Hello, entrepreneurs of the future! Or should we say the past? If you aren't using AI in your sales, you might as well be. Worry not! This will guide you through how to leverage the so-called emerging artificial intelligence. 

A sales pipeline is the step-by-step process involved in your entire sales journey, from finding potential clients to closing the deal. The structure of your sales pipeline can make or break your business.

Hence, it is important first to establish one that works like a machine: well-defined, unambiguous, and producing precise results. Here you can see how to fine-tune your sales pipeline.

Your general sales pipeline looks something like this:

  • Prospecting
  • Lead Qualification
  • Initial Contact/ Demo meeting
  • Formal Proposal/ Quote Submission
  • Negotiation
  • Closing
  • Post-Purchase Services & Support

Understanding AI in Sales

The sales world has always adapted to new ways and approaches to accomplish their targets. With so much buzz about AI, it is worth a shot to somehow use it for tasks in the sales process that can be automated, and for tasks that can be automated but require some level of cognition.

This is where AI can break in, with all guns blazing, saving time or two from being wasted.

But why should you use AI in sales?

The business world has been enthusiastic about and hesitant about adopting AI in the workplace, which involves trading accountability with agility.

However, utilizing AI in the right way has certainly helped a fair share of companies grow, as projected on their whiteboards. 

Examples of companies leveraging AI to increase revenue:

  • Starbucks: Starbucks uses AI to analyze customer data to understand buying habits and preferences, enabling them to create personalized email campaigns. This AI-powered approach helps personalize the coffee-buying experience, customer engagement and conversion rates.
  • Takeda Oncology: By using an application that analyzes the treatment preferences of individual healthcare providers, Takeda Oncology enhanced its sales performance. This resulted in contextually relevant information for personalized customer engagement and recommended treatment choices for sales discussions.
  • ACI Corporation: ACI Corporation implemented an AI tool that integrates with CRM and dialer platforms to analyze customer speech and provide real-time insights, which increased sales conversions from under 5% to 6.5% and improved qualified leads from 45.5% to 64.1%.
  • Salesforce: Salesforce integrated AI into its platform through Einstein AI, which led to a notable rise in productivity, improved accuracy of sales forecasts, more precise lead scoring, and higher customer satisfaction and loyalty levels.
  • Magalu: This Brazilian retailer uses Vertex AI to power an interactive conversational agent for its popular brand persona, enhancing customer service.
Use of AI in Sales
Increase in use of AI across different tasks, including customer engagement. Source

The AI referred to here is agentic AI—a form of AI that is goal-based wherein it executes a series of planned operations to achieve that goal, like a human would.

If the conversation between you and a sales executive looks something like this, you may want to start considering using agentic AI to increase your sales workflow speed while achieving results all at the same time:

Manager: Hey, can you start working on finding leads?
Sales Executive: Yes of course! I’ll get right on it.
20 hours later…
Manager: Any updates on the new leads?
Sales Executive: I’m still gathering a list and drafting the email campaign.
2 days later…
Manager: How’s the email campaign going?
Sales Executive: Just sent out the first batch. I’m also reaching out on LinkedIn.
One eternity later…
Manager: Did we manage to convert any of those leads?
Sales Executive: …Wait, which leads?

(it's a little dramatized, but you get the gist don’t you?) 

Well here’s a brief guide on how you can use AI in each step of your sales pipeline:

Prospecting 🔍

Searching or finding and making a list of all potential clients is the first step of the sales process. It needs thorough research across different channels, followed by trying to initiate communication usually through email. The human employee can only handle doing things in a linear way, i.e., one state after another. It makes the process of prospecting a time-consuming affair, and if we have learnt something—it is that time is an essential resource.

That is where an AI can come in, either independently or as an aid to the employee. AI agents can scour over vast databases and look for key details of businesses and the people behind them, make a list, and then make that list ‘richer’ by matching the list with the proper communication addresses, possibly over multiple channels.

The AI ‘searches’ according to the information you have provided to it beforehand —it may be the type of company, its product, kind of market and customers, etc. Remember that all of these things are happening concurrently, saving you lots of time.

What is better is that you probably do not have to pay any fee to access applications that provide the service of prospecting, with the AI having direct access to key data.

Lead Qualification 📊

It is important to follow up with the right leads, but not all prospects are worthy enough to follow through. Going after the less promising leads again sets you back concerning the time spent, as the same time could have been utilized in pursuing better leads. There are high-quality leads and low-quality leads and classifying the prospects into these classes is vital.

AI can match them based on a given number of factors that are fed as input and automatically create profiles that can be pursued to get the best probability of success. 

Initial Contact 📩

First impressions are the best impressions, right? Well, not unless you maintain that throughout the entire process. Since this process involves a real-time interaction with the potential client, the use of AI as how it is today starts getting into the grey area.

Nevertheless, we can still maximize the meeting efficacy, by providing inputs and hints about the client’s pain points, if not already addressed by the sales executive. Apart from this, the preparation can be done using AI, which can suggest to you how to tailor the demo to the client’s needs. 

Furthermore, communication can be automated by using personalization, which, again, can be accomplished in far less time than it takes a human. It’s not just about sending a message; it's about showing how much you care about their problem. Empathy is how you create a good first impression, and that is achieved through personalization.

Formal Proposal 📝

This involves quoting the pricing model to the client. It is important to neither overestimate nor underestimate the price—perfectly balanced, as all things should be.

AI models can predict this balanced pricing, giving enough past data custom to each client company by registering their problems and needs. A data-driven submission is our objective with AI here. 

Adding generative AI can also make your sales strategy more effective by automating tasks such as content generation and competitor analysis. This enables salespeople to concentrate on higher-level activities and refine their tactics with real-time intelligence regarding competitors.

Negotiation 🗣️

Finding the sweet spot by convincing the lead to agree with the best pricing model is a necessary skill to master. When in doubt, better call AI to the rescue! Although, it can only guide you through the steps of negotiation, as trust is something that it has not yet mastered. The result is not guaranteed, but it is best to prepare for all scenarios beforehand by leveraging analyses from an AI.

Closing 🤝

This is merely a documentation exercise, but finalizing the deal by making the experience smooth and without any complications goes a long way. AI can assist the sales team in finalizing deals smoothly by checking for errors, polishing the docs, and streamlining the entire process.

Post-Sales Support 💪

Without exaggeration, this step defines your business as a whole. You have to keep your customers satisfied at all times and make them get used to it such that it becomes an issue if they try to ditch your service. Your core principles must be intact as you provide support if the client faces any issues.

AI can be used here in the form of chatbots as the first line of contact but let's be real, unless it's a highly capable chatbot, no one wants to address their problems to a robot. AI can enhance the management of customer relationships by providing insights and automating routine tasks, allowing sales teams to focus on building meaningful connections.

Some challenges in using AI 🚧

“Just use AI, it's all smooth sailing from there,” said no one ever. As with everything, there are a few drawbacks to be considered.

  • Data quality: The information that is to be given as input to the AI must be of the highest quality to be effective. All key details must be highlighted and outlined in a clear structure and no unnecessary/wrong/redundant information should be included. If not, the usage of AI will do more harm than good.
  • Learning curve: Training sales executives on using AI, and writing the proper prompts to get desired results may consume some time. Moreover, adapting to new features and functionalities is a necessity.
  • Data privacy: As long as AI is involved, ethical considerations like privacy and security issues will always exist. Therefore, to avoid any backlash, one needs to examine the use of AI before making decisions about adopting it in the sales pipeline.

Conclusion

The decision of whether to incorporate AI into your sales pipeline comes down to the needs and operations of your business. However, the fact of the matter is apparent: AI can and will boost your business, but it is not here to replace your sales representatives.

It can and will drive growth and revenue, but it cannot be entirely autonomous. One thing is for sure—to outshine competitors in your space, even the tiniest edge can make a difference in the long term.

Balancing technological advancements with genuine and transparent customer interactions is the key to future growth.

Floworks helps businesses achieve more intelligent, faster, and meaningful sales processes. With Alisha, an AI agent who performs the role of an SDR,  you can automate essential tasks like lead qualification, cold outreach, and follow-ups.

Book a demo and supercharge your sales now!

Alisha AI SDR

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FAQs

What is AI in Sales?

AI in sales refers to using artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate repetitive tasks and optimize customer interactions. AI-powered tools, including generative AI, help sales teams by handling sales prospecting, analyzing customer data, and providing real-time coaching during sales calls. These AI tools assist sales reps in improving their sales pitches, scoring potential leads, and identifying ideal customers based on historical data and market trends.

How can AI help in sales? 

AI enhances sales automation by streamlining tasks such as lead generation, analyzing CRM data, and optimizing sales work. AI-powered systems scan vast amounts of data, identify purchasing patterns, and help sales leaders and sales managers forecast revenue more accurately. Additionally, AI technology personalizes social media posts, crafts product descriptions, and assists in sales coaching by identifying areas for improvement in a sales team’s performance.

How to use AI in b2b sales?

AI can be utilized to do tasks like prospecting, filtering the leads, creating an outreach plan, executing it, conducting follow-ups, helping in personalizing the demo, providing pointers to draft a proposal followed by the negotiation and with many more tasks like document preparation and validation in the b2b sales process.