Your competitors aren’t just using AI, they’re optimizing it. If your team isn’t actively integrating AI with human selling, you’re already falling behind.
60% of companies using AI in sales report higher deal velocity, but those without AI adoption risk lower close rates and longer cycles (Salesforce, 2024).
Side note: I mean both under and over utilization of AI tools.
What You’ll Get in This Post
AI in sales isn’t about replacing humans—it’s about making sales teams more effective, more strategic, and more scalable.
In this post, we’ll cover:
The latest AI sales research—what’s working and what’s not.
The biggest AI mistakes sales teams are making (and how to avoid them).
5 AI + HI sales strategies top-performing teams are using to close more deals.
A 1-week AI + HI implementation plan you can start using today.
This isn’t just theory and trending buzzwords, it’s what I do with my clients. I recently worked with a financial services founder who wanted to transition from founder-led sales to a scalable, structured sales team. We built a Smart Sales Playbook powered by AI—but with a twist: the team actually used it. Unlike most playbooks that collect dust, this one helped them close more deals.
Stay tuned! We’ll be sharing a full case study soon. Want early access? [Sign up for the Playbook waitlist here]
Now, let’s dive in.
AI Is Changing B2B Sales, But It Can’t Sell for You
Let’s get real, B2B sales is broken. As evidenced by the fact that I talk to a lot of business owners who dream of a salesperson-less sales team. We're not there yet. Business to business is still humans leading buying projects, so we need to connect with them on a human level.
That being said, those buyers are more informed than ever, they generally don't talk to a salesperson until they've done their research and are close to making a decision. Yet sales teams often run discovery calls as though it's the beginning of the conversation, wasting time covering things that an AI tool could tell you in seconds. Or asking the same generic questions that do little more than uncover surface pain.
And why? It's not because they're lazy or looking for the easy way, many sales professionals I know are some of the hardest working people you'll ever meet. They are bogged down with administrative tasks and a tech stack of all kinds of tools to manage. In other words - drowning in inefficiencies, misalignment, and wasted effort. You’re hiring more reps, adding more tech, running more campaigns, but your revenue isn’t growing fast enough. Because your reps aren't spending enough time doing what they do best - talking live with prospects, clients and partners.
I see it all the time. CEOs and revenue leaders throw money at new hires, expensive software, and outsourced marketing firms, hoping for a quick fix. But the real problem isn’t effort, it’s direction.
AI is being positioned as the magic fix. But AI alone won’t fix a broken sales process, and...
The Data Backs This Up:
AI-led outreach without human personalization lowers response rates by 40% (LinkedIn Sales Report, 2024).
67% of B2B buyers expect a human sales rep in the process (Gartner).
Companies using AI increase lead conversion by 50%—but only when AI is used as an assistant, not the primary driver (McKinsey).
Key Takeaway: AI can't replace sales teams, but it can amplify them. If you use it right, it shifts your team from admin work to customer-facing work. The result? Faster deal cycles, higher close rates, and more predictable revenue. But if you don’t? It will turn your pipeline into a black hole of ghosted leads.
AI is all about reducing frictions and making it easier for your sellers to sell. And also, delivering what your clients want and when - aligning with their needs. Let’s talk about the mistakes that are costing teams millions in lost deals, and I wouldn't do that without talking about how you can fix them.
Avoid These AI Sales Mistakes (and What to Do Instead)
What happens when you don’t optimize AI? You get flooded inboxes with no responses. Sales cycles that drag on forever. And a pipeline that looks full but never closes. These are the exact pitfalls I help my clients avoid. Every time a business owner comes to me frustrated with slow deals or ineffective outreach, I see at least one of these issues at play.
Mistake #1: Over or Under-Relying on AI for Lead Qualification
The Problem:
AI ranks leads based on past patterns, but it can’t detect real buyer intent (like budget shifts, internal politics, or leadership changes).
Or the salesperson isn't using lead qualification tools at all and are relying on their gut, or in other words, all leads are good leads.
The Fix I Prescribe: AI finds and qualifies leads and then the human reviews and makes final decisions.
Real World Example: No shade intended, I value both of these tools, Apollo.io and ZoomInfo help resolve a go-to excuse from salespeople: "I don't know their email". However, they don't know the person who yelled at you and threatened to sue. How awkward would it be to have a new salesperson call on them? (Truth: this happened to one of my reps years ago, not a great first impression in a new job.)
Use your AI tools to source new leads and enrich data to uncover those emails and check leads against ideal client profile details. And then have a human review to remove any that would be a bad idea to call.
Mistake #2: All or Nothing Approach to AI-Written Emails
The Problem:
Going all in on AI-generated emails produces robotic, generic, and completely forgettable messaging.
Adhering to old-school outreach leaves the salesperson spending too much time on admin tasks and not enough time actually selling.
The Fix I Prescribe: A balance, using AI for structuring emails, but always adding human insight.
Ever seen an email that starts with:
“I hope you're doing well.”
“Just following up on my last email.”
“I'd love to discuss your payroll solutions.”
Instant Red Flag! I delete those immediately, don't you?
Use your favorite LLM to get past the blank page, you don't want your salespeople wasting time wondering what to write.
However, copy->past->send isn't a good idea either. Their emails will look like all the other emails out there and will fail to get views and responses.
A better play is to encourage your salespeople to use the LLM to write the first draft, then edit and add their own flair before sending.
Mistake #3: Automating All of or None of the Sales Process with AI
The Problem:
Trying to run salesperson-less sales leveraging AI tools. AI can make cold calls and send emails, but it can’t build rapport, handle complex objections, or negotiate.
Or following the tried and true adage that to grow your company, you need to hire more salespeople.
The Fix I Prescribe: Let AI handle data-heavy tasks (research, forecasting, CRM updates), to free up time for more relationship-building. And grow your revenue without growing your sales budget.
Real World Parallel: Ever tried to get customer service help from a large company like your internet provider? People buy from people they know, like, and trust. And no one likes automated phone systems and chatbots. The technology is getting better and it can help with simple, common questions. But what happens when you want to cancel your account? They make you talk to a real person.
Key Takeaway: AI should never replace human empathy, it should enhance it.
Mistake #4: Too much or Too Little Personalization
The Problem:
Many different segments, super-personalized messages, over-use or early use of AI deepfakes in video to personalize at scale.
Generic messaging throughout the entire customer journey. Same messaging to all verticals.
The Fix I Prescribe: Segment your CRM to your major verticals and make sure you differentiate between prospects and past prospects. Separate nurture sequences to each list.
Client Example: I'll fall on the sword here. We ran a workflow in our ai-enabled data enrichment tool that would alert us when new hires joined companies associated with lost deals. Knowing that new leaders like to make an impact, we want to catch them when they're looking for areas for improvement. Reaching out to them was a great idea in theory.
The challenge was that the data in our enrichment tool wasn't nearly as accurate as they claim. Someone responded that he'd been in the role for almost a year, so that "congratulations on your new role email" was WAY off target.
The fix was that we still ran the workflow, but the messaging was more geared to nurturing past prospects - no harm in engaging more people on the buying team!
Key Takeaway: Today's buyers expect some level of personalization (thank you Netflix), but if it's hyper personalized and your data isn't 100% accurate, you do more harm than good.
5 AI + HI Sales Strategies for Smarter Selling
These are some of the exact strategies I build for my clients:
AI Tracks Engagement → HI Verifies Intent
AI Generates Discovery Questions → HI Asks the Right Follow-Ups
AI Writes Follow-Ups → HI Personalizes Them
AI Finds Leads → HI Chooses the Right Ones
AI Flags Stalled Deals → HI Knows When to Push
SNEAK PEEK: AI + HI in Action
This week on Revenue Remix, I’m breaking down those strategies with real-world wins (and losses) of AI in sales, starting with a lesson I learned the hard way!
Make sure to subscribe so you don’t miss the full episode!
One More Thing: The “Toggle Tax” & AI Overload
Key Research:
Sales reps lose 9.6% of their workday switching between sales tools (Pavilion, 2024).
The average salesperson spends only 28% of their time selling (Gartner).
Solution: What I call the "good enough" tool. Ever wonder why I talk about ChatGPT so much? Use fewer tools, but use them better. I help my clients find AI solutions that reduce friction, not add to it.
Growth-stage companies don’t have the luxury of bloated tech stacks. Instead of chasing shiny AI tools, the best teams optimize a few ‘good enough’ tools and make them work harder.
Want the Full AI + HI Playbook?
This blog gives you the strategy—but the real magic happens in execution.
Download the AI + HI Playbook for:
Step-by-step AI implementation guides (without the guesswork).
Advanced AI + HI sales plays that top teams are using right now.
Tool recommendations & real-world case studies to shortcut your success.
🔗 Grab your copy now → and start selling smarter, faster, and with less friction.
What’s Next?
I'm developing a full case study based on this recent client success, be the first to read all about it.
I'm also developing an entire program around the Smart Sales Playbook - the exact combination of AI efficiency and Human Ingenuity that you need to level up your business. These are the future-focused strategies your competitors aren't using. Yet. Apply for early access.
Need actionable strategies now? I’m booking a few sessions with sales teams who want to start optimizing AI now. Let’s take 30 minutes to map out where AI + HI fits into your strategy. No fluff, just real, actionable takeaways.
Rise of Us is a practice run by Summer Poletti, specializing in revenue growth: sales, strategic partnerships, customer success, marketing alignment. We generally work with financial services and SaaS companies from $2MM - $10MM ARR and help them plan and execute for their next stage of revenue growth. We concentrate on strategy, coaching, and organizational alignment.
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