According to Gartner: "Sellers who partner closely with AI are 3.7x more likely to meet quota than sellers with weaker partnerships."
Welcome back! If you're new to this series on using AI in B2B sales, you can catch up quickly by reviewing the intro post.
It's likely that the organizations leveraging AI the most and most effectively are huge companies with big teams and a lot of resources to manage researching and implementing new technologies.
The fun thing about AI is that with its ability to analyze data quickly and generate insights and automate manual tasks, AI can be the technology to bridge the gap between what small and large companies can accomplish. When done right. If you're ready to get started or you're still not sure, book a quick 15-minute chat and we'll explore.
I see a lot of talk around generative AI in finance and marketing, and a lesser amount around using AI in B2B sales. What makes B2B sales powerful is the relationships built by your human sellers. We're going to focus on making them as efficient as possible, without losing that human touch.
And since some AI technology is better than others, I'm going to test out and review, letting you know what might be worth your precious time.
How and why are sellers using AI in B2B sales
According to HubSpot research:
Sellers are finding AI tools to be helpful in forecasting, automating manual tasks, writing content, coaching, and qualifying leads.
We're also aware that according to more research by Gartner: "Despite well-intentioned efforts to support sellers, sales leaders have inadvertently designed a role that is simply too complex for most sellers. More technology, and the skills required to manage it, have left sellers feeling overwhelmed and unable to perform."
Using AI in B2B sales is all about striking a balance
A balance between the right amount of tech automation and human connection.
A balance between tools that help make sellers more efficient an an overwhelming number of platforms or ever-changing tech adoption.
With that second thought in mind, I'm goin to assume that your CRM has implemented forecasting and automation tools that leverage AI. And if they haven't, I suggest you look at upgrading your CRM.
We will focus this series on messaging and coaching.
ai in b2b sales - where and how to start
Be strategic, start small, don't overload.
Gartner's advice: "Pick three to five sales use cases for AI at most, aiming for quick wins and differentiation not transformation."
Review your deals - where are they getting stuck?
Look for communication that can be standardized. One example would be follow-up with opportunities that have bumped out to next quarter or next year.
Ask your sellers where they need help.
If 3-5 is a lot to bite off, choose one at a time. That's the capacity I have for my business right now. Slow progress > no progress.
Pro tip: If you're not sure where to start, you can engage someone to help you. Or you could try loading goals and stats into an AI model like ChatGPT and asking it to point out 3-5 areas that could be improved using AI.
Some Dos and Don'ts for Getting started using ai in b2b sales
If you’re new to using AI, I recommend starting with ChatGPT. If you're already using ChatGPT, you can skip to the recap.
Do: Start with chatgpt
It may sound cliché, but after trying several, it's currently the best all-around AI platform, easy to use, and its writing is better than a lot out there. It's worth using the paid version for the best experience—I'll explain why later. But since there's a free version, no credit card required, no expiration date - it's the perfect place to start. Or stay for a while.
Start by visiting OpenAI and initiating a chat when you face a simple challenge, like writing an email or a report, and you’re experiencing writer's block. Here’s a practical example: if you’re struggling with the opening or closing of a piece of writing, go to ChatGPT, describe what you’re writing, explain your challenges, and ask it to generate five possible openings or closings.
For instance, you might say, "I'm writing an email to a client. This is the outcome I hope for. Here’s what I’ve written so far. Can you please give me five suggestions for how to close it?"
Note: You don't have to say "please" or "thank you", it's a habit I can't seem to drop. One of my grandfathers grew up on a farm on Oklahoma and he'd be proud I'm being polite even to a robot.
You'll receive the number of options you request, or several if you don't specify. I suggest asking for multiple because what you get might be somewhat cheesy or generic. If you ask for between 5-10, you'll get a couple that will spark an idea that gets you past your writer’s block.
This approach is an excellent starting point. When stuck, take what you have to ChatGPT and ask for ideas.
Don't: let chatgpt write your content for you
ChatGPT is great because it’s good at what it does, but it’s also important to understand its limitations. When you use it to help you get past writer’s block, you’ll notice its writing can be cheesy. You can try uploading or pasting samples of your writing to help it match your tone better. You can also ask it to rewrite and give it instructions like "make it more conversational", but I've seen that make the problem worse. Resist the urge to let ChatGPT write for you entirely. While it can generate an email, blog article, or research paper, the writing often feels ham-handed and you'll end up providing a disjointed experience for your buyer. Confuse or weird them out and you've probably lost a sale.
Do: consider the paid version
Upgrading to the paid version has benefits. (And Open.AI isn't paying me to say this.)
It's cheap - for $20 you gain efficiency that as a sales professional, you can easily make back in increased wins.
You can save all your chats, allowing ChatGPT to reference your past interactions and learn from them, making it more valuable over time.
You’ll also have access to the most up-to-date version of the platform, which is especially helpful. Every version writes a bit better than the last.
Instead of copying and pasting samples or data for analysis, you can upload attachments and ask it to reference them.
My favorite Pro feature is the ability to upload attachments! If I need to generate a marketing content calendar for my business, I can upload my business development strategy, ideal client profile, and current stats. Then, I can tell ChatGPT to reference the attached documents and provide ideas for marketing content. The documents already detail type of buyer, their business challenges, my content pillars, channels i use, tactics, etc. I don't have to open them and copy and paste, nor do I have to retype it all so I get good output from ChatGPT.
And what it generates is a detailed calendar, by week, including blog, post, carousel, and video topics. Not all are good, but they're pretty targeted and it helps me get out of a creative slump.
Even the Pro version has its limitations. I always tell it "do not change what I have written, but offer suggestions on how it can be improved". First world problem: that used to suffice in ChatGPT 4, the latest upgrade changed the experience and I've yet to figure out a way around this. What it starts with is a re-written piece of content. But at the end it will give you bullet points with "additional suggestions". Like an employee, it will do head-scratching things every once in a while that will make you wonder what's going on.
Do: implement with empathy for your workers
And this might be the most important point. There's a lot of uncertainty out there and if you all of a sudden start adopting transformative AI, you're going to worry your team. Explain why you're looking at AI as a tool, explain why you've chosen certain areas to improve, and explain that this is to help them not replace them. All workers, in sales or other functions, will actively resist something if they think it's their replacement.
Think you might need help?
I am recognized as a change agent who can help implement solutions. At my previous company, a client's fraud shuttered the largest business unit. Three remaining units had to be quickly sold as distressed assets. When the president suddenly resigned, I stepped in to lead the teams through the 6-month process, while also navigating Covid-19 lockdowns. I focused on morale, transition plans, and saving jobs, despite knowing I would be out of a job once the process was complete. I am a strategic planner who leads with empathy.
Share your experience using ai in b2b sales
If you're currently using ChatGPT, especially the Pro version and you didn't skip to the end of the blog, I'd love to hear your success or funny stories. The platform has so much potential to help make our lives a little easier and a lot more productive. Drop your stories in the comments.
Recap
Sellers are using AI to help with sales forecasting, automating manual tasks, messaging, coaching, and qualifying leads. We're letting the CRMs handle the first wo and concentrating on messaging and coaching primarily.
Start with 3-5 use cases specifically to help sales and leverage AI to help you.
A good place to start is ChatGPT. It has a free option that's easy to use and gives you good results.
To start out, you can try using ChatGPT if you're stuck - don't know how to start or end an email, not sure how to respond to someone.
ChatGPT's upgrade might be worth it if you want their latest model that has improved language capabilities, ability to save chats which allows for more learning in the model, and ability to attach documents for review instead of having to copy and past everything.
It's advised that you ask ChatGPT for help improving or to generate ideas for how to respond. It can write things for you, but can't yet mimic your writing tone, which will cause a disjointed experience for your buyers.
ask yourself
How would a more efficient sales process impact your business's growth? Let's discuss how leveraging AI responsibly can lead to significant improvements.
Next week, we will discuss a different AI tool, so be sure to subscribe and follow me on LinkedIn. If you’re ready to learn how your sales team can be more productive and efficient, increasing your revenue without increasing your labor costs, book a chat with us here.
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 - $20MM 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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