With technology becoming a more influential part of people’s lives every day, AI is a hot topic in today’s world. When most folks think of AI, they imagine a conscious futuristic robot who can think, feel, and act like a human. Although some such technologies exist, everyday AI is much simpler and more common. From self-driving cars to navigation services and text editors, artificial intelligence is a more significant part of daily life than most people realize.
As AI begins to integrate into human lives more closely, it’s no surprise that sales companies are looking at artificial intelligence technologies as a way to streamline their processes and save money. In this blog, we’ll demystify sales AI, discuss the future of automated sales, and investigate the possibility of artificial intelligence taking over salespeople’s jobs in the near future.
Why Intelligent Sales Automation is the Future
Although there are many reasons why AI is taking over the business world, it all comes down to one thing: operational efficiency. If your company has dedicated salespeople, chances are that they spend most of their days doing things like sending emails, creating follow-ups, establishing LinkedIn connections, and so on. What’s the problem with this, you ask? When your sales team spends hours on these tasks, your salespeople aren’t doing what they actually love and excel at: having conversations and closing sales. This is where AI comes in!
Artificial intelligence assistants are the future of sales. These AI programs help automate the relatively menial and repetitive tasks that your salespeople are doing on a daily basis. As artificial intelligence becomes more sophisticated and adaptable, it can take over all of the processes that don’t directly contribute to your company’s sales revenue. For example, let’s say your salespeople spend two hours every day sending emails and connecting with prospects on social media. Allowing AI to take over this process frees up an extra two hours for your salespeople to close sales and make a difference in your company!
In other words, your AI assistant handles formatting and sending emails, messages, and responses while your salespeople focus on the highly complex, tactical, and emotional process of connecting with clients and building trust. By incorporating artificial intelligence into your sales process, you can unlock the full potential of your salespeople by cutting out the repetitive admin that takes up most of their working hours! This is the core purpose of AI integration in sales.
How Will AI Impact the Future of Sales?
With artificial intelligence already playing such a significant role in the sales world, you might be wondering what the future holds for AI. As artificial intelligence technologies become more sophisticated and human-like, many people are worried that AI might eventually automate and take away their jobs. Although this is a valid concern for anyone, the possibility of AI taking away people’s jobs en masse isn’t something that the average salesperson has to worry about any time soon.
Even though AI may replace – or even outperform – humans in the future, the current mission of artificial intelligence in sales is to augment human performance, not replace it. In other words, the goal of technologies like AI sales assistants and automation technologies isn’t to cut humans out of the value chain but rather allow them to do their jobs more efficiently.
The risk of losing a few jobs to AI is far outweighed by the opportunities that such technologies will provide. When businesses incorporate AI to manage and execute routine and semi-repetitive tasks, their people get the freedom to do the things they excel at: creativity, ingenuity, building relationships, and closing sales.
The general principle to keep in mind when considering adding AI to your business is that artificial intelligence is made by humans for humans. AI technologies strive to create a symbiotic relationship with humans – not to compete with us for our jobs. Although AI gets “smarter” every day, human beings are still very much in control of these technologies. Despite the rapid growth of artificial intelligence in recent years, the threat of an AI workforce takeover is not one that we’ll have to worry about for a long time!
If you want to keep your business competitive, incorporating AI into your sales cycle is a must. Unfortunately, navigating the high-tech, complex world of artificial intelligence technologies can quickly become overwhelming. That’s why we sat down with CEO & Co-Founder of Regie.ai, Srinath Sridhar, and Co-Founder & President of Regie.ai, Matt Millen, to cover the bases. If you want to learn more about how AI can change your sales team, check out our webinar on-demand here.
