Artificial Intelligence - is this the death of the salesperson?

Yesterday morning, I was fortunate to be invited by TSP associate Philippe Masson (Avilio) to a wonderful talk in Central London from a panel of subject experts on the subject of Redefining Productivity in the Workplace in The Age of AI. Philippe, who’s company, Avilio, specialises in workplace productivity, was one of the 4 terrific panellists. The other 3 were successful individuals/leaders from the world of commerce, learning and investment.

Fascinating stuff.

I didn’t attend just because Philippe is a friend and business associate and I was designated cheerleader, but because I have become (more so lately) fascinated by the implications of AI, and particularly the potential impact (positive or negative) of AI in my chosen profession of sales and sales coaching.

The talk was great but also was the anecdotal conversations at the before and after networking event where I met several people ranging from AI experts, consultants and company representatives all enthused/confused/curious/fearful/excited about AI as I am.

In a room full of (suspected) AI enthusiasts, I was half expecting to possibly be a lone voice of uncertainty and, dare I say it, dissenters when it comes to AI and, as I say, sales in particular.

I do get it. AI will, whether we like it or not, impact on every area of business and commerce and my motivation to attend was driven not just by my fear of the unknown but, more importantly, how us salespeople can (a) survive it and (b) make the most of this.

During one of my chats with Mr AI specialist before the talk I learned that ‘AI will be a total gamechanger for business and especially sales.’

Especially!!? Tell me more….!

This is some of what I learned

1. AI will undertake the more menial/administrative parts of the sales process; those such as client targeting, the prospecting process, client engagement, etc – maybe as much as 50% of a salespersons job.

2. AI will be able to effectively match the type of customer most likely to buy from you and then find the best way to engage with them and them with you

3. AI will be able to create a tender response/RFI/RFQ in a heartbeat (I’ve seen these already)

4. AI will be able to identify and market new products and/or services to your existing customers much more effectively.

5. AI will get the prospect customer to the point of a meeting without ANY involvement from the salesperson

6. AI will be able to create an implantation plan in two shakes of a cat’s tail.

There were more but you get my drift.

“Then what?” says I.

“What do you mean?”

“I love all that. As a salesperson there is nothing I’d like better than to be able to have all this done for me with the press of a button. But what happens if it does all this as well as you say?”

“You win more business” (seemed a very reasonable and positive response).

“Who loses?”

“What do you mean?”

“If I suddenly start winning all this new business that I didn’t have before, then who am I winning it from?”

“Your competitors!!”

“What if they’ve got AI too?”

“They will win more business too”

“Who from? Me? Impossible. I have AI solutions in my business”

“No, from people who don’t have it”

“So this is a bit of gold rush then?’ says I. “The ones who don’t embrace it are gonna become toast pretty quickly as all their competitors will have that advantage. A bit like you not finding a business today that doesn’t have a PC or internet access or a mobile phone? But at some point, probably very soon, the playing field will be levelled again no?”

“Yes, until the next gen of AI comes along, and that won’t be long”

“And until then?”

“You’ve lost me!”

"Don't worry, it's a big club I've realised!"

I tried to explain that I think that an AI solution that (a) takes away time and soul-sapping menial tasks (b) significantly enhances my volumes of customer engagement and (c) increases my likelihood of sales success many times over is one to be embraced. What’s not to like? But I can see a business world where - with the embracing of AI solutions for sales - everything will be played on a level playing field. Everything will be magnolia. So the search for differentiation begins all over again, it’s the normal cycle of things. This is just (an admittedly very clever) new way of working.

He asked me to explain my thinking a bit more.

“I advise businesses on how to increase their sales performance. Let’s say that one of my customers, just down the road, delivers groceries to people at work for them to take home at the end of the day. He has ten people on bikes riding around central London all day long. IF, as you say, he embraces an effective AI solution he will raise awareness, target and win more customers yes?”

“Yes”

“So he needs more bikes? More people to ride those bikes. I get that. (I’m going to assume he takes on the people who currently work for the competitor who didn’t embrace AI quickly enough and has pulled down the shutters). But who are his customers? Based on this scenario they are the old customers of his now defunct competitor? There aren’t more customers just a redistribution of the existing ones. I’m going to guess a few of his customers are AI companies themselves seeing as this gold rush has only just started. (Best keep on eye on his debtor days though ay? This feels like another bubble)”

“Well yes, that’s right”

“And, apart from AI, what kind of business sectors are those customers in? Because…I am assuming, as you’ve said, that EVERY sector will be impacted by AI so it’s reasonable to assume that there will be winners and losers in every sector. Most likely some of those losers will be the customers of my client now? So he will lose existing business as well as win business, no? Possibly with a bad debt attached to it!”

“Yes”

“So that means the key to all this is to win more than he loses? And win it quicker than he loses it. If not, he’s just taken on ten more bikes than he needs”

“That’s right”

“But that’s always been the case. Tell me what is it that AI has changed again? There isn’t more business to go around suddenly. Is this just a new way of working that has Darwinian principles at its core – it is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.

“Yes, you’re right!”

I went in to the seminar with renewed optimism as I didn’t now see AI as a threat and the start of the end of the specialist sales role but an opportunity. I just wasn’t clear on what that opportunity looked like.

The seminar itself was excellent. One of the facts that came out was that last year in the UK only 14% of businesses reported growth. 14%!! In an economy that grew 1.1% in 2024 that suggests to me there were some businesses that won big but a lot more, shall we say, losers when it comes to growth. The wider challenge appears to be not how to grow but how not to go backwards when you hear stats like that!

The other thing that I took from the seminar was not necessarily what I didn’t know (or had assumed) before – AI will increase productivity by hoovering up menial and time-draining tasks, some of which I’ve listed above - but what I see as the consequence of this.

Yes, it will lead to job losses in many sectors and a slowing down of recruitment and job creation – it is inevitable - but the freeing of the time-draining functions will leave businesses with a choice of how to capitalise on it; take out cost or redirect that into growth potential. But then again, that’s’ what technology advances have always done. It will increase productivity. It will. But at what cost?

Phillipe Masson of Avilio is ahead of this. The Avilio programme already addresses the challenges and changes that increased productivity (as a consequence or technology) have brought and will bring to the workplace and he works with many organisations who recognise this too. His approach to AI is focused on the impact it has on people and how to embrace it without it negatively impacting the person. It has to be a consideration or it will fail.

https://www.tsp-ukltd.com/avilio

As for the impact this will have on role of sales in particular then what an opportunity this is. Or is it?

Let’s assume that AI will increase customer awareness of you and your products and services. Let’s also assume it will allow you to structure a first-class tender of RFQ/RFP response. Let’s also assume it will help you generate more leads. Let’s assume we can tell AI that this is the type of customer we want, that this type is perfect for our business and to start to market to that target customer: the right contact, the right contact address/email, the right kind of marketing message and so on.

Let us also assume that every one of your competitors has got the ability to do the same ( I think that’s a sensible assumption right now). That target customer will be inundated with ‘stuff’ from you and your competitors.

But don’t worry, as the customer also has AI and their AI has been structured to only let through the ones that have the best match to their needs. That could be you. Plus only a handful of your competitors not dozens of them. You are in the mix.

Now what? I’d like to think that this is where the good salesperson comes into his or her own. ‘Twas ever thus. I just can’t see this changing, not in the near future at least. I’m sure it could at some point but right now? No, that final stage where humans interact with humans to make decisions on things that impact humans….the salesperson still has a place. But only, as Darwin says, we survive as the ones most receptive to change.

I tried to place AI over what are (considered to be) the traditional 7 steps of the sales process – Opening, Discovery, Presentation, Objection Handling, Negotiation, Closing and Follow Up – to see where, in my limited understanding, I could see an effective AI taking the reins.

The truth is, it’s all of them. To a degree. If all you want is magnolia. Maybe we have to let magnolia happen before adding colour back in! I’m not sure.

This brings me right back to one of my main points of my coffee chat with Mr AI specialist. Who wins and who loses? That question was asked of the panel and I bloody loved the answer I heard.

Julian Decot, a former exec of Meta, Skype and Amazon and now an investor, NED and director of Intuit, said that the likelihood is that the real winners of the AI explosion will be SMEs. He explained that it will allow SMEs to demonstrate their ability to compete across a wider customer market than even before, to gain access to customers that were just too difficult or costly to penetrate, to broaden their ability to market themselves, and to elevate their solution in the eyes of their customers and target customers.

I like that. I like the fact that SMEs will benefit. Not for my own small business but for my clients businesses. Many SMEs - and also Corporates - will most likely have many SMEs as customers themselves, so if their customers start to grow then they will benefit from growing with them. Great. Lots of opportunity. Just watch out for the bad debt and the ‘losers’ in your customer base!

I didn’t come away with the answer to the questions that I know of lot, if not all, of the clients, contacts, friends and associates I work with and know want to know: Which AI solution do I choose? Where do I start? How will I know it won’t be superseded by something better etc etc. How do you decide? Seems even AI needs salespeople to help with this!

The truth is, in this gold rush of AI development, it’s still a bit of a minefield. Likewise, is the best way to utilise it. It is no different from the challenges that any new system brings - a new CRM for example – we still need to be able to ‘translate’ the technical brilliance it brings for the people that will use it and will turn it into a tangible benefit for the business and for the individual.

Interesting and exciting times. We are only at the start of this. I need to learn much more about it!

Gary Naphtali has enjoyed a 30-year career in sales and sales leadership roles and led businesses and teams from start-up to mutli-channel organisaitons. Gary has advised businesses and organisations at a regional, national and international level, and coached, mentored and trained individuals - from trainee to board level - in more than a 100 businesses.