In today's fast-paced business environment, AI and ML are being hailed as the ultimate solutions to complex sales challenges, dominating headlines and industry discussions. For sales and GTM leaders, mastering these technologies is becoming essential for staying competitive. However, what often gets overlooked is the critical groundwork required to fully leverage AI and ML to drive real sales success. Here are a few steps to implement before you have a fully defined plan to utilize AI, ML, and a Data Lake.
1. Get specific about the applications of AI:
AI has the potential to transform your sales organization, making workflows more efficient and enabling smarter decision-making. It can revolutionize how your entire team uses data, leverages automation, and advance how you build connections between actions and outcomes. However, to achieve these benefits, it's crucial to clearly define the specific business challenges you want AI to address and identify the key activities that lead to success. These activities must be measurable and consistently tracked.
For sales organizations and GTM leaders, this means analyzing the behaviors of top performers to understand what drives their success and then capturing those insights for future use. It also involves enhancing customer profiling to better understand the lifetime value of prospects, and determining where to allocate valuable resources across sales, customer success, and marketing. Additionally, AI can help create a seamless sales experience by automating content delivery, providing relevant information to prospects, and optimizing outreach strategies to turn leads into satisfied, long-term customers.
When you can clearly define the business questions you need answered, it becomes easier to identify the data that needs to be collected. With this data in hand, AI algorithms and techniques can offer actionable insights and recommendations to enhance efficiency.
2. Build Out the Measurements That Will Support AI Applications:
Measuring the right metrics is essential to designing AI systems that can identify the key attributes and activities of your top sales performers, calculate customer lifetime value, and create frictionless customer experiences. For example, CRM data should capture detailed information about client interactions—such as visits, demos, and marketing materials downloaded—to provide a comprehensive view of how your best sellers achieve their results. By establishing these key performance indicators (KPIs) or metrics, you're laying the groundwork for AI to provide meaningful insights that drive better outcomes across your sales organization.
The critical metrics for sales include:
3. Ensure Your Sales Data is Curated and Complete - Data underpins your AI initiatives:
While AI and ML offer immense potential, their effectiveness hinges on one critical factor: high-quality, well-curated data. Without a solid foundation of clean, granular sales data, it’s challenging to unlock the full power of machine learning to deliver the insights and coaching that can drive your GTM strategy forward.
The good news is that with today’s advanced technology, building a data lake architecture to support AI and ML is more achievable than ever. At Voiant, our methodology is designed to cleanse and enrich your data, using standardized templates that centralize essential information from your CRM, Planning, HR, and BI systems. This approach creates a unified data language, ensuring that your AI initiatives are built on a robust, reliable foundation.
For more information on where to get started, read our blog on everything you need to know to create your Data Dictionary.
Successfully integrating AI, and ML, along with a comprehensive data blueprint into your sales strategy requires more than just technology—it demands a thoughtful, strategic approach. By focusing on clear business objectives, capturing the right data, and ensuring that your foundational systems are robust and well-integrated, you set the stage for sustainable success. We believe that the true power of AI and ML lies in the ability to transform data into action and real results. By implementing a well-curated plan that aligns with your GTM goals, you can create a dynamic, responsive sales organization that continuously adapts and thrives in a competitive marketplace.
The journey to harnessing AI and ML is ongoing - but with the right plan in place and a thoughtful set-up, your organization can confidently navigate the complexities of modern sales, ensuring that your efforts today lead to continued success.