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Summer Poletti

Using AI in B2B Sales: Balancing AI Efficiency with Human Connection

Updated: Jun 6

You're getting an extra topic this week because I’ve been exploring this issue, and I feel it’s important to share. How can sellers and sales leaders, and even company owners, leverage AI as a tool to help make their sellers more efficient without burdening them with too much new technology and without losing the authenticity and human connection that makes good sellers valuable?


If you're familiar with my blog, you know the drill. Read what has been prepared, or skip right to the recap.


a balancing act - AI in B2B Sales


We’re going to explore ways to strike a balance between being efficient and keeping up with technology so that you can scale your business without becoming too robotic and losing your ability to differentiate yourself.


The most important part of a B2B sale is the understanding and empathy that your seller can bring to the process. B2B buying is challenging and keeps getting more complex each year. Buying groups within companies are getting larger, further complicating the process. An empathetic seller who seeks to understand the business challenges, and also understands the internal challenges their main contact is navigating, can bring valuable insights to the buying process. This helps the buyer and the company select the right tool to achieve their business objectives faster and more effectively.


The cornerstone of what we do revolves around a consultative sale—asking a lot of questions, seeking first to understand, and only when the seller understands the problem and the additional challenges caused by that root problem, as well as the willingness to fix the problem, budget set aside, and a mostly unified buying group that understands the problem needs addressing, does the seller engage in showing their solution and how it addresses the problem. This requires a lot of genuine curiosity, caring, and empathy, which can only be delivered by a human being.


Make use of new tools or be left behind


However, we also know that in today’s rapidly changing B2B landscape, anyone who does not adopt and leverage AI to create efficiencies will be left behind. I wasn’t in the workplace when Microsoft Word or email entered the corporate world, but I can imagine the transformative impact. Imagine a world where you had to put a piece of paper in a typewriter, type out what you wanted to say, correct any typos, then fold it, put it in an envelope, and mail it. The recipient would receive the message a few days later. Enter word processing and email—now you can type something, backspace to fix your typo, and hit send, and your recipient receives it immediately. Those who didn’t adopt these technologies likely worked at a pace that was no longer acceptable in that business environment.


Imagine the transformative power of AI in B2B sales


Learning from that, we can assume that leveraging AI will allow you to analyze things quicker, respond faster, and perform certain outreaches, marketing, and sales activities at scale rather than individually. This saves your sellers time to focus on their most valuable tasks—actively engaging with buyers, clients, and partners. If you can leverage AI to handle the paperwork side of the job, your sellers will have more time to talk to clients. In theory, this could double, triple, or even quadruple your incoming revenue and salesforce.


There’s a lot of power in AI if it’s used responsibly, and that’s what we’re going to explore. Subscribe here so you don’t miss anything, and follow me on LinkedIn. We will be trying out different AI tools, applying them to a B2B sales environment, and then giving our honest opinion on whether the tool lives up to the hype, whether the technology is there yet, and whether it seems like a good idea to adopt it or if it’s going to come across as lazy or creepy to potential buyers.


That’s what this series is all about. Because we already have the Summer Sales Sanity series running, this one will run concurrently, so there may be weeks with two blogs and some days on LinkedIn where you might see two posts. Hope it’s not overload—join the journey with us.


recap

  1. AI is a new tool that can and should be leveraged to maximize efficiency and productivity of all workers, including sellers.

  2. The power of a B2B salesperson lies in the ability to understand problems and consult, and build relationships.

  3. AI needs to be leveraged, but in ways that don't cut out human connections.

  4. Sales leaders also need to be careful not to overwhelm sellers with too much or ever-changing technology.

  5. This new blog series and also product reviews on LinkedIn will explore how we can strike a good balance between advanced technology and huma connection.


Have any AI in B2B Sales success stories or cringey mishaps? We'd love to hear and learn from them, drop them in the comments.


ask yourself


How would a more efficient sales process impact your business's growth? Let's discuss how leveraging AI responsibly can lead to significant improvements.


 

Rise of Us is a practice run by Summer Poletti, specializing in revenue growth: sales, strategic partnerships, customer success, marketing alignment. We generally work with financial services and SaaS companies from $2MM - $20MM ARR and help them plan and execute for their next stage of revenue growth. We concentrate on strategy, coaching, and organizational alignment.


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