Can Your Business Boost Productivity with Generative AI For Sales?

Unless you've been living under a rock, you'll know that AI is everywhere. The technology's global market - as of May 2024 - is valued at over $196 billion, and is set for spectacular year-on-year increase. And it's no wonder why; generative AI is changing the way sales teams work - not to mention demonstrably boosting sales activities and driving growth - for businesses all around the world right now.

Don't believe us? HubSpot's 2023 'The State of AI in Sales' report found that AI technology could increase sales leads by 50%. And that's just with AI as it stands today.

If that sounds intimidating, don't panic: there's time to jump aboard the artificial intelligence train yet (if not much). That's why Leadium recently sat down with Ryan Staley, Whale Boss founder and CEO (and digital business extraordinaire): to give sales leaders the lowdown on the current state of generative AI in business and see how you can leverage AI tools to boost productivity, streamline your sales process, and gain a competitive edge for long-term business growth.

Let's take a look at what he had to say.

How generative AI can enhance your sales process

When it comes to sales transformation, AI is the most disruptive force in decades. That's because, when leveraged effectively, AI tools have the power to improve every stage of your process, from sales training to sales strategy to sales performance. Ryan walked us through the statistics supporting this.

AI and productivity: the stats

Ryan drew our attention to an illuminating 2023 study by Harvard and Boston Consulting Group (BCG), which analyzed the effects of generative AI in the workplace. The study focused on 800 consultants, half of whom used ChatGPT in several key areas (including data entry, follow ups, conversation intelligence, and CRM data), and half of whom didn't. The results were shocking.

The consultants who used artificial intelligence:

• Saw output quality an incredible 40% higher than those who didn't
• Completed 12.2% more tasks
• Completed those tasks 25.1% faster

Those figures speak for themselves. Although this study focused on consultants, Ryan points out that if you stack those numbers up for sales managers or sales reps, you could forecast an output of over 200% - and that's without training (which we'll get to later).

Nor is the Harvard-BCG study alone: report after report demonstrates statistic after statistic supporting the notion that generative AI, even in its current 'infant' form, has the power to improve sales technology and sales processes, and make sales efforts and customer engagement more efficient.

We should point out, here, that the Harvard-BCG study also found several negative effects of AI in the workplace, such as a propensity for inaccuracies and mistakes. Being aware of AI pitfalls and the importance of proper training is vital for business leaders looking to incorporate artificial intelligence into their company.

So how are sales teams using AI to boost productivity?

Now we've seen the evidence demonstrating how effective generative AI can be, let's take a deep dive into exactly how sales reps and marketing teams are using it.

• Automating repetitive tasks
  • 35% of of sales reps currently use AI to automate repetitive tasks such as data entry, sales data analysis, and follow-up emails. AI can help complete these kinds of tasks automatically, giving your sales team more time to spend on learning new sales technologies and optimizing their strategies.
• Gaining real time insights
  • An AI assistant can work wonders for data scientists (and sales professionals more generally). Generative AI can analyze data (including internal data) in the blink of an eye, revealing hidden insights and patterns that your business can exploit to improve sales performance and close more deals.
• Crafting lead generation messaging
  • 31% of sales reps use AI to craft concise, effective messaging designed to reach prospects and move deals forward. Whether it's being used for emails, social media posts, or other short copy, using generative AI for messaging can lead to more sales and a better sales

How can sales teams and employees benefit from using AI?

Sales AI isn't all just about sales data, conversion rates, and more leads (or, indeed, making your life that bit easier by leaving tedious tasks to a machine). All sales professionals, whether you're a sales manager or a rep, can benefit personally from learning how to leverage generative AI.

That's because as AI integration grows - AI is expected to assist 19 out of 20 interactions by 2025 - AI-certified salespeople (meaning those trained to leverage AI technology to boost lead generation and sales organization) will be more in-demand than ever.

The bottom line is: those with AI know-how will be at the front of the line when it comes to sales jobs. So by training yourself or your sales team up now, by analyzing use cases and the systems behind Large Language Models, you're placing yourself in the best position possible for the future. That's called 'future-proofing,' and its how employees and businesses stay ahead.

And there could be financial motivations, too. Amazon's recent skills study, conducted in Europe, suggest that professionals skilled in AI, whether they're in sales, marketing, finance, HR, or other, can expect to earn 30% more than those who aren't.

So AI isn't just changing sales; it's changing opportunities for employees, too.

Improving sales performance with new roles

Speaking of opportunities, Ryan also highlighted how generative AI will create new roles within sales teams. These will be people whose sole responsibility it will be to oversee and implement AI integration within businesses. Chief among these, he suggests, will be:

• Chief AI Officer
  
  • In essence, a Chief AI Officer will be a highly-trained IT and business professional assigned to set an overall AI strategy designed to improve everything from sales forecasting and sales strategy to customer interactions and marketing efforts. In fact, some major companies already have AI executives; companies such as Dell Technologies, IBM Automation, and GE HealthCare.
• AI enablement roles
  
  • We're all familiar with sales enablement, but what about AI enablement? Essentially, and AI Enablement Officer (or whatever they may be called) will oversee the use of generative AI sales tools and ensure their proper implementation in sales transformations for business success.

How can sales managers implement generative AI to empower reps?

With new AI tools getting released seemingly every day, it can be hard to know where to begin when it comes to integrating generative AI for sales. After all, AI is already getting used for:

• Lead scoring
• Personalized messaging
• Sales enablement
• Prescriptive analytics
• Content creation
• Training new hires

…and much more.

Trying to transform all of these structures within your business overnight is a recipe for disaster, but there's a sensible way to go about it.

Ryan suggests prioritizing. A great idea would be to conduct a survey and establish the top three time-consuming tasks that your team would love to automate. Then, figure out the ROI, or value in dollars, of the role versus the time spent on those tasks. Finally, develop a strategy for integrating generative AI technologies into that role. This is the first step to incorporating sales AI into your model.

So is generative ai for sales worth it?

In case the answer's not already clear: yes! Integrating sales AI into your sales process and beginning your sales transformation is not only worth it, but critical for staying ahead in 2024.

The evidence is everywhere: AI can help your sales leaders reach your business goals with time-saving tools, better lead scoring, prescriptive analytics, business insights, more powerful messaging, and more. Not only this, but your sales teams will be incentivized by new career options and higher salary opportunities.

Generative AI is the future of sales. Ryan Staley can help you shape your business future for the new era, and you can find him at his website or on LinkedIn. And, as always, we're extremely grateful for his time and expertise.

So you're looking to improve lead generation and drive revenue? You're in the right place. Leadium is a founder-led B2B lead generation and sales development service with a decade of experience driving serious growth for global brands. You can visit our service page to find out more, or reach out for a consultation. We're always happy to hear from new business leaders like you.

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