AI- Shaping the future of sales force

The Article is being contributed by Paramdeep Singh- CEO, FieldAssist- A flagship SaaS platform

Humans have forever embodied progress with their unyielding endeavours to make life simpler, be the prodigal invention of fire or stumbling upon the wheel of progress. With the co-operation of technology, things which were settled in the fabled lore of make-believe have seen the light of reality. Time and again, it has been noted that industries have harnessed these advancements in the quest to add a levelled ground between customer requirements and organizational provisions- the current one leading the pack is ‘artificial intelligence’.

Artificial intelligence has evolved to be the most trending term in the business domain, with major impacts influencing the decision-making process. According to Gartner analysts, within next five years, 50% of the analytical decisions will be made through AI: replacing simple human interactions. For the sales and marketing industry, AI is a game changer of sorts as it singlehandedly uplifts the industry scenario and streamlines redundant processes. Here’s how

• Increases Leads

Recent researches have clearly depicted AI’s influence- companies that use artificial intelligence in sales claimed to have increased leads by 50%. This can be contributed to the fact that predictive analysis in AI permeates beyond the “what” in data and delves into the “why.” Also, vendors are developing automation that contextualizes the online engagement leading to leads becoming smarter, faster, and more accurate. Owing to this, sales reps can cover more ground in less time and follow the most qualified ones with more time on their hand.

• Streamline Administrative Tasks

Artificial intelligence is known to have a disrupting effect on fundamental processes and utilizes this to simplify complex stages. With AI, time-consuming, repetitive sales tasks are taken off the daily workload, promoting automation of sales. These include product-profile matching, order-taking, transaction processing, and templating reports. Not surprisingly-AI is stepping into the uncharted territory i.e middle-of-the-funnel. The market is teeming with lead management applications that assist sales reps in sustaining follow-ups up to the proposal stage- decreasing the time wasted in manual follow-ups. The automation now extends to the B2B sales process, where automated cold calling can arrange face-to-face presentations. This, in turn, shortens the sales cycle as reps get a huge head start when their actual legwork starts. The time they put in on administrative tasks is allocated to thinking proposals, leading to more impactful opportunities being capitulated on.

• Faster Customer Service

Artificial intelligence is seen collating FAQs and predictable customer queries, hastening the process of response. Initial contact with customers through chats, emails, and phone are now a jurisdiction at the AI realm. As AI develops more cognitive skills, it is certain to handle more complex customer queries.

With faster response rates, customer satisfaction increases, while addressing issues before they are blown up beyond proportions. The same customer queries can be utilized to the sales pipeline for upselling and cross-selling opportunities.

How is the intelligent utilization of data promoted?

The Indian business environment has become a breeding ground for AI start-ups. Industries that thrive on the proliferation of massive data such as Healthcare, Airlines and Oil refineries among a host of industry domains engage AI tools to convert data into information and scale that up to knowledge and eventually create cognitive systems. Such is the attention on AI-driven systems that research firm IDC suggest that more than 50% applications built will be cognitive in nature by 2018.

Conclusion

Several real-time start-up examples drive home the fact that there’s significant amount of enthusiasm around AI applications and experts believe that all interfaces will soon get replaced by AI in the recent future.