Sales · Customers · AI

AI in sales: the next evolutionary leap.

Sales has always changed whenever something changed for the customer. The catalogue, the telephone, the internet. Each time, the salesperson had to find a new role. Now the customer uses AI. This is not a tool change. This is the next leap.

What's happening at the customer Talk

01 · The Customer

The customer now has computing power.

The internet gave the customer information. AI gives them the ability to process it. They compare twenty providers in an hour. They have your proposal summarised before they've read it. They ask the AI the questions they used to ask your salesperson.

According to Forrester's 2025 Buyers' Journey Survey, 94 percent of B2B buyers use AI in their purchasing process. The question is no longer whether your customers use AI. The question is what the AI says about you when you're not in the room.

How does AI change B2B customer buying behaviour?

02 · Sales

Leads redistribute themselves.

Whoever doesn't appear in AI answers doesn't appear for the customer. Whoever does appear gets conversations that start deeper: the customer knows prices, alternatives and weaknesses before they call. The classic first contact disappears. The first conversation now starts where the third one used to.

Your CRM shows you none of this. It maps your salesperson's process, not your customer's path. That's why the forecast doesn't add up, even though the pipeline looks full.

How does my company become visible in AI answers?Why doesn't our forecast add up?

03 · The Salesperson

Three roles. None is obsolete.

01
The Expert
He knows what the customer doesn't. Product presentation, AIDA, push. Under pressure since the internet.
02
The Advisor and Orchestrator
He clarifies needs and organises the decision. SPIN, solution selling, Challenger, MEDDIC. Under pressure since the customer has an AI.
03
The Next Form in the AI Era
He guides the customer through the risks of their decision. Tests, references, pilots, guarantees, acceptance criteria, roadmaps.

The customer's AI can assess a risk. It cannot share it. Only the provider can. That is exactly where the salesperson's value lies: as examiner, as translator, as risk reducer. The methods of the first two roles remain. Only their starting point moves later.

Does B2B sales still need salespeople when customers research with AI?

04 · Leadership

Measure first. Then act.

1
Ask the AI the way your customers do. Take five typical customer questions and put them to ChatGPT, Perplexity and Copilot. Read what comes back about you and your competitors.
2
Bring marketing to the table. What the AI says about you decides which conversations your sales team gets in the first place. This is no longer a sales question alone.
3
Tell your team the truth. In this leap, tasks disappear, and with them jobs. Whoever hides that loses the people they want to keep.

Introducing AI in sales: where do I start?How do I prepare my sales team for AI?

Frequently asked questions

What does expertise in sales and AI in sales look like?

Expertise in sales and AI in sales should not only assess which AI tools salespeople can use. What matters just as much is how AI changes customer behaviour. That has consequences for the customer journey, the sales role, processes, CRM, data, leadership and organisation. Only from this overall picture can you derive where AI genuinely creates value in sales.

How does AI change B2B sales?

AI changes B2B sales on both sides at once. Customers use AI for research, comparison and decision preparation. At the same time, sales can use AI for research, preparation, communication, analysis and productivity. Information advantages, roles and processes shift as a result.

Which AI applications make sense in sales?

Applications that solve a concrete sales problem or measurably reduce effort. That can include customer research, call preparation, summaries, communication, proposal support, CRM work or analytics. The use case should come before the choice of tool.

How do you start with AI in sales?

Not with a long list of tools. First clarify how customers and buying processes are changing, which sales tasks should actually improve, and whether processes and data are suitable for that. From there, a few concrete use cases can be prioritised and tested in practice.

Do companies need fewer salespeople because of AI?

AI can change, accelerate or automate tasks. At the same time, complex B2B decisions increase the need for judgement, relevance and certainty. So the decisive question is less the headcount of salespeople than the role the salesperson will play in the customer's decision process.

Why does CRM matter for AI in sales?

Many AI applications need data about customers, opportunities, activities and processes. If CRM data is incomplete, outdated or unreliable, AI works with a distorted reality too. That is why data quality, processes and CRM are part of this leap in sales.

For which companies is the topic of AI in sales especially relevant?

Above all for companies where sales accounts for a substantial part of value creation and customers make complex buying decisions. It becomes particularly relevant when information behaviour and the customer journey change, when AI is to be introduced in sales, or when existing processes, data and systems are not sufficiently prepared for the new situation. Anyone who wants to go deeper will find the foundations in the books or in a personal conversation.

Two books, one idea

Two books, one idea.

The starting point

The AI Tsunami

What AI does to sales and what leadership does about it now. Published.

More about the book

The next step

Customers Buy Differently with AI

What AI does to the customer before they talk to you. Coming late 2026.