Sales teams have always relied on a combination of tools, techniques, and personal touches to drive business growth. But as Artificial Intelligence becomes more prominent, it’s beginning to carve out its own place in the sales world.
But while many sales professionals are weary of this new technology, they shouldn’t be—when leveraged effectively, AI will help augment human capabilities, not replace them. These tools can help supercharge the sales process, in turn empowering more closed deals for sales pros and better results for organizations.
Early adopters of AI-driven sales techniques are gaining a competitive edge through increased efficiency and better customer insights.
And in this article, we’ll guide you through the main AI sales techniques and tools you can consider for every step of your sales process, no matter your industry or company type, along with options you can try today.
1. AI Lead Generation and AI Prospecting Tools
AI sales techniques and tools can help with sales process automation in many different ways, starting with where your leads come from and how to customize your sales approach.
These tools can assist with some of the more time-consuming parts of the sales process.
AI-Powered Lead Scoring
AI offers a high-impact, low-effort way to improve lead scoring. Tools like Leadspace or ZoomInfo use AI to analyze, and score leads based on their likelihood of conversion. These AI tools for sales prospecting track and evaluate customer data each time they interact with a business.
Automated Prospect Research
Customer research can be tedious and inefficient. Lean on AI tools like Crystal Knows to compile strategic insights, sorting through a landslide of company and staff information. AI prospect research tools provide individual insights to tailor your communication outreach.
Using AI sales techniques at this step can help by automating tasks like lead scoring, generating personalized sales emails, and analyzing data to identify high-potential leads. You might see benefits like increased sales engagement and a bigger sales pipeline.
2. AI Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Enhancements
CRM tools have come a long way, and the latest versions offer options that go beyond using AI in sales strategies. These tools amplify the work of your sales team and other important functions like operations, customer service, and marketing.
Smart CRM Systems
High-powered CRMs like Salesforce or HubSpot CRM are using AI sales techniques to offer predictive analytics and automated reporting. These systems track sales efforts from lead generation to product delivery. Some CRMs have built their own AI tools, like Salesforce Einstein or Hubspot Breeze, while others work with a variety of 3rd-party integrations.
Personalized Customer Interactions
AI tools can analyze customer data to identify customer behavior and patterns, recommend the best times to contact clients, and suggest personalized content.
AI-enabled CRMs provide a lot of avenues for improvement using AI sales techniques. Accessing data analysis for business intelligence, using predictive analytics to increase conversion, or enhancing efficiency with AI chatbots are just a few of the options.
3. AI Sales Techniques for Communication and Outreach
Communication is a huge part of sales and marketing, and it can be tricky. What if the tools you already use could make that process easier with a little help from AI advancements?
AI communication tools can be used for a variety of daily business tasks.
Email Automation and Optimization
Tools like SalesLoft or Outreach.io use AI sales techniques to optimize email campaigns, follow-ups, and any other customer communication. These tools combine with your CRM to create collaboration between sales and customers, syncing customer data and contact management in real-time.
Conversational AI and Chatbots
AI chatbots like SalesLoft Drift go the extra mile, engaging website visitors by using AI sales techniques to listen and learn from your customers in real time.
Communication tools bring benefits like time savings and increased engagement rates with prospects. Are you looking to decrease your sales cycle, increase customer meetings, or highlight missed opportunities? These goals are all ideal applications for AI communications tools.
4. AI Sales Techniques for the Future: Data Analysis and Forecasting
Automation tools using AI work well for data analysis by processing large volumes of data faster than traditional methods. Data validation, cleansing, and quality monitoring are completed by AI tools for sales analysis. Machine learning is suited for large data sets, while natural language processing (NLP) shows insights from unstructured text data, like customer comments. Forecasting can become more insightful with the help of these AI sales techniques.
Predictive Analytics
Tools like Aviso or Clari use AI to predict sales outcomes, help in decision-making, and maximize revenue. These platforms focus on increasing opportunities and conversion to expand ROI.
Sales Performance Insights
AI sales techniques can be used to analyze sales team performance, identifying strengths and areas for improvement. They can also be used for sales learning, onboarding, and sales development.
Data analytics is an area of AI sales techniques that can really transform decision-making and introduce more accurate sales forecasting. Companies selling perishable products, like yogurt brand Danone, have been able to use AI sales techniques to successfully improve their demand forecasting.
5. AI-Driven Virtual Sales Training and Coaching
Use cases for AI sales techniques can even be found for traditional sales methods like calling prospects or sales management coaching. Calling scripts and pattern recognition can set you up for success and improve prospecting results. AI sales techniques are changing and improving what were once manual processes with some of these tools:
AI Coaching Platforms
AI sales training platforms like ZoomInfo or Gong.io analyze sales calls and provide feedback. Others, like Dialpad, make sales calls easier with automated call transcriptions and note-taking.
Skill Development
AI can identify coaching opportunities and tailor training programs for sales reps. It can also offer customer roleplaying or sales simulations for specific selling scenarios if given the right prompts.
Virtual training and coaching is an AI sales technique that can lead to improved sales skills and better team performance. Sales teams can do prospecting more efficiently with AI tools that automate admin tasks. They can also be more effective due to the preparation and practice gained from sales simulations. AI sales techniques like this can be an effective strategy for teams that work remotely and don’t have access to in-person training.
6. AI-Driven Sales Process Automation and Administration
Administrative tasks are some of the most obvious pairings for AI sales techniques, including scheduling, managing expenses, and drafting contracts. As businesses grow or staff turnover happens, these types of AI tools can be even more essential.
Automated Scheduling Tools
Calendly is a tool many people are already familiar with that uses AI integrations to simplify meeting scheduling. Meetings are easy to book with AI scheduling tools, even if the participants use different calendar platforms or are in far-off time zones.
Expense and Document Management
There is a wide range of AI tools that automate expense reporting and contract generation. AI sales tools for expense reporting can save a lot of time and streamline approvals. Contract management tools use templates with clear language while using AI to detect missing clauses and identify risks.
With AI tools that provide sales admin automation, more can be done in less time. Everyone benefits from a reduced administrative burden and more time for selling activities. Finance teams can see expenses in real time and with fewer errors. Customer contracts take less time, leading to a shorter sales cycle and better ROI.
5 Tips for Using AI Sales Techniques
AI tools for sales can be a great tool for maintaining a competitive advantage when used correctly. There are a few important points to cover for sales teams using these AI sales techniques, including planning, focus, and ethical considerations.
1. Check Data Privacy Compliance
It’s highly important to use AI tools responsibly, adhering to HIPAA, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), or other regulations like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the EU.
2. Maintain That Human Touch
For long-term customer relationships, strike a balance between AI automation and personalized characteristics.
3. Create An Action Plan for Implementing AI Sales Techniques
Start with a few simple steps to begin integrating AI tools into your sales processes. Ideally, this would look something like the following:
- Identify your sales pain points and overall business goals.
- Evaluate current technology infrastructure.
- Set a reasonable budget.
- Shortlist a few tools that meet these criteria to test and review.
- Start with one or two tools that align closest with your immediate needs.
Just like a well-written prompt, when using AI tools, the quality of what you get out of it depends on the quality of what you put into it. With a good framework of privacy, personalization, and planning, you can achieve the best results.
By using AI sales techniques, you open up the possibilities for continuous learning and connection with a bigger business community. Staying updated on the latest AI advancements and continuously evaluating tools for effectiveness encourages innovation and unlocks new insights.
When it comes to new and evolving technologies like Artificial Intelligence, having a professional network with whom you can brainstorm, talk trends, and share knowledge is a massive asset for any professional. That’s what you’ll find at The Post. We provide a flexible workspace environment where you can connect with like-minded professionals and get your best work done. Want to see what we’re all about? Book a tour today, and let us show you around.