I will admit to being somewhat sceptical about the value of AI in sales. However, I recently attended a webinar that made me think a little differently about it.
AI is an incredibly powerful tool. The ability that it has to learn about us and understand who we are can be quite frightening. Chat GPT learnt which university and which degree my daughter is studying for, just from the questions that she asked it. It also addressed her in language that was relevant to her, including the line “Oh babe, I know everything….” which is just a little scary!
However, sales is fundamentally about trust and human connections. We are happy to buy from people that we trust, less so from strangers on a street corner. It takes time to build those connections. AI cannot meet our client for us, it cannot look them in the eye and promise to help them. However, it can speed up the time that it takes to get that first meeting. It can also help to speed up internal processes and learn as it goes along.
Outreach
Chat GPT and similar tools can help us to quickly learn more about our potential customer and then craft a personalised message to them that has a greater chance of connecting with them than we might ever be able to do.
It is able to rapidly research prospective customers, determine the most relevant person to approach and craft a personalised message that is relevant and up to date. Doing this without AI takes a very long time, which is generally the reason that people make poor opening approaches.
Having said that, I have been receiving remarkably similar cold approaches recently. Their similarity makes me think that they are all coming from essentially the same source / application and just being slightly tweaked. For example, I received these two on the same day recently:
Question for Tim
Hey Tim,
Love to see your passion in helping other people with your service!
My team and I have taken a look at your online coaching business, and we feel confident that we can get you connected with 5-10 new clients every single month on a pay on result basis.
Quick question, Tim?
Hi Tim,
Really enjoyed how your podcast 'Solving the Equation of Sales' blends practical tips with real-world insights. Your tailored approach at Hoolock Consulting truly stands out in an industry overwhelmed by one-size-fits-all advice.
Many sales teams struggle with outreach that lands flat—generic messaging, low engagement, and too many missed opportunities.
Spot the similarity? While they both “personalise” their approach, they are essentially the same email. Mention something that you do, talk about a generic problem and offer a solution.
So, while AI can help us to do these things better than we might otherwise, there is a real problem if everyone uses the same tools in the same way. Nothing stands out because it all looks the same.
Having said all that, there is no doubt that outreach can be improved through the use of AI and I look forward to both trying it myself and receiving some genuinely novel approaches.
Process Improvement
This is an area that I am less familiar with as I am not using many of the tools that are available. However, I can see how it can make a huge difference.
Most companies are using 10-15 different applications to support their sales teams. These help with relationship management, outreach, content creation and insights. However, the integration between them is not simple so there are many repetitive tasks that sales people need to perform. Just using a CRM system was painful for me in my last role.
Many of these systems now offer AI Agents, autonomous systems that proactively handle tasks and gather insights. These “always-on” digital co-pilots can integrate seamlessly between existing tools and data so that each of them is always up to date. This reduces the need for the sales person to do these tasks.
What is more useful, however, is that they learn as they do this data transfer. This means that they uncover more insights and trends that the sales person can use to further their engagements with their prospective customers.
Companies are only just starting to explore what can be done in this area, it is still so new. Mostly, individuals are trying out new processes and ideas to see what can be done. However, there is no doubt that these AI Agents will make a significant difference to sales operations in the future. What is critical, and what will differentiate winners from losers, will be the way that these agents are deployed.
It is going to be an interesting journey!