What can AI do and not do, and why it will not replace sales professionals

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has taken the world by storm, and I’ve been watching a lifetime of evolution happen within weeks with curiosity and fascination. Every day, research papers are published about how LLMs are performing (or not) and applications of this technology in everyday life and across industries such as medicine, education, and many others. What it does, what it does not do, and how to break them have been topics of discussion in every conversation over coffee or on social media.

Let us cut to the chase. AI will not replace sales professionals. Every technological advancement (including RPA and automation a few years ago) has brought with it speculation about human beings losing their jobs. Contrary to popular belief, technology has created more jobs. There are some elements of a sales rep’s job that AI can do, but at its best, it can act as an aid or an assistant. 

I believe we will encounter more human-like bots very soon trying to sell products we need, want, or wish for, in a smooth manner. Bots will just be one such channel as more integrated channels will evolve in combination with other technologies like 5G, metaverse, robotics, and more. Sales professionals will be aided by AI assistants that can understand them and their working style and help them perform better.

What role can Generative AI play in the future of sales?

The speed at which Generative AI is evolving makes it hard to test and predict its future. But I’m confident that there will be many applications that we will build and experience in no time. LLM has fundamentally changed the way a machine can understand. The language between two human beings as a means of communication has also become a means of communication between a human and a machine. And this is a game-changer. 

Sales tech organizations are working hard to build tools that will sense customer sentiment, customer emotions, and engagement levels. Currently, tools can predict trends and highlight patterns based on existing data fed into the tool by the sales reps. But with the world of knowledge these foundation models hold today, there is so much possible in the short term and long term.

In the short term, we will find plenty of applications that are quick to implement with the LLMs, like ChatGPT, that will help with mundane tasks such as writing emails, follow-ups, analyzing sales data, and creating reports on the fly, keeping CRM up to date and so on. 

More sophisticated capabilities will emerge in the long term when LLMs are trained with meaningful data and context. These could be across the following dimensions:

• Experience that is non-intrusive, subtle, and almost invisible
• Personalization – Make the buyer feel like they are buying exactly what they want/need by providing dynamic product designs and prices
• Sell to machines (mostly AI) that will act as buyers in choosing what they should see, consume, or buy

A recent study by Stanford and MIT on using Generative AI in a real-world work environment by customer service employees showed that the agents were able to work 35% faster. It also showed performance improvements in inexperienced agents, faster onboarding, and improved customer satisfaction and retention.

Will sales roles be affected by the advent of AI? 

Similar to other functions, AI will have an impact on the sales function as well. Roles and tasks like cold calling, data entry, status tracking, and report generation for sales operations will be more affected than roles that require building trust and nurturing relationships, such as account management and customer success. B2B sales involve several layers of complex decision-making, nuanced negotiation skills, and diplomacy that AI cannot replicate.

While AI will not replace individuals, I believe sales professionals must learn to leverage AI and use it to complement their own expertise. Learning to use AI will also help give sales reps an edge over their competitors as they can apply it to newer roles, which require different skill sets. This would include monitoring the AI tool for accuracy, checking for ethical persuasion and biases, and fact-checking or quality-checking the output. 

Summing Up

While AI tools can assist sales reps by summarizing emails and key points from the previous meeting or providing ideas on how to move the deal forward, they cannot replace a welcoming smile or a firm handshake. No robot or AI can do that, no matter how sensible.

But this tech is evolving, and it is evolving fast. It would be prudent for sales professionals to adopt and embrace technology and AI while still providing the human touch. The best of both worlds!