10 Benefits of Using AI for Sales & Why You Need to Start Now

AI for sales sounds like a wild concept, even abstract–but trust us, everyone (including you) has been exposed to AI by now. Sales teams work around the clock to create pitch presentations, outreach, meet targets, and more.
These processes, although somewhat automated, take time.

What AI sales tools can do is curb the learning curve and time input.

Sales professionals–if you think you know your job better than anyone, wait until we show you how to use AI for sales. Stick around for free ideas and resources that can skyrocket your sales performance.

Why Sales Teams Need to Start Using AI in the Sales Process ASAP

Machine learning systems can carry out all significant processes. Think of manual data entry, crafting copy, sending emails, and even generating images. Sales teams that don’t use AI in their processes are missing out.

Is that unlikely? No. Note that top-tier teams are already using machine-learning tools in many other areas.

The industry is changing. Major companies have created AI sales tools that generate, automate, and forecast ideas.

What are some examples of where AI is already used in sales?

Some examples of AI already used in sales include lead scoring and qualification, personalized recommendations, sales forecasting, chatbots for customer support, and virtual sales assistants. These AI for sales tools help streamline sales, improve efficiency, and enhance customer experience. Here are some popular examples:

• Oliv.ai monitors your best-performing sales conversations and helps you clone them. This improves sales automation.
• Clari.ai can forecast your revenue. It helps identify gaps and opportunities and close more deals forward.
• Regie.ai can deliver hyper-personalized colt emails to prospects in seconds. If you want to automate customer engagement, this tool is one step ahead of your sales reps.
• Microsoft is working on Viva Sales. This AI assistant can “capture, access, and register data into any customer relationship management (CRM) system.”

AI sales tools are necessary for every organization that wants to improve sales performance. But how exactly do these AI-powered tools step in and help? Let’s take a closer look.

#1 Streamlining the Outreach Process

AI enables sales reps to enhance the outreach processes. Here’s how:

• AI can automate tasks like cold emailing, personalizing pitches, or finding qualified leads.
• If you have a relevant list of leads and their engagement rates, you can ask AI tools like ChatGPT to sort them. Sort them by any criteria, or group your leads into specific categories.
• Then, you can ask your artificial intelligence system to write copy for each category. With AI emailing systems on the rise, you can even automate sending them out.

All in all, artificial intelligence undeniably exists in any sales organization. That’s because automation frees up sales reps to focus on high-value activities.

Hence, sales teams can use their time to grow revenue. How? Setting up personal calls with high-ticket leads, interpreting sensitive data, and more.

#2 Improving Lead Generation and Qualification

Lead generation is both time-consuming and tedious. From inbound to outbound marketing, sales reps must go through a lot.

Imagine having to:

• Create marketing materials (e.g., a lead-generating ebook)
• Maintain an online presence
• Keep up with trends

All while taking care of ongoing projects!

Automating, or at least improving the workflow, must be a priority for every sales manager. So, how can machine learning help?

• AI can extract valuable data from emails, call transcripts, and recorded conversations. It can provide the main conversion factors and help you focus on those.
• AI can also sort large lead databases according to your criteria to see which qualify and which don’t. Lead scoring with AI is a piece of cake.
• It can use predictive forecasting to help you target your efforts better.
• AI can hyper-personalize your pitch decks using natural language processing.

You only need the right prompt and reliable AI sales technology (specialized apps).

#3 Empowering Sales Reps with AI

If you:

• Are dreaming of your own personal assistant as a sales manager
• Would love to boost the performance of your sales team
• Need AI technology to help you speed up sales tasks

Hear us out. AI chatbots, virtual assistants, sales enablement platforms–they’re all here.

AI is ready to respond to live customer inquiries through chatbots. But those have been here for a long time now. But now, they can offer dynamic recommendations based on customer behavior.

Another way sales managers can use AI is to speed up sales coaching for their team. Using smart training systems or integrating ChatGPT to solve FAQs is the way. Use it to come up with improved educational materials and automate sales enablement.

The same goes for onboarding support. AI can take care of the formal setup, document delivery, and other HR-related duties. This can happen right away during the onboarding process.

#4 Boosting Sales Performance with AI

Use ChatGPT to stay updated on market trends, competitor analysis, and industry insights.

Train the artificial intelligence tool with industry data and ask it to interpret it. It can help in sales forecasting, summarizing reports, and even sales activities. And stay ahead of the competition.

By identifying patterns and correlations, marketing and sales teams can forecast demand. Then, they can optimize inventory levels and divide resources better.

#5 Overcoming Sales Challenges

AI for sales can address issues such as:

• Data Overload. AI tools can handle large volumes of customer data. Thus, you can automate data entry with little to no human intervention.
• Lead Qualification. AI-powered lead-scoring algorithms can assess and prioritize leads based on predefined criteria.
• Customer Relationship Management. AI tools integrated with CRM systems can provide real-time insights into customer interactions. This allows sales representatives to personalize their sales calls. You can improve and speed up the sales cycle in no time.
• Customer Complaints. AI-powered chatbots equipped with natural language processing capabilities can handle routine customer inquiries.

#6 Gaining a Competitive Advantage

AI-powered sales tools can track and measure key performance metrics. This helps sales professionals take better steps to monetize those key insights.

Moreover, AI can help sales leaders train their teams better. What better way to prepare a winning strategy than with a skilled team? AI can also forecast trends based on historical data.

If you feed the tool sales and customer data and ask it to provide you with a sales forecasting plan, it will do so.

#7 Enhancing Sales Team Collaboration

AI plays a significant role in sales team collaboration. By using collaborative tools or apps like Taskade.ai, teams can increase productivity.

These tools streamline workflows, track progress, and ease communication with sales organizations. With AI-powered workflows and collaborative systems, you can achieve collective expertise. You can also work together in real time, even remotely.

#8 Enabling Customer Relationship Management

You can use artificial intelligence to get actionable advice from data. Then, you can set triggers in your CRM systems and email campaigns.

For example, you know what to do if your sales AI tool tells you customers react best to discount emails.

You can also use AI in sales to create personalized customer interactions. Major CRM systems already use AI to generate recommendations based on each individual. This happens through customer sentiment analysis.

Moreover, you can use AI to improve customer support. Feed the tool your customer data and ask it to assign the best sales or support representative. This enables faster response times, efficient issue resolution, and improved customer satisfaction.

#9 Driving Continuous Improvement and Innovation

Given the nature of artificial intelligence, it already helps C-level executives too. If you want to cross-examine your ideas or validate strategies, AI can help you.

Input your ideas, strategic direction (sales strategies), and data into a trusted AI system. Then, ask it to provide feedback based on its extensive technical knowledge. You can also ask it to provide potential threats and weaknesses and find gaps.

Basically, AI can help you find loops in your sales process and even improve it. To harness the power of this technology, you need to foster continuous learning and adapt. Be aware of trends and apps, and include AI in your operations ASAP.

#10 Automating Marketing Operations

Here are some ways AI can automate marketing operations:

• Writing assistance. AI-powered tools can help marketers with content creation. It can generate compelling copy, headlines, email subject lines, and other relevant content.
• Idea generation. AI algorithms can analyze vast amounts of data to provide you with campaign ideas. You can use them to sort out target audiences, create buyer personas, and create copy for each one.
• Brief and outline creation. AI can assist in creating marketing briefs and outlines with relevant information from different sources. Then, it can organize it for you and use it to help you put a plan together.

Once AI provides you with the right output, you can automate your marketing operations even more. For example, you can use it to populate Xara’s templates and export your ready-to-go designs in minutes.

Even better–if you need branded content with specific colors, fonts, and formats, import your brand features and apply them to any design.

AI can take care of the copy, and Xara can do the design, so all you have to do is export and post!

Wrap Up

With the rapid advancements in AI technology, the time to adopt AI in sales processes is now. Businesses that embrace AI gain a competitive edge. They also optimize their sales performance and deliver better customer experiences.

Don’t miss out on the opportunities that AI can bring to your sales team and business processes.

While AI offers many benefits for sales, remember that it’s not the ultimate solution. Keeping up with industry trends and using other relevant tools is essential. This is where Xara comes in.

Xara offers a must-have suite of tools. Think of your own digital asset management platform, collaborative workspaces, and marketing resources. Moreover, you can stay ahead of the competition by accessing the latest trends and industry-specific knowledge for free.