How AI is Changing Sales at Salesforce
Sales roles often involve in-person meetings and client calls. At Salesforce, sellers rely on AI-powered tools to get ready for these crucial conversations. This article shares how AI is integrated into daily sales work.
After a long day meeting clients, Haley Gault, a Salesforce seller, got a last-minute request for a face-to-face meeting within the hour. The client’s business focused on electric vehicle charging stations—an area she wasn’t familiar with. To prepare quickly, she used Salesforce’s Agentforce AI tool in Slack. By typing "EV contractors," she received a detailed report including past sales, call recordings, and industry insights.
Gault said, "I don’t have a vertical, so I’m no industry expert in electric vehicle contracting. This tool lets me quickly get up to speed on the customer, previous conversations with Salesforce, and key stakeholders."
AI Adoption in Sales
Gault’s use of AI isn’t unique. A survey of 1,500 companies showed sales and marketing as the top areas adopting generative AI. Dan Gottlieb, a sales analyst at Gartner, noted sales professionals actively look for AI tools to support research, lead development, and refining pitches.
But some wonder if AI could weaken the human connection essential to sales. Corporate selling depends on building relationships through calls and dinners. Connor Marsden, Salesforce’s North America president for industrial, consumer, and energy sectors, emphasized that AI tools at Salesforce enhance the human side of sales rather than replace it.
How AI Supports Seller Goals
Michael Brown, a professor at Columbia Business School, observed some concerns about AI making sales less personal. He said buyers still want real conversations about pricing and contracts. However, he sees AI as beneficial if it improves sales performance.
Gottlieb suggests sellers use AI to handle unstructured tasks like client research, brainstorming approaches, and quickly analyzing large information sets. For example, Gault feeds excerpts from the sales book "Never Split the Difference" by Christopher Voss into Salesforce’s Sales Coach AI. The tool then offers advice based on Voss’ negotiation techniques, such as recognizing customer emotions during frustrations.
Gault uses Sales Coach to role-play and get feedback before client meetings. Working remotely from Pittsburgh, she finds these AI tools especially helpful since she lacks colleagues nearby for practice and critiques.
AI’s Evolution at Salesforce
AI has been part of Salesforce’s operations for some time, but its role keeps changing. Kris Billmaier, EVP of Sales Cloud and growth products, explained how predictive and autonomous AI tools have developed.
For instance, Salesforce’s predictive AI once suggested updates for client statuses in Sales Cloud, but sellers had to manually approve these changes. Now, autonomous AI agents can handle status updates automatically once sellers trust the AI’s accuracy.
Making AI Easy and Useful for Sellers
Integrating AI into a sales environment focused on human connection isn’t simple. Marsden called it a "new motion" for many sellers. The solution is embedding AI features directly into everyday tools.
For example, when a customer mentions using HubSpot, a competing marketing platform, Sales Coach automatically shows how other sellers have handled similar objections. Salesforce sellers can also message Slack’s AI chatbot for quick help.
Marsden said, "Sellers have a real incentive to use AI well so they come across as authentic. The human side is the conversation, discovery, and understanding customer needs. AI complements by ensuring all feedback is captured."
Final Thoughts
AI tools at Salesforce are designed to support sellers, not replace the essential human elements of sales. By automating routine tasks and providing targeted insights, AI frees sellers to focus on building relationships and closing deals.
If you want to explore how AI can fit into your sales process, check out Complete AI Training’s courses for sales professionals. Learning to use AI effectively can give you a practical edge in client interactions and deal management.
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