The AI shock is creating a clear divide between two generations of salespeople. And without vigilance, it will turn into an abyss which could unfortunately swallow up the most experienced salespeople and paradoxically the least agile.
Still too often, I evangelize sales teams about artificial intelligence. With each demonstration, the same effect: amazement. Many are amazed to discover, via a fluid and relevant conversation with ChatGPT, that their technical expertise, their product knowledge, or even their mastery of the market are now accessible, instantly, and for free.
Elsewhere, companies are already deploying virtual telemarketers, with voices and faces almost indistinguishable from those of a human being, equipped with infallible memory and total availability. These avatars know everything: products, services, orders, customer accounts… and they are already trained in sales. Their cost? Paltry: an initial installation, a subscription, a few regular updates, and… that’s it.
An unsuspected scale
Soon, the commercial world will split into two: those who master these tools to increase their performance, and those who, passive or skeptical, still rely on their experience or seniority to protect them. Those who already think about “using” AI, often to simplify emails or refine a report, are still only scratching the surface! They are far from understanding the extent of the impact that AI will have on the entire sales process, from prospecting to loyalty. It is precisely these revolutions upstream (prospecting), at the heart of sales (appointments), and downstream (monitoring and loyalty) that we will overview to understand their scope.
Before sales, AI has redefined prospecting, generation and nurturing leads with unprecedented precision and efficiency. Thanks to its analytical power and its screening massive, it identifies prospects in record time, automatically retrieves contact data and initiates the first exchanges on several channels.
It sends the prospect relevant content, intelligently sequenced and adjusted in real time to nourish the relationship. A war machine ahead of the sale, marking out the terrain like never before.
Passing the baton at the right time
AI also refines the preparation and personalization of interactions, deciphering signals of purchasing intent. She passes the baton to the salesperson at the strategic moment, when the prospect is ready to listen. And that's not all. AI produces increasingly detailed interpretative data: from a social profile or a purchasing act, it analyzes behavior, decodes personality traits and captures emotions. Result ? The salesperson knows what topics to address, with what posture and tone for each prospect. In scheduling, AI optimizes appointments with surgical precision.
All this data is carefully analyzed. Conversion rates, enriched by advanced qualifications and relevant automated sequences, refine predictivity, improve management and quickly reveal new avenues for optimization. Planning becomes a science, backed by relentless intelligence. AI is not just behind the scenes; she is fully in the action, at the heart of the exchanges. Today, many solutions record calls and videos, offering not only a dynamic transcription, but also a summary of the action points and key issues of the meeting.
Those who already think about “using” AI are still only scratching the surface!
With “scorecards”, the AI takes the game further: it evaluates each call according to the company's commercial processes, instantly measuring the duration of interventions, compliance with steps, quality of arguments, attempts to conclude and the relevance of responses to objections. In the blink of an eye, it produces a precise diagnosis of adherence to sales process.
As AIs become richer, they decipher customer behaviors, micro-expressions and emotions more and more finely. In real time, they can support the salesperson by providing advice, suggesting questions or subtly adjusting their posture to optimize each meeting.
Towards immersive solutions
Currently, many salespeople record their face-to-face meetings with the customers' agreement, a gesture which facilitates follow-up, reduces note-taking and initiates the self-supply of CRMs. This is just the beginning: soon, these practices could evolve into immersive solutions, where AI would analyze live exchanges and discreetly provide its recommendations via a screen, a tablet, glasses or a connected headset.
After the interview, the data captured and the voice notes taken on the spot allow the AI to simplify and enrich customer follow-up. Finish it reporting tedious: AIs take over, managing the post-sales steps internally as well as in the interaction with the customer.
From writing the report to sending, monitoring and follow-ups, each step will follow an intelligent tempo. This principle will also govern theonboarding customer and loyalty, ensuring satisfaction, an increase in the average basket and loyalty, until making the customer a true ambassador of the brand.
A new generation of sellers
And after? In young, ultra-digitalized companies, “full stack” entrepreneurs and salespeople, passionate about automation and data-oriented, are tirelessly pursuing new growth levers. These pioneers go beyond using these new tools: they combine them, optimize them and explore every potential competitive advantage that AI could offer them and create a new generation of “augmented salespeople”.
Conversely, in large groups, waiting and caution dominate. AI arouses a distrust reminiscent of that of the internet 20 years ago: danger, gadget, or real opportunity? Executive management is hesitant, scrutinizing the risks of entrusting data to external AIs and worrying about privacy and regulatory compliance issues. While large structures are stalling as a precaution, small ones are moving forward without restraint in this digital wild west.
Already, several automation tools combine and sequence the intervention of various AI to streamline sales processes. Soon, these automations could merge into large CRMs, orchestrating the end-to-end customer journey. A rationalization of this ecosystem is likely, with acquisitions and integration within the platforms of the major players in commercial digitalization, forming a real business suite – just like what Microsoft Office accomplished for office automation in the last century.
However, it becomes crucial to commit to it without waiting for this rationalization. Those who wait, hoping for a stabilization of the market, risk being left behind by the pioneers who have already seized these new growth levers.
Artificial intelligence is present in most sectors, or almost, with its supporters and detractors, but what is its impact?
