Artificial intelligence (AI) has taken the world by storm.
Professionals in a wide array of industries now use this impressive technology to organize complex data points, write text, generate visual artwork, and much more.
Good news: You can also use AI to supercharge your sales career! Once you do, you’ll become more productive, make better decisions, and create better customer experiences.
Of course, before you can do these things, you must understand what AI in sales is and how AI-powered tools will help you improve your sales numbers. Let’s talk about that…
What is AI in Sales?
AI in sales is using artificial intelligence to simplify and enhance sales processes.
This is done via advanced algorithms that can be trained to complete repetitive tasks, assess complex data sets, and predict future results with shocking accuracy.
Some AI tools can emulate human behaviors and interact with prospects and customers in authentic ways, leading to more sales, revenue, and success for users.
Why Is It Important to Use AI in Sales?
Now that we have a shared understanding of what AI in sales is let’s talk about why it’s so important. There are two main reasons: data-driven decision-making and rep efficiency:
Decisions Driven by Data
According to Gartner, 65% of B2B sales organizations will transition from intuition-based decision-making processes to data-driven decision-making processes by 2026.
How will they make this switch effectively? By capitalizing on AI software that can analyze detailed data points in milliseconds and use the information gleaned to draw conclusions.
Say goodbye to “gut feelings” and what “feels right.” And say hello to data-backed insights that make it abundantly clear what the next step in your sales process should be.
Efficiency Is Key
Salesforce research shows the average sales rep spends just 28% of their time selling. The rest of their on-the-clock hours are spent on data entry and deal management tasks.
Both inside and field sales AI software will help you and/or your team maximize customer-facing time. How so? These tools can automatically log prospect interactions, send pre-written emails and texts to potential customers, and update CRM apps with results.
Imagine how many deals your sales team will close when your reps spend 50%, 60%, or even 70% of their time selling to your target audience rather than typing notes into their computers.
Benefits of Using AI in Sales
We’ve already touched on a few benefits of using AI in sales—but there are a bunch more. Here are four additional reasons you should invest in this technology as soon as possible:
Enhanced Customer Experience
AI will enable you to deliver premium experiences to your target audience. For example, you can use intelligent chatbots to answer questions on your website in real-time.
This will keep your customers happy because they’ll get the information they need quickly, and your reps productive because they can focus on top prospects, not random queries.
Speaking of sales reps, they can use AI tools to deliver pre-written messages at opportune moments. For instance, they can write an email at 9 am Monday morning, then schedule said email to be sent at 2 pm on Thursday afternoon—when it’s most likely to be read.
AI can also be used to understand customer needs on a deeper level. When you know what your target audience wants, you can empower reps to provide it and close more deals.
Increased Sales Productivity
Quick question: how many hours does your sales team allocate to travel? Or communicating with potential customers? Or entering notes into your department’s CRM software?
We already know the answer: way too much time.
AI tools can be used to optimize sales routes. That way, reps spend less time in the car and more time in front of prospects. They can also be used to send email and/or text messages at predetermined time, as we discussed above. Or to simply log prospect interactions so that reps don’t have to manually input information into their computers, which is a total time suck.
Basically, AI can handle many of the mundane tasks that your sales reps hate doing, freeing them up to focus on other, more important activities. (Like nurturing leads.)
Accurate Forecasting
If you’re a sales manager, forecasting is an essential part of your job.
Fortunately, AI software can help you improve your predictions. When this happens, you’ll be able to build better sales strategies, set better sales targets, and ultimately, close more deals.
You might be wondering, “How does AI help when it comes to sales forecasting?” It’s pretty simple. AI can process massive amounts of data at one time. Some of that data will revolve around customer purchasing habits and can be used to predict future sales.
Effective Strategy Decisions
Forecasting is important, but it’s not the only activity that sales managers focus on. You also need to design sales strategies and assess individual rep performance.
Once again, these tasks are much easier to complete with AI.
For example, you can use AI to generate sales reports on autopilot. Some tools will even use data to suggest the next steps, which can simplify the coaching and strategizing processes.
How to Use AI for Field Sales
We’ve covered a lot so far, but there’s one thing we still need to discuss: how to use AI in sales. After all, the only way to achieve the benefits above is to actually use this technology.
We’ve pinpointed five ways you and your team can use AI to enhance your sales processes:
Identifying and Prioritizing Prospects
Want to make more sales? Use AI to identify and prioritize quality prospects. If you don’t, your reps will waste time talking to leads who will never convert into paying customers.
AI can quickly assess prospect behaviors and existing customer buying patterns. It can then use this information to recognize people and/or companies who are most likely to buy from you right now. When that happens, your reps will close more deals—guaranteed.
SPOTIO is one of the field sales AI tools that includes this feature. Use our platform to find leads that match your exact criteria, no matter how specific said criteria might be.
Optimizing Routes and Schedules
AI can also be used to optimize the routes your field reps take between prospects.
Every second they spend in the car is a second they aren’t spending with prospects. You want to minimize these seconds as much as possible, which is why an AI route planner is crucial.
With SPOTIO, reps simply have to type in the addresses they want to visit. SPOTIO will then plan a route between them that allows for maximum productivity. Also worth noting is that SPOTIO will automatically track and export mileage for reps, removing this task from their schedule.
Personalized Pitch Generation
What if your reps could know exactly which products their prospects wanted and when they wanted them? They’d probably make more sales, right? AI can make this a reality.
Generative AI tools can use customer data to help your reps personalize their sales pitches.
This kind of software can track prospects as they peruse your company’s website and then record the products they research. Or scour email communications to pinpoint products that prospects asked about in the past. It can then combine these data points and make product recommendations, which your reps can use to personalize their sales pitches.
Researching Accounts
AI can also help you sell more products/services to the customers you already have.
For example, certain AI tools will help you analyze dense financial documents in a matter of seconds. The information you glean can be used to suggest new purchases.
You might find that Company ABC has a unique need after using AI to analyze its latest quarterly earnings report. You can then approach this company and offer to sell them Product XYZ, which was made to remedy the exact situation the company now finds itself in.
Predictive Analytics for Closing Sales
Your reps work hard to connect with leads, nurture prospects, and pitch products/services to potential customers. But none of it matters if they can’t close deals at a consistent clip.
Guess what—AI can help in these situations, too.
As we’ve already talked about, AI can analyze mountains of data in the blink of an eye. Some of this data will pertain to the common objections your reps hear on a regular basis.
Your reps will make more sales when they can prepare for common objections before their prospects make them. Invest in a viable AI solution, pinpoint objections, and teach your reps how to overcome them. Then, sit back and watch as they drive more revenue.
Transform Your Field Sales With SPOTIO’s AI Solutions
AI software will benefit your sales team. The question is, which app is right for your department? If you’re in field sales, the answer is clear: SPOTIO.
SPOTIO was specifically designed to help field sellers connect with quality prospects and close more deals. Even better, SPOTIO is equipped with powerful AI and automation tools that you can use to increase your team’s productivity levels and close rates.
Sign up for a free demo of SPOTIO to experience the power of our platform for yourself!
