today. To ensure that you consistently deliver on customer satisfaction, we suggest embracing AI.
According to predictions by Gartner, about 15% of all customer service interactions are set to be handled solely by technology by 2021. This is a 400% increment from 2017.
This adoption of computing power is set to keep growing into 2022. This goes to show is that clients are ready and willing to splurge the money for excellent customer service. If you haven’t already, then it’s high time that you start thinking about how AI will enhance your sales team’s numbers.
Challenges of implementing AI and how to overcome them
While AI-enabled solutions have gained wider acceptance, there are some challenges that organizations need to address while implementing such solutions.
1. Data: Data is the fuel on which AI and ML tools run. Organizations should ensure that they have the necessary data streams to gain a 360-degree view of customers. However, seeking the elusive state of having perfect data availability can also be a problem. Working with specific data subsets for modest process goals when accompanied by efforts to improve data collection and data quality can be a useful stepping-stone.
2. Processes: Building a comprehensive view of the customer requires breaking down silos between customer-facing departments and developing data-driven processes among sales teams. AI-enabled platform vendors can provide the infrastructure and consultative expertise that contributes to such alignment and behavior change. Organizations should make ease of integration and adoption a priority while researching potential solutions. They should also invest in the training needed for sales teams to adapt to more data-driven, AI-enabled processes.
3. Management: An insufficient budget and lack of executive buy-in can be major obstacles to successful AI/ML implementation. Thus, it’s necessary to build demonstrable use cases that can serve to convince skeptics in the organization. Beginning with a well-planned pilot that demonstrates measurable benefits can go a long way toward securing buy-in and budget.
4. People: Any talk of AI is inevitably accompanied by fears of job loss and redundancy. Even where such fears are minimal, sales teams may show reluctance to restructure their processes significantly. Overcoming these obstacles requires being transparent and participative in decision-making and ensuring that sales reps have the necessary resources to learn and adapt to their transformed roles.
The best AI tools for sales
1. Troops
Troops is a great option to start. The tool has brilliant salesforce slack integration that will help you automate critical workflows. You will also benefit from the insights the tool delivers, making your work easier.
2. Conversica
Conversica is another vital tool in sales. The assistants in this tool will engage with the leads landing on your website. Conversica will use AI to automatically contact and converse with the leads by tailoring appropriate responses to their queries.
3. Node
Node uses proprietary artificial intelligence to go through online data carefully and identifies potential customers. Node will analyze your company’s target buyers and deliver more prospects to you. In the process, Node continues to learn more about your buyers and improves future predictions.
3. Exceed
The benefit of using Exceed is that it will engage with the leads entering your pipeline by using a human touch in communication. The conversations are two-way, meaning the lead can ask questions and get appropriate responses through email or chat.
4. Appier
Appier uses AI to analyze buyers’ databases to segment them and predict how likely they are to react to sales campaigns. With insights from Appier, you will not need to hire data scientists to analyze the market for you. You save both money and time used for research.
Dos and Don’ts of making the most of sales technology
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Sell better with AI
Consumer trends have changed over the years. Due to the rise and rise of tech, about 64% of consumers now expect brands to engage with them in real-time. This is why chatbots have become so useful nowadays.
AI will continue to evolve and become more accessible over the next few years. In the years to come, AI will only continue to play a more impactful role in sales functions. Forrester research anticipates businesses that combine AI with human insights will experience a 66% boost in productivity, a 61% increase in customer satisfaction, and 68% greater operational efficiency.
If you’ve yet to incorporate AI into your sales process, now is the time.
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