How to Use AI to Win More Sales
By Shawn Casemore
For most sales professionals, AI has quickly become a necessary productivity tool, used for everything from prospect research to deal monitoring and post-discovery meeting scoring. The uses are far-reaching and continue to expand daily.
There is, however, a more valuable way to deploy AI if you are in sales. It doesn’t require new software, learning a new platform or some fancy integration with your CRM software.
Recently, while speaking at a sales kickoff meeting for a large home and auto insurer, I shared a live demonstration where I asked ChatGPT whether I should move my auto and home insurance over to this company.
The recommendation, given in less than a minute, shocked most of the attendees.
It began, “No, you should not move all of your home and auto insurance over to [company name].”
The room quickly fell silent, as attendees squirmed in their chairs.
The recommendation continued by sharing a list of six reasons why it would not be a good decision for me, including suggestions of other competitors I might contact, their contact information and how they might be a better fit.
Full disclosure: I don’t use ChatGPT often, so it didn’t have much history on my home and auto needs. Additionally, the recommendations shared with me would likely differ for someone else asking the same question.
To validate what was shared with me, we had someone in the audience repeat the same test using their chosen AI platform.
The results were very similar.
My intention for using this exercise was simple. To uncover a blind spot most sales professionals aren’t considering, which is this: Your prospective customers are using ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and other AI platforms to help them decide if they even engage with you; what to ask you; and what concerns they should have.
They are quickly and quietly turning over their decision-making process, at least in part, to AI.
The outcome: AI is holding good prospects back from ever engaging with you.
Let that sit for a moment.
Our question needs to shift from, “How can AI help me be more productive?” to “How can I use AI to close more sales?”
Those are two very different questions that will yield two very different answers.
Here are five steps I shared with the audience that you can use to deploy AI and help you win more sales:
Ensure any social platforms you use for selling are up to date (i.e., professional image, employment information, etc.) and you are active in posting and sharing relevant content.
Use AI to uncover common objections your customers might have and develop a response to each. You can even use AI to review your response for feedback on how to improve.
Ask prospects if they have used AI to vet you, your company or product/service. Regardless of their answer (i.e., yes, no, maybe), respond with “here is what you likely read,” and then proceed to respond to address each point.
If you uncover any negative comments or objections, share them early with prospects, and speak to them directly (i.e., “you might have read _____; here is what you should know”).
Ask AI to consider your competitors and give you insights into how you can best represent your company and its products or services, in a way that separates you from the competition. The insights shared give you a starting point for developing your differentiation.
There are other ways to use AI as a tool to help close more sales, but these are the most overlooked opportunities.
Your prospects and customers are increasingly using AI to vet you before, during and after your meetings. Shouldn’t you use it before you engage to have more meaningful conversations?