Introduction

AI is not about sending thousands of emails or automating every aspect of the sales process. It’s definitely not about replacing humans in the sales process. AI is about augmenting human capability and making our work more efficient and effective. We know that AI is a powerful tool, but it's not a magic wand that will instantly 10x your sales overnight.

We asked Neil Weitzman, a seasoned GTM expert, CEO, and entrepreneur with more than 20 years of experience in sales and go-to-market strategy, for his thoughts on AI. This is what he had to say.

How AI is impacting sales

Increase data-driven decision making

Manual data analysis, like reading up on a company’s product offering or your prospects LinkedIn profile, is boring and time consuming. But it’s important and can make or break your deal. This is where AI shines, with its remarkable capacity to process and interpret complex data sets at lightning speed.

By using AI algorithms, salespeople can uncover patterns, trends, and correlations that would be virtually impossible to detect through manual analysis alone. Now you can have AI suggest the next best action based on a comprehensive evaluation of customer data, historical interactions, and market conditions.

Take the Pod AI Coach for example, it uses a diverse range of information like your CRM system, emails, and pipeline data to identify the most promising opportunities and recommend tailored strategies for each prospect or account.

Boost efficiency

Rather than aiming for a 10x increase in output, AI empowers sales teams to make incremental improvements that compound over time.

For example, AI can help prioritize leads, personalize outreach, and identify the most promising opportunities, allowing salespeople to focus their efforts on the most promising prospects. We’re not scratching our heads unsure of the next move anymore!

By leveraging AI's ability to analyze data and suggest the next best action, salespeople can work smarter, not necessarily harder.

“Pod is one of the leaders in helping us figure out what tomorrow looks like.” - Neil Weitzman, Fractional CRO and Founder of PORCH

Productivity multiplier

AI has the potential to be a powerful productivity multiplier for salespeople by enabling them to make better and faster decisions. As Neil advised us, be skeptical of the products making claims to “200x your performance”.

“How do I just make my business a little bit more efficient and a little bit more effective? Incremental improvement is significant.” - Neil Weitzman, Fractional CRO and Founder of PORCH

AI can assist with tasks like lead scoring, prioritization, and next-best-action recommendations. By automating these processes, salespeople can spend less time on administrative tasks and more time on high-value activities like building relationships and closing deals.

Getting started with AI for your sales teams

As AI becomes more widespread in sales, teams need to carefully evaluate and implement AI tools to drive efficiency without compromising ethics or personal connections.

Here are some tips for getting started:

• Clearly define your goals and the specific use cases you want to address, such as deal management, opportunity prioritization, or content personalization. This will help you identify the right AI tools for your needs.
• AI tools rely heavily on data, so ensure your team has clean, structured, and relevant data to feed the AI models. Assess your data quality, completeness, and accessibility to avoid garbage-in, garbage-out scenarios.
• AI tools should enhance the user experience for both your sales team and your customers. Look for solutions that seamlessly integrate with your existing workflows and provide intuitive interfaces for easy adoption.
• Provide comprehensive training and ongoing support to help your sales team understand the AI tools, their capabilities, and their limitations.

Manage the hype

There’s a lot of hype around AI with unrealistic claims and promises about how it will revolutionize sales. The reality is that the impact from AI on ales is more modest and incremental. AI can make salespeople’s lives more efficient, if used correctly. Don’t get caught up in the hype trying to implement dozens of new AI tools and getting lost in impossible expectations. Be like Neil and have a balanced view of AI in sales.

Don’t miss Neil’s advice for standing out in a conference and 3 tactical strategies you can start doing today.