One report says that by 2030 as many as 800 million jobs could be eliminated with the development of AI and robots. Could sales positions be one of them or could AI be another useful tool in a salesman portfolio? In an article that I read by Forbes it stated that AI could be an extremely useful tool in helping the salesman determine their customers need. How could AI actually be a useful tool you may ask? Well anytime you use the internet data is collected and AI can analyze that data. As a salesman that data can be very useful. A salesman can take that data and develop a sales strategy specifically based on that customers need without ever asking them a question in a very short period of time. I’m not entirely sure on this, but I think it would be similar to sponsored ads on Instagram. I don’t know many times I have Googled something and within a day a sponsored ad appears with a product that would answer my need from my searched query. We live in a world where all the platforms we use are connected and there’s no way to escape from someone trying to sell us something. AI is the culprit behind personalizing these specific ads. Along with analyzing huge amounts of data, AI can also help forecast what the future might look like for salesmen. I don’t think that AI will ever completely take over how we as consumers are being sold to, but I think that more and more salesmen will rely on this beneficial tool in their arsenal on sales tactics. This isn’t like the past where salesmen had to make face to face conversations in hopes of making a sale, with AI salesmen can ask that initial question from hundreds even thousands of miles away and do it in a way where you don’t even know you’re being sold to.
Ethan David
This is a really interesting topic. It’s crazy to think that we let these platforms have access to our personal lifestyles and searches. I agree that AI software is going to continue being an incredible tool for salespersons. If salespeople can use all the info gathered by AI correctly, correctly meaning they don’t violate users’ privacy, they will have an extremely competitive pre-call advantage. They will know the right questions to ask and the right content to provide.
This is super interesting! I totally agree, I don’t think we have to worry about losing sales jobs to AI. If anything, artificial intelligence will help sales people in the future. It’s good to be thinking about the effects of technology though because it is super influential.