Sales managers are off-loading the tiresome task of polishing the skills of their salespeople to AI systems. These automated sales trainers offer coaching that is personalized to each employee – and designed to ensure they make the most of their time with prospective customers.

The secret behind the success of AI-powered coaching: Extensive customization.

Instead of working with a one-size-fits-all approach, each AI sales coach is first thoroughly trained by a sales manager to hone-in on the skills, approaches, tones and other qualities that go into what that particular sales manager believes is a killer sales pitch.

For example: An AI sales coach for a medical device manufacturer pitching to surgeons is trained much differently than an AI sales coach that’s looking to sell fireworks to a rock band. Either way, once that custom-tailored sales magic is embedded in the AI, company sales staff can practice and refine their pitch via a video feed to the AI as many times as they’d like until they feel – and the AI confirms – they’ve got the right stuff.

Even better: Those salespeople are also able to achieve that growth by training with AI at their own convenience – and at their own rate.

Instant Ratings with Interactive Feedback

All along the way, the AI encourages refinement and polish by serving up an overall score every time a salesperson finishes a pitch – then detailing where the salesperson is strong and spotlighting where the salesperson needs more practice. Each pitch, for example, is rated on its overall style, knowledge of the product or service the salesperson is pitching, as well as the pitch’s overall energy level.

Many of these AI sales coaches also feature second-by-second timestamps that are marked in the practice videos, indicating where the salesperson was on the right track when making a pitch – and where the salesperson seemed to be fumbling. Plus, many of the coaches are also designed to be extremely interactive.

Instead of serving simply as a storehouse and analyzer of sales pitches captured on video, for example, interactive AI sales coaches feature an animated image of person that a salesperson pitches to. Some systems may feature a ‘generic’ customer that the salesperson tries to sell. But others sport several different AI personalities to choose from, which can be programmed to react to a salesperson in varying ways.

That varying of virtual personalities ensures that a salesperson can learn to anticipate and respond to unexpected emotions during a pitch; emotions that might otherwise throw them off their game. Salespeople can be trained by such AI sales coaches to change up their chops, for example, variations based on the overall mood of the customer.

A pitch for someone bored or indifferent, for example, will need to be much different than a pitch for someone who seems already sold on a product or service and simply needs a bit more detail or a dash of reassurance.

Multiple AI personalities to pitch to also enable salespeople to practice pitching to simulated personalities from across the demographic spectrum, including old or young, educated or street smart, rich or poor, White or Asian – as well as any number of other demographic metrics.

Not surprisingly, sales managers that have brought in AI sales coaching are more than happy with the results.

Key reasons they appreciate the tech:

• Sales managers can program once and train infinitely: With AI, gone are the days when a sales manager needs to devote significant time to bring a new hire up to speed. Instead, novice salespeople can learn what a manager is looking for simply by practising with the AI trainer.
• Sales managers can monitor a salesperson’s progress by viewing milestone videos: Instead of asking a recruit, “How’s it going?” a sales manager can now say, “Show me your best pitch video so far.”
• Sales managers can create certification programs for new products and services: Another beauty of AI sales coaches is that they can be updated at any time. That comes in especially handy for a business that’s rolling out a new — particularly knowledge-intensive — product or service.
• Sales managers are unburdened from dealing with the critique-sensitive: With the AI trainer as judge, jury – but hopefully not executioner – sales managers no longer need to deal with salespeople who may paint them as unfair or difficult to please. With AI training, there’s no one to be angry with – only a standard to achieve.

As with most things AI, bringing an AI sales trainer into your business or organization will go much more smoothly if you rely on the experienced advice of a seasoned AI consultant who is fully aware of the AI training solutions you should take seriously – and those that are best avoided.

In a phrase: With so much upside, sooner rather than later makes sense when it comes to adopting AI sales coaching.