AI in sales and marketing

Today I can do 3 times the work I did before, in half of the time it used to take me two years ago. Part of this can  be linked to freeing myself of the chains of corporate life, but a significant part is undoubtably related to the way I am benefiting from AI to  get things done. Let's dive into some of the easy-to-access concepts of using AI in marketing, sales and service in 5 domains of application. 

1. Using AI to generate content. 

Most sales and marketing people have found the way to ChatGPT 3.5 and ChatGPT 4.0. Others use tools such as copy.ai to generate smart content. AI is a gem to get structured information in the form of well written text. This provides an excellent basis for developing website and presentation content, to write better e-mails and to generate contracts and proposals. 

Combined with Text-to-Video, content can be turned into effective motion formats for many different applications. 

Of course AI is just AI, meaning that content is generated through vector based floating point matching of parts of words and sentences and is not based on real understanding of context.  AI output is also limited by the information that is available in the Latent Space, within the parameters that are set by the operators of the models and within the boundaries of the cut-off points of the underlying information sources.

Even taking into account these limitations,  the quality of output is amazing and the time saving achieved is impressive. Not using the possibilities of AI to generate content would be missing-out on a major productivity booster and time-saver. 

2. Using AI to prepare better pitches.   

AI can be used as a smart colleague to bounce-off ideas, to get additional inputs, to challenge first principles and to elaborate on subjects of choice. 

AI agents have no ego, are not judgemental or condescending. AI agents can literally go on forever without a pause, but will not frown on you when you take a break. So AI agents are the best colleagues and work buddies you can dream of. 

By engaging in conversations with an AI agent you will get interesting feedback, additional ideas and be able to detect errors of logic in the pitches and storylines that you are preparing.

The key to success in conversations with AI agents is mastering prompts that deliver the desired output, but tips on prompts that work are abundantly available on social media. 

3. Using AI to develop client support assets. 

Customer Service and Customer Success is about EDCO, Elimination, Diversion, Containment and Optimisation. 

Elimination is about preventing that customer questions arise. Diversion is about directing clients and prospect to self-help environments where answers can be found without human intervention. Containment is about putting in place systems to limit human involvement. Optimisation is about making sure that human intervention leads to first-time-resolution and to positive customer interaction feedback with the highest possible degree of efficiency. 

In each of the EDCO-domains AI can be applied. From mapping typical customer problems and issues to creating and operating chatbots to cover FAQ. From assisting support agents with single customer situational views to preparing next probable actions and initiatives. 

4. Use AI to become a better sales professional. 

A couple of years ago I was blown away by the possibilities of gong.io. Gong is an AI-driven revenue optimisation and sales enablement software that monitors sales calls and harvests real time information from live conversations. 

Delivering in-call input on stories, sentences and words that work and not work. Sharing information on customer sentiments and on conversation traction.  Linking conversation analytics to prediction of success. 

Although gong.io is not for every budget, the underlying principles and techniques are somewhat covered by more affordable sentiment and conversation tracking tools that should be on the radar of every sales, marketing and service professional.   

5. Boosting CRM with AI.

We all agree that CRM should be used at every interaction, that every interaction should be documented and that all possible additional information should be linked to customer and company profiles.  

Between what is required and what can be actually done with a busy schedule, a massive amount of to-do's and a zillion of potential distractions,  the reality is that CRM updates are at best at sub-par level. 

Enter the combination of CRM and AI. CRM systems such as Hubspot, Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics 365 integrate an increasing number of AI functionalities that miraculously fill fields and capture information from different sources and conversations. 

In particular speech-to-text applications allows for huge productivity gains. Otter.ai delivers great results in transcribing meeting notes and leexi.ai is a true meeting productivity tool that ensures better sales results by perfect registration of topics discussed and promises made. 

I hope you have enjoyed these 5 inputs on AI in Sales, Marketing and Service. These are just the basics and there is much more to this interesting subject. Together with my business associate Rik Doclo we are into applied AI for Strategy, Sales, Marketing and Innovation on a daily basis and we have developed a series of advanced applications that allow to move beyond the limitations of traditional AI and perform specific tasks related to Future Proof and Reboot Business Models and Organisations. These applications allow companies to create significant competitive advantage by better service and better operations. Other of our applications cover Market Dynamics Monitoring and Signpost Tracking for strategic optionality. These are topics that will be covered in later blogs and in a series keynotes and publications that Rik and I are working on. 

Would you like to get access to more information on AI in sales, marketing and service or learn more about custom developments of AI applications for competitive advantage? Please reach-out to schedule a call.