AI for Leaders Blueprint - What Every Leader Needs to Know

“71% of people are using it right now. They’re not using it well.”

As someone who has implemented 100s of sales technologies and overhauled 1000s of sales processes, there is no tool that exists now that has the potential to do as much good and have as big of an impact as generative AI.

Kevin Dorsey joins me in this session, and he begins by quoting, “People overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in two.” This is a perfect way to describe the road we are on with generative AI and tools like ChatGPT.

This is evident in the strides we’ve made in the first nine months of this year. We’ve learned a lot about how to do it wrong and how to make it better and experimented with more and more scenarios.

I’ll get into the blueprint for sales use cases, goals, and what we like to call “prompt styles.” But you’ll notice this is just episode one of a series. This first session is the best way to understand what AI for leaders looks like, why it’s important now, and how to use it to augment your sales process and team (aka the blueprint). 

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Skip ahead to:

• • 4:35 – What is generative AI, and what’s different about AI now.
  • 5:48 – Sales and leadership is borderline nothing but a long if-then chain. Not to oversimplify it, but it is.
  • 7:45 – Why AI matters in sales. People are flocking to it because we think it will save us time, and we’re so addicted to speed in SaaS. And it can if done well.
  • 8:33 – People are using it right now. They’re not using it well. We ask, “ChatGPT, write me an email.” And it doesn’t go well. It can actually make things worse for us.
  • 10:22 – 71% of reps say they use ChatGPT or similar tools – 30% every day, 41% a few times a week/month.
  • 12:50 – Some of the top pitfalls for sales leaders if this goes unchecked… It’s a tool that we haven’t been taught how to use. 
  • 16:16 – Many people use ChatGPT for research and one-to-one answers, but there are so many more prompt “strategies” or “styles.”
  • 22:10 – The four main use cases in sales for ChatGPT are pipeline generation, closing more deals, growing customer relationships, and leading and coaching for performance.
  • 23:14 – Big ways ChatGPT and AI will affect preparation and messaging.
  • 27:31 – There are other deal implications and use cases on the Customer Success side.
  • 28:15 – And finally, leading and coaching for performance. As leaders, we’re paid for our knowledge – taking content and putting it into context – this knowledge can now live in a place without having to pull a leader in. It can be proactive coaching.

Quick Recap: AI for Leaders – What Every Leader Needs to Know

What is generative AI, and why it matter in sales (4:35 – 8:32)

A basic definition of generative AI is a form of machine learning that is able to produce text, video, images, and other types of content (Investopedia).

Now, AI isn’t all that new, but AI for a long time was just if-this-than-that and big decision trees. What’s truly different about generative AI today is its ability to interpret and match very specific data sets on very nuanced concepts. In the case of ChatGPT, Claude, Bing, and Bard, they have already been fed a massive amount of information and content that doesn’t require users to set up or plug in the if-this-then-that every day. But it does need users to set up the context.

Why it matters in sales specifically is using it to create:

• • Faster onboarding and ramp
  • More efficient research and prospecting
  • Higher quality conversations
  • Increased revenue and shortened sales cycles

At the end of the day, it’s about outcomes.

Why is it important now? (8:33 – 16:15)

People are flocking to generative AI like ChatGPT because it’s new, it’s exciting, and it will save us so much time. 

And everything that is new, exciting, and will save us time, we want. 

Now, generative AI will indeed save us time and make us better sellers, leading to more revenue, more meetings, and better performance… when done well.

71% of reps are using it right now. They’re not using it well. 

This is why it’s crucial to get ahead now. It’s exciting that reps are already showing their willingness to use it. What’s scary is that it’s a tool we haven’t trained for or trained our sellers for – essentially creating the opposite effect of saving us time, making us better sellers, and increasing revenue.

If usage goes unchecked and unmanaged by leadership, your team will fall into:

• • No governance or formal way of evaluating prompts for accuracy
  • No way to scale or make repeatable
  • If reps misuse ChatGPT, it could cause more work and time versus making reps more efficient

The AI Blueprint to Augment Sales (22:10 – 29:50)

We talked a lot about using ChatGPT well in this session. This is how we think about it at Skaled – our blueprint for augmenting the sales process and using it to coach and become better leaders.

There are four main use cases for using AI in sales. Within that, there are nine different goals, and by using specific prompt styles, you will output prompts that are meaningful and useful to your organization. 

I won’t go into too much detail here. Just fast forward to 22:10 for the breakdown.

Use Cases

• • Pipeline generation
  • Closing more deals
  • Growing customer relationships
  • Leading and coaching for performance

Goals

• • Personas and Research – Provide company/industry overview to get up to speed quickly. Analyze customer needs/pain points based on past interactions. Suggest relevant content to share with prospects.
  • Messaging – Draft customized outreach templates for specific personas/verticals. Review transcripts and refine messaging to resonate better.
  • Complex Deal Navigation – Summarize complex account situation and next best steps. Highlight potential challenges and strategies to mitigate.
  • Problem to Solutioning Framing – Analyze customer objections and provide tailored responses/solutions. Rework product/service capabilities to address concerns.
  • Follow-Up and Re-Engagement – Generate follow up emails to keep warm leads engaged.
  • Get up to speed on new clients – Digest account history and relationships to prep for meetings. Create customer profiles summarizing key details.
  • Foster Lasting Relationships – Track interactions and suggest timely touchpoints to nurture customers. Draft relevant content recommendations customers may appreciate.
  • AI-Powered Onboarding – Quickly create customized onboarding checklists/programs. Suggest training content to get new hires up to speed rapidly. BONUS – Onboarding Customers is another use case. 
  • Targeted Skill Building – Identify skill gaps and recommend development resources. Create personalized training prompts for reps to practice selling scenarios.

Prompt Styles

• • Roles Playing – aids in training
  • Scenario Planning – prepares for various sales situations
  • Researching – helps speed up time to personalization
  • Skills Trainer – accelerates development planning
  • Long-Term Planning – protects the customer lifecycle and retention
  • Brainstorming – allows new ideas to be validated or dismissed quickly

Sign up – AI for Leaders

Don’t miss the next episodes in this series as Kevin Dorsey and I take a deep dive into the intersection of AI and sales, through the lens of sales leaders. 

>> Sales AI Unleashed: Transformative Sales Techniques for the Modern Sales Professional