Adam and Chad begin the conversation exploring how companies have been using technology to help them in the sales process. Some have invested in conversation capture, others are betting on automation, and others still are starting to understand the value of AI when applied to the sales conversation.

From Bike Frames to AI – an Entrepreneurial Journey

Adam has always been a tinkerer and entrepreneur, becoming a custom bike frame builder and founding a company out of his garage during high school. Many entrepreneurial journeys later, Adam co-founded a localization company, MotionPoint. It was during his time as a sales leader there that he really came to grips with a huge problem: the lack of data regarding his team’s meetings and conversations with buyers. This lack of visibility meant that he wasn’t able to easily help them with strategies or provide coaching assistance. That’s where the seed to create TRAQ – which is a solution to understand the status of each deal – was first planted in Adam’s mind.

Are Your Chances of Closing… Lower than Blackjack Odds?

Here, Chad and Adam discuss why even deals that have been committed to don’t actually close, and how to improve your chances of winning. Some companies summarize the conversation, others coach the rep in real-time. But TRAQ is different in the way that it uses AI to process the conversation, analyze it on a large scale, which would be impossible to do without technology, and provide insights that are specifically tailored to that buyer. Having a complete database of past conversations also helps leaders understand conversation patterns and buyer questions, and which interactions led to sales and which ones didn’t. With this information, sales reps and their leaders have the intelligence they need to address buyers’ needs successfully. Sales processes and methodologies can’t be static, they need to adapt to market demands, and TRAQ helps sales departments do that.

Adam foresees AI being used to provide advice and tips in real time during the sales conversation, to facilitate moving the deal forward.

Gap Selling and the Information That AI Can Reveal Over Time

AI makes it easy to understand what a buyer is really asking for: is it a feature request? A risk to the sale? A new opportunity? AI is powerful because it keeps learning and getting better on its own as time goes by. If you start now, in 365 days you will be able to look at a whole year of data and give you a report in a few minutes. Additionally, the AI can be adapted to your industry, so the terms and patterns it looks for are customized to your needs.

Will AI Replace People?

In discussing current and future trends, Adam and Chad talk about this very common fear. Adam foresees AI being used to provide advice and tips in real-time during the sales conversation, to facilitate moving the deal forward. AI will also be used to make chatbots much more human-like, so you won’t necessarily know that you’re not chatting with a real person. Will AI eventually replace salespeople? Well, Adam and Chad agree that AI may replace some tasks that the salespeople have to do manually right now, but the decision to trust a company also depends on an emotional connection, a feeling of trust towards the salesperson – that’s not something that technology can easily replace. AI and automation can certainly increase efficiency and efficacy, helping companies build and scale their marketing and sales campaigns faster than people ever could.

The AI Revolution is Upon Us

We’re on the cusp of a sales revolution, and while there is fear about AI replacing humans, in reality AI is changing job roles, eliminating some repetitive tasks and creating new tech-centric positions. Companies that are embracing AI faster than others are finding themselves having a competitive advantage, because they are already capturing and analyzing much more data than their competitors. That’s why at TRAQ we believe that getting started sooner rather than later is preferable.

Accurate Forecasts, Pipelines, and Sales Team Success

Here, Adam and Chad discuss ‍the tangible benefits of using AI to inform business decisions with real, accurate data. When executive management is looking for projections on next quarter’s revenues so that they can make decisions on personnel, office space, manufacturing and more, there are tangible benefits to accuracy and companies can run more efficiently and effectively. AI can be used to level up the sales team. When not everybody is naturally an A++ performer, AI can help learn from those top performers and coach everyone else accordingly. AI can also help us understand what really works with buyers; when we’re not sure what they will respond to, AI will help us run the experiment so we can find out for sure.

Listen to the full podcast episode here.