The Power of AI in Sales & 5 Ways You Can Use It

AI is helping salespeople crush their quotas everywhere. It's doing that in two big ways.

First, it's dramatically increasing productivity by automating and augmenting important but repetitive sales tasks like taking notes during meetings, analyzing calls, and speeding up research on prospects.

Second, it's supercharging sales performance by unlocking AI-powered capabilities that were previously impossible, like predicting the likelihood that leads will close, identifying new in-market leads, and automatically scoring prospects based on intent.

Today, forward-thinking professionals are discovering unprecedented ways to sell better, smarter, and more using AI in sales. 

In this post, we're going to show you how.

We'll outline a working definition of AI in sales that includes just the bottom line, no fluff or technical jargon. Then we'll look at some top AI use cases you can adopt if you're a sales representative. And you'll come away armed with some ideas on how the technology can help you better make quota.

Finally, we'll overview some top companies that use AI technology to give salespeople superpowers, so you have several AI sales tools to start looking into.

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What Does AI Do in Sales?

Technology powered by machine learning gets better over time, often without human involvement.

This is very different from traditional software.

A typical non-AI system, like your accounting software, relies on human inputs to work. The system is hard-coded with rules by people. Then, it follows those rules exactly to help you do your taxes. The system only improves if human programmers improve it. 

But machine learning tools can improve on their own. This improvement comes from a machine assessing its own performance and new data. And newer types of AI, like generative AI, can go one step further and generate all sorts of increasingly good outputs that can aid salespeople.

For instance, an AI sales tool exists that writes email subject lines for you. Humans train the tool's machine learning using samples of a company's marketing copy. But then the tool drafts its own email subject lines.

Split-testing occurs, then the machine learns on its own what to improve based on the results. Over time, the machine gets better and better with little human involvement. This unlocks possibly unlimited performance potential.

Now, imagine this power applied to any piece of marketing or sales technology that uses data. AI can make everything, from ads to analytics to content, more intelligent.

This means sophisticated AI can analyze customer and prospect data, predict which prospects are most likely to close, recommend the most important sales actions to take, forecast results, optimize pricing, and more. It also means generative AI tools can produce more and more of the outputs you typically have to create manually in your sales work.

5 ways you can use it

1. Automated Call Summaries and Action Items:

AI automates the summarization of sales calls and the creation of action items based on the conversation content. It saves significant time for sales teams, who no longer need to manually document and distribute call summaries and next steps. With AI, call summaries are generated accurately and promptly, enhancing productivity and ensuring that all participants are aligned on the outcomes of the call.

2. Call Analysis for Insights:

AI analyses sales calls to extract valuable insights about prospects' perceptions, pain points, and needs. By examining the content, tone, and sentiment of the conversations, AI provides comprehensive feedback on how prospects view the offering and what factors influence their decision-making process. This analysis empowers sales teams to tailor their approach and address prospects' concerns effectively, ultimately improving the chances of closing deals.

3. Real-time Next Action Recommendations:

AI offers real-time recommendations for the next steps in deals based on the conversation context and stage. By leveraging data from previous interactions and deal progress, AI suggests personalized actions for each sales rep to take, optimizing their workflow and ensuring that they focus on high-priority tasks. These recommendations act as a virtual sales coach, guiding reps toward the most effective actions to advance deals and drive revenue.

4. Email Content Generation:

AI assists salespeople in drafting compelling email content and subject lines quickly and efficiently. By analyzing past email performance, customer preferences, and industry trends, AI generates high-quality email copy tailored to the target audience. This automation streamlines the email outreach process, enabling sales teams to scale their efforts and engage prospects effectively. Additionally, AI's ability to create multiple subject line options increases the likelihood of email opens and responses.

5. Lead Prioritization and Predictions:

AI utilizes advanced algorithms to prioritize leads based on their likelihood to close and readiness to buy. By analyzing historical data, market trends, and prospect behavior, AI identifies leads with the highest conversion potential and recommends them for immediate attention. This predictive capability enables sales teams to focus their efforts on leads that are most likely to result in revenue, optimizing resource allocation and maximizing sales effectiveness.