Article Summary: AI Is Changing Sales: 5 Key Qualities You Need to Have to Keep Up, According to Coursedog’s Director of Sales by Zach Drollinger

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Like it or not, emerging AI technologies are becoming a force to be reckoned with in business. Sales professionals aren’t immune from these changes. In this practical article, Coursedog’s Director of Sales Zach Drollinger outlines five traits sales professionals must have to navigate the evolving AI landscape successfully. As AI reshapes various dimensions of sales, he writes, being adaptable and striking a skillful balance between AI’s capabilities and human strengths are paramount. Understanding AI while maintaining your personal touch with clients will empower you as a sales professional in this new era.

Take-Aways

• Salespeople should adopt five AI strategies: First, learn to use AI tools effectively.
• Maintain a human touch with your prospects and clients.
• Stay flexible and adapt as newer tools emerge.
• Understand how AI will change buyers’ behaviors.
• Be aware of the limitations of AI tools.

Summary

Salespeople should adopt five AI strategies: First, learn to use AI tools effectively.

New AI tools are changing the sales landscape, and will continue to change it. Salespeople who wish to thrive in this evolving environment must keep abreast of emerging tools and be prepared to become familiar with them and put them to work.

“Salespeople are going to have access to an increasingly robust and refined field of AI-related resources — and if you want to be as successful as possible, you need to remain mindful of innovation as it comes.”

AI is likely to make a number of routine sales processes easier, including basic administrative tasks, CRM data updates and automated replies to proposal requests.

Maintain a human touch with your prospects and clients.

While salespeople need to get comfortable with AI, they must remain in the driver’s seat. AI tools can help you interact more efficiently with your prospects, but they can’t replicate your capacity for human empathy and should not control your decision-making. AI is an augmentation tool, not a replacement for the person-to-person element in sales.

“Your job is to act as a reliable, authoritative, consultative resource for your prospects – and that will always require a human touch.”

Think of AI as a complement to your efforts. For example, generative AI can assist in structuring sales emails, but maintaining a sense of human connection in your conversations with prospects is vital for building trust and delivering a personalized experience.

Stay flexible and adapt as newer tools emerge.

Innovations in AI will keep coming, so salespeople will have to keep learning and adapting. The future could include refined conversation-intelligence software and more accurate forecasting solutions drawn from AI-enhanced data use. If you keep up, you will be able to use these innovations to improve your individual performance and collaboration within your team.

“Actions like reviewing calls from your AI-backed conversation intelligence software or leveraging AI to log data that can inform more accurate forecasting can allow for both improved personal efficiency and broader team cohesion.”

Embracing these developments, and those to come, may feel uncomfortable, but in today’s sales climate, you can’t ignore them or cling to old ways of getting things done. AI has the potential to make your life easier and improve your sales.

Understand how AI will change buyers’ behaviors.

Widespread internet access has already made the well-informed buyer more of a rule than an exception. Generative AI will further boost buyers’ knowledge.

When potential clients look up AI-driven insights about products and services, their results will be more personalized than the answers that would come up on a Google search and will give them a better sense of how a given solution fits their particular needs.

So, brace yourself for “the best-informed buyers ever.” Turn your buyers’ knowledge to your advantage by presenting your products or services as highly tailored, specific solutions to each customer’s unique situation.

Be aware of the limitations of AI tools.

AI is not infallible. The answers it provides are not always correct, so check the information you receive carefully before acting on AI-driven insights or passing it along to prospects or clients.

“Don’t take everything [AI] tells you at face value. If it produces something questionable or [if] asking the same question twice generates two different answers, make sure you account for those gaps.”

Extracting accurate, appropriate answers from AI requires using well-structured prompts and precise follow-up questions. Approach AI with discernment and flexibility. Use it to supplement your work in sales, not to replace your skills and knowledge. For the best outcomes, make effective use of AI and balance it with warmth and humanity.

About the Author

Zach Drollinger is Director of Sales at Coursedog, a leading academic operations software company.