CX TODAY has recently posted an article entitled “Salesforce Teases “The First Generative AI for CRM.’” Salesforce’s promotional video for this new functionality, posted with the article, begins with the line, “What if your CRM could sell for you?”
Microsoft Dynamics, another CRM giant, also stands behind claims that are similar—that AI functionality can sell in place of sales reps.
Sorry, guys—such claims can never come to fruition.
To begin with, both these solutions are primarily marketed for B2B sales, which usually consists of more than just a prospect and a salesperson. Most often there are multiple people on the buyer end, and in larger deals there are multiple people involved on the seller’s side. There is no way that AI could ever track the potential thought processes of all of these people, for every type of deal, through the complex sales process of a B2B sale.
Even more basically, however, sales is intertwined with the history of civilization, with its beginnings in the barter system of trading goods-for-goods or goods-for-service. Selling was always a human skill, rooted in relationships, and it still is today.
We firmly believe in technology and its supportive role in sales. Algorithms and machine learning can undoubtedly provide instant support and data for salespeople—but there is the key: support.
As it is today—conducted by human beings—sales is more vital than it’s ever been. In the B2B arena, prospects and customers have precise and diverse needs and wants for the products and services they buy. Advanced technology is vital to navigating this complex path—but again, it is as assistance. AI can never replace salespeople.
Focus On the Enterprise
Profitability is the most fundamental goal of any business. An enterprise that is not profitable will fold up after a period of constant investment with no profitable return.
How does profitability come about? It comes from productivity. Productivity comes from efficiency, and efficiency comes from utilizing the right tools. Just as in the construction business, workers must have the right tools for what they’re trying to accomplish, so do salespeople.
A company adapts a CRM solution to gain efficiency and raise productivity in sales—again, to lead to profitability.
The right CRM solution includes advanced technology crucial to the sales profitability of a company—but only in a supportive role. At least in B2B sales, AI will never be able to “sell for you.” It’s a ridiculous assertion on the part of both these vendors.
