The Power of AI and Guided Selling in Mastering Complex Sales

In the ever-evolving arena of complex sales, adaptability is the cornerstone of success. In a recent webinar on "How to Leverage AI and Guided Selling to Win Complex Sales at Scale,” Shaun Siler, VP of Sales & Operations at Aviso, shed light on the inherent challenges and unfolded the success factors essential for excelling at complex deal execution.

The webinar delved into how AI and guided selling can be game-changers, simplifying complex processes and scaling deal execution excellence across the board. Here are the key highlights:

The Evolving Face of Complex Sales in 2023

Selling big-ticket items in 2023 is like a puzzle with lots of moving parts.

Selling as a team sport: Gone are the days of one-on-one meetings sealing the deal. Now, selling is a team sport. You're not pitching to a single decision-maker but to a whole committee. Each member has their own set of expectations, priorities, and pain points. Just like a soccer team strategizing every move, you've got to navigate a complex web of who's who and align your pitch to resonate with each player.
Long-term relationships over quick wins: Building relationships and understanding the client’s long-term goals are critical. Quick charm won't cut it. You've got to be in it for the long haul, nurturing trust, proving value, and adapting to the client's evolving needs.
Personalization is the new normal: Customization is king. Your sales approach must be as unique as the fingerprints of your prospects. Tailored solutions and personalized experiences are the currency that will earn you that closed-won status.
Data Is Your Coach: Data drives decisions is your sales coach, giving you play-by-play analysis. Which lead is to be prioritized? What's the next best move? Data provides these insights, allowing for strategic plays that are informed, not guessed.

Each sale is unique, so you’ve got to be ready to switch up your game plan depending on who you’re talking to and what they need. Plus, there are more challenges, like market changes, that can throw a wrench in your plans.

The bottom line? The reps who succeed are those who embrace these changes, adapt their strategies, and continuously learn new skills.

The Hurdles You Might Face

When sales get more complicated, companies run into a bunch of problems trying to get big deals done right. These problems come from basic areas and include:

Lack of Sales Process Maturity: Lots of companies don't have a strong plan for how to sell things that match how customers like to buy them. They often just think about what they need to sell instead of what helps the customer decide to buy.
Skills Gap: To make a big sale, salespeople need to be really good at talking with customers and understanding what different people want. It's not enough to just talk about what the product does.
Ineffective Sales Coaching: It's super important for managers to help their sales teams get better at selling. But if they don't train them well and often, the team won't get any better at making sales.

Winning Sales with AI and Guided Selling

Often, teams try to solve these issues with expensive training or detailed playbooks. But these can fall short. Training might not stick, and playbooks can get lost in the shuffle.

Even with these tools, if managers don’t actively help their teams improve, the same old problems remain.

Here’s what can actually make a difference for sales teams:

Empowering Sales Leadership: Provide sales leaders with the necessary resources, training, technology, and insights to enhance their team's performance. Transform your leaders into mentors who can coach effectively, regardless of their physical location.
Systematic Deal Coaching: Transition from spontaneous, informal methods of sales review to a more systematic, structured coaching process. Establish collaborative spaces such as ‘Deal Rooms’ to collectively develop strategies for advancing sales opportunities.
Targeted Coaching for Deals: Offer your sales force AI-enhanced, deal-focused coaching at critical moments. This targeted approach guarantees that sales representatives are given personalized guidance at each stage of the sales cycle, fostering better deal closure rates and increased success.
Seamless Tool Integration: Utilize AI and modern technology to simplify the sales workflow and minimize hand-operated tasks. Sidestep the pitfalls of acquiring multiple standalone solutions that can lead to fragmented data and inefficiency.
Insights Powered by Data: Harness the power of data analytics to uncover insights into sales methodologies and outcomes. Detect recurring patterns, discern trends, and pinpoint areas ripe for enhancement.

Leveraging AI-Powered Guided Selling for Deal Coaching Success

Deal Coaching is where you can look closely at your sales deals and give advice that makes a big difference right away. Here’s how you can get the most out of reviewing deals and help your team get more wins:

1. Pick the Right Deals to Work On:

Choosing the right deals is key to a good review. In the past, salespeople might just go with their gut feeling to decide which deals to work on. But with AI, you can make those choices based on solid data, so you don't miss out on any good chances.

AI can look at a lot of different things, like how engaged customers are and how the deal is moving along, to show sales managers which deals are most likely to succeed or need more attention. By looking at details that people might not think about, AI guides sales teams to put their energy into the most promising deals.

Check out Aviso’s Deal Map to know more!

2. Understand How Your Deal is Doing with Facts and Figures:

Selling can get complicated, with many steps and different people involved. AI doesn’t just help you pick deals but also gives you facts and figures about how the deal is doing at each step. It can give updates on how strong your deal is and point out any problems.

For example, AI can catch a customer's tone or sentiment changes, helping salespeople understand their customers' true intent. It can also pick up on any main concerns or times when competitors come up in talks, which lets reps change their approach as needed.

Check out Aviso’s Buyer Intent Analytics to know more!

3. Make a Plan to Seal the Deal:

A big plus of AI and guided selling is that they help you make guides, called playbooks, for winning sales. These playbooks give salespeople the info, tactics, and tips they need at every part of selling. They also give managers solid things to use when coaching.

You can fill a playbook with recommended actions that match certain deal details and change them for different types of markets or buyers. This means sales teams always have the best tactics for their situation, helping them do better.

Check out Aviso’s Digital WarRooms to know more!

4. Do Great in Your Next Chat with the Customer: After reviewing the deal, you should have a plan that includes the next steps with the customer. Use AI and the playbook to get ready for the next talk, making sure you know what success looks like and how to get there.

AI can also provide real-time call guidance, suggesting steps or ideas based on what's being said. This means salespeople are well-prepared with the right info and tactics in these important moments.

Check out Aviso’s Real-Time-Coaching to know more!

Conclusion

Leveraging the potent combination of AI and Guided Selling equips teams with the capability to navigate and conquer the complex sales ecosystem effectively, thereby making a significant impact on business outcomes.

For those who aim to transform their sales approach and ensure their teams are equipped with the best-in-class tools and techniques, we invite you to take the next step.