AI will change B2B sales – but not in the ways youre probably thinking

Hello AI. Hello New Way to do B2C Sales

Disruption. It’s one of the most overused words in the tech space. A word that has been inspiring sarcastic eye rolls since the Internet first disrupted all the things. But this time, there’s no way around it: we’re witnessing real disruption. The kind that academic papers will be written about in years to come. Disruption that leaves chaos in its wake as it reshapes the way an entire industry functions. We’re talking about AI’s influence on B2C sales.

It’s as disruptive as Armstrong’s first step on the moon or the first iPhone. And we know how that sounds. But we’re not being dramatic. We’re living through industry-shifting times that will change how B2C sales is done forever. In fact, we’re already seeing this with the work we do at Sellence. It’s exciting. It’s exhilarating. But we get that with every big disruption comes fear and resistance.

Harnessing AI in Sales: It’s Not What You Think

Here’s the thing: this isn’t about the robots coming to replace sales agents. It’s also not about automating every aspect of your team’s sales pipeline so you can sit poolside with a cold beer doing nothing. It’s actually about being more human and having the time to focus on the things that move the needle. The things that really matter.

It’s about empowering your sales team to do more in less time without burnout, overwhelm, or unnecessary smoke breaks. AI has the potential to change the game, enabling you to shift from cold calls and mass email campaigns to a more personalized approach that works. And the best part is this makes sales less salesy and so much more effective.

AI Becomes a B2C Sales Assistant

In sales, persuasion is the name of the game. And according to a recent study, AI is more persuasive than humans in an online setting. The study focused on large language models’ (LLMs) ability to personalize arguments and persuade. And the study’s findings are mind-blowing. Researchers found that LLM was 80% more persuasive than the average human. And when the LLM had access to demographic information, enabling it to personalize its arguments, researchers found that people were more than 81.7% more likely to agree with it than with a human’s arguments.

This is echoed by research recently conducted by AI startup Anthropic, which found that their AI models are as (if not more) persuasive as humans. In the research, the models became more persuasive with each successive release of the Anthropic model. While these findings are eye-opening, they aren’t about AI replacing or, as Elon Musk predicts, outsmarting the smartest human. That shouldn’t be the takeaway or the end goal.

Say goodbye to low-value sales tasks

Where we seem to be headed is a world where AI becomes a powerful tool or sales assistant, expanding (more like supercharging) a sales team’s capabilities. We’re already seeing this. A recent HubSpot survey found that some sales professionals use AI to save more than two hours of work each week. This will free sales teams up to focus on tasks that matter. And we think sales teams will lean on it more and more.

But here’s the thing — it doesn’t replace sales agents. And that’s the disruptive and empowering part. Because AI isn’t that dystopian, doomsday reality most AI-naysers claim we’re headed towards. It’s a tool. And when you consider that most salespeople spend less than 30% of their time selling, it’s clear we need to change how we do things. What does all this mean for B2C sales?

This is an emerging field, and researchers are constantly learning more and more about AI’s persuasive abilities. The one thing we know for sure is that while LLM may be more persuasive than a human, not just any AI model will do for sales. While most LLMs can convince you to be pro and anti any side of an argument, it’s also too supportive to overcome objections, negotiate, or close the deal. For that, you’d need to teach a model new skills beyond persuasion like we’re doing at Sellence.