Modern Selling: Six Ways to Implement AI for Sales

A friend of mine recently purchased a fishing boat. The day he brought his new boat to the ramp at the lake, he saw a neighbor whom he admired, and he couldn’t wait to show him all the cool technology the boat had to offer. As he was demonstrating all the gadgets, his neighbor said, “Well, don’t forget to fish.”

The story makes me think about all the new gadgets salespeople have had over the years: Voicemail, cellphones, laptops, CRMs, the Internet, and now AI. Many say that sales will be the last department to adopt Artificial Intelligence tools, and for good reason: AI requires a significant amount of clean data, defined processes, and discipline to do things in a standardized way every time. Most sales organizations don’t have these three attributes.

Does that mean that you should neglect using AI tools to improve sales? Absolutely not. You should be exploring AI, and I will give you six ways to do it the right way; however, remember to use them simply as tools – never forget to sell!

1. Leadership must buy in and lead. If leadership does not buy into the plan, then the sales organization will sporadically use AI tools in an inefficient and wasteful way. Sales leaders and business leaders must be on the same page and completely buy into the shift.

2. Keep the “why” at the front of your mind. The advantages of artificial intelligence tools in sales are obvious: More productivity, more accurate forecasts, lower overhead, etc.; however, these things may not matter to the average salesperson. Ask them what they truly want, and you may be shocked: More time with customers, less boring meetings, and more sales and commissions are their typical desires.

3. Start by focusing on one priority. Don’t try to shift every aspect of your sales organization to AI at once. As a team, rank the things you want to improve, such as estimate/proposal generation, RFP reviews, pipeline management, outbound marketing campaigns, and presentations. Unless it’s destructive to the organization, pick whatever your sales team wants. If they embrace this first step, they will work hard on future changes.

4. Decide on enterprise or best-of-breed. AI can be implemented with integrated enterprise systems that have a suite of tools included (i.e., a comprehensive ERP system), or as best-of-breed solutions (i.e., a standalone estimating tool). There are advantages to both paths. We recommend clients start with best of breed, especially since we advise them to focus on one initial priority. After a few solution sets have been implemented, it might make sense to move to an enterprise system to take advantage of the integration benefits.

5. Measure. There is a very good reason that all health programs start out by measuring metrics like weight, heart rate, and blood pressure. After a few months, the metrics will reveal the success when you might not be able to feel it physically. Measure how long it takes to generate a proposal or how inaccurate your forecasts are now and then, and keep measuring every month or quarter after implementing AI.  

6. Stay real. With more salespeople using AI tools, customers will hardly ever see salespeople in person. No eye-to-eye contact. No handshaking. No three-dimensional infinite awareness and subconscious judgments. Your customers will be starving for personal interaction. Differentiate by being authentic and there. Personalize communication and make personal visits – or, just don’t forget to sell.