Company financial executives looking for ways to leverage the ascending power of artificial intelligence may want to steer some cash resources to the sales department.
Why? Because that’s where leveraging AI could add a substantial sum to the corporate bottom line.
That’s the takeaway from a new study by Gartner that estimates 60% of sales work will be handled by Generative AI technologies by 2028. More specially, companies will be using Gen-AI-driven “conversational user interfaces” to transform the sales channel and rake in more revenues.
In a word, conversational user interfaces enable buyers to engage with computer systems using natural language to complete a transaction.
There are no customer service representatives on hand to verbally guide the customer through the transaction nor is there a need to fill out information on a website, confirm interactions via email or text, and no need for the buyer to master complicated seller commands, tasks, or formulas.
Prior to CUI, buyers would need to “hit click here” Buttons or have to ask a company about their account balances. All tasks and commands would use natural language only to buy those Buicks and Barbie Dolls.
“Dynamic” Process Automation
It’s a sales strategy whose time has come, Gartner says.
“Sales operations leaders and their technology teams must prepare for the convergence of new forms of artificial intelligence, dynamic process automation, and reinvented deal-planning activities that will transform the sales function,” said Adnan Zijadic, director analyst at Gartner Sales Practices.
The Gartner report states that Generative AI “stands to revolutionize how sales organizations capture, understand, and utilize an array of more complex data signals.” Using Gen AI, sellers historically track different data sources to drive selling tactics and market messaging. Generative AI, Gartner says, should help sales leaders streamline these processes, saving hours of seller time.
“By combining external and internal data sources, and automating complex manual processes, generative AI will unlock a richer understanding of target audiences and usher in a new era of sales decision-making,” said Zijadic. “This shift will see sales technology moving from being just a tool to truly becoming a teammate.”
When sales teams merge sales force automation and gen AI prompts, managers can expand their sales campaigns even further, Gartner notes.
Not only does doing so allow company sales executives to make real-time adjustments to their products and service marketing and sales campaigns but SFA and gen AI can also combine to use buyer data to automate messaging, which should significantly boost sales content quality. That’s already happening, as 30% of outbound messages from large organizations “will be synthetically generated,” Gartner reports.
So-called conversational experiences will also comprise 14% of sales planning and 14% of deal negotiation.
“One of the most transformative use cases of generative AI will be process automation,” Zijadic says. “Chief sales officers should invest in AI readiness and data maturity to ensure they’re ready to embrace this highly impactful use case.”
Brian O’Connell, a former Wall Street bond trader and best-selling author, is a prominent figure in the finance industry. With a substantial background as an ex-Wall Street trader, he has authored two best-selling books: ‘The 401k Millionaire’ and ‘CNBC’s Creating Wealth’, demonstrating his profound knowledge of finance and investing.
Brian is also a finance and business writer for esteemed national platforms and publications, including CNN, TheStreet.com, CBS News, The Wall Street Journal, U.S. News & World Report, Forbes, and Fox News.