Should I have AI write first drafts for any of the following for my sales team? Does this actually save time?

Blogs60%

Social posts50%

Cold outreach emails100%

Something else30%

Nothing0%


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Head of Sales in Consumer Goods, 11 - 50 employees
AI is a valuable idea generator and time saver for any team, as long as the team isn't using the AI response(s) verbatim, I would say it is a great tool.
2
Director of Sales in Software, 51 - 200 employees
I don't see why not? It is a great editor. Write an email and ask your preferred tool to be your editor and make sure the message in the email is clear, easy to understand, and in the appropriate tone. You might be surprised how good it is. 

The only challenge, especially with ChatGPT, is that the writing is very generic and it will not read well so I'd recommend you write your own and only have it guide you from an editing standpoint. Just 1 guys opinion though!
1
Founder in Services (non-Government), 2 - 10 employees
I find it helps organize thoughts, but always needs a human touch to finish off.
1
CEO in Hardware, Self-employed
I'm wondering if I can go a day without hearing about AI... :)

Look, I'm all for certain AI applications, especially ones that tend to be more repetitive but with minor variations and that don't require a ton of analysis or synthesis, such as cold outreach emails. In fact, AI is probably going to displace most top-of-funnel activities in the next few years - not just from the seller's side, but the buyer's side as well. Humans will only get involved when there's a defined need and high probability solution.

Another good application for AI is research and data analysis. It most definitely speeds up the discovery process over Google searches (assuming you get the AI prompts correct), and it can crank through combinations and permutations and find relevant correlations in a fraction of the time it takes people to do so. So, hats off to AI there, too.

Where I have an issue with AI is that it's a big 'ol "Easy Button". Simply tidying up or adding your own personal twist to whatever AI presents to you, then calling it "yours", simply ain't true. You need to take the "generative" part of AI with a grain of salt. What it's doing is recombining data and information that already exists in the most probabilistically beneficial way. AI's basis is NOT language, it's MATHEMATICS, 1's and 0's. IT DOES NOT CREATE!!!  It collates.

So, if all you're interested in is meeting the customer's needs then moving on to the next customer in a slash-and-burn fashion, or farming existing customers for opportunities that fit YOUR product line, then leverage AI to the hilt. If, however, you would like to get beyond the customer's need and start addressing the temporal "wants" of the customer in a "what's possible" fashion by establishing trust and respectability between two human beings, well, AI just isn't the tool for that.

Final thought here since I'm beating up on AI. One problem I see in sales, frequently, is when an AE lands an appointment in the C-suite. They show up for the meeting and know just enough to get a conversation going. 5 minutes into a discussion, however, the seller reverts back to their status quo or safe space; many tech sellers don't have the business acumen to hang in there at the C-suite level and they are unceremoniously introduced to a lower-level person who understands tech better than the CXO does, and that seller will never get back into the C-suite again. My prediction is that AI is going to exacerbate this problem. It will make sellers "think" they know the language and nuanced problems CXOs are dealing with, but they're going to struggle when they're put on the spot and there's no AI to reference for the answer the CXO is asking.

AI is great. Just be discerning with what it gives you, approach it with caution, and don't become dependent on it.
2
CEO in Software, 2 - 10 employees
Other use cases are identifying emotional fears and desires of you ICP, KPIs your customers are evaluated on, condensing research that takes 3-4 hours a week in 15 minutes, custom content for customers/prospects, objection role playing and learning/development.
2

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Free Version76%

Paid Version (Chat GPT Plus)34%

Enterprise Version (or plan to use)8%


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