Artificial Intelligence (AI) is growing more rapidly each year with developments in deep learning, machine learning, and neural network fields.
These developments help contribute to chat automation, self-driving vehicles, image and speech recognition, and many others.
How will business development be affected by a constant increase in AI implementation?
Business development consists mainly of two categories: Sales and Marketing. As automation continues to be adopted in the marketing and sales fields, is your sales job at risk?
You can't stop AI from replacing jobs
Techjury compiled statistics on the implications of Artificial Intelligence reporting:
- Global GDP will grow by $15.7 trillion by 2030
- 30% of businesses will employ AI in at least one sales process by 2020
- 77% of the devices we use feature one form of AI
- 38% of jobs (in the United States) will be at risk by 2030
Statistics clearly show that companies will adopt AI into their business development, specifically in the sales process.
As artificial intelligence is a financially driven incentive, there is no reason to resist this growth. Therefore, sales teams will have to work smarter, not harder.
How are sales and marketing affected?
Sales enablement is just a fancy word for software that helps salespeople do their job better and close more deals.
Topo puts it perfectly, "Sales enablement is the process of providing the sales organisation with the information, content, and tools that help salespeople sell more effectively."
You don't have to know anything about sales enablement to agree with the importance of selling more effectively. Leaders in sales enablement such as Salesforce and Hubspot have one thing in common: they design software that allows the sales team to leverage marketing data in order to sell more effectively. Businesses perform better when marketing and sales teams work together!
As artificial intelligence aids sales with data analytics and marketing automation, Salesforce has published the following:
- Salespeople will prioritize qualifying leads by using predictive analysis
- Artificial intelligent customer service platforms will suggest the right time to push content to meet the customer's needs
- Automation will help build better marketing funnels for the sales team
Why is AI good for your sales team?
According to a study made by Accenture, using AI in business development helped salespeople be more efficient, which increased productivity by 40%.
If sales teams continue to use marketing data to reduce the sales cycle and leverage more customer data, AI will increase sales and reduce sales cycles. At the heart of sales enablement services, artificial intelligent-based CRM solutions are working for the sales team, not against them!
Sales teams need to use powerful and smart AI tools in order to become better salespeople. Artificial intelligence is not trying to take your sales job, it is here to integrate into the sales process so that your job becomes easier.
Your job moving forward
Artificial intelligence is clearly replacing jobs, improving sales performance, and yielding good ROIs.
However, artificial intelligence is lacking in one area: human connection. Human connection in the sales process is incredibly important. Specifically, the seller-buyer relationship is predicated on empathy, understanding, and a strong personal feeling of connection.
Remember, your sales job is not at risk if you can work smarter, not harder. So here is your work moving forward:
- Acknowledge and understand that humans will always have a natural desire for personal connection
- Be open-minded to the growing development of AI
- Be creative and strategic, and learn how sales enablement software helps you sell more effectively
