This article comes from Ali Akhtar’s talk, ‘How generative AI is transforming revenue enablement’, at our 2023 Chicago Sales Enablement Summit, check out his full presentation here.

What if I told you AI will soon become your sales team's MVP?

When we think about generative AI conquering new frontiers, possibly the most commercially impactful domain yet is revenue enablement.

As Founder and CEO of Letter AI, my team and I live and breathe revenue tech innovations daily. 

We think a lot about how emergent technologies aren't just revolutionizing products – they have immense potential to transform go-to-market processes. And generative AI sits at the very epicenter.

In this article, I'll explain why there is so much hype around AI right now, what is generative AI, share the impact it's already having, and most importantly, walk through specific ways we're using it to revolutionize revenue enablement.

Let’s get started!

Why generative AI is having a moment

AI has actually been around since the 1950s, so why is everyone talking about it now? Put simply, AI models have become far more advanced and capable over the past five years alone thanks to breakthroughs across three key areas:

  1. Better techniques for building AI models: Innovations like Google's Transformer architecture have enabled models like ChatGPT that are superior at processing language. 
  2. More computing power: Chips keep getting faster and stronger, allowing us to train bigger models on more data. 
  3. Expanded data: We now have access to vast datasets like the whole public internet to train AI models. 

But most significant is the shift from rules-based systems to learning systems. 

Traditionally, technology solutions have been programmed with rigid rule sets. AI takes a radically different approach - it learns patterns from exposure to vast datasets. 

This makes AI uniquely equipped to excel at previously impossible tasks like natural language processing. 

Just as humans learn concepts by seeing examples rather than memorizing exhaustive rules, modern AI systems now mimic that capability. 

The impact of generative AI

We're already seeing major productivity gains from integrating generative AI into business workflows. 

For example, one study that came out recently showed that consultants at BCG, were 40% more productive when they use generative AI versus not.

Our own Letter AI customers in revenue enablement roles have already been able to create personalized sales training content and collateral in a fraction of the usual time. 

Where it used to take weeks or months of manual effort to assemble and tailor assets for learning programs, it now happens at the push of a button. 

Reps get up to speed faster, managers scale their coaching, and subject matter experts no longer get bogged down addressing basic questions. 

Over the next 3-5 years, this human-AI collaboration will become standard across roles. Rather than "AI taking jobs," we'll see the most effective employees use AI to accomplish exponentially more. 

Within the decade, I expect generative AI will be integral to nearly all business software. 

Though there's still uncertainty about the long-term outlook, in the meantime, let's look at how generative AI can make an immediate difference in the revenue journey…

AI and sales enablement: a match made in the cloud?
AI has incredible potential when used in a sales environment, and best of all, it’s not limited to one area. It can be used to help sales enablement achieve its goals in a number of both direct and indirect ways.
Sales Enablement CollectiveDaniel O’Dowd

Speeding up sales cycles with 24/7 self-service

There's nothing more frustrating than losing a deal because sales couldn't get answers from product experts in time. 

An AI-powered conversational agent can address many common questions instantly without needing to loop in busy teammates. 

For anything too complex, the system politely defers to humans, freeing up their time for higher-impact discussions.

Similarly, implementing something as multifaceted as Marketo looks completely different across customers. Generative AI lets us develop onboarding content and training unique to each use case in a fraction of the time. 

Reps get specialized assets catering to their exact deployment needs rather than one-size-fits-none materials.

Increasing retention with proactive churn prevention

Losing customers should never come as a surprise, but now AI-powered analytics can predict churn risk well in advance, notify customer success managers, and recommend re-engagement playbooks. 

Understanding your customers who are at risk of churn but then proactively engaging those customers via a conversational interface in your platform can be incredibly powerful. 

With the right nudge at the right time guided by data, we strengthen relationships instead of writing off defection as inevitable.

Driving productivity with AI-augmented coaching

Even with the best sales coaches, there are never enough hours in the day to review every rep interaction in detail. AI coaching assistants assess recordings first, escalating only the most constructive examples to humans. 

AI doesn't do everything right, but it becomes an iterative process that's significantly faster than the current state. 

Managers spot-coach where they have the highest ROI, reps get more frequent feedback while coaches focus on complex relationship building. Everyone wins.

Using ChatGPT for sales - and why you need it in your sales enablement toolkit | SEC
Wondering how to use ChatGPT for sales? This article, featuring SEC Ambassador Thomas Cheriyan, is your one-stop shop.
Sales Enablement CollectiveDaniel O’Dowd

The future of revenue enablement

At its core, generative AI transforms revenue enablement from a back-office cost center into an integrated, intelligence-driven profit engine. 

When every commercial workflow leverages the power of big data, machine learning, and natural language processing, you get an automated, exponential scale. 

Activities that used to be time-sinks suddenly catalyze growth. Strategic enablement initiatives evolve into predictive tools to model the future rather than vague guesswork.

Of course, AI augments human intelligence rather than replacing it entirely. But by partnering human creativity with AI productivity, the possibilities are endless. 

Teams sell more in less time, customers get experiences hyper-personalized to their needs, and bottom lines surge thanks to enhanced productivity and scale that’s simply not achievable with rules-based systems.

The future is truly unfolding as we speak, who knows how far generative AI can take us!