ATD Blog
Thu Nov 02 2023
The era of artificial intelligence (AI) is upon us. And like technology before it, AI has the power to make our lives easier and more productive.
Generative AI (GenAI) is transforming how people do their jobs and elevating their performance. And it effects sales training and coaching significantly. With AI-powered sales learning and coaching tools, sales managers create sales training content faster, deliver personalized training, scale learning and coaching, and more.
Not only that, but sales teams that use AI produce higher revenue. In fact, McKinsey & Company research indicates that “players that invest in AI are seeing a revenue uplift of 3 to 15% and a sales ROI uplift of 10 to 20%.”
Whether you’re onboarding new sales reps or training sellers about a new product, GenAI-powered Conversation Intelligence helps you do it faster and better, ensures sellers perform to the highest standards, and increases sales return on investment (ROI).
Sales managers never have enough time to do everything required to train, certify, and coach sellers. GenAI tools help them—and allow sellers to feel empowered and capable of achieving their quotas. Here are three ways you can use GenAI and Conversation Intelligence to create high-performing sales teams:
Generate course content and assessments.
Using AI, you can automate the creation of course content. This content enhances the learning experience, increases learner engagement, and improves performance.
For example, you can:
Generate quiz questions from a training session transcript instantaneously.
Recommend learning to match learners’ needs, skill level, and competencies.
Automate curation and cataloging of user-generated content.
Benefits: Automation frees up time for learners and trainers to focus on moments that matter, including face-to-face conversations and instructor-led training. And it easily pinpoints areas where sellers need improvement.
Practice and certify sales skills.
One of the most effective practice tools is a GenAI-powered Dialog Simulator. It provides role-play simulations with an AI actor, allowing sellers to practice and record their customer conversations before they meet with buyers.
You can also use AI-powered tools to:
Develop objection handling and spaced repetition drills.
Create quizzes and knowledge checks.
Auto-analyze learner data to identify knowledge gaps.
Benefits: Sellers learn on their own time and practice using real-life examples. Learner engagement increases, along with their confidence. Sales managers benefit from automated grading, performance tracking, and feedback.
Coach sellers and boost performance using conversation intelligence.
Conversation Intelligence tools allow managers to leverage GenAI for analyzing sellers’ practice sessions and real-world sales conversations. Sales reps and coaches see concise and actionable auto-generated insights, identifying what’s working and what needs improvement.
GenAI coaching tools also:
Analyze learner data and identify patterns, trends, and insights.
Predict learner performance and recommend next-best actions.
Measure the impact of learning on business outcomes and ROI.
Benefits: You create a culture of learning. You drive B- and C-level sales reps to become A-level players. Automation reduces the burden on coaches and trainers.
Several public GenAI tools are available, but they come with a risk. Information that you put into them could be added to the tools’ databases and then pulled from for other users’ queries. You don’t want proprietary information made available to the public.
Instead, look for sales training platforms with GenAI built into them. Not only are they more secure, but they streamline the process and eliminate the need for yet another tool. With just one tool, you can improve your sales training, increase productivity, and help your sales reps exceed their goals.
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