The AI Edge in Sales
For this issue’s Must-Read feature, we picked a book on the unbeatable edge that AI provides for sales professionals. As the blurb of the book announces, it’s about helping sales fraternity learn the strategies to “unleash the power of AI to save time, sell more and crush the competition.” While the book is on AI in sales, this review is not AI generated. The book was read by humans to distil for insights and actionable ideas …
The AI Edge may be book on artificial intelligence. But it is authored by veteran sales industry insiders. So, the book looks at sales as, you and I, who are in everyday sales would see it.
While Jeb Blount Jeb Blount is the author of numerous books sales and sales leadership and is counted among thought leaders on sales, leadership, and customer experience, Anthony Iannarino is a globally recognised speaker on sales, success, leadership, and entrepreneurship and a published author
The book opens with a memorable quote from Michio Kaku American theoretical physicist, science writer, author and futurologist- “The job market of the future will consist of those jobs robots cannot perform”
Unlocking the AI Advantage in Sales
Blount and Iannarino see three types of salespeople likely in the emerging new world: (i) People who are displaced by AI (ii) People who are controlled by AI (iii) People who are enhanced by AI. They suggest that a salesperson wanting to be enhanced by AI, must look for the 2 keys that will unlock the AI advantage in sales
- Understand how and when AI can be useful
- Appreciate when being human matters even more
AI edge in sales is all about gaining a decisive competitive advantage by learning how to integrate AI into your sales activity and
using human intuition, creativity and empathy with AI.
The authors propose a simple strategy to enhance sales intelligence with AI
They point ot that sales Intelligence has 4 elements
- IQ (Innate intelligence),
- AQ (Acquired knowledge),
- EQ (Emotional intelligence to manage emotions of self and others,
- TQ (Technology assimilation and leverage)
Fusing these 4 intelligences in the right mix can enable seamless blending of AI into sales. AI then makes you more agile and flexible, move faster with less effort, make a bigger impact and ultimately sell more
Traps and Safety Rules
Blount and Iannarino flag two traps to watch out for
- Anthropomorphism – This is the error of attributing human traits, emotions and intentions to non-human entities. AI’s seemingly intelligent and human like responses shouldn’t result in misplaced trust. “No matter how human it seems” they remind us, “AI apps have goals and not souls.” The algorithm doesn’t care whether the answer is right or wrong, may feel no hesitation in picking off passages, as they are, from a blog or book or even making up a false answer and “hallucinate” something that doesn’t exist
- Authority bias - It is easy to believe all that AI tells us as it always sounds like an expert or authority. But we need to remember AI cannot reason or think critically. It cannot understand context nor can it weight moral considerations. Taking AI output at face value makes us vulnerable to risk of overlooking these biases
4 Safety rules
They suggest 4 safety rules to follow
- Don’t trust any AI generated content generated without reviewing and verifying the information.
- Always cross check the accuracy, run a query on search engines and other sources
- Make sure the information and data are real and correct and still published on the internet.
- Never copy and paste AI-generated content without proofreading, unchecked errors can be embarrassing
Make your prompts specific … More specific the better
Mention AI and someone will bring in Prompts and how they should be “engineered”
Prompts can be seen as tasks that we ask AI to do for us. Blount and Iannarino caution that vague, generic prompts generate poor responses and waste time
When we provide more of (i) Context (ii) information, and (iii) specificity you will get output that adds value to your sales effort
“Without you directing it, AI is worthless in your sales kit, you must lead, guide and use it as an effective assistant”
The AI Edge is sales professional friendly and covers a wide range of issues most relevant to a sales audience. The chapters are short, the language jargon free and easy to read and absorb. The book makes you feel like being led through a new territory by experts from your own domain. They have navigated and mapped the terrain for you so that your learning journey is smooth and comfortable
“The future is not a gift. It is an achievement.”
– Alvin Toffler
Welcome to the 'New Mercuri Mail'.. The India Journal of Mercuri International!
This is the 'Go To Place Sales Newsletter and Journal' of the discerning Sales Community! Continuing its 35 year long tradition of sharing knowledge curated from the best of sales and management literature, here come interesting new features, all with an unwavering focus on making a difference!
Happy reading and reflecting!
Team Mercuri India
