So many sellers are enthralled with all the time saving things AI does for them. Things like updating CRM, other data entry, generating reports, doing research…… The lists go on.
The argument is, “Look at all the time it’s saving!”
But the problem is, too many people weren’t doing these things in the first place. CRM compliance has been a major issue for decades. As much a we train and encourage people to do research and analysis into their customers, whether it’s in developing their deal strategies, preparing for calls, trying to more deeply understand customers; for years we’ve seen sellers aren’t doing these things.
Here’s some anecdotal evidence supporting this. Go to the blog sites of your favorite thought leaders or guru’s. Look at the issues they were writing about 5-10 years ago. The issues were the same thing as we see today! “CRM is a powerful tool, use it…… Do the research, analysis and prep, it’s important….. Understand your numbers and performance, look at where you tweak them to improve…… and on and on……”
All these things are things sellers should have always been doing. They are the things top performers have always been doing–so these AI tools provide some promise of productivity improvement for the top 10-15%. But what about the rest? They weren’t spending time doing these things before, so how much time can you free up on “0 minutes” invested.
There might be an argument, “Well now these things are done for them, so they might be motivated to leverage these things in their jobs…..” The thinking might be, since CRM can automatically be updated, they might use this updated CRM as a tool to help them think about their deal strategies. Or now we have notes and action plans generated by AI, it will keep them more on target. Or now we can be much better prepared and can connect more impactfully with our customers with this AI generated research.
But somehow, they have gotten by without doing those things in the past, so why should they change?
I recognize this is a terribly cynical view of things. I, also, have seen how these AI tools profoundly impact everything I do.
What I’m suggesting is that maybe we are focusing on the wrong issues. We are enamored with time savings, where zero time is invested. Perhaps we need to understand why people aren’t doing these things. Perhaps we coach them and help them learn about why doing these things is important and helps them improve their performance. Perhaps, we can constantly integrate discussions about these into every discussion we have with out people.
The conversations shift from “How many emails/calls are you making,” to, “How effectively are you connecting with prospects and customers?” Or, “You have these action plans, what impact are they going to have on the work you and the customer must do? Why are they important to our shared efforts?”
These tools have so much to offer, but we have to use them. Otherwise, they are simply bright shiny objects, soon to be displaced by a new distraction.
Afterword: Here is the AI generated discussion of this pose. It’s concise, and as these discussions often to, it presents some different ideas. Enjoy!
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