According to a survey, sales leaders expect the use of AI in sales to rise faster than any other technology. The survey also pointed out that high-performing teams are 4.9X more productive when they use AI.

Traditionally, sales teams relied on in-person interactions more. However, technologies like AI are making sales teams rethink the balance between humans and technology.

Sales intelligence, an integral part of AI, has doubled the results for sales teams from the roots up while reducing their efforts by half.

Earlier, sales experts usually relied on their knowledge and expertise to drive significant numbers, but the entire business ecosystem shook as the pandemic hit. With more competitors and products entering the market in less than a year, having personal knowledge and expertise was not enough anymore.

Post-pandemic, sales was no more about cold calling or fancy advertising; it turned into a much deeper relationship that had to be looked at from all stages.

That is when sales intelligence gained prominence. In 2021, prospects need more profound and customized experiences and not assumptions based on inaccurate data.

Sales Intelligence has become the foundation for  effective selling – it gives you everything you need to win over your market and your target prospects successfully.

From finding prospects to helping craft sales pitches and converting, sales intelligence takes the lead everywhere, and here is how it will help take the guesswork out of sales call effectiveness.

Target before you call

We know that even a great product fails when it is pitched to the wrong audience. If your target audience is not exactly the target of your product, chances are it may fail.

In 2021, prospects do not dedicate much time to sales calls, so it becomes crucial to approach only those who might be interested in your offer. Hyper-targeting your prospects level-by-level is crucial to achieving sales effectiveness.

AI is heavily used in targeting prospects since it collects and presents data in a way that is understandable and accessible for all. It looks beyond numbers, products, or services; it looks into a company’s traits, capabilities, outsourcing footprints, and more. When used correctly, this data lets you have a targeted list of prospects to approach.

AI helps you segment your prospects by business size, location, industry, or specific goals like increasing sales. Doing this gives you a focused list of selected prospects who align well with your sales goals.

Know your Prospect

Knowing your prospect before you approach them can increase your sales by 2x, mainly because the more you know, the more personal a sale is.

People hate cold calls in 2021, so it is imperative to make them stay by starting a personal relationship. The more personal you can be with your prospect, the more you increase your chances of converting them to a client.

Getting personal and diving deep into them requires data that can be used to craft winning sales pitches and prepare a strategic sales plan. This data is mainly found and extracted from a sales intelligence system.

It provides insights that help you get a comprehensive and data-driven view of prospects & their ecosystem across hundreds of curated metrics across locations, technology, partnerships, stakeholders, and talent.

You get to know their business segments, interests, digital intentions, outsourcing footprint, technology stack, and key stakeholders. This information pushes you miles ahead of your competition since it shows how much you care about your prospect.

Keep an eye on the Competition

AI is known to take large amounts of data and convert them into insights that can be helpful to you. One of the most critical ways AI is being used is in peer intelligence.

Peer intelligence is about taking a deep dive into how other companies are doing business. If you do not analyze your competition, you may lose your target prospects when they accept competitor offers. It lets you see the business from your competitor’s eye and understand what they are doing and what they intend to do ahead.

When in sales, It is crucial to ask yourself:

• What is your competition doing?
• What are their capabilities and USP?
• Whom are they targeting?
• What are they offering?

Doing so will help you reach your prospects with competitive offers and pricing, resulting in more deals closed.

Specific sales intelligence tools allow you to track your peers and deep-dive into their strategies and capabilities that may threaten your sales initiatives.

Knowledge of the industry equals knowledge of business

Knowing your prospects well and the competition will get you only into the meeting. You need to be well-versed about the industry as well.

You need to have a thorough knowledge of the emerging trends, technologies, and companies operating in your segment.

This demonstrates that you are active in the industry and shows that you care to be a part of it. This also shows that you know what you are doing and are equally interested in thriving in the industry.

For example, if you are to approach a software company for a particular deal, you need to know about the industry, its size, key players as well as emerging trends and technology that can result in mutual benefit.

Such deep-dive knowledge can be found in reports, whitepapers, and journals. However, with AI collecting, organizing, and presenting data to you in accessible formats, you can deeply understand the industry since AI brings every source of information to one platform.

Sales intelligence platforms like  Draup  help your teams build hyper-targeted  prospect lists  with an ability to segment accounts and stakeholders through comprehensive and real-time metrics.

Draup’s 360-degree view is built using machine learning models and validated by a team of analysts, ensuring data integrity. Its Opportunity Index provides sales teams with concrete, data-backed metrics to check deal feasibility, strategize and pitch to relevant companies.