AI is helping sales teams to get ahead

“Sales teams with AI are benefiting from improved data accuracy, customer research and personalization – and that’s just the beginning.”

So says the latest State of Sales report from Salesforce.

The report explains that AI is making significant inroads into the daily operations of sales teams, with 81% of sales teams saying they use AI today. Nearly half of sales teams are using AI to take advantage of conversational intelligence. 83% of sales teams utilizing AI have seen revenue growth in the past year, compared to 66% of those not using AI.

Earlier this year, Salesforce’s Trends in Generative AI for Sales report showed that over half of sales professionals agree that generative AI helps or will help them do their jobs better in several ways:

• 58% of salespeople agree generative AI helps or will help them increase productivity. They estimate it saves or could save them 4.5 hours a week
• 56% say it helps or will help them increase sales
• 61% say it helps or will help them better serve customers

Salesforce emphasises that the success of AI in a business relies on the quality of the data. That use case is Einstein, where you’re asking an AI system to analyse and deliver precise and reliable outputs from the data in your Org.

But AI can also be used to build that foundation of good data. Tools like Vinton enable teams to capture rich, conversational data directly in Salesforce, adding the recording plus a summary, next steps and follow-up emails against relevant records. By using AI to automatically transcribe and summarise meetings, the onus is no longer on the salesperson to capture that rich data. It’s all in Salesforce straight after a meeting ends.

That conversational data can then feed into Salesforce flows that update relevant fields or tasks. Vinton offers an easy way to start your AI journey.

In its Trends in Generative AI for Sales report, Jennifer Lagaly, EVP Sales at Salesforce says, “The first wave of generative AI will come over the next year or two. During this first part of the innovation cycle, the advantage will go to the early adopters. My advice? Get innovative, act with urgency, and use it. Then, there will be a second wave of generative AI, as its use becomes widespread and sustainable. That’s when the advantage will go to the companies with the cleanest customer data. My advice? Don’t wait to shore up your data.”

Data quality and trustworthiness remains a big issue. Only 35% of sales professionals completely trust the accuracy of their organization’s data. Yet 92% of analytics and IT leaders agree that the demand for reliable data has never been higher and 85% of them say that advances in AI make data management a high priority.

Like Lagaly stated, the advantage will go to companies with the cleanest data. There’s no time to waste. Companies need to simultaneously ensure their existing data is accurate and trustworthy, whilst enabling users to capture recent, relevant quality data on an ongoing basis. No easy task but essential to success .

“Data culture is the collective behaviors and beliefs of people who value, practice, and encourage data usage to improve decision-making. It equips everyone in an organization with insights for tackling complex business challenges.“

Improving the trust in organisational data is more than just a technical fix. Your employees need to understand the importance of capturing the right information at the right time in the right place. Encouraging user adoption leads to better confidence in data as people can see the benefits that good data brings.

Improving sales enablement is seen as the #1 growth tactic for sales leaders.

“More than half of sales teams use sales strategy and performance reviews as part of their training. But other enablement activities, like one-on-ones and roleplay sessions, lag in adoption. Given the data and time-intensive nature of this personalized enablement, teams may find them harder to incorporate consistently or scale as headcount grows.” (Source: State of Sales Report from Salesforce)

This is one of the reasons why we’re building personalized coaching into Vinton. Learn more about that here.

In Salesforce’s State of Data and Analytics report, Deep Srivastav of Franklin Templeton is quoted as saying, “[AI’s] potential is immense. You don't have to sell people on the potential. What you have to sell people on is: How do we go about it? What is a short-term strategy? What is a long-term strategy?”

This is a crucial point. Do we wait until everything’s aligned before getting started with AI? Do we start slowly, using it for specific use cases whilst we build out the long-term strategy. While companies um and ah about getting started, it’s more than likely that some employees are “going rogue”.

In Salesforce’s recent Trends in AI for CRM report, they say: “Workers aren’t waiting for their employers to define protocols around the use of generative AI. Instead, many are diving right in, despite the absence of policies and approved tools, introducing a new wave of shadow IT that introduces data security and ethical questions.”

We’ve seen this happen in some of our customer’s organisations. Whilst leaders consider tools like Vinton to use across the Org, they may not be aware that Bob in Sales has already been using a free meeting AI notetaker for his Zoom calls, or that Abby is using an AI dictation app on her phone to capture meeting notes.

Seven in ten sales professionals are concerned generative AI surfaces new security risks, and many say they don't know how to use the technology safely. That’s why it’s imperative that organisations provide AI tools that comply with their privacy and security requirements. Starting small (with an AI notetaker for example), gives assurance that the organisation is keen to support employees in being more productive and efficient, and the decision for which solution to use can be taken at the company-level, not by rogue employees.

From Salesforce’s Trends in AI for CRM Report, 79% of sales organizations expect AI implementation over the next year. Salesforce emphasises: “Don't let your employees wander unprotected through the forest of pop-up AI tools. Build out your internal AI protocols to safely supply employees with AI tools.”

Are you looking to get started with AI tools to support sales and customer-facing teams in your Org? Find Vinton on the AppExchange - it's free for up to five users. Learn more about how Vinton works and how we keep your data secure.