Artificial intelligence (AI) is the horsepower of the future, and its importance going forward was even more emphasized due to the Covid 19 pandemic. Being valued at $27.23 billion as of 2019, the artificial intelligence market is expected to reach $267 billion globally by 2027, a 1000% increase in the space of eight years.
AI is set to have a huge impact on the sales process over the coming years with 91.5% of top businesses already having an ongoing investment in artificial intelligence. Buyer analytics provided by AI will give key insight to help get deals across the line.
How exactly is AI upending the B2B sales experience? Three major aspects are discussed below:
Optimizing processes
57% of sales reps are expected to miss quota this year. This would be largely due to inefficient and unorganized sales processes.
However, artificial intelligence is expected to facilitate great strides in the direction of sales process optimization. This would begin with sales onboarding. A study of some companies showed that onboarding of sales reps takes about 4.5 months. Some companies may even take over 7 months for new reps to get fully productive.
Using its analytical capabilities, AI will serve as a guide to new sales reps, giving them insight on how often they should reach out to a possible buyer and how to close deals efficiently. This will reduce the time it takes to onboard new reps because they are guided to taking the most effective courses of action.
AI will also play a major role in facilitating processes such as the preparation of content. This was a job normally left to the employee who could write the best essay, if there was no such person, the company made do with the best essay writing services it could find. Writing experts at Dissertation Today say that receiving such offers from companies is quite common.
Features like automation and Natural Language Processing (NLP) would make these processes much more seamless. Lesser tasks can now be automated, giving sales reps more time to focus on more productive issues. AI will allow data to be collected in one place, making it more accessible for meetings with potential buyers.
This takes us to our next point.
Automation of mundane sales tasks
Scheduling meetings are a painstaking process. More was time is spent on scheduling meetings than on the actual meetings themselves. Sales reps could spend up to 4.75 hours arranging meetings; from sending out reminders to communicating new information.
However, AI has given us automation. There are several new software that use AI-powered automation to make these processes so much easier.
AI can also help automate the tracking and acquisition of buyer data. So, the sales reps pay proper attention to the needs of the buyer.
Personalization
77% of buyers prefer a brand that offers a personalized experience. Sadly, a study by Forrester shows that nearly 8 in 10 buyers say sales reps meet them with irrelevant content.
AI brings an entirely new dimension to personalization in the B2B sales experience. This will largely affect lead scoring. As of now, lead scoring has to do with ranking leads to find out their sales-readiness. Lead scoring is done based on the level of interest showed in your business, how they factor into your business strategy, and their current position in the buying cycle. With AI managing all the data concerning marketing, buyers, and sales, things would become easier for sales reps. Sales reps will be handed information that is tailored specifically to the needs of each lead.
The amount of accurate content available to salespeople will also be dramatically affected by artificial intelligence. The Internet of Things (IoT) poses quite some interesting possibilities when you integrate the data coming from it. The main purpose of such data would be to monitor products. But it’s likely that a situation in which, for instance, Airbus, after monitoring their own products digitally, comes up with a personalized product list for Virgin America at the exact time they may be considering replacing a particular machine part on some planes in their fleet.
Wrapping it all up
The application of artificial intelligence to the B2B sales process will have a huge effect on the way sales reps work. One great benefit of using AI will be feedback generation. Data from when customers first see a product to monitoring those they later acquire can be collected and used to improve customer experience. AI will change the way sales and marketing work, bringing more efficiency and intelligence.
Artificial intelligence is still surrounded by certain myths. This may leave companies feeling skeptical about adopting this technology. However, AI is the sales rep’s best friend. It facilitates healthier and better relationships between reps and customers, thus increasing company success.
Author Bio:
Ashley Simmons is a professional journalist and editor. She has been working in a newspaper in Salt Lake City for 4 years. She is also a content writing expert on topics such as psychology, modern education, business, and marketing innovations. She is a master in her craft.
