Forrester Report: How AI Will Transform Sales
The Artificial Intelligence (AI) revolution in sales has begun, shows a Forrester research report on AI sales transformation. The report, titled “How AI Will Transform Sales,” details the latest improvements in machine learning technology for sales, and offers info on how companies can use AI from pre- to post-sales to drive better customer engagement.
Act Now, Before The AI Revolution Sneaks Up On You
The Forrester study pushes businesses to act on AI implementation, or risk falling behind competition. It highlights that companies using smart AI tools for their sales organization have higher chances of success.
Currently, over 90% of B2B buyers prefer to make their purchases online rather than interact with a salesperson. However, highly considered purchases often still require seller involvement, show studies. AI has the potential to transform human assisted sales, leading them to “match the buyer experience of self-service,” shows Forrester.
Sales and Marketing Are Leading AI Adoption
Marketing and sales are the top business functions driving investment in and adoption of AI systems, according to Forrester. In the study, 46% of respondents in the survey said that these two functions are leading AI adoption.
The B2B customer has unprecedented access to information and is empowered to connect with organizations in their own way, as well as disengage at will. The only way forward for sales organizations is to undergo digital transformation, and AI can help achieve this goal, show the report.
AI will help salespeople avoid delayed responsetimes, context-agnostic recommendations, or time spent on administrative activities. It allows salespeople to:
- Automate important but routine tasks: Just one example would be automatically syncing sales activity data to the CRM
- Identify new and leading revenue-generating opportunities: AI can quickly analyze large amounts of data and find patterns of success that lead to new sales opportunities
- Augment their knowledge and insights: AI solutions use data sources like CRM, external news sites, and social media to surface the most relevant insights about ideal buyers. They can then connect them with a seller exactly at the right time for a transaction.
- Drive smarter, more personalized engagement: What makes a sale is sometimes how well you can personalize your content to the buyer’s context. AI solutions can recommend relevant sales content and identify how and in what channel the buyer wants to engage.
To learn more about what companies can do to apply AI to pre-sales and post-sales activities, you can download the Forrester research report here.
The report included surveys and interviews of industry leaders such as XANT, BrainShark, General Electric, Microsoft, Oracle, Salesforce, SAP and ZoomInfo.
