A much asked question right now. A recent interview with Simon Armitage, the UK's Poet Laureate may provide a clue.
AI v Human: Which is best for B2B Sales?
The rise of Artificial Intelligence this year has been both exciting and intriguing to observe.
And, let's be honest, it has been somewhat alarming too.
As the technology advances at an inexorable pace, businesses are faced with critical decisions and getting them wrong could have diastrous consequences.
❓Should CEOs fully embrace AI-powered solutions or continue to rely on the skills of their sales teams❓
Art Imitating Life
Driving down to Birmingham recently to meet a potential client, I heard an interview on the today programme with Simon Armitage, the UK's Poet Laureate and the question was posed:
How worried should we be about AI?
Just for a bit of fun (or was it?), the interviewer read out a poem live on air that he had recently written with the help of ChatGPT.
Asked for some feedback from the Poet Laurate replied: "That was reassuringly awful"
What did he mean by that, I wonder?
Here's Our Sense:
🤖 AI:
✅ Data-Crunching Power: AI can analyze massive amounts of data at lightning speed, helping businesses identify patterns and trends that humans might either miss or take a long time to conclude
✅ Personalisation: AI-powered tools can deliver hyper-personalized content and product recommendations to potential clients, enhancing the customer experience - esp. via chatbots - and automate certain transactions, lowering cost of sale
✅ Lead Scoring: AI can assess leads based on predefined criteria, ensuring sales teams can focus their efforts on only the most productive leads
✅ 24/7 Availability: Unlike humans, AI systems are available round-the-clock, enabling businesses to engage with customers at all times and across different time zones.
So far, so interesting.
🧑💼 Humans
✅ Empathy and Emotional Intelligence: Human sales professionals excel in building genuine connections or rapport, understanding nuance and dealing with complex customer needs
✅ Adaptive Problem-Solving: human Salespeople can think more creatively and adapt "on the fly" - especially when faced with fast-moving, unpredictable and often ambiguous environments
✅ Complex Negotiations: Negotiating intricate deals with many moving parts and often with multiple touch points often requires a human touch, intuition, and interpersonal skills, which AI would struggle to emulate
✅ Building Trust:: the bedrock of a business relationship. For complex or more Consultative needs, customers prefer dealing with real people, appreciating the human bond that comes with trust and long-term relationships
The Ideal Balance
While both AI and human sales teams possess unique strengths, the real magic lies in finding the optimal balance between these two.
By leveraging the power of AI, sales professionals can focus on nurturing relationships, progressing leads, building rapport and make meaningful connections.
The Future of B2B Sales:
The most successful B2B sales strategies will likely harness the power of AI to complement human capabilities, empowering sales teams to perform at their peak potential.
So, in the here and now battle of AI vs. Humans, the real winners will be those who leverage the best of both worlds, raise their sales game and making their value-propositions and the buying experience even more compelling for customers
So often, the sales profession is framed as a B2B or a B2C model; however, I believe all sales should be P2P - People to People
For moments that matter, people to people will always be best
After all, technology empower salespeople, not replace them...shouldn't it?
Sound Familiar?
If you're frustrated that your sales humans aren't reaching their full potential, then come and chat to us.
We'll ask some insightful questions and gently challenge your thinking.
We don't apologise for that.
No hard sell. Message us at marvel@salesmarvel.co.uk or simply book straight into our calendar here Book a free call