Sales technology is where sales meet technology. These platforms are extremely crucial for all kinds of business as they are designed to help the sales team boost their sales productivity. They ease the work of the sales team and make the manual tasks easier and quicker. It helps the company in delivering an efficient customer-centric experience. Sales technology provides companies with new and different platforms to achieve greater returns than they were initially able to. Companies favoring and adopting digital trends are at the forefront of the competition. In simple words, Sales technology enables and accelerates the sales team’s performance through a wide plethora of different platforms and apps.
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How AI is Transforming Sales Technology
Technology is advancing with time. Modernization has led to the growth and normalization of Artificial Intelligence. In today’s era, various aspects of the business have hints of AI, and the sales department is no exception. The amalgamation of AI with the sales technology industry has led to the following modifications: –
1. Rise in Leads
The adoption of AI by the sales team has increased leads and appointments by about 50%. It has reduced the time-consuming tasks of connecting with leads, qualifying, following up, and sustaining the relationship.
2. Relationships grow stronger
AI has helped automate several sales activities. Gathering customer information, determining needs, preparing contracts, and jotting down product orders with the help of AI can all be done in a noticeably short span. AI-enabled companies spend 40% less time on those activities. This leaves them with more time to build relationships.
3. Increase in selling time
The AI has a positive impact on the sales operators. It enables them to spend more time selling as the AI took care of other things like managing orders and delivery.
4. Call time decreases
AI helps salespeople identify needs and align solutions before making the call, so they have less exploring to do on calls. A recent analysis suggests that AI has helped salespeople drop their call times by 60% to 70%.
5. Costs Drop
By automating lower-level sales activities with AI technology, some organizations have cut costs in half. Salesperson’s time is spent increasing profits.
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Examples of AI Driving Technology
Here are some of the prominent real-life examples of how AI has improved the world of sales technology further:
1. Chase Bank
Chase Bank signed a five-year deal with Persado. Persado is a New York-based company that is an expert in incorporating AI in the sales creative. Chase agrees that using machine learning in their increased copywriting engagement and helped them achieve more ROI by hiring them. For example, a digital ad written by humans read: “Access cash from the equity in your home.” While Persado modified it to “it’s true- you can unlock cash from the equity in your home.” Chase is the first to engage in this type of large-scale machine learning copywriting, but other brands are planning to expand the use of Persado’s technology.
2. Alibaba
Alibaba, a retail giant, recently opened a physical “FashionAI” store in Hong Kong. This aimed to streamline the fashion retail experience using artificial intelligence. The store is equipped with intelligent garment tags that detect when the item is touched. They also have smart mirrors that display clothing information and suggest coordinating items. A recent interview suggested that Alibaba also has plans to integrate the brick-and-mortar store with a virtual wardrobe app that will allow customers to see the outfits they tried on in-store.
3. Nike
Nike launched a system in 2017 that allowed customers to design their sneaker in-store. They called it the “Nike Makers Experience.” This allowed the customers to put a blank Nike Presto X and choose their graphics and colors. Using augmented reality and projection systems, the system then displayed the design on the blank shoes. The designs are printed on the sneakers and available to the customer in about 90 minutes. This customer engaging feature not only drove sales but, more importantly, allowed the sneaker brand to collect data about customer preferences. Nike then used this data with machine learning algorithms to design future products and deliver personalized product recommendations and marketing messages.
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Top SalesTech Platforms to Watch Out For
With the increasing competition in the market, various interesting SalesTech platforms have emerged in the market. Following are some of the most-prominent upcoming sales tech platforms to look out for:
1. Front Row Solutions
It is a paperless mobile data collection system created by salespeople for salespeople. It incorporated technology to ease the sales and marketing team’s job by allowing sales representatives to submit a new sales report or update a previous report immediately after a customer interaction. This can be possible in less than 60 seconds. It enables fast, easy, and real-time reporting making the data collection very efficient.
2. Growlabs
This is one of the finest US-based sales technology that removes the grunt work from sales outreach techniques. It saves B2B teams hours by incorporating technology in this process and automating it. Growlabs combines high-quality lead generation with powerful outbound sales. It helps the company find new potential customers.
3. Learncore
It is a sales enablement and a video coaching solution that is one of the top sales tech providers. It addresses common training challenges for large and growing companies that need to certify their sales teams. They also ensure consistent communication.
4. Membrain
It transforms the traditional sales strategy into informative and actionable workflows that enable effectiveness. It also provides analytical feedback to encourage improvement in the sales team. It is one of the best sales effectiveness platforms for teams working with complex B2B sales
The rapid integration of AI with SalesTech platforms is all set to transform the marketing and sales landscape in the time to come. It is, therefore, safe to say that in the near future, we will witness some interesting and positive changes in the industry.