AI is reshaping sales—from boosting productivity to personalizing customer experiences—yet many teams lack the training to keep up. Discover why AI training is key to future-proofing your sales strategy and unlocking higher ROI.
Artificial intelligence (AI) can now sing, talk, and remember your lunch order, but it’s much more than a glorified butler or assistant. AI is essential to improving business performance and sales success, from improving fraud detection and automating customer experiences to offering personalized recommendations and forecasting workforce needs.
While AI’s benefits continue to expand, many sales leaders underestimate the potential ROI of investing in AI training for their teams. According to a recent sales statistics study compiled by Vena, half of the sales professionals investing in and experimenting with AI training courses do so independently, without company support, even though sales teams that use AI save two hours on average per day.
While using AI tools for sales has also proven to help teams set more realistic targets and internal goals, optimize sales strategies, and improve team performance, budget and a lack of training are the biggest roadblocks to implementation. Many sales professionals don’t feel prepared to adapt—or monetarily equipped—causing them to fall behind, lose sales prospects, and decrease potential revenue.
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Additionally, while teams can use AI and data to personalize customer experiences, 45% of users feel overwhelmed by the number of tools in their tech stack. This can cause teams to hang on to manual practices, negatively influencing how they understand consumer behaviors, needs, and nuances. By not replacing these manual tasks with more efficient AI practices, sales professionals can become inefficient and inadequate at solving problems, resolving urgent interactions, and building relationships with prospects and customers.
Vena’s collection of sales statistics also found that 28% of professionals suspect that the biggest reason prospects back out of the sales process is its length. Lengthy sales processes can often be attributed to the time spent on manual tasks and inefficient practices, which can be minimized with AI and automation tools. Implementing these tools can increase sales efficiency by 10 to 15%, allowing sales professionals to dedicate more time to training and development while minimizing losses during the prospect’s journey.
Further, sales professionals typically train about five hours weekly to refine and improve skills. This time is crucial for staying ahead of the curve and maximizing the potential of AI tools in sales interactions. By investing in AI and automation, sales teams can optimize their sales processes, reduce manual workload, and empower their sales teams to focus on upskilling and relationship-building, ultimately leading to increased revenue and customer satisfaction. However, this consistent training time can also become time and revenue lost when it’s not used to enhance AI skills and use.
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Overall, sales teams are under pressure to do more with less. By investing in AI, businesses can rethink sales planning, refine performance targets, and lean on ever-enhancing technology to drive change, with a human guide firmly in the driver’s seat.
AI is no longer a possibility on the horizon—it’s in nearly every workplace and is crucial to customer delight. With more strategic, AI-centric plans, businesses can future-proof sales plans, adapt to changing technology confidently, and navigate changing customer expectations.
