How to be a salesperson in an AI future
As more AI-enabled sales tech comes to market, and fewer AEs meet their quota, it is natural to ask what the future of the human sales person is in an AI world.
I’m extremely bullish on the need for real humans in the B2B sales process and here’s why.
AI picks up low level repetitive tasks
With the arrival of AI models like ChatGPT or embedded features within sales tech tools we can start to see that some of the basic elements of being an SDR or AE are being picked up.
AI can pull in that low level research “Noticed that you are hiring”
AI can draft that email to follow up a web ‘contact us’ form to schedule a call
AI can answer basic customer questions to help them through a simple purchase
AI can pull out key moments from sales calls for handover to onboarding
AI can create and submit your forecast
But any sale more complex than a single user B2C transaction is more involved than that, involving multiple interactions and multiple people over an extended period of time.
Although customers may believe that they want a fully self-serve digital experience, the reality is, they need someone to guide them through their own buying process.
So what does it take to be a human in a sales process?
As AI becomes more prevalent, we face a very real risk of forgetting that the most powerful intelligence we have at our disposal sits in the heads of the people in our team.
Whilst AI can provide scale to simpler tasks, humans bring the emotional intelligence to the table.
Business acumen
Customers despise being in a sequence.
Customers loathe low level personalisation - “Noticed you are a retail company…”
What customers want is someone that really understands their business and can bring some insight to help them with their challenges.
I was on a Executive webinar recently from Corporate Visions:
If you want access to a senior executive you need to tell them something they didn’t already know about an opportunity, risk or problem that they didn’t know they had.
AI can’t tell them that.
Active Listening
You need to be able to speak to another human being with confidence, with clarity, with true understanding of what they say back to you.
You’re on a website, you open up the chat window.
Bad AI chat = bad experience
So you pick up the phone to speak to a human
Even as AI advances, just one instance of us not feeling heard makes us frustrated.
As a human, you have a huge advantage over AI.
You can look into someone’s eyes, you can hear the tone in their voice, you can see their body language. You can infer so much more about what a customer really means when you communicate.
More than that, you can pick up what is not being said. In a meeting you can tell that the VP you asked to join has not engaged and ask them a question to bring them into the conversation.
You can tell when someone frowns and indicates they don’t understand what your solution consultant just said.
So use that - yes you can fire off an email, but AI can send emails.
Pick up the phone, send a video, arrange a short meeting. Be human.
AI can’t do that.
Spatial awareness
English is the language of the skies - pilots and air traffic controllers of all nations use English as a common language.
They do this to ensure that wherever they are flying, pilots have spatial awareness of what is going on around them - even if it isn’t directly affecting them at the time.
You can do the same for your customers.
By being aware of what is happening in industries that are similar to theirs, or how companies similar to theirs have implemented your solutions, or how partners that they work with have developed services to similar problems -
this is all insight that you can bring to them that AI will not provide.
I call this seeing around corners. Answering the questions your customer hasn’t asked yet because you can read the room and see what is coming.
AI can’t do that.
Being a project manager
Sales is a team effort - a modern seller is a project manager, coordinating sales consultants, legal, deal desk, implementation teams, senior executives, customer references, partners, and a similar set of people on the customer’s side.
Being able to professionally manage these multiple threads using applications like Trumpet or Smartsheet, keeping everyone informed of progress and focusing in on those that aren’t meeting their commitments is an essential skill to get your customer to their go live date on time.
AI can’t do that.
Being in-person
Gartner predicts that 80% of B2B sales interactions will be digital by 2025. In a post-pandemic world customers have learned how to engage with buyers remotely - but that doesn’t mean there is no in-person interaction.
Instead of simply asking for a face to face meeting (that could have been done on video), you should consider how to create an interaction that can only be done in-person.
A whiteboard workshop with post it notes
A ride-along session with their team
An in-person training session in their call centre
By getting in front of your customer you build a real human relationship, you get to make a coffee together, maybe have lunch together.
You get to talk about things outside of work — your family, your love of 80s music, the half marathon you are training for.
AI can’t do that.
Human sellers supported by AI
As you think through your SDR/AE’s role over the coming years, consider how they can be human, and bring the value that your customers really do want from them:
Business acumen
Active listening
Spatial awareness
Project management
Being in-person
Consider how you can help your teams to develop and perfect these skills - while your competitors focus on sending ever more AI-generated messaging, the ability to build human connections will be your differentiator.
This is what will help fill pipelines and increase deal sizes over the long term.
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