7 Ways AI Is Changing the World of Sales

In the past, the sphere of sales was largely dominated by mass marketing, manual analysis of data, and one-on-one sales integration – that has since changed. With the development of the next wave of technological advancement that is Artificial Intelligence, the world of sales and marketing is well on its way to be completely reformed.

Artificial Intelligence, more commonly known as AI, is currently being used by at least half of the leading brands in the virtual market today, whereas the others are quickly catching up. From voice-controlled personal assistants like Siri and Alexa, to location-specific cab services like Uber and Lyft, all make heavy use of AI-based algorithms to work efficiently. AI utilizes resources available to analyze problems and come up with the best-suited solutions, as well predictive leads. It works similarly in the department of sales. One instance is the possibility of making predictions for the success of sales through Big Data analysis – it leverages Big Data, and analyzes customer‘s behavioral response and specific browse history to come up with products tailored to the customer’s preference. Below are the 7 ways AI is changing the world of sales.

1)   Increasing Leads

Companies that have implemented the use of AI have reported a drastic increase in their leads. This is due to the fact that AI takes on most of the mundane, time-consuming tasks like finding, sorting, qualifying, and analyzing leads. This leaves more time with the sales professionals to invest it in what ultimately matters at the end of the day – selling. AI does this by mass-analyzing Big Data and other resources available to locate leads. In short, AI promotes operational efficiency and automates routine work.

 2)   Hyper-personalizing

Long gone are the days of mass-marketing when companies could sell the same product to all sorts of customers. In today’s market, the customer is at the priority, and so, his needs determine the stature of a brand in the market. This is where hyper-personalization comes into play. Hyper-personalization makes use of AI to personalize content by leveraging browsing, buying, and real-time behavioral data to predict products that are tailor-made for the customer. For instance, a person shopping for home décor might also be looking for home appliances, so the suggestions made would be hyper-personalized to his previous searches, history of purchase, and behavioral response. In addition to an increased number of sales due to customer-centric campaigns, this also promotes a healthy customer-supplier relationship.

3)   Assisting sales professionals 

Another way that AI helps salespersons is by crunching numbers, compressing and analyzing data, and identifying patterns. All of these tasks can be, and previously have been, done manually by salespersons, but with AI, these tasks can be done with much more precision and accuracy, yielding more than desirable results. In addition, AI is an efficient way of processing data and establishing patterns because it highlights things that previously went unnoticed. It also provides the sales professional with upsell and cross-sell suggestions to boost sales.

4)   Forecasting Sales Figures

According to a study, about 64% of all companies fail to set a reasonable quarterly goal to achieve, and end up falling short. With AI, such miscalculations can easily be avoided. It reads the previous quarterly targets, analyzes big data, predicts shortcomings, and offers a suitable quarterly goal. This would not only help the company manage stocks and inventory, but the accomplishment of the quarterly target would also establish a sense of victory among the salespeople and encourage them to strive harder, increasing operational productivity.  

5)   Improving Customer Lifetime Value

Customer Lifetime Value or CLV is the prediction of the future relationship between the customer and the client, and the net profit attributed to it. Through AI, the CLV can be improved by identifying the customers that have a healthy relationship and ones that need counseling. This way, the sales professional can focus on making amends with the ones exhibiting a weaker bond, while reaffirming the faith and support of the ones that have a strong and steady relationship.

6)   Assisting The Sales Manager

Many sales teams end up failing because, at the end of the day, it is all about quotas. Good sales management is almost invisible as it is supposed to be the ground for the team’s efforts stand on – the clockwork; and most of the time, the job of a sales manager is mistaken to be confined to just keeping a thorough check on sales and employee performance, but it is not. With AI, the tedious task of keeping a check on the employees and sales is done by machine intelligence, so the sales manager can manage the team, keep them motivated, create a workplace environment, hire good-fit employees, and maintain customer-client relationships.

7)   Estimating Product Prices

AI can also be used to estimate product prices, discounts, and other deals. By estimating prices according to the demographic range and standards set by the rival companies, it can also be determined whether or not a product would sell, or to give discounts or not. You want to give the client enough discount to have him want to buy, but not so much that you’re putting money out on the table. With AI, this can be done efficiently, and in relatively no time.

Conclusion:

Artificial Intelligence, when used to its full futuristic potential, yields surprisingly efficient results. In just the first few years of its development, it has taken the sales market by flood. It not only boasts sales and helps in digitally marketing a product effectively, it also works as the second brain for a sales professional – one that does not get tired, nor requires any sleep. It provides salespeople with a data-driven, customer-centric approach towards selling that has, so far, proven to be extremely helpful and, consequently, successful; and given the results it has yielded, it is just the start.