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Artificial Intelligence on personal sales

by Rome59
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Hi All

I am interested in hearing different theories on how AI is likely to change personal selling in the future.
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  • Profile picture of the author Claude Whitacre
    Originally Posted by Rome59 View Post

    Hi All

    I am interested in hearing different theories on how AI is likely to change personal selling in the future.
    Dramatically.
    Even now, marketing is taking the place of prospecting, and AI can write sales copy better than most of us.

    AI can already mimic our voice, follow a script, and answer most questions. Soon, they will be able to carry on a conversation.

    AI will eventually be able to accomplish sales as well as a well trained salesperson, as long as the sale is online, or over the phone.

    And even now, AI can find the prospects that are by far the most likely to buy what you sell. And that's usually more than half the battle.

    But.....for the immediate future? AI is a tool that can make selling easier, faster.

    I'm about to launch a sales training program. But in 20 years? Who knows how useful any of that would be?

    Personal selling would still be useful, and still work. But it may not be necessary.
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    • Profile picture of the author Odahh
      Originally Posted by Claude Whitacre View Post

      Dramatically.
      Even now, marketing is taking the place of prospecting, and AI can write sales copy better than most of us.

      AI can already mimic our voice, follow a script, and answer most questions. Soon, they will be able to carry on a conversation.

      AI will eventually be able to accomplish sales as well as a well trained salesperson, as long as the sale is online.

      And even now, AI can find the prospects that are by far the most likely to buy what you sell. And that's usually more than half the battle.

      But.....for the immediate future? AI is a tool that can make selling easier, faster.

      I'm about to launch a sales training program. But in 20 years? Who knows how useful any of that would be?

      Personal selling would still be useful, and still work. But it may not be necessary.
      I am going to make a dangerous observation. 50 and over crowd mostly will still want some interaction with human being.

      Under 50 the less they have to deal with mundane human interactions the better. And that line will age as years pass . So in ten years it will be 60 and older then in 20 it will be70 and older.

      I had Nintendo and video games in junior high and high school. Then home pcs and internet and cell phones. I am used to learning new technology.

      People over 50 have no patience for learning how to use new technologies but will be t the most expensive and complicated stuff.

      For some reason you want to operate your dishwasher with an app on your smartphone. And don't know how to get the dishwasher onto your WiFi network. How to download the app or you get annoyed having to sign up for a new account then in a few days forget your password.

      The short answer is as time goes on there will be more people who will only buy from automation and walk away if any human interaction it required..
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      • Profile picture of the author Jonathan 2.0
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        Interesting point Odahh. : )

        However I don't think it's just the over 50's (etc.) crowd. For the most part ― almost all People ― will need a certain amount of "Human Interaction." I don't think AI will replace everything ― well I certainly hope not. : ) (Lol)
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      • Profile picture of the author OptedIn
        Originally Posted by Odahh View Post

        I am going to make a dangerous observation. 50 and over crowd mostly will still want some interaction with a human being.
        Not a dangerous observation, but certainly one that is way off the mark.

        Most people over 50 that I know would rather chew glass than have to interact with another humanoid.

        My mother is 92. She has her devices and post on Facebook, every day (much to my embarrassment and dismay).

        There are a lot of tech-savvy Boomers out there. Most have grandkids who help them when they have issues with the technology.

        Cheers. - Big Frank

        P.S. AI is as dangerous as Elon Musk says it is.
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  • Profile picture of the author max5ty
    Originally Posted by Odahh View Post


    I am going to make a dangerous observation. 50 and over crowd mostly will still want some interaction with human being.

    People over 50 have no patience for learning how to use new technologies but will be t the most expensive and complicated stuff.
    So I had a good chuckle over your 50 plus observation.

    Pre-pandemic you were probably right...but we went through a pandemic era that changed the world.

    Baby boomers are the fastest growing online shopper...and they have the cash behind them.

    If you're not planning your next million to include the boomers, you're really behind the times.

    One other observation. If the technology is too complicated by older people to learn, it wasn't designed right and should go back to the drawing board. We're living in an age where AI is not only super intelligent but almost requires zero intervention to function.

    Sorry, but there's just been so much talk about how online has changed since the pandemic and I was taken back by your comment.

    So many articles I could link to, but I'll just grab one:

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/road-...ping-pandemic/
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    • Profile picture of the author Odahh
      Originally Posted by max5ty View Post

      So I had a good chuckle over your 50 plus observation.

      Pre-pandemic you were probably right...but we went through a pandemic era that changed the world.

      Baby boomers are the fastest growing online shopper...and they have the cash behind them.

      If you're not planning your next million to include the boomers, you're really behind the times.

      One other observation. If the technology is too complicated by older people to learn, it wasn't designed right and should go back to the drawing board. We're living in an age where AI is not only super intelligent but almost requires zero intervention to function.

      Sorry, but there's just been so much talk about how online has changed since the pandemic and I was taken back by your comment.

      So many articles I could link to, but I'll just grab one:

      https://www.washingtonpost.com/road-...ping-pandemic/
      And before we get into some unnecessary disagreement. You are correct.

      If you read what I said again and that the thread is about AI replacing human sales people.

      I said people currently 50 and older will probably always prefer human contact at some point in the process.

      I also implied they buy technological upgraded devices that are complicated or more complicated than needed.

      I was making fun of the people who want to run dish washers and other appliances with apps on their cell phones. But don't know how to set any of it up.

      The older half of gen x and baby boomers may be overjoyed at being able to buy things and have them in a few days. And not having to talk to any sales people.

      But they may still want a human available to answer any question they have about what they purchases

      Cell phone auto correct lowers my faith in over use of technology.

      I will be far more comfortable have a car that drives itself. Than having my appliances run by apps on my cellphone.
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      • Profile picture of the author max5ty
        Originally Posted by Odahh View Post


        But they may still want a human available to answer any question they have about what they purchases
        And also studies show that the ones that actually top the list and are not so quick to break the human interaction habit are the younger females...

        online shopping is great, but there's something about going out there to an actual store that younger women love. I'm not going to go into all the reasons because they vary, but they top the list of still wanting to interact with humans.

        But thanks for your feedback.
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        • Profile picture of the author Odahh
          Originally Posted by max5ty View Post

          And also studies show that the ones that actually top the list and are not so quick to break the human interaction habit are the younger females...

          online shopping is great, but there's something about going out there to an actual store that younger women love. I'm not going to go into all the reasons because they vary, but they top the list of still wanting to interact with humans.

          But thanks for your feedback.
          Honestly you are not responding to anything I am writing.
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          • Profile picture of the author max5ty
            Originally Posted by Odahh View Post

            Honestly you are not responding to anything I am writing.
            You talked about 50 plus-year-olds in your original post...I commented on it.

            I did not add the part about 50 plus-year-olds to your post.

            Evidently, you thought it was worth mentioning 50 plus-year-olds versus another age group.

            Why you are confused that I commented on something you yourself put in your post is confusing to me...
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            • Profile picture of the author Odahh
              Originally Posted by max5ty View Post


              Evidently, you thought it was worth mentioning 50 plus-year-olds versus another age group.
              .
              Their response to sales people being replaced by ai
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              • Profile picture of the author max5ty
                Originally Posted by Odahh View Post

                Their response to sales people being replaced by ai
                Your quote: "People over 50 have no patience for learning how to use new technologies"

                my response followed in showing you they are learning new technology in droves.

                But hey, I may have completely read your whole post wrong.

                Have a good day Odahh
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            • Profile picture of the author Odahh
              Originally Posted by max5ty View Post

              You talked about 50 plus-year-olds in your original post...I commented on it.

              I did not add the part about 50 plus-year-olds to your post.

              Evidently, you thought it was worth mentioning 50 plus-year-olds versus another age group.

              Why you are confused that I commented on something you yourself put in your post is confusing to me...
              So tell me all these businesses servings young women and replacing sales staff with AI

              Subject matter of the thread sales people being replaced by AI so I started going into why you would need some human support for older buyers
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  • Profile picture of the author tagiscom
    Originally Posted by Rome59 View Post

    Hi All

    I am interested in hearing different theories on how AI is likely to change personal selling in the future.
    Not much, l tried to put on the voice on my old laptop, and it was cute to tell it to do things and it replying, like in a movie, but after l left it on and coughed, and it took that as a yes to destroy all of my images, then l went off of that and went back to the keyboard.

    I won't get into the two with shaking soapboxes, but suffice to say l am in my 50's and would be happy to learn something new, if the payoff was worth it.

    So tv, maybe, smart clock, no, smart phone, yep, smart watch probably no.

    China already has robots doing things, and we may get that here eventually, which is fine if it works.
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  • Profile picture of the author MuhammadShahidHanif
    Artificial intelligence is something that is being developed to take over mundane tasks and make business processes more efficient. Just like the *rise of computers and the internet, the emergence of AI is a historical phenomenon taking place at a mind-boggling pace. Sales is something that has been around from the beginning of time but was never standardized. AI is making it possible to create a standardized, scalable sales experience. Sales is an extremely competitive market and involves high costs, in terms of time, effort and money. Using AI to standardize sales will help businesses, marketers and sales people to focus on their areas of expertise, meaning that they can reach more customers and close more sales.
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  • Profile picture of the author socialentry
    AI and sales?


    hahaha I don't even think that most sales organizations even do A/B testing.
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