Sales AI will soon replace you, unless you follow these two rules

Sales AI willreplace some salespeople. No doubt about it.

Want proof?

I bet you’HATE talking to a salesperson to buy a book on Amazon.

An Amazon book rep would introduce friction to an otherwise seamless buying process.

It’s a simple buying decision and people want to get through it. Without another person.

The writing is on the wall for sales jobs like that.

So what’s the difference betweenthosesales jobs and YOURS?

Simple.

You do more thancommunicatevalue.

Youcreatevalue.

(You may want to read that again).

You go beyond value communication and step into valuecreationwhen you:

• Help buyers think through unfamiliar problems in a new way
• Offer buyers a unique point of view about key threats and opportunities
• Lead buyers through a decision-making process they’re never done before
• Answer non-standard, nuanced questions

Your buyers cannot do these things without you.

These buyers value your creativity and insight more than your product knowledge.

So…

By answering these questions:

Do you go beyondcommunicating value?Do youcreatevalue?

The purpose of selling before the information age was tocommunicate value.

But now that buyers have access to all the information they need,you have to go beyond that.

You have tocreatevalue during the buying process to justify your existence.

YOU don’t get to define “value.” Your buyers do.

Your buyer has to WANT you to create value for them.

You can’t create value for someone who doesn’t want it. That’s not value creation. That’s being overbearing.

If buyers don’twantyour guidance, point of view, or help, there’s not much you can do to change that. Except find a new job.

You can’tforcebuyers who have decided to buy transactionally to demand added value.

Executives sometimes try to “upgrade” their sales organization from transactional to consultative.

But if your buyer doesn’twantyou to do that, you’re not creating value. You’re destroying value.

Now.

If you ARE in a sales career where buyers demand value creation from you, how am I so sure AI won’t replace you?

There are two reasons…

Let me explain.

Product differentiation is dead.

Every category isexplodingwith competition to the point where product differences blur.

Here’s my favorite example: Marketing software.

In 2011, there were 150 marketing software vendors. Today?Over 7,000:

A “differentiated product” won’t cut through that clutter.

Your space is becoming more competitive, too.

When markets get more competitive, buyers stop choosing the strongest product. The differences are too minimal.

Value migrates from the product to the buying experience.

If buyers see you as at parity with your competitors’, thenhowyou sell outweighswhatyou sell.

And you, the salesperson are responsible for delivering that buying experience.YOUare the differentiator.

But what’s stopping a robot from doing that?

That leads us to the second reason AI won’t replace you…

And you can’t automate complex conversations.

Robots can have simple conversations. Conversations that involve winnowing down a finite list of options like a flowchart.

Google proved that last year with the Google Assistant demo:

But the only reason the Google Assistant could do this isthere’s a finite number of paths that conversation could take.

The demo is impressive, to be sure. But it’s limited in the scenarios it can address. It’s like a decision tree. A bunch of conditional if/then statements.

Close-ended questions. Finite responses. AI can cover that.

But if you ask your buyer something complex, such as:

“What’s your biggest strategic challenge going into 2020?”

…You open yourself up to infinity.

Conversing about a topic likethatdemands that you have a trait calledsapience.

Sapience is a combination of things.

It’s wisdom.

It’s discernment.

Empathy.

Insight.

Lateral thinking.

Sapience is auniquely human trait.

If your sales job demands sapience of you, consider yourself safe from AI.

AI won’t be able to have a conversationfor you.

But it will help you understandwhat’s working and what’s notin your own conversations.

It’ll give youinsightsyou can use toclose more deals, faster.

We analyzedmillionsof recorded sales calls with AI to figure out what works in sales, according todata.

We’ve summarized the key tactics in thisFREE cheat sheet.

Get your free copy here and improve your sales calls :

I’ll also send you three ‘inner circle’ sales call tips via email.

And then you can go have a celebratory beer. Because…