The State of AI In Sales [New 2023 Data]

Artificial intelligence is no longer just a buzzword — it's already playing an integral role on sales teams, and this is just the beginning.

69% of sales professionals agree that by 2024, most people will use some form of AI or automation to assist them in their jobs. So, if you‘re still undecided about AI, now is the time to explore its potential.

Here, we'll look at key insights from our State of AI report to uncover how AI is empowering sales professionals to work smarter. Let's dive in.

Table of Contents

What Sales Managers Need to Know About AI

How AI Will Impact Sales Reps

What Sales Managers Need to Know About AI

Artificial intelligence is here to stay.

68% of sales professionals predict that by 2024, most of the software they use will have built-in AI capabilities.

The beauty of this integration is its subtlety. AI works behind the scenes, powering data reports, automating tedious tasks, and creating valuable insights, often without us noticing.

Take ChatSpot, for example. It's a conversational bot that can pull sales reports, create new contacts, draft prospecting emails, and more — requiring minimal manual effort for the salesperson.

Currently, 52% of sales professionals say AI tools are very to somewhat important in their day-to-day role. As AI continues to integrate with more sales tools, we predict its presence will become intuitive, even a natural part of daily sales operations.

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AI frees up more time to focus on the human side of selling.

Sales professionals save two hours and 15 minutes a day using AI to automate manual tasks. But AI isn‘t just automating repetitive tasks away – it’s freeing up valuable time to focus on the human side of selling.

Consider this: 78% of sales professionals agree that AI can help them spend more time on the most critical aspects of their role, and 74% agree that AI can help them spend more time on the parts of the job they enjoy most.

Ultimately, the ability to connect with prospects on a personal level, build rapport, and nurture long-term relationships are critical in sales, and AI can give sales professionals more time to excel in these areas.

AI can take the guesswork out of sales.

The act of selling produces a lot of data, and sales leaders are often left to make sense of it all — until now.

AI has led to an influx of “usable” data, or data that can be transformed into actionable insights. It does this by processing large amounts of info, identifying patterns and trends, and making them usable for decision-making. In other words, it takes the guesswork out of sales.

Consider these stats:

• Data-driven insights: 73% of sales professionals agree that AI can help them pull insights from data they otherwise wouldn't be able to find.
• Customer insights: 65% of sales professionals say AI will help them understand their customers better.
• Personalization: 69% of sales professionals strongly or somewhat agree that AI can help them personalize the customer experience.

Of course, AI isn't a replacement for human intuition or expertise. However, it can offer more informed insights, leading to smarter decision-making.

AI can help at every stage of the sales process.

A staggering 70% of sales professionals agree that AI tools will make them more productive at work — enabling them to work smarter, faster, and more efficiently than ever before.

On top of that, these tools can assist during each stage of the sales process — from writing prospecting messages to making sales forecasts.

According to our State of AI Report, the three most popular use cases for AI in sales are automating manual tasks (35%), offering data-driven insights (34%), and helping write sales content or prospect outreach messages (31%).

How Sales Reps are Using AI

How AI Will Impact Sales Reps

Sales professionals are split when it comes to AI.

42% of sales professionals are concerned about AI replacing their job in the next few years, whereas 42% are not.

Sales professionals are known for their people skills and relationship-building abilities, but the emergence of AI raises concerns about its ability to replicate these qualities.

Yet, when we look at how sales professionals use AI, it mainly operates as a productivity assistant. Currently, 18% of sales professionals report using generative AI to create content, 16% for prospect outreach, 16% for research, and 14% for data analysis and reporting.

In this way, AI becomes a trusty sidekick, complementing and enhancing human capabilities instead of replacing them.

81% of sales professionals say AI can help them spend less time on manual tasks.

When salespeople are pulled in so many directions — or bogged down with tedious work — it prevents them from doing what they do best: selling. This is where AI enters the picture.

Here's an example: imagine conducting a discovery call. Rather than jotting down notes throughout the call, you use a tool like Grain, an AI-powered note-taking app.

By taking notes for you, you can give the prospect your undivided attention. What's more, it automatically highlights, clips, and summarizes key moments during the meeting that you (and your manager) can revisit later.

Unsurprisingly, more than a third of sales already report using AI to automate menial tasks, and we predict this number will continue to climb.

Most sales professionals think AI will make human prospecting efforts more effective.

When it comes to prospecting, AI can help salespeople reach the right prospects at the right time with the right messages.

At the top of the funnel, AI can analyze and identify high-quality leads, enabling you to hone in on the people most likely to convert.

61% of sales professionals also agree that AI can make prospecting more personalized. For instance, it can analyze information about your prospects — everything from demographics, past email exchanges, and buying behavior — and provide key information for outreach.

What's more, salespeople who use AI can reach their prospects at the right time. For instance, Superhuman AI is a tool that sends alerts whenever a recipient reads your emails. You can even set up reminders if a prospect has yet to reply in a certain number of days, ensuring you reach out on time.

76% of sales professionals agree that AI can help organize and share data more effectively.

Not only do sales produce a lot of data, but this data comes from multiple sources. Sales outreach, in particular, can span multiple channels making it difficult to track.

AI can serve as the solution by tracking prospects and consolidating all the data into one single source of truth. Imagine a central repository that you and your team can access to find the right data when you need it.

But AI is more than a tool for managing data, it can also extract important insights from it. 73% of sales professionals agree that AI can help them pull insights from data they otherwise wouldn't be able to find.

Back to You

Integrating AI into the sales process can give salespeople a number of advantages, like greater productivity, more personalized interactions, and a better understanding of customers. To position yourself for success, start by looking for areas in your workflow that can get a boost with AI.