Are you incorporating AI into your sales tech stack? How would you recommend others approach this?


2.4k views4 Upvotes12 Comments

VP of Sales Enablement in Software, 10,001+ employees
If you are not incorporating AI already, or are not researching how to incorporate AI, you will be left behind. The rules of the game have changed. Most of us are already "using it" through apps we access; like Uber, Instacart, Amazon, you name it. There is a major transformation happening right now in sales, in enablement, in engineering. The biggest concern I have with AI, is it's ethical usage. I don't believe it will replace humans in business; it doesn't have human traits like empathy or intuition, and can't make eye contact - all of which are part of the human connection. What it can do for sales is significantly reduce the time spend researching and "connecting the dots". AI can show you analytics and connections that you may not have already considered, when you ask the right questions. 
7 1 Reply
CEO in Software, 2 - 10 employees

Sheevaun, great call out with "If you are not incorporating AI already, or are not researching how to incorporate AI, you will be left behind. "  I totally agree.  In terms of empathy and emotions, I have found great uses cases by identifying fears, dreams, desires and frustrations by avatar.

1
, Self-employed
I have been thinking about it and have not made a decision. For us, it has been about revenue intelligence and AI around forecasting and the probability of opportunities. Maybe because of my finance background, I'm not a believer in AI just being the solver of all forecast issues. I've had vendors saying, "All of our customers get a 15% uplift" and, I just don't buy that. So I don't know what I'm waiting for. I'm just in the information-gathering stage at this point. I'm happy to talk to vendors and see solutions. But, nothing is telling me that I need AI right now.
, Self-employed
Our new CRM, Microsoft Dynamics has a lot of AI built in natively already; lead scoring and conversational intelligence for note-taking, and sentimental analysis. We’re also looking into a tool like ChatGPT that can further create an executive summary for our sales reps in preparation for a call with a customer in a certain industry.

The last element is looking into something we internally call, "willingness to pay." We look at the model and evaluate what the customers will likely pay which is based on loyalty, product mix, origin, and industry. We’ll tell the salesperson that this customer is likely to pay a premium because of our value or because the customer is in a particular industry. We bring in intelligence to predict the best price for prospects and existing customers.
2 1 Reply
CEO in Software, 2 - 10 employees

Daniel, check out the prompts I just dropped in my response.  This should help you out with ChatGPT.

CEO in Hardware, Self-employed
AI is already built into many tools in the sales tech stack and you can't control the AI in these. So let's instead focus on where you DO have control over AI:

Remember, AI is an assistant, not a slave. Do NOT simply take what AI feeds you as gospel that you simply copy and paste. You need to personalize AI's output and make it yours. It will be interesting to see how plagiarism comes into play with LLM AI...

As a seller, use AI to help you craft better communications based on the target persona or individual person. Also, use AI to help bolster your LinkedIn profile. And, use AI to research where your ICP hangs out so you can connect with them.

To the extent that Marketing is part of sales and uses the sales tech stack, again, use AI for market and persona research. Also, consider using graphical AI engines, such as Adobe FireFly, to amp up your visual marketing. A word of caution here: Don't try to con the user visually by presenting a false reality of something. There's a fine line between truth in advertising and manipulation. 
2
VP of Sales, Self-employed
AI encompasses a large number of things. More recently, people use LLM (large language model) and AI interchangeably. As others have mentioned, you are probably already using AI in some shape or form in your sales tech stack already as it's baked in the software you're using. A better question would be what use case would you like to simplify or eliminate with AI in your sales tech stack?
Director of Services, Self-employed
Yes. Right now Microsoft has made investments in ChatGPT and it's incorporated into some of the work we do with our customers. We can incorporate some of that in some of the sales operations we already use, like machine learning to look at our numbers and gain some patterns out of that. Also, thinking about how we can take that next step and incorporate it into some of the work we do for our proposal teams.
Director of Sales in Software, 51 - 200 employees
Great for a lot of things, but most specifically I love it for prospecting Enterprise Accounts and Opportunities
CEO in Software, 2 - 10 employees
As others have mentioned it is in everything.  However, if you master it it (even if you only use the LLMs like ChatGPT or Bard) you can reduce ramp for new reps by months, automate execution of deep work tasks by management (with human oversight), and give you skill sets that you currently don't have. Also, I 1000% agree with @Sheevan Thatcher that you will be left behind if you are not experimenting or intentionally focusing on leveling up your game.
2
CSO in Construction, Self-employed
Your sales org should incorporate AI but not rely on it.  AI is a shortcut. It is shortcut to what the masses are thinking. It is the 2023 version of what the internet was in 2000. You should absolutely incorporate it as a shortcut. I see it very helpful when it comes to onboarding new reps. 

The truth is AI doesn’t know what it doesn’t know. If you have unique perspectives, unique products, unique services, and a unique approach, AI can’t help you. If could go even go against what you’re trying to accomplish. 
1
CEO in Software, 2 - 10 employees
Here are 10 prompts with use cases that 99% of sales professionals miss.  

1) Communicate more effectively with prospects by getting feedback

Use this prompt:

"Review my pitch below. Make it as concise and clear as possible and suggest ways to make it even more impactful and persuasive for my prospect."

[paste your message]
________

2) Customize your introductory meeting focus based on your prospect's business

Use this prompt:

"Review my prospect's about you section of their website below. Create the top 5 focus areas that are most relevant to their business based on my offering that is a {name offering} and produces {result}."

[paste your message]
________

3) Improve your decision-making to achieve results.

Prompt:

"I want to improve my decision-making skills. Provide a 30-day learning plan that helps me make better, more informed decisions."
________

4) Get actionable insights from Sales and Persuasion books.

Prompt:

"Share the most important Sales and Persuasion lessons and insights from the book [insert book] by [insert author]. For each insight suggest an actionable way I can use it."
________

5) Receive mentorship from the greatest leaders in business.

Prompt:

"Assume you are [insert famous business leader, e.g. Tim Cook, Elon Musk, Marc Benioff]. Consider my situation below and give feedback as if you were [insert leader again]."

[describe your situation]
________

6) Enhance your problem-solving skills for your customers and as a Sales Person.

Prompt:

"Act as if you're my Sales and Business coach. Provide a step-by-step guide for resolving [insert a Sales or Customer challenge]."
________

7) Deliver feedback to identify blind spots in your performance.

Prompt:

"I would like to receive constructive feedback regarding my issue below. Provide a structured way to deliver this feedback that demonstrates empathy while increasing the likelihood of a positive outcome."

[describe issue]
________

8) Take an 80/20 approach to the next
step in your career development.

Prompt:

"I want to become a Sales leader. Identify and share the most crucial 20% of leadership lessons that will enhance 80% of my sales leadership skills."
________

9) Use stories and metaphors to become memorable to emotionally close clients.

Prompt:

"I want to communicate the message below. Please suggest relatable stories and metaphors I can use to persuade a prospect powerfully."

[insert message]
________

10) Evaluate your ICP knowledge.

Prompt:
"I'm learning about [insert title, e.g. CFOs]. Ask me questions to test my understanding of what motivates/challenges them. Identify gaps in my knowledge and provide improved answers to fill those gaps."

Any other use cases you like?

2

Content you might like

Increased0%

Decreased0%

Stayed the same100%


1 PARTICIPANTS

51 views1 Upvote

VP of Sales in Software, 10,001+ employees
I believe that AI can automate away the busy work as a great co-pilot, but the relationship, intuition, conversation, and understanding part of sales should continue to be part of the human experience... 
2

242 views2 Upvotes1 Comment

VP of Sales in Software, 10,001+ employees
Lead qualification - could go to another team, but could also leverage technology to help...
2

271 views2 Upvotes1 Comment