Artificial intelligence: 5 concrete applications of generative AI for a sales team

benoit lefevre Published by Benoit Lefevre – 7 March 2024

Disclaimer: this article was written by a human with the help of ChatGPT 😉

ChatGPT celebrated its 1ère birthday and now boasts over 100 million users. Since then, there has been a steady stream of new products in the field, from Google Bard to Midjourney, Microsoft Copilote and the GPT Store. OpenAI and Microsoft are also starting the year with new products that are accessible to companies of all sizes, and guarantee improved data security. This should remove any objections to the use of these tools in certain organizations.

Personally, I use these generative AI tools on a daily basis in a commercial context. They save me a lot of time and increase my efficiency. Here are 5 concrete applications to be used without moderation by sales teams

1. Create customized content or communication media for a customer

You’ve got a brilliant idea, a conviction to defend, but you’re not really comfortable turning it into a Linkedin post, a Powerpoint presentation or a blog article. ChatGPT will do it for you, in the format you want. Ask it to write an 800-word article, and it’ll do it. Ask it to write a Linkedin post in the style of Victor Hugo or Elon Musk, and it’ll do it too.  With Dall.e or Midjourney, you can create a magnificent image to illustrate your presentation.

2. Finding angles of attack for better arguments

You’ve got an important meeting tomorrow with a difficult prospect or customer. ChatGPT is the king of pitches. It can suggest powerful hooks adapted to your customer’s profile. It can also help you rephrase your arguments for greater impact and persuasiveness. It will also give you the keys to dealing with a difficult objection.

3. Understand tenders better and save time responding to them

You’ve received this large invitation to tender containing 5 documents totalling over 100 pages. You’re about to go through it laboriously. Tell the generative AI what you’re looking for. It can summarize it for you. The AI can then help you save time and improve the quality of your response.

4. Summarize a video meeting on Teams or Zoom

You’ve just moderated a Teams meeting and you need to write up the minutes, but you don’t really have the time because the next videoconference has already started. AI lets you first transcribe the meeting and then summarize it.

5. Automate your e-mail replies

You’ve just returned from a day out with your customers. 50 e-mails are waiting for you in your mailbox. Generative AI will propose generally convincing draft responses, especially for standard requests.

A few points to watch out for and a few recommendations before getting started

  • Take the time to proofread before distributing content. AI sometimes invents references that don’t exist. This is known as the hallucination effect. It may also have been trained on false content, in which case it will render errors. In any case, keep in mind that AI is first and foremost an aid that provides you with a basis on which to work, rather than starting from a blank page. It’s up to the human eye and sensitivity to improve it.
  • Learn how to interact with an AI, train yourself in the art of the prompt: as in human interaction or when questioning a customer, the quality of an AI’s response will largely depend on the nature and form of your question or request. This ability to write the right prompt is called “prompt engineering”, and there are a few key techniques you need to know. It’s a real skill that’s important to acquire. A day’s training is necessary.
  • Don’t put your confidential data into consumer tools. The consumer versions (GPT3.5 & GPT4) of ChatGPT potentially use the data you enter in your prompts to train the AI. If you enter confidential data, you run the risk of making it public. So resist the temptation and don’t ask them to analyze your latest sales statistics. Your IT department is no doubt already working on the creation of secure spaces.

Next steps:

  • Google releases Lumière for creating videos from text
  • It will become increasingly accessible to integrate your own data into your own generative AI system for even more relevant answers.
  • And at Halifax, we’re already working with our customers to develop a number of customized AIs for sales, sales management and Kam.

TO BE FOLLOWED…

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