Artificial intelligence is revolutionising the world of sales, and the work of salespeople in particular. Thanks to AI, sales professions are being enriched with tools that often have unexpected potential, from prospecting to the sales process. That is, provided that salespeople are up to speed and trained in best practices.
AI is a valuable tool for salespeople. Grégory Jeandot, a trainer in generative AI at Cegos, has noticed this. "Most salespeople who use AI use it to help them write posts and raise their profile on LinkedIn. AI can also help them write more engaging emails without spelling mistakes, but they could be doing so much more…"
The unexpected benefits of AI in sales
This expert knows from experience that AI can revolutionise the world of sales and the work of salespeople in particular. "Studies show that salespeople only spend 30% of their time on their core work, i.e. prospecting or selling," he continues. The remaining 70% is spent preparing meetings, writing reports, working on the database, etc. What if these tasks, often considered very time-consuming, could be "delegated" in part to an AI tool?
How do good salespeople use AI?
From generating leads to preparing contracts with potential customers, Grégory Jeandot discusses five use cases for users of these virtual assistants.
Monitoring a sector
"This is a fairly recent feature on some AI systems and extremely relevant for sales prospecting. We ask the AI to give us figures on a market and the competition and to establish benchmarks in order to provide salespeople with as much data as possible. To do this, you need to give the platform 5, 10 or 15 minutes to do its work. But all this usable information on a sector or market trends represents an invaluable time saving. Sometimes the equivalent of several days' work."
Raising objections to your offer
"This is my favourite use, and one of the most impressive. After sending all the necessary documentation to my AI, I ask it to come up with as many objections and counter-arguments about my product as possible."
This is an ideal method for preparing to answer customer questions. "Especially since afterwards, I can ask the AI for as many structured, detailed arguments as possible to respond to these objections and encourage a purchase decision and sales process."
Writing meeting minutes
"Thanks to the use of AI and my connected bracelet, I record my appointments with the consent of my potential customers. The AI then provides me with an excellent summary of our discussions. What's more, this allows salespeople to focus fully on human contact, without having to take notes."
Writing emails to prospects
"Being a good salesperson doesn't necessarily mean being a good writer. AI can be a valuable aid in sending follow-up or thank-you emails to prospects. "
Improving presentation materials
"Generative AI also produces other forms of content creation, such as slides with beautiful images for presentations optimised for prospects or social media. In just a few minutes, AI can also create training materials or excellent video content to boost a sales strategy."
What are the best AI tools for salespeople?
Depending on their needs or their company's IT environment, not all sales teams will use the same AI tools. According to our specialist, it is necessary to test as many solutions as possible in order to adapt to the circumstances.
"ChatGPT is very good, but it's not the only AI. Claude, for example, is just as good, if not better, at writing," continues Grégory Jeandot. "I have customers who prefer to analyse their incoming emails with Claude because its analysis, understanding of semantics and reproduction of a prospect's message is better than other AI tools."
Perplexity is another interesting AI according to our specialist. "Perplexity has an interesting feature in that it systematically provides answers citing its sources and the websites it has consulted, which is very valuable for establishing a commercial strategy with sourced figures."
Because they work in a Microsoft environment, some sales teams will have to use Copilot. " For me, it's not the most powerful solution, but it's the most secure for many. It's the one that IT departments know best, which can be useful when sharing data in a particular sector. "
Transforming your AI into a prospecting agent
But Grégory Jeandot cites other interesting solutions. For sales teams, there can be no effective prospecting without a good automation tool such as Make or Zapier. "In practical terms, when I receive an email, I can manage my responses automatically or semi-automatically. And if I don't receive a message, I can generate a personalised response on day 2."
Thanks to AI, according to our expert, sales teams could spend 20 to 30% less time on these repetitive tasks and focus on their lead conversion rates.
Why is AI training important for salespeople?
Ultimately, according to Grégory Jeandot, it is training in this technology and the proper use of AI that will give a salesperson significant added value in their sales process.
"We are taking a business approach in which we will try to push things a little further. We will show new use cases beyond what most participants had imagined."
Learning to write a prompt to improve your sales strategy
Regardless of the platform chosen, the revenue generated will depend on the quality of the initial prompt, i.e. the request made to the AI. "That's why the first thing we're going to learn is how to communicate and interact effectively with AI."
Example of a prompt tested in training: "You are a B2B marketing expert and you are building a comprehensive email marketing strategy to sell a particular product or service to companies in a particular sector. Your response should include the total number of emails recommended, the frequency of sending, follow-ups, the main theme of each email, and the specific objective for each email. Present your answer in a clear and simplified table format." Guaranteed results!
Use AI with caution in your business
However, the power of this tool for generating leads should not overshadow certain precautions that need to be taken during the next steps.
"We will obviously talk about data protection and what is and is not compliant with GDPR regulations. Depending on the platform and environment chosen, care must also be taken not to communicate sensitive or confidential company information to the machine. There is also the issue of copyright for certain images. "
On another note, our expert also teaches us not to take all results at face value. "We discuss topics such as AI hallucinations, i.e. how it can make mistakes and how to check that it has not made any errors."
Finally, artificial intelligence is not without bias. "If you ask it for an illustration, you need to be very specific in your prompt to avoid the over-representation of white men over 50, for example."
Better sales prospecting thanks to AI
Grégory Jeandot often leaves his participants with a promise: to save time so they can focus on what matters most, i.e. lead generation, appointments and customer relations, thanks to artificial intelligence. As for the time spent on training, it will quickly pay for itself. "Because it's not just about learning the theory. Integrating AI allows you to completely rethink your sales strategy."
This blog article was originally published on cegos.fr under the title "Comment l’IA peut-elle aider un commercial ?"
