6 Practical Ways to Use Generative AI for Sales Growth
What does generative AI mean to you?
Is it simply a quirky tool that can generate text, images and videos?
Or is it a transformative sales technology with an array of applications?
If you’re erring towards the former definition, you’re making a costly mistake. Yes, there’s lots of hype around GenAI. But, unlike many previous “groundbreaking” technologies, much of it is accurate.
Doubtful? We’re going to prove it to you. We’re going to show how GenAI is already recalibrating traditional outbound sales, with numerous practical examples and use cases.
By understanding how generative AI applies to sales processes, you can gain a competitive edge, surpass your efficiency goals, and create hyper-personalized customer experiences.
What is Generative AI in Sales?
Generative AI is artificial intelligence that generates content like text, images, and videos.
It differs from traditional AI, which focuses on analyzing data and automating processes. GenAI has all these features in addition to the ability to create original outputs.
GenAI is important in a sales context because it can replicate creative tasks that match and sometimes even exceed human outputs. These tasks include searching for and qualifying leads based on detailed ideal customer profiles (ICPs), personalizing outreach, following up with potential customers, and digging into analytics to generate actionable insights.
Artisan and its virtual AI assistant, Ava, is an example of an autonomous GenAI platform that can complete all of these tasks, boosting a range of sales metrics, from number of outreach emails sent to overall revenue. If you’d like to see Ava in action, get in touch to book a demo now.
Benefits of Using Generative AI in Sales
The core benefit of GenAI in sales is its ability to automate tasks while maintaining a level of output equal to that of a human.
Let’s look at the benefits of using genAI in sales in more depth.
Increased Efficiency and Productivity
Here are the main efficiency-related tasks GenAI assists with:
Lead filtering
Lead scoring and qualification
Cold outreach messaging
Cold outreach follow-up
Automated efficiency-focused data insights
Enhanced Personalization
Because GenAI can understand complex inputs to produce original, personalized content, which can more than double response rates.
GenAI can personalize the following elements in messages:
Subject lines
Opening lines
Offers to potential customers
Case studies and testimonials
Follow-up messages
Here’s an example of a personalized email written by Ava, Artisan’s virtual sales development representative (SDR):
Data-Driven Insights
GenAI provides the following types of sales-focused insights:
Predictive analytics. GenAI can predict market trends based on historical data, helping sales reps identify which clients are most likely to convert.
Customer insights. Because GenAI can conduct large-scale data analysis, it can uncover deep insights about prospect pain points, habits, and preferences.
Qualification and deal scoring. GenAI can use current and past data to prioritize the most promising deals.
Scalability and Flexibility
Sales has one of the highest turnover rates of any profession.Often, this has led companies to outsource outbound sales, but this can create a mismatch between internal and external processes.
Because GenAI can flexibly ramp up outputs that would traditionally have required additional employees, fewer new hires are needed. Instead, a smaller number of sales reps can take on more jobs requiring human input like pitch presentations, product walkthroughs, and end-of-deal objection handling.
Real-Time Sales Assistance
GenAI provides real-time support to both prospects and sales professionals. On the sales side, GenAI can help reps by retrieving data, providing product information, which is very useful for objection handling, and implementing campaign changes, such as the introduction of a new ICP.
On the customer side, GenAI channels can provide instant responses to sales inquiries via email or live chat, reschedule meetings with reps, and navigate product demos.
Cost Efficiency
Here are just some of the repetitive tasks sales reps are typically responsible for:
Data entry
Researching ICPs
Updating CRM systems
Following up with leads
Scheduling meetings
Generating reports
Updating quotas
Preparing proposals
GenAI can automate all of these outbound sales tasks, significantly cutting labor costs. This means that reps can focus on higher-value tasks like dealing one-on-one with prospects and closing deals.
6 Use Cases of Generative Artificial Intelligence in Sales
More than half of salespeople don’t know how to extract maximum value out of AI technology. This isn’t due to any inherent complexity in the tools themselves. Rather, it stems from a lack of understanding of the specific applications of generative AI tools in sales.
With that in mind, let’s look at real-world use cases where GenAI has impacted sales results, using Ava, Artisan’s AI sales rep, as an example.
1. Lead Generation and Prospecting
Most lead databases have millions of entries, and traditional filtering tools are usually insufficient for finding the highest-quality prospects. Gen AI lead prospecting tools solve this problem by allowing advanced, human-like decision-making at scale.
For example, Ava uses detailed ICPs to search and filter the vast datasets that make up Artisan’s 300 million-strong database. This gives reps access to the most promising leads without having to verify profiles manually.
2. Personalized Sales Outreach
It’s not uncommon for sales teams to hire copywriters whose sole job is to write dozens of personalized email openings every day. With GenAI, reps and copywriters no longer have to engage in this repetitive task.
Let’s see how Ava personalizes email. Artisan integrates with dozens of different data sources including firmographic, technographic, demographic, social media activity and more to gather the most comprehensive insights on prospects. She then uses her Personalization Waterfall to select the best form of personalization for each lead, rather than just a generic AI-generated compliment. Yet again, all of this content generation can be done at scale.
3. AI-Powered Content Creation and Optimization
Content generation was the first major application of machine learning and AI models, with the release of ChatGPT standing as one of the most-talked-about events in tech history.
And this feature remains at the forefront of GenAI’s sales abilities in sales. It can both create and optimize a host of important documents, including ICPs, sales emails, cold call scripts, proposals, brochures, case studies, and presentations.
4. Precise Sales Forecasting and Analytics
Forecasting and deep data analytics have traditionally required a very high level of expertise from analysts. While professional data crunchers are still very much needed, GenAI can expedite and streamline many analytics processes.
Here are some of the complex analytics tasks that GenAI can perform:
Analyze large vast datasets to identify patterns
Simulate various market conditions to make predictions
Adjust forecasts with real-time data
Identify emerging trends
Suggest resource allocation based on forecasts
Identify under-leveraged customer segments
It’s also worth noting that many GenAI sales data analysis algorithms are self-improving, meaning that they’re able to generate ever more precise forecasts and analyses as they consume more data.
5. Automated Follow-Up Sequences
Email follow-up, which doubles the response rate of an outbound sales campaign when done well, is one area where AI shines.
Follow-up provides an excellent opportunity to pique interest and deepen customer interactions with additional personalized messaging, case studies and testimonials, and reiterations of your offer.
A tool like Artisan automates the sending of personalized follow-up, notifying reps and account executives when a reply has been made.
If you’d like to see Artisans virtual sales development representative (SDR), Ava, in action—reaching out to your ideal customers with automated, personalized follow-up—get in touch for a free demo.
6. Database Management and Enrichment
Merging, synchronizing, and validating customer data from multiple sources requires near-continuous oversight and a nuanced understanding of data algorithms. And it’s all the more complex when integrations with CRMs like Salesforce and Hubspot need to be accounted for.
GenAI ensures that databases are consistently updated with the most recent lead contact details and behavioral data. All of this happens in real time, ensuring the highest possible levels of deliverability, personalization, and prospect-to-ICP alignment.
How to Implement Generative AI in Your Sales Strategy: 6 Step Checklist
You understand the benefits and you’ve seen the use cases. So, how can you use GenAI in your own sales processes for fast, consistent results?
GenAI is meant to simplify and streamline outbound sales, and it’s important not to overcomplicate the implementation process.
Follow this six-step process to start seeing the benefits of GenAI immediately.
1. Leverage Generative AI Sales Tools
Ensure that your chosen AI stack covers all the following areas:
Lead prospecting
Opportunity scoring (qualification)
Customer segmentation
ICP generation
Sentiment analysis
Data hygiene monitoring
Prospect chatbots (email or live chat)
Personalized outreach
Automated follow-up
Performance tracking
Predictive analytics and sales forecasting
Automated campaign optimization
2. Integrate AI with Existing Systems
Ensure that your chosen GenAI tools can sync with your existing sales tech stack, either through native integrations or a custom API.
Check you can integrate with the following apps:
Customer relationship management (CRM) software
Sales analytics and reporting platform
Lead databases
Proposal and contract management app
Communication tools (e.g., VoIP, chat, video conferencing)
E-signature tool
Social selling management platform
Accounting software
3. Provide Training to Your Team to Ensure GenAI Adoption
Tech training is a must. Provide structured onboarding with a tech professional when you integrate new tools and ensure that all team members have a long-term point of contact for troubleshooting.
It’s incumbent on sales leaders, in particular, to understand GenAI tools at a deep level and ensure their teams are tech literate.
4. Measure Success and ROI
Track key metrics to gauge whether or not GenAI tools are providing the desired results. A lack of improvement is an indicator that something has gone wrong in the adoption process.
Here are the key metrics to track:
Qualified leads generated
Emails sent
Prospect-to-customer and lead-to-customer conversion rates
Marketing-qualified lead (MQL) to sales-qualified lead (SQL) rate
Win rate
Sales revenue
5. Ensure Ethical Use of AI and Regulatory Compliance
When picking GenAI tools, ensure that the privacy and data policies of the provider comply with regulations in your jurisdiction. Examples include GDPR in Europe and US state-level acts like the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and the New Hampshire Privacy Act (NHPA).
6. Balance Automation with the Human Touch
Finally, don’t forget the human touch. GenAI tools aren’t meant to replace human beings. Rather, GenAI works best when it assists and supports business development reps (BDRs), sales development reps (SDRs), and account executives (AEs).
It’s important that living, breathing sales professionals know when to take over to guide a lead to becoming a customer. Whether it’s navigating the complexities of pricing objections, delivering an in-person sales pitch, or handling a product demo, sales will always remain in significant part a person-to-person process.
Choose Artisan: The Generative AI Solution to Power Your Sales
According to McKinsey, 90% of business and sales leaders expect to use GenAI “often” over the next two years. GenAI is already transforming B2B sales.
The question isn’t if you should start using AI. Nor is it when. It’s how. Your focus should be on building a tech stack and processes that enable you to maximize its full potential.
Artisan is at the forefront of GenAI-driven outbound sales enablement. Artisan’s AI sales development representative (SDR), Ava, provides next-gen AI functionality that can fill your pipeline with high-quality, eager-to-buy leads.
Here’s just a sample of what Ava can do:
Lead prospecting from a 300 million-strong database
Lead data validation and hygiene monitoring
Email warmup and deliverability optimization
Outreach personalization based on detailed lead profiles
Follow-up automation
Ongoing optimization based on campaign data
If you’d like to see how Ava can automate and optimize large portions of your outbound sales campaigns book a demo today.