I’m going to start with a caveat. I’m no expert when it comes to AI; far from it. But I am intrigued by it’s exciting possibilities for increasing efficiency and (perhaps) effectiveness of our sales efforts when applied smartly. We are now seeing a wave of articles about the promise of this emerging technology as applied to our sales efforts, even suggestions that AI will replace salespeople! Indeed, the advances in AI for the sales function bear watching, although I think the notion of AI replacing salespeople might be a stretch (except for those who are little more than talking data sheets or glorified customer service reps 🙂 So let’s agree that AI will assume some meaningful function(s) in Sales (I don’t think we know exactly what and how yet though).
What I find disturbing is the prolific hype about AI and other technologies (the so-called sales stack) for that matter, while so many sales organizations are deficient in what I call “the REAL work” in Sales. The REAL work in Sales starts with having (and using) some REAL intelligence! For example:
- Understanding who our ideal prospects are and why. This requires analyzing our best customers and why they buy from us as well as knowing what problems or opportunities our product or service addresses better than other options and how to articulate that; then targeting only prospects for whom we are a good fit.
- Embracing the importance of proactive prospecting. That getting to prospects before they’ve already decided they need to buy expands our opportunity base and gives us a better chance of winning.
- Researching our prospects before contacting them; ensuring we understand their businesses and potential challenges, and also trends and trigger events in their industry, well enough that we’re confident that we interrupt them with something they care about (or should care about).
- Planning for sales calls, opportunity pursuit and deal execution (so often lacking or half-heartedly done).
- Qualifying prospects early in the sales process and not rushing to “pitch, present and propose” without understanding if they even have a realistic chance of actually buying.
- Having the discipline to block our time to ensure that our prospecting and selling activities (what we’re really paid for) get the attention and focus they deserve and don’t get relegated behind other “busyness”.
- Relentlessly seeking to learn about our profession and honing our skills; not just company required training, but reading books and blogs, online study, workshops, etc.
These things constitute our REAL jobs, yet too often we don’t do them at all or not very well. But we can’t necessarily blame the salesperson. These are really management fails (at least to a large extent). It’s Sales Managers who tolerate or even encourage (sometimes unknowingly) unproductive practices and behaviors at the expense of the REAL work. There are many good ones out there, but in my experience there is a greater number who don’t do the right things or spend their time the right way. They spend little or no time coaching their teams or don’t do it effectively, because they don’t know how. They don’t recognize the importance of (or expect reps to follow) a proven, buyer aligned sales process. They don’t know how to conduct a productive deal review. They spend their time behind a computer screen instead of accompanying reps on sales calls…and so on.
Accountability for this lack of REAL intelligence ultimately bubbles up to senior leadership. It starts with setting a tone in the company that values Sales; understands it’s the lifeblood of the organization and invests accordingly in the development of a first class sales team. It also requires ensuring sales executives and sales managers are up to the task; that they possess the knowledge, skill and leadership capability to encourage (if not demand) solid execution of the REAL work of Sales. And sometimes it means having the courage to admit they need help from an outside source to get there.
Back to my original point, AI and other technologies may offer value to our selling efforts. But they are of little good if solid fundamentals, the REAL work of sales, are not in place. And that REAL work requires REAL intelligence on the part of sales teams and sales leaders in the here and now, not the future. So I suggest we put first things first!
