State of Sales 04Smarter Selling 22 Intelligent Sales Takes Off Intelligent technologies open the gates Major Growth Expected for Sales Intelligence and Automation to a smarter, more efficient sales process. Sales teams are making a shift toward intelligent technologies to streamline processes. Triple-digit Forward-thinking teams are already growth for smarter capabilities like predictive intelligence and guided selling. Artificial intelligence is planning how to use these technologies the top growth area for sales teams — 139% plan to use it in the next three years. for a leg up in the Age of the Customer. For instance, high-performing sales Sales Teams’ Anticipated Growth in Usage of the Following teams are 2.3x more likely than Intelligent Selling Capabilities Over the Next Three Years underperforming teams to currently Artificial intelligence to automatically use guided selling. recommend products to customers based on their preferences 139% Although current adoption is nascent Deep learning to classify, predict, and (see page 54 for the current adoption react to patterns within data 122% rates), smart technology adoption is on Predictive intelligence (e.g., lead scoring, everybody’s roadmap. In the next one predictive forecasting, etc.) 118% to three years, sales teams will embrace an entirely new, smarter sales process Automated lead-to-cash process 115% powered by automation and intelligence. Soon, product recommendations, Marketing automation 110% lead scoring, email response, and even Guided selling and coaching (i.e., adaptive day-to-day administrative tasks will be intelligence on next best activity) 98% effortlessly and autonomously integrated so that sales reps can focus on delivering Next-step analysis to anticipate customer needs and prioritize tasks 96% the best customer experience. Email sentiment analysis (i.e., whether email is good or bad for the opportunity) 96% Sales automation 83% Configure, price, and quoting (CPQ) 72% Salesforce Research