Technological advances have permanently altered the form and function of AI-Centric Guided Selling and marketing capabilities, reveals Gartner.
Artificial intelligence has transformed the overall form and purpose of guided selling capabilities for good, claims a recent Gartner study. B2B organizations should facilitate sellers to improve their process execution by adding AI-Centric Guided Selling into their sales technology stack.
During the latest Gartner CSO & Sales Leader Conference, the analysts noted that the traditional forms of guided selling (including sales process methodology and technology) have been proven limited. They require a data-driven strategy and do not grant statistically relevant recommendations which can guide professionals to crack deals.
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In fact, both types of guided selling have undergone considerable modification due to sudden digitization amid the pandemic. In this context, Tad Travis, Vice President of research at Gartner mentioned in a statement – “The pandemic exposed cracks in many organization’s sales processes.”
He further added, “Knowing that sales process discipline must be improved to increase the chances of closing new deals, sales leaders are investigating new data-driven, AI-centric guided selling functions for improving sales execution.”
According to Gartner, AI-powered guided selling has primarily four components and comes in two forms –
- Prescriptive: This is recommended as the next best actions, including what content is required to send next to a prospect)
- Predictive: The insights that disclose statistically relevant indicators about the sales process and steps)
Instead of needing businesses to decide what to do next to move a customer relationship, deal, or quote forward, the sales professionals can rely on statistically derived analytics. Simply put, the value proposition of AI-centric guided selling is undeniable.
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Before executing any AI-centric guided selling, Gartner recommends that business leaders need to follow the below actions:
- Training all sales partners on the initial elements of AI-centric guided selling, highlighting the importance of collecting the micro-level actions of engagement –that businesses can undertake within the span of a dynamic deal.
- Identifying sales process steps as well as business outcomes that are unique to the company’s processes to find the best-fit solution.
- Updating the sales technology roadmap by choosing the form of AI-centric guided selling technology – which is most relevant to the organization’s lead, sales enablement, opportunity, and quote management use cases.
- Prioritizing where the guided functions would be most relevant by identifying the parts of the company’s sales value chain that are prone to the maximum amounts of human-educated guessing.
B2B brands need to experiment with innovative approaches and technologies at the same time for better execution of their process. As mentioned in the study, “However, it is not an immediate solution for better sales execution, as organizations with data quality or process issues may not be able to take advantage immediately.”
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