TECHNOLOGY
How AI Delivers Visibility and Better Forecasting
ADAM HONIG
CRM was a great way to organize contacts 20 years ago, but the technology hasn’t changed much. Most CRM software relegates sales reps to glorified data- entry clerks. So who do you want on your team? A rep who’s great at keeping all the CRM fields neatly filled out, or a rep out there closing deals?
These days, the information in a CRM system is out of date before it’s even input. As a result, companies throw good money after bad data with a pile of add-on apps to make the clunky tool easier to use – not to mention teams of consultants to help them work. Technology should make your life
easier, and artificial intelligence (AI) is now at a point where it can deliver
on its promises. AI isn’t interested in replacing humans, but instead wants to help highly paid sales profession- als work more effectively and provide sales leaders with critical insights into their pipelines. An emerging product category,
proactive relationship management, leverages AI to revolutionize the relationship between salespeople
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and technology. Proactive relation- ship management doesn’t need to be “used.” It can create contacts based on who you’re emailing. It can update opportunities when a proposal is sent. It can guide salespeople to the right actions. With proactive relationship management, the data is continuously being captured, so the AI engine is able to spot patterns and provide rec- ommendations on next best actions.
NO DATA ENTRY BUT MORE VISIBILITY
How can eliminating data entry improve visibility? It sounds counter-intuitive, but this is where the power of AI really changes the game for sales leaders. The AI allows a proactive relationship management platform to work in the background – automatically collecting data from email, voice, and text to track and optimize engagement throughout the sales cycle. As a result of the full visibility into the sales team’s activity – and, more importantly, the prospects’
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