As businesses navigate the lasting impacts of the pandemic, including inflation, changes in buyer preferences, and supply chain disruptions, many are looking to implement AI to be able to nimbly adapt to changing market conditions. Considered by Forrester to be “the revenue engine of the futureâ€, AI helps businesses grow revenue, work more efficiently, and enhance the customer buying experience.
Implementing AI Starts With Automation
AI enables efficient business decisions driven by a combination of data and human expertise. AI systems for sales can simultaneously augment sales team workflows and enhance ecommerce shopping experiences. As more B2B enterprises further digitize their sales processes, many are turning to AI to improve operational efficiency. To achieve optimal use, there are a lot of components imputed into these systems. They need an expert level of knowledge and business expertise to function properly.
Automation enabled by AI frees sales teams to spend less time on mundane tasks like manually pulling together customer quotes, vetting through thousands of sets of customer data, and sending follow-up emails on product restocks. It allows them to spend more time engaging with customers to best meet their needs. For example, when global equipment manufacturing company Manitou underwent a digital transformation to automate their sales process, the average time it took to configure and place orders improved from 30 days to just one day. This allowed the company to save time by processing more orders faster, leading to an increase in sales and better service for its customers.
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AI-Driven Personalized Offers
As enterprises advance in their digital selling journey, they look to not only automate sales processes but also continuously improve them. While many B2B buyers repeat purchases, they are not always aware of the products they may need now or in the future. Navigating large and complex product catalogs can be a daunting and undesirable task for both customers and salespeople.
AI enables businesses to create personalized offers with the right products at the right price to meet the needs and wants of customers based on their profile, past purchases, and other products in their basket. Personalization has been a key component that businesses have adopted over the course of the pandemic because it enhances the customer experience and enables a seamless transition across channels to get customers the right offers. Companies that are behind on adopting AI risk missing out on opportunities to retain customers and win new business with personalized offers.
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AI-Based Pricing
A winning business is not just about offering customers the products they want and need. The offer price needs to be right, or the customer will likely take their business elsewhere. Many enterprises still rely on manual pricing processes, which can be cumbersome and error-prone. AI-based pricing systems automate and support pricing decisions with a strategy that can balance multiple objectives — winning business, protecting profits, and keeping customers happy — even when there are disruptions in the market.
A key challenge companies face when implementing AI is sustaining the adoption of the solution over time. Adoption is a long-haul period because it takes time to correct core pricing behavior to see results. Sales teams want to guarantee they’re being compliant with pricing — have they stayed in bounds with what the system is telling them while making price recommendations based on the current market? Enterprises can tackle this by using key performance indicators (KPIs) that track the benefit of price recommendations as a proof point to drive momentum for pricing and sales teams to trust and adopt the recommendations the system is offering.
As businesses adapt to the ever-evolving commerce landscape, AI will continue to play a key role in enhancing omnichannel buying and selling experiences. AI enables businesses to increase operational efficiency, improve revenue and profitability, and augment the customer experience. Automation is the first step towards being able to reap the benefits of AI in the shift to digital selling. Businesses that utilize AI to provide customers with personalized offers priced dynamically will stand out among their competition.