00:00Hi, I'm Kurt Jacobs. I'm the editor of Midlands Business Insider, and welcome to
00:13Ladywood in Birmingham, where we just held the latest of our sales summits debate. It's
00:19been a fascinating discussion where we've looked at the impact of technology on businesses,
00:24how they can improve their sales performance, find out more about the customer, issues such
00:28as hyper-personalisation, how you restructure in preparation for AI. Let's see what some
00:34of our panellists had to say. I'm Cassandra Brankovic, and I'm the founder
00:39of AIQ Nexus in the Midlands, and I'm the technology lead for NetMonkeys.
00:45So let me ask you a question, which I know you're going to say you know, but increased
00:51data, AI, and so forth. That's going to lead to sales becoming more in personal process,
00:59isn't it? You know, sort of machine will do it all.
01:02Absolutely not, no. So if you look at the true role of a salesperson, they're not there
01:05to copy notes from meetings, they're not there to set up meetings, things like that. They're
01:09actually there to build a relationship with the client, and actually understand the client
01:13on a human level. So being able to collect those data points around what the client's
01:16interested in, what they're actually trying to do with their business, you can actually
01:19have a much better conversation with them and focus on that, rather than the tapping
01:24on your keyboard, the writing down notes, all stuff like that. So it's going to pick
01:26up those unnecessary evils that we've come to accept over the last kind of 50 years with
01:32computers. But the other thing, let me ask you a question,
01:36does also this mean a more modernised product and service coming out? Or, you know, what
01:42people are selling will be sort of one? Not at all, no. I think it's very much in
01:47the hands of the company as well. You can diversify your products a lot more, because
01:50your sales guys and everyone in your company is actually focusing on the job they're actually
01:54meant to be doing. So that capacity you build, you can bring out new products, you can bring
01:58out new services, you can approach customers in a different way and spend that time, because
02:02you now have time, which always before was a luxury for us. So we're building that back
02:06into people's jobs, which is brilliant. My name's Spencer, I'm from Soho.
02:12Let me ask you a question. I know you don't believe, but AI, not AI, just tech generally,
02:20that's going to lead to the sales process becoming more anonymous and fewer people.
02:26I actually probably disagree with that. And I disagree with it for a number of reasons.
02:30I think sales is something, particularly when you've got a valuable product, something that's
02:34going to bring high returns to a business, is all about a human sale. It's about doing
02:40business with another person. So where does the technology come in? The technology comes
02:45in and enhances that process, potentially for both sides of the conversation. Technology
02:51gives customers the opportunity to do some deep learning about your product, but it also
02:57gives you the opportunity as the salesperson to learn about your customer, to profile the
03:03business that they work for and understand their needs. So if you've got that knowledge
03:06when you go into the conversation, basically already knowing something about somebody gives
03:11the confidence to them that you've taken the time to learn about their business. So that
03:15actually enhances rather than takes away from the process.
03:18So I'm Kat Brown. I'm a director for Perth Temps Network Group.
03:22Okay. So tell me about that sort of step-by-step, gentle approach, as it were, rather than sort
03:30of glomming an entire tech system into a business. Because I remember you saying that you structure
03:36the business before bringing in tech.
03:39Yes. So it's really, really important that your teams are prepared, that you've got purpose,
03:44that you've got focus, and that you've got your outcomes and your end goal in mind. So
03:49you get your outcome and you work backwards. And you've got to then make sure that you've
03:53got the foundations in place before you bring in tech. And there isn't one tech solution
04:00that's an end-to-end for everything. There isn't a product out there that is a sales
04:05director's dream that will deliver everything that they need. And there is so much out there
04:11that it is important to make it outcome-based. What do we need to achieve? What products
04:16and tools can help us along the way? And I think a lot of people are talking about AI
04:21and generative AI, and they confuse AI with automation. But what you want to be doing
04:26is stripping out the admin tasks, stripping out the mundane, routine things that people
04:32do that take a lot of time. If you can automate those, you're freeing up people's time in
04:38that person-to-person interaction piece. And that's the piece that's really important for me.
04:44So I'm Steve Holyoake. I'm Group Director of Customer Experience at McCann World Group.
04:49Been at the agency for over 13 years, helping clients negotiate how they build greater connections
04:56with customers through experience and how technology and digitisation can support them.
05:01So here's a question to provoke a response. How important will people be with increasing
05:10move towards data and AI? Is it sort of, we can take them out of the equation?
05:15Absolutely not, categorically. We shouldn't take people away from the equation. People
05:21are what people have a relationship with. Technology is there to support and to sift.
05:28It's to take away the heavy lifting processes that, frankly, used to take time and actually
05:32take energy away from where the real importance matters, which is that human connection. And
05:37that's how brands really should differentiate, whether it's in a sales process, whether it's
05:41in relationship building. It's utilising the technology to assist, but making sure that
05:46you're making as much time and opportunity for that human connection to surface.
05:58Microsoft Mechanics
05:59www.microsoft.com
06:00www.microsoft.com
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