What exactly is an AI sales assistant?
Publish Date • April 12, 2024
Loads of potential customers visit your website every day. You spend a lot of money and effort on getting them there.
But sadly, most of them leave your site within a minute without converting into paying customers.
The problem? You can’t talk to every single visitor at once. They might have questions or need guidance, but nobody is there to support them. This means lost sales.
That’s where AI sales assistants help. These intelligent tools engage with your visitors, answer their queries instantly, and guide them toward a purchase.
No wonder Gartner predicts 75% of B2B sales organizations will combine AI solutions with traditional sales by 2025.
Keep reading to understand what is an AI sales assistant and how it can help you crush your sales targets.
What is an AI sales assistant?
An AI sales assistant is an advanced conversational interface that supports your customers and automates the sales process.
These tools combine human sales expertise with the power of artificial intelligence to handle initial conversations with your prospects.
And they are really good at that. These AI agents listen to users, understand their needs, and provide personalized responses that keep them engaged and make them feel like VIPs.
These tools have multiple use cases, like answering FAQs, promoting your products, handling objections from hesitant prospects, booking more sales meetings, and so on.
AI-based sales assistants never sleep and never get tired of answering the same questions. This frees up your sales reps and lets them focus on complex problems. In fact, 81% of sales professionals say AI helps them reduce time on manual tasks.
This way, your business becomes more productive and profitable.
Features of AI sales assistants
The rise of AI has given these digital assistants an intelligent brain. Here are some technical features of AI sales assistants that make them smart and enable them to help businesses effectively:
- Natural language processing: NLP is what allows the assistant to understand human language and feelings. NLP-powered assistants can break down sentences, recognize the meaning of words, and identify the intent behind a user’s query.
- Machine learning (ML): Machine learning helps AI sales assistants get smarter over time. The assistant can learn from conversations, website visitor behavior, and purchase history. This lets the assistant better understand customers and provide relevant responses.
- Predictive analytics: AI sales assistants can use predictive analytics to anticipate a visitor’s needs or predict the likelihood of a sale. This means it can suggest relevant products or content to boost conversions.
- Knowledge base integration: AI-powered sales assistants connect to a knowledge base (a database of information about your product, services, and common queries). This ensures consistent and accurate answers to questions.
- CRM integration: Integrating the AI assistant with your Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system helps in seamless lead tracking. This allows the AI to gather customer data, qualify leads, and pass along valuable information to your sales team.
6 ways AI sales assistants can benefit your business
AI sales agents automate the selling process to help you cut costs and increase business productivity. Here are some ways these smart tools level up your business:
1. Reduce the bounce rates
Bounce rate is the measure of how many visitors leave your website after only viewing one page. A high bounce rate means you’re losing potential customers.
AI sales assistants reduce this bounce rate. It invites visitors to engage in a helpful conversation where it provides natural and relevant responses. This instant support keeps visitors on your site longer and lets them explore your products.
2. Sell on multiple platforms
Since 90% of social media users use social media to communicate with brands, you need to be active on social platforms.
AI-enabled sales assistants help you connect with customers where they are. You can deploy them on your website or other platforms like WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook Messenger, etc. This helps ensure consistent brand messaging across all the platforms.
Whether visitors message you on social media or during a website visit, your AI assistant is there to support them. This way, you never miss a sales opportunity.
3. Collect leads even when you sleep
AI sales agents engage with your prospects 24/7. They ask strategic lead qualification questions and capture contact details. Some assistants also help you follow up on those leads by providing you with a personalized email.
So, when you wake up in the morning, you may find your pipeline filled with warm prospects, ready for your sales team to convert. This helps you boost inbound sales.
4. Improve personalization
AI-powered sales assistants understand the intent behind a customer’s query. This way, they provide personalized and helpful responses.
They can understand what your prospects need and then recommend the right products. This not only makes customers feel understood and valued but also gives your business higher engagement and conversion rates.
In fact, McKinsey says personalization can deliver five to eight times the ROI on marketing spend.
5. Make your business super scalable
Unlike human sales reps, AI sales assistants can support thousands of customers at once.
That means they can handle traffic spikes effortlessly, ensuring all customers get support during busy periods like holidays or promotions.
Also, with AI sales assistants, you can expand your customer base without wasting money on hiring more customer service reps.
6. Bring more sales opportunities
AI sales agents promote your products like expert salespeople. They clearly explain what your product does and who it is for to improve clarity.
They focus on the direct benefits your product provides to help potential customers quickly grasp how your product solves their specific problem.
This way, you can convert your website visitors into loyal customers.
Upgrade your business with a smart AI sales assistant
Now you know what is an AI sales assistant and what are its powers. If you want an advanced sales assistant for your business, you can try Chatsimple’s AI Nav.
AI Nav is a smart digital salesperson that lives on your website and automates sales. It supports your visitors 24/7, promotes your products, and captures quality leads.
It appears as a search bar at the bottom center of your website where users can easily type their questions and get hyper-personalized responses. This boosts user experience and conversions.
Visit this page to learn more about Chatsimple’s AI sales agent.